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Frank Mayor was born in Waterloo, Lancashire in December 1882. While it
cannot be ascertained with absolute certainty with the records readily
available and more than one missing, it is likely that he first went to sea
in 1897, or 1898. As Mr. Mayor showed himself to be a ‘good company man’, it
is not without the bounds of probability that his first sea time was as an
apprentice for the Liverpool Shipping Company whose vessels were managed by
Henry F. Fernie.
At the time of writing, the first evidence found is that he was
onboard this company’s (full-rigged) ship Dynomene,
as one of her five apprentices. She sailed from Cardiff, in all
likelihood with coal, on 6th January 1902. Hong Kong was her first port of
discharge, probably using the trade winds to advantage via the Cape of Good
Hope, arriving there in mid-June and departing again in late July. A month-and-a-half
later she arrived at Royal Roads, Victoria, possibly loading with timber for
a week. Relatively close, Astoria, Oregon, was reached in late September.
Once again there for about a week, probably to complete loading, she began
her transit home that will have been via Cape Horn (the less arduous way),
making Queenstown, County Cork, on 10th March 1903. She then paid off at
Liverpool on March 29th.
Although her articles for the next voyage have not been seen, as yet,
it is highly likely that he remained onboard her for her next epic
journey. Once again sailing from Cardiff she was bound for Table Bay that was
known to take Welsh coal. Whether she then sailed in ballast, cannot be
determined from the information to hand, but she arrived in Tampa, Florida
that November. Following some weeks in port, another long haul, via Cape
Horn, took her all the way to Melbourne, Victoria: arriving there in the
spring of 1904. After around a month there, she made the long transit home.
Endeavouring to make for St. George’s Channel and the Irish Sea, she must
have been blown into the English Channel, before arriving in Liverpool and
paid off on December 12th.
As per his application form, it looks as if he must have gone straight
to the local Mercantile Marine Office and taken his examinations for
certification as a square-rig second mate the same day. Passing, his ‘ticket’
was dated as of the 15th. At this time his address was shown as in nearby
Great Crosby. Within a week he had
signed on to the Khorazan, as her third mate. Also owned by the
Liverpool Shipping Company Limited, she was a mid-sized steamer.
Although she had begun her voyage in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Mr. Mayor joined
her in Antwerp, Belgium. On clearing this port, she proceeded to Buenos Aires
in the Argentine, then up river to Rosario. Before transiting the Atlantic
Ocean again, she was in Parana, Brazil. Having returned to Antwerp, he was
discharged on May 25th, along with her company.
The Julia Park, was his next ship, signing on to her in
mid-December, as second mate. A Glasgow-registered vessel, owned by the Park
Steamship Company Limited. On sailing from Newport, Monmouthshire; she
ventured over to Pernambuco and Bahia, Brazil; and on her way back, called in
at Cape Verde; before discharging in Antwerp latterly in March 1906.
Five trips on two vessels owned by the Ellerman Line of London, but
operated by managers in Liverpool, followed. The former vessel was the Bosnian
that he joined in Liverpool as her third mate that April. On this trip she
traded variously in the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Aegean Seas, returning to
Liverpool, via Lisbon, in mid-July. She was then turned around in less than a
fortnight. Sailing once again, this was a shorter voyage, to the central
Mediterranean, ending in August. The other vessel was the Arabian.
Once again as her third mate, he signed onto her in mid-October. On the first
of these voyages, she travelled to the central Mediterranean and back to
Liverpool. Sailing once again, she went to the eastern Mediterranean, the
Levant and the Black Sea and home to Liverpool again via Lisbon. The Adriatic
was returned to on the last of these voyages, Mr. Mayor was discharged from
her in early June 1907.
Having returned to Liverpool, he took and passed his first mate’s
examinations there in late July. Unfortunately, due to the lack of another
document, there is another gap in his career. He may well have married in
1908 though.
