Emmanuel Timothy, died 05th Mar 1918

[michaeldr]

Emmanuel Timothy, Trimmer, Merchant Marine

Date of death, 05th March 1918, aged 21 years

Son of the late Stephen and Ann Timothy. Born at Freetown, Sierra Leone

Commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial

The Tower Hill Memorial commemorates men and women of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who died in both world wars and who have no known grave. It stands on the south side of the garden of Trinity Square, London, close to the Tower of London. In the First World War, the civilian navy's duty was to be the supply service of the Royal Navy, to transport troops and supplies to the armies, to transport raw materials to overseas munitions factories and munitions from those factories, to maintain, on a reduced scale, the ordinary import and export trade, to supply food to the home country and - in spite of greatly enlarged risks and responsibilities - to provide both personnel and ships to supplement the existing resources of the Royal Navy. Losses of vessels were high from the outset, but had peaked in 1917 when in January the German government announced the adoption of "unrestricted submarine warfare". The subsequent preventative measures introduced by the Ministry of Shipping - including the setting up of the convoy system where warships were used to escort merchant vessels - led to a decrease in losses but by the end of the war, 3,305 merchant ships had been lost with a total of 17,000 lives. In the Second World War, losses were again considerable in the early years, reaching a peak in 1942. The heaviest losses were suffered in the Atlantic, but convoys making their way to Russia around the North Cape, and those supplying Malta in the Mediterranean were also particularly vulnerable to attack. In all, 4,786 merchant ships were lost during the war with a total of 32,000 lives. More than one quarter of this total were lost in home waters. The First World War section of the Tower Hill Memorial commemorates almost 12, 000 Mercantile Marine casualties who have no grave but the sea. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick. The Second World War extension, designed by Sir Edward Maufe, with sculpture by Charles Wheeler, bears almost 24,000 names.

Emmanuel Timothy died when his ship the SS Estrella was mined and sank off Harwich

Built in 1913 as the 1757 ton ‘Sanwarine’ the ship was sold in 1914 by R. A. Sanderson & C0, Manchester, to The Bergen Steamship Co. who renamed her ‘Estrella.’ The ship was requisitioned by the UK in 1917

I have a feeling that this has been asked before, but could someone remind me what a 'Trimmer' did?

Regards

Michael D.R.

[Rob Bulloch]

I think a trimmers had something to do with loading of coal for the boiler-room

Cheers Rob.

[michaeldr]

I think I get the picture Rob

A ‘trimmer’ would ensure that the ship was kept in trim by making sure that the distribution of the fuel in the coal hold was even

Thanks for your prompt reply

And very many happy returns of the day

Michael D.R.

[christine liava'a]

Some photos of Freetown, Sierra Leone during war period.

http://www.sierra-leone.org/pc-historic14.html

Note mention of "Krootown' -see earlier thread about Kroomen