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Survivors of HMS Daring

Discussion in 'Britain at Sea!' started by Watspoon, Dec 23, 2019.

  1. Watspoon

    Watspoon New Member

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    Hello there everyone!

    I have been researching the survivors of HMS Daring as it seems very little is known about them. As of right now, I have found out the following names...

    Lieutenant Laurence Andrew Rogers (Incorrectly spelt Lawrence in Navy Lists)
    Able Seaman William McBride
    Able Seaman William Edward Woodnutt
    Able Seaman Alfred Lionel Willcox

    …Unfortunately, I do not know much about William McBride besides his age and some personal information. I do not know about his birth date (I believe it is 1917 after research. He was an orphan and lived with his uncle in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Out of the 10 possible William McBrides it could be, there is one from the town next to Paisley that was born in 1917) or his death date. I also do not know of the name of the 5th survivor. This man was picked up by HMS Inglefield, and that is all I know!

    I am creating a website on Royal Navy Crewlists that focuses on crewlists that haven't been focused on (such as HMS Daring), and any help would be very helpful!
     
  2. VanessaJane

    VanessaJane New Member

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    Hello there
    I have been trying to research the Naval/ Coastal Defence / WW2 history of my grandfather Thomas William Glover. His family were from the Shotley Peninsula in Suffolk, and he was a Ganges boy. I have an early photo of him with H.M.S. Daring (attached), but am not sure whether he was a survivor or was not on board when the ship went down. He definitely served on MTB/ ML in the Mediterranean / Aegean later in the war, as he features on an old American newsreel of a SOE rescue of nurses in Albania.
    I have been informed that his Naval service record was destroyed by a fire, but wondered whether you could shed any light on his activities earlier in the war please?
     

    Attached Files:

  3. Watspoon

    Watspoon New Member

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    Hello Vanessa! Thank you so much for the response! I looked on Ancestry.com for him and found your family tree. Judging by his age, it is very very likely that he was a survivor. As HMS Daring went down in very early 1940 and your grandfather was born in 1921, he will have been just 18 at the time of the sinking. This means that in order to have been on HMS Daring at any point, he must've joined the crew sometime shortly before the sinking. It is possible that he joined the crew in 1938 for its tour to East Asia, but he will have been about 16 when that started. If he left HMS Daring before it was sunk, it will have likely been around January 1940.

    Generally speaking, earlier in the war, Daring was in the Mediterranean for a short time and then the Red Sea until November 1939. It then was in Malta for a refitting for just about the rest of 1939. On 25 January 1940, HMS Daring arrived in Portsmouth to undergo repairs, and this was the first time in about 2 years that the crew had seen England due to them being in East Asia. Some crewmen were probably transferred to other ships here, but I am not certain. Keep in mind, much of the time spent during the early war was spent patrolling for enemy ships. Daring did escort the SS Dunnottar Castle to Belfast in early 1940, however.

    A reason I believe your grandfather may have been a survivor is due to his age. The unknown man, possibly your grandfather, was almost certainly a younger man due to how he survived a very cold night and was able to drag 3 men onto a raft as well, one of whom was a 35 year old (AB Woodnutt) who was likely a fair bit larger than the other 2 (20yrs and 24yrs). I am quite certain he will have been stationed on deck due to just how quickly the ship went down and the violent nature of two explosions which led to the sinking.

    Hope this has helped at all! Let me know if you have any more questions.
     
  4. VanessaJane

    VanessaJane New Member

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    Thank you so much- this is really interesting. Grandad would never tell us what he did in the war and we have since found out that he was involved in some pretty hair-raising covert missions with the SOE around Italy and Crete.
    I have been in contact with my Uncles, who know that he was on HMS Ramilies as a younger sailor before joining the RN (in the RNR or as a ships boy?). I wonder whether he was in the RNR or a ships boy when he was on board Daring?
    He was definitely an ordinary seaman in the RN at Ganges for early 1941, then joined the coastal defence force on HMS Excellent and Boscawen (attack). I also know that he was definitely in Alexandria and Malta, but not sure how that fits in with the dates of both ships, or whether this was later in the wart when he was on MTB on the Nile. I am not sure whether this further information sheds any further light? If indeed he was torpedoed at such a young age, it would certainly account for wanting to crew MTB/ ML to seek out u-boats!
     
  5. Watspoon

    Watspoon New Member

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    That is a very interesting theory! All of the members of the RNR onboard HMS Daring were all Ordinary Seaman! They were also all very young, and for many this was probably their first ship. I'm going to guess that your grandfather may have been one of these men! Also, I could definitely imagine why he may went to stray away from destroyers considering how Daring got torpedoed and he would likely want to get to something else as soon as possible.
     
  6. VanessaJane

    VanessaJane New Member

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    My uncles have found a document that proves Grandad was aboard H.M.S. Ramillies on 13th December 1939. This leads me to believe that he was not aboard Daring when she went down. He must have served on Daring prior to this, and transferred to Ramillies in November 1939 when they were both in the port of Aden. This has been so interesting, and thank you so much for your assistance.
     

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