THE Merchant Navy during The Great War: Barry historian Dr Jonathan Hicks pays tribute to the Merchant Navy sailors who are remembered today...

DURING the First World War no fewer than 262 Barry men lost their lives whilst serving with the Merchant Navy. Whilst there is rightly a focus on the part that the Merchant Navy played in the defeat of Germany in the Second World War, the role that the service played from 1914-18 is often overlooked.

Some of their stories involving Barry men are told here.

The Admiralty collier SS Satrap sailed from Barry on December 31, 1915 on sealed Government orders. She went missing on a stormy day and 11 Barry sailors were never seen again.

The wreck now lies off the coast of Pembrokeshire, near Manorbier. The third engineer was H May of 171 Gladstone Road. This was only his second voyage.

An interesting footnote to the story of the Satrap is that a few days after her sinking a member of the crew, Seaman Alexis Ivanhoe, was seen alive in Barry. He was arrested and stood trial for his absence from the sailing and was sentenced to a month's hard labour.

Upon his release he went back to sea and was killed as the result of enemy action in 1918 when the SS Turnbridge sank.

Albert Vincent of the Mercantile Marine was killed when his ship SS Mary Baird was torpedoed on May 18, 1917. Prior to going to sea he was a member of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Sunday School in Cadoxton, where he was described as 'a great favourite with officers, teachers and scholars'.

The oldest Barry casualty of the Great War was Thomas Williams who enlisted as Second Engineer on the SS Argus when she sailed from Seaham. She was sunk in a collision in fog off Norway on October 21, 1917 en route for Tromso.

All hands were lost in the freezing water. Thomas Williams lived at 23, Regent Street and was 66 years of age.

Seaman-Gunner Robert Lloyd, of 30 Hirwain Street, lost his life at sea through enemy action on February 10, 1918. He had been at sea since leaving school at the start of the War and was aboard the SS Romford when it hit a mine east of Cape Carthage. He was 18 and is buried at Medjez-el-bab Cemetery.

Five other Barry men also lost their lives when the ship sank, including Archibald Jenkins of 282 Holton Road.

On September 7, 1918 the SS Ruysdael was torpedoed by U-105 228 miles west of Ushant on a voyage from Barry to Taranto. On board were Joseph Henry Bolton and his son John Steven Bolton of 84 Phyllis Street, Barry Island.

Both were drowned, as was Martin Dalton of Newlands Street and three other Barry men including James David Jones, aged 24, of 14 Travis Street, Barry Dock. The U-105 surrendered at the end of the War and became the French submarine Jean Autric.

These are just some of the men who laid down their lives serving their country by running the gauntlet of the German U-boats in the waters around Britain to ensure that food and essential raw materials were brought into the country.

Their sacrifice should never be forgotten.