| First Name: | Patrick | ||
| Last Name: | Flaherty | ||
| Rank: | Seaman | ||
| Regiment: | Royal Navy Reserves | ||
| Military Number: | 4864B | ||
| Place of Birth: | Lower Fairhill Claddagh | ||
| Place of Death: | HMS Bulwark | ||
| Date of Death: | 20-Nov-14 | ||
| Age: | 40 | ||
| Additional Information: | Killed in Action: 26 November 1914. Age 40. (Killed by an internal explosion on board ship off Sheerness).Body Not Recovered For Burial. Supplementary Notes: Son of Michael & Margaret Flaherty of Galway; husband of Sabina Flaherty of Lower Fairhill, Claddagh, Galway. Remembered: Portsmouth Naval Memorial-Hampshire-United Kingdom (6).
HMS Bulwark, British, London class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship. Exploded whilst lying at anchor at Sheerness with only 12 survivors. During that day she had been taking on board ammunition and it was thought that the shells had been stacked too close together and too close to a boiler room which caused some of them to ignite and cause a magazine explosion. In terms of loss of life, the explosion on HMS Bulwark remains the second most catastrophic explosion in the history of the UK, killing 738 sailors. The most deadly explosion in British history was that of HMS Vanguard, caused by a stokehold fire detonating a magazine, at Scapa Flow in 1917.
The bodies of nearly 10 per cent of the crew of the ill-fated battleship BULWARK (1914) have now been recovered. None of the naval cadets, however, is in that number. The inquest on five more bodies was held at Chatham Naval Hospital yesterday. Three were identified as First Class Stoker James Frederick Morgan, Ordinary Seaman Thomas Jupp and Private Albert Frost, Royal Marines. The other two, although one was practically tattooed from head to foot, were not identified. A verdict of accidental death was returned in each case. [Dundee Courier 21.1.1915] Divers sent to find the wreck reported that the ship’s port bow as far aft as the sick bay had been blown off by the explosion and lay 50 feet (15 m) east of the mooring. The starboard bow lay 30 feet (9 m) further away. The remainder of the ship had been torn apart so violently that no other large portions of the wreck could be found.
|
Royal Navy Reserve
Patrick flaherty from: his great gran son michael feeney. patrick is 2 from the right.
4864B seaman Patrick Flaherty. HMS Bulwark,
HMS Bulwark Royal navy Reserve
Portsmouth Naval Memorial. (6)