The next time that his career has been picked up was in early May
1914, when he signed onto a Newcastle-registered vessel, Zurichmoor,
of the Moore Line, in Manchester. As her second mate, she was bound for the
West Coast of South America, from the port of Manchester. She touched at Las
Palmas in mid-May, arriving in Buenos Aires in early June. Sailing ten days
later, she travelled up the coast to Rosario, Brazil, arriving there in late
June. Approximately three weeks later she sailed again, this time for
Castries, Saint Lucia. She made port on August 11th and remained until the
19th, sailing north to Norfolk, Virginia: arriving on August 26th. Although
the German light-cruiser Karlsruhe had been active in the eastern
Caribbean, coaling mostly, if the Zurichmoor
had been held at Saint Lucia, it is likely that it was only done so while the
commercial markets stabilised. Proceeding from Norfolk on September 3rd,
probably after coaling, she made Philadelphia a day later. Continuing up the
U.S. coast, she arrived at Dartmouth, Massachusetts on October 4th. After a
short stay, possibly to take on more cargo, she then crossed the Atlantic and
entered the Mediterranean, arriving at Marseilles, France, on the 13th. Twelve days later she began her transit
home, via Falmouth, probably for orders and arrived at her final port of
discharge, Barry, Glamorgan, on November 11th.
Mr. Mayor probably went home to Liverpool after being paid off in
South Wales. He then signed to the Fenmore of the Liverpool-based
Johnston Line that was part of the Furness, Withy group, as her third-mate,
on December 8th. Proceeding for the
Mediterranean, she touched at Valetta, Malta and arrived in Piraeus, on
mainland Greece, on Christmas Day. Into the Aegean, she then ventured up to
Salonica, by then annexed by Greece, before returning to Liverpool, via
Valetta and Huelva, Spain and being discharged on 2nd February 1915.
Remaining with the Johnston Line, his next ship was the Vedamore and it would seem that he was happy
onboard her. Initially her third-mate for two voyages over to Baltimore,
another three similar trips as her second-mate followed on. The last time
that he was paid off from her was on 18th December 1915.
With the records available in London, there is another slight gap in
this mariner’s career. However, he is known to have been the second-mate on
the Tabasco, as of early to mid-June 1916. She was one of Furness,
Withy’s vessels. In the latter six months of this year, she made four voyages
from Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia, via St. John’s, Newfoundland and back
to Liverpool.
Having signed on routinely as her second-mate on December 23rd, this
voyage proved to be rather different. Homeward bound, she proceeded from
Halifax with general cargo, at 4 p.m. on 15th January 1917. Nothing out of
the ordinary had occurred and at 8 a.m. on the 26th, while approximately 60
miles west of the Skelligs, County Kerry, in
squally weather with a swell, rain and mist, all hands were called to swing
out the lifeboats. Fifteen minutes later on the bridge her master, Herbert
George Moxon, sighted a submarine about one point (eleven-and-a-quarter
degrees) abaft her port beam, approximately one mile distant. As per
Admiralty instructions, the master ordered her helm hard-a-port, to bring the
submarine astern. Predictably, the submarine took chase, opening fire.
Realising that the German gunners had the merchantman’s range, Captain Moxon
stopped his vessel and at about 9.15 a.m. had the boats lowered. Before
leaving her, he destroyed all the Admiralty confidential papers. Even
although the crew were abandoning ship, U45’s gunners continued firing
and a shell struck the Tabasco’s port bow. All of her company got away
in two lifeboats though and pulled eastward. At this time U45 (under
the command of Kapitänleutnant Erich Sittenfeld) went around her target’s
stern and at short range, torpedoed her in her port side. The Tabasco
sank by her head at around 10 a.m. On completion, U45 proceeded
westward and opened fire on another steamer around three miles away.
Presumably, this was the Liddesdale that escaped.
