This record consists of a documentary reference to a shipping casualty which has been assigned to the maritime named location OFF MILFORD HAVEN pending more information which may allow a more precise location for the loss to be assigned.

For information on the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 Act and its administration with regard to vessels, please contact the Ministry of Defence, Wreck Section, Naval Personnel Secretariat, Room 125 Victory Building, HMNB Portsmouth, PO1 3LS.

Event and Historical Information:
The EVANGEL was a steel-hulled, steam trawler built by Smith's Dock Co Ltd, Middlesbrough, in 1914. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 197gt, 86nt; 12ft 5in x 21ft 5in x 11ft 7in; 1 deck, 2 bulkheads, quarterdeck 67ft; screw propulsion powered by a single boiler linked to a triple expansion engine producing official 68hp; official number 135995. The trawler was on Admiralty hire from the Consolidated Steam Fishing, & Ice Co, Grimsby, and taken into service as an armed patrol boat and minesweeper. In August 1915, the EVANGEL was featured in local newspapers in relation to a tragedy involving her skipper, George Ernest Ellis, of Cleethorpes who collapsed and died in HM Naval Patrol Office. He was 38 years of age. His body was placed in an oak coffin, then a division of RNVR skippers and men transferred his coffin draped in a union jack to the station for burial at home. The EVANGEL was under the command of H Andrews when it detonated a mine laid by German submarine UC-48 off the port of Milford Haven on 25 March 1917. The patrol boat had a total crew of 19 and all were lost in the incident.

Sources include:
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, pg104
Haverfordwest and Milford Haven Telegraph and General Weekly Reporter, 25 August 1915, pg2 (http://newspapers.library.wales/view/4118577/4118579)
HMSO, 1988, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 and 1939-45, pg114
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyds Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1915 - 30 June 1916, number 1052 in E

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, February 2019.