The wreck lies with its keel orientated 030/120 degrees. The reported length of the wreck varies from 130-181m, which perhaps suggest a larger vessel than the LORD DERBY whose length is given as 114m (375ft) long. The wreck has a high point amidships of 13.9m.

Event and Historical Information:
The LORD DERBY was a steel-hulled steamship built by A McMillan & Son Ltd, Dumbarton, in 1905. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 3757gt, 2401nt; 375ft 7in long x 48ft 5in breadth x 16ft 3in depth; 1 deck, spar deck, 6 bulkheads, passenger deck 35ft, boat deck and forecastle 298ft; screw propulsion powered by three boilers linked to a triple expansion engine producing 394hp; machinery by Dunsmuir & Jackson Ltd, Glasgow; official number 120897. The Mercantile Navy List of 1910 gives John Herron as the owner and that the ship was orignally registered at Liverpool in 1905. By the time of the Mercantile Navy List of 1915 it states the owener as Occidental & Oriental Steam Navigation Company Limited and the ship was registered in Sydney, Australia, in 1914. At time of loss on 28 December 1917, the vessel was owned by the P Samuel & Company, 2 Fenchurch Avenue, London and was operating for the Government as Collier Transport 1667. It was carrying a large quantity of mail for Malta (120 tons in 712 bags) and 5106 tons of coals, and 120 tons of general cargo. The ship had left Cardiff on 27 December 1917 and was bound to the Mediterranean via Milford Haven. The attack by U 105, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Friedrich Strackerjan, took place with St Ann's Head bearing NE by N mag 7-6 miles, at 2.45am, on the 28 December 1917. The ship was steering NE 1/2 E (mag) and travelling at 9 knots towards the entrance of the Haven. The steamer had been zig-zagging as far as St Govans and had placed two lookouts - one on the forecastle head, one on the bridge. The master, Samuel Henry Bland, a pilot and the 2nd officer were also on the bridge. Yet the submarine was not seen and, after being torpedoed, the vessel immediately began to settle by the head and sank wihtin 20 minutes (the torpedo hit between the bunkers and engine room). There were 40 crewmenbers onboard including the pilot and 2 naval ratings to man the 12 pounder gun. The majority of the crew were noted as being black. The survivors were picked up by SS LOUGH FISHER and landed at Newport, Monmouthshire. The crewmembers commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial are as follows: James Pratt, Greaser, age 31, of Cardiff, born Sierra Leone; Laurie Johnson, Fireman and Trimmer, Age 24, born Barbados; and Jack Braithwaite, Fireman and Trimmer, age 21, of Port of Spain, Trinidad. The U 105 also sank the steamships SARPFOS (NPRN: 272251), DALEWOOD (NPRN: 518338) and PENVEARN (NPRN: 272252).

Sources include:

ADM137/4007 Home Waters Ships Attacked December 16-31 1917, The National Archives, Kew
Appropriation Books, Official Numbers 120851 - 120900 (120897)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, p.109
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 October - 31 December 1917, p.10 (i)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1915 - 30 June 1916, number 826 in L
Lord Derby, uboat.net
Mercantile Navy List, 1910, p.307
Mercantile Navy List, 1915, p.354
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).
 

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, May 2019.

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.