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

Event and Historical Information:
The FINISTERE was a steel-hulled barque/steamship built in 1908 by Archibald MacMillan and Son of Dumbarton (yard number 424). Technical and configuration specifications are given as 2112gt, length 249ft x breadth 48ft x depth 21ft 8in; sail with an auxiliary triple expansion engine connected to single boiler and generating 92 horsepower; engine made by Muir & Houston Ltd; official number 128218, Glasgow. The ship was originally named as the KINMOUNT and was owned by the Montreal Transportation Company, Montreal, until 1917. At the time of loss, 11 June 1918, the vessel was owned by Cie. Generale Transatlantique, Paris, and carried the French flag. The FINISTERE left Cardiff on 9 June 1918 for Bordeaux carrying coal and was not heard from again. Sources differ as to whether it was torpedoed or struck a mine. Twenty-three crewmembers was lost, with only three bodies subsequently being recovered. The crew lost include Fernard Berceger, master; Louis Fresnet, chief engineer; Constant Larriven, second engineer; August Hery, greaser; Joseph Briand, boatswain; Celestine Henry, sailor; Edouard Le Soudeer, sailor; Rene Poinard, sailor; Luciean Vigor, apprentice; Louis Soulier, cabin boy; Jean Remond, sailor; Andre Delon, fireman; Pierre Landureau, fireman; Maurice Malgorn, fireman; Jean Houitte, fireman; Jean Herninon, fireman; Laurent Durieux, fireman; Marcel Lebrere, steward; Esteban Royo, cook; Max Soyer, ship's boy; Michel Soux; Francoise Le Thielis; Jean More, gunner; Louis Ricard, gunner; Jean Porsmogeur, gunner; Louis Squeren, gunner; and Francois Sucheito, gunner.

Sources include:
von Munching, L L, 1968, Allied, Neutral and Central Merchant Shipping Losses 1914-18 pg 17
Hocking, C, 1989, Dictionary of Disasters at Sea in the Age of Steam, pg 242
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Mercantile Navy List, 1910, page 280
Mercantile Navy List, 1915, page 321

WWW resources:
https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?140057

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, May 2019.