Apprentice Richard Barrington Reed
SS Torrington
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1899
Place of Birth: Gravesend, Kent
Date of Death: 9th April 1917 aged 17
Buried: Remembered on Tower Hill Memorial London and Shaldon War Memorial.
Apprentice Richard Barrington Reed, age 17, was the son of Richard George S Reed, who was a coastguard, born 1870 in Shaldon.
His mother was Elizabeth Anne nee Seldon. The Reed family lived for a while in Sheerness Kent but had a long association with Shaldon. 1871 census lists his grandfather, also Richard Barrington Reed, as boatman in the Coastguard Service.
Richard Jnr was born 1899 in Gravesend, Kent but following the death of his father the 1911 census finds him living with his mother, sister and paternal grandmother at 8 The Green, Shaldon.
U-boat U-55
Apprentice Reed lost his life when SS 'Torrington' (a cargo ship sailing from Italy to Cardiff to load coal for the Italian railways) was torpedoed by U 55 (Werner) off the Isles of Scilly on the 9th April 1917.
The torpedo hit forward of the bridge. The submarine then surfaced and opened fire on the ship. The Torrington's Captain ordered his men into the lifeboats, then the submarine came alongside.
Captain Starkey was ordered below deck of the U-boat, which he did thinking he could save his men. Some of the crew went on the deck of the U-boat, whilst others remained in a lifeboat. The captain of the U-boat then ordered the vessel to dive remarking that “the others could swim”. Through the submerging of the U-boat about 20 member of the Torrington’s crew were washed off and killed.
The remaining crew in the lifeboat were never heard of again. In total thirty four members of the crew were killed and Captain Starkey was the only survivor.
