The wreck of the KIRKBY lies in 68m of water and is orientated 290 (bow)/ 110 (stern). The wreck is 92m long, 12m wide, and a pair of boilers and a compound engine are visible amidships (McCartney, 2022: 191).

The wreck was originally identified by the UKHO as the GALATEA (NPRN 516127). Research by Dr Innes McCartney (2022: 191) for the Echoes from the Deep project, following a detailed survey by Bangor University in May 2017, identified the wreck as being dimensionally, positionally, and archivally consistent with the loss of the KIRKBY. The record has been updated to reflect that research.

Event and Historical Information:
The KIRKBY was a steel-hulled steamship built by Ropner and Sons, Stockton on Tees, in 1891. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 3034gt, 1976nt; 315ft length x 40ft 5in breadth x 20ft 2in depth; 1 deck, 5 bulkheads, passenger deck 33ft, quarterdeck 98ft; screw propulsion powered by 2 boilers linked to triple expansion engine producing 256hp; machinery by Blair & Co Ltd., Stockton. In 1888, Robert Ropner had bought the Stockton yard of Matthew Pearse. Ropner was the son of a Prussian army officer who had stowed away on a Hamburg steamer in 1846 intending to pursue a life in the merchant navy. He changed his mind after the sea crossing and became first a baker and then, eventually, a partner in the ship-owning, coal-exporting company of Thomas Appleby. In 1874 Ropner branched out on his own, establishing his own fleet of 5 vessels to work in the Baltic trade. Renamed Ropner and Son, the Pearse yard built four new steamers for the family fleet in 1889, and a further 18 steamers over the next 6 years, the KIRKBY being amongst them.

At the time of loss on 17 August 1915, the KIRKBY was still part of the Ropner fleet (Sir R Ropner & Co Ltd) and was carrying coal from Barry to Manchester. The ship was captured by U-38 and torpedoed 20 miles west-southwest of Bardsey Island. 

The KIRKBY and GLENBY (NPRN 274830), both owned by Ropner, were among 10 vessels sunk on 17 August by U-38. The U-boat had begun its patrol in April in the North Sea, passing north around Scotland to then come south to cruise between southern Ireland and Ushant, France. This patrol accounted for 5 trawlers, 3 sailing vessels and 22 merchant ships. Max Valentiner and U-38 would go on to be amongst the five most successful commanders and German submarines of the First World War.

Sources include:

Great War at Sea: The QUEEN sunk 17 August 1915, People's Collection Wales

HMSO, 1988, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 and 1939-45, p.11

Koerver, H J, (ed), 2012, German Submarine Warfare 1914-18 in the eyes of British Intelligence, p.175

Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002

Lloyd's Casualty War Losses Return 1914-18, p.23

Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 July - 30 September 1915, p.8 (i)

Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1915 - 30 June 1916, number 596 in K

McCartney, I., 2022. Echoes from the Deep. Leiden: Sidestone Press. https://www.sidestone.com/books/echoes-from-the-deep

Mercantile Navy List, 1900, p.196

Mercantile Navy List, 1910, p.281

Mercantile Navy List, 1915, p.322

U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea

UKHO ID 9959: Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, from UK Hydrographic Office.

J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, December 2023.

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.