This record comprises a documentary reference to a shipping casualty which has been assigned to the maritime named location IRISH SEA pending more information which may allow a more precise location for the loss to be assigned.

Event and Historical Information:
The GLENFRUIN was a steel-hulled steamship built by A Rodger & Co in 1904. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 3097gt, 2026nt; 320ft 1in x 47ft 5in x 23ft; 1 deck, 6 x bulkheads, passenger deck 25ft, boatdeck 118ft, forecastle 30ft; screw propulsion powered by twin steam boilers linked to a triple expansion engine producing 247hp; official number 119134. At time of loss around 29 January 1918, the vessel was owned by S S Glenfruin Company Ltd and was carrying iron ore from Seriphos to Ardrossan under the command of E B Mockness. The ship was torpedoed, probably by UC-31, in the Irish Sea off Holyhead with the loss of all 32 crewmembers. The vessel was last seen in the Bay of Biscay on 26 January after leaving Gibraltar on 20 January. The names commemorated on memorial to the Mercantile Marine at Tower Hill and those on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial are Thomas Birmingham, age 55, Fireman and Trimmer ; John Campbell, age 18, Signalman , Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve; William Caravana, age 18, Able Seaman ; Herbert Clegg, age 21 , Able Seaman ; Enrique Contrerus, age 27, Fireman and Trimmer ; George Courdson, age 26, Leading Seaman ; Angelo Debono, age 18, Sailor ; John Duff, age 35, First Mate ; Charles Dullaghan, age 20, Able Seaman , Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve ; John McLeod Dunn, age 54 , Fireman and Trimmer ; Malcolm Martin, age 26, Donkeyman ; Percy Gray , age 34, , Boatswain ; J Haiti, age 55, Carpenter ; David Halliday, age 40 , Third Engineer ; David Hamilton, age 48, Fireman and Trimmer ; T Hiatt , age 44, Fireman and Trimmer; Edward Thomas Le Feuvre, age 56, Second Mate ; Edward Megaw, age 36, Fireman and Trimmer ; Alexander McBride, age 42 , Fireman and Trimmer ; Duncan Donald, age 38 , Second Engineer ; Burteralla Lewis McKenzie, age 19, Able Seaman ; Frank Nicholls, age 54, Cook ; John Pickering, age 20 , Wireless Operator ; Silberios Pinto, age 18 , Assistant Cook ; Neste Poweller, age 19 , Mess Room Steward ; John Rickets, age 29, Steward ; John Scott, age 25, Able Seaman ; William Stewart, age 38 , First Engineer ; Andrew Sword, age 50, Master ; Archibald Thomson, age 16, Ordinary Seaman ; Frderick Watson, age 57, Sailor ; and William Watt, age 16 , Ordinary Seaman .

Sources include:
Daily Record, 14 March 1918
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 20 March 1918
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyds Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1915 - 30 June 1916, number 498 in G
Mercantile Navy List, 1910, page 204
Mercantile Navy List, 1910, page 204
The Scotsman, 14 March 1918

WWW resources:
https://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/2532.html

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, August 2019.