Captain Moxon ordered the lifeboats’ sails to be set, proceeding due
east. A steamer overhauling them was sighted at about 1 p.m. Thirty minutes
later, the Bristol City drew near and rescued them, under difficult
conditions – this taking about an hour. The survivors were landed at
Liverpool on the 29th at 3.30 p.m. Venturing back to sea again, Frank Mayor
signed onto another of the Johnston Line’s vessels in Liverpool, on April
20th. This was as the Dromore’s second-mate. Outward-bound with
approximately 1,000 tons of general cargo for Baltimore, she had sailed in
fine weather from Liverpool at 4.20 p.m. on April 25th. Having cleared the
North Channel and proceeded into the Atlantic, by the forenoon of the 27th
the sky was overcast and there was a heavy swell running. In accordance with
Admiralty Instructions, she was zig-zagging at about ten-and-a-half knots.
At 9.30 a.m. her master, Arthur Smith that was on the port side of her
lower bridge, heard a ‘very loud explosion’ and saw hatches and debris from
her after deck fly masthead high. Captain Smith had not been sure if his
command had been hit by a mine, or torpedo and assessed the detonation to
have been between holds three and four. Mr. Mayor was on the bridge as the
officer-of-the-watch and was preparing to make a turn to starboard when the
detonation occurred and so, attending to his duties did not see this.
However, the first mate, Frederick John Murrell that had been on the
starboard side of the poop-deck on the gun-platform was called over to the
port side. There he saw the torpedo’s wake only fifty yards away. So
close, there was no time to raise the alarm and he was blown into the air –
landing on the ‘remains of the gun platform’. As far as Mr. Murrell could
determine, the torpedo had struck her on the port side of hold number five
and also blew out part of her starboard side. Thankfully, the magazine did
not go up and miraculously, no one was killed.
Since the engines slowed and stopped, Captain Smith knew that the
propeller shaft had been damaged. He also confirmed that there was a ‘large
hole’ in her starboard side and so, ordered abandonment immediately. After
the crew had taken to the lifeboats Captain Smith went around the ship to
ensure that no one was still onboard. Mr. Mayor confirmed that the master was
the last to leave her. Following the explosion, Mr. Murrell had put his
lifebelt on and although not mentioned in his examination on oath, must have
picked his way over the shambles aft, before joining the master. The Dromore
only lasted about fifteen minutes, sinking by the stern. Only after this was U58
(commanded by Kapitänleutnant Kurt Wippern) seen. She
was trimmed down some distance away, pursuing another merchantman. This would appear to have been a Norwegian
steamer, Langfond, as she was nearby and
attacked by torpedo at 10.40 a.m. The master’s lifeboat, sailed directly
for Tory Island and arrived there at noon on April 28th. One of Lough
Swilly’s patrol-craft, H.M. Armed-Minesweeping Trawler Ferriby, was in
the vicinity six hours later and took these 21 survivors off, landing them at
Buncrana, County Donegal at 10 p.m. The other 22 in the first-mate’s boat,
were rescued by H.M. Armed-Minesweeping Trawler Sethon,
when they were about ten miles from Tory Island and also taken to Buncrana.
Re-united, they were all sent to the Sailors’ Home in Londonderry, by
automobile.
Incidentally, two Shetland Isles based armed-trawlers, Arley
and Saxon, along with a special service vessel, King Lear, were
ordered to look for the Dromore’s crew. But, King Lear was not
able to do so, as she was short of coal.
Due to the already mentioned weaknesses in the records, at the time of
writing there is another gap in Mr. Mayor’s sea-time. Even so, it is known
that he signed onto the Rexmore in June
1918. On this voyage she sailed from the Tyne for Fowey, Cornwall then
Baltimore, as usual. She returned via New York and Immingham, Lincolnshire,
discharging in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. He continued to serve onboard
her all through 1919 and signed onto her again in February 1920.
Sadly, Frank Mayor died late on 16th November 1920, falling into
Rushbrook Graving Dock, Queenstown, County Cork. He had been signed onto a
Furness-Withy steamer, Grampian Range, at the time. So, it was his
widow, in Birkenhead, across the river from Liverpool that applied for her
late-husband’s medals. |
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