Archaeological remains associated with the loss of this vessel are not confirmed as present at this location, but may be in the vicinity.
Event and Historical Information:
The RENFREW was a steamship built by W Doxford & Sons Ltd at Paillon, Sunderland, in 1907. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 3830gt; 350ft length x 50ft breadth x 22ft depth; screw propulsion powered by a triple expansion engine producing 310 nhp ;official number 124172 . It was originally named GALAVALE and was owned by The Vale Steamship Company Limited, Bothwell Street, Glasgow (Andrew Crawford, manager) until 1917, The ship was owned by the Irismere Steam Navigation Company at time of loss and had been provided with armament for the duration of the war. On 24 February 1918, the vessel was on passage from Balboa to Barrow when it was torpedoed by U-91 and sank 8 miles southwest of St Ann's Head with the loss of the captain and 39 other crew members. Although reported to have been located by HM trawler PENGIUN on 27 February 1918 at 51 35 30N, 05 18 24W, the wreck has not been relocated in subsequent area surveys. The names commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial to the Mercantile Marine, Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Plymouth Naval Memorial, and on the Bombay 1914-18 Memorial Mumbai include as follows: Joseph Hill, master, age 39; Malcolm Speed, Leading Seaman, age 33, Royal Naval Reserve; William James Charles Jeal, Able Seaman, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve; Abdul Abdus Subhan, Serang; Abdul Ali Qudratullah, Donkeyman; Abdul Ali Aziz Shamsullah, Lascar; Abdul Ghafur Shahbaz Miyan, Trimmer; Abdullah Musa, Lascar; Abdul Wahb Azam, Trimmer; Abdur Rahim Karim Muhammad, General Servant; Abdur Razzar Azhar Ali, Steward; Abrar Ali Latif Karim, Carpenter; Ahmad Husain Karim Bakhsh, Seacunny; Amjad Ali Ramazan Ali, Seacunny; Aslamullah Jamal Muhammad, First Tindal; Azizullah Khatob Muhammad, Fireman; Baduddin Muhammad, Bhandary; Bhagu Qadiruddin, Topass; Ghulam Rasul Harun, Lascar; Habib Muhammad Sadiq Muhammad, Trimmer; Hasan Ali Aqil Muhammad, Fireman; Hidayat Kifayat, General Servant; Hitimullah Khan, Second Tindal; Hurmatullah Nasibullah, Fireman; Ishaq Miyan Safri Muhammad, Trimmer; Ismail Ali Muhammad Moti Ali, Serang; Latif Munnu, Seacunny; Maula Bakhsh Khadim Bakhsh, Tindal; Mutiullah Musharrafullah, Fireman; Niazullah Nur Muhammad, Fireman; Nur Muhammad Sarfarz, Donkeyman; Samad Khan Sharafat Khan, Fireman; Shams Wahid, Lascar; Sibghatullah Amjadullah, Trimmer; Wahidullah Salimullah, Cassab, Bombay; Wajid Ali Munsh Miyan, Trimmer; Wazir Ahmad, Lascar; John Coulson, Fourth Engineer Officer, age 24; Louis De La Cherios, apprentice age 24; Robert Henderson, first mate, age 48; Arthur Richardson, apprentice, age 18; and David Rolland, Second Engineer, age 36.
Sources include:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, p.110
Hocking, C, 1989, Dictionary of Disasters in the Age of Steam, p.586
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 January - 31 March 1918, p.10 (i)
Mercantile Navy List, 1910, p.194
Mercantile Navy List, 1915, p.223
Renfrew, uboat.net
SS Renfrew, Wreck Site EU
U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea
UK Hydrographic Office Wrecks and Obstructions Database. ? Crown Copyright and database rights. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office and the UK Hydrographic Office (www.ukho.gov.uk).
William Doxford & Sons, Wikipedia
Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, July 2018.
This record was enhanced in 2020 with funding from Lloyd's Register Foundation as part of the project ‘Making the Link: Lloyd's Register and the National Monuments Record of Wales’. Visit Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage and Education Centre for more resources.