The wreck of the MEXICO CITY lies in 101m of water and is orientated 225 (bow)/045 (stern). The wreck is 114m in length and 15.4m in width although the overall length seems to have been truncated when the ship impacted the seabed.
The wreck was originally identified by the UKHO as the TRINIDAD. Research by Dr Innes McCartney (2022: 117) for the Echoes from the Deep project, following a detailed survey by Bangor University in May 2019, identified the wreck as being too long and wide for the TRINIDAD. Instead, it was concluded to be dimensionally, positionally, and archivally consistent with the loss of the NAME, and its record has been updated to reflect that new research.
NOTE: The revised position of the wreck of the MEXICO CITY places it outside of Welsh Waters, on the Irish side of the Wales/Ireland median line. As such, the MEXICO CITY should no longer be considered as an active part of the National Monuments Record of Wales. It has been retained for completeness as its crew were landed in Wales following the loss of the ship.
Event and Historical Information:
The MEXICO CITY was a steel-hulled steamship built by the Sunderland Ship Building Co Ltd, Sunderland, in 1896. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 5078gt, 3179nt; 400ft length x 47ft 6in breadth x 20ft 2in depth; 1 deck (spar deck), passenger deck 36ft, boat deck 186ft, forecastle 50ft; screw propulsion powered by 4 steam boilers linked to a quadruple engine; machinery by Whigham, Richardson & Co, Newcastle. At time of loss on 5 February 1918, the vessel had been fitted with one 4in QF stern gun. It was owned by Ellerman Lines and registered at Hong Kong. The MEXICO CITY had left Liverpool at 6.30am on 5 February 1918. The ship was carrying 6,300tons of general cargo and was heading to Milford Haven to join a convoy for Alexandria. The steamship was torpedoed without warning at 7.15 pm by the German submarine U-101, the weapon detonating abreast No.2 hatch on the port side. The vessel was immediately abandoned. The boat containing the Chief Officer was later picked up by a USN torpedo boat destroyer at 8.22 am two days later. A second boat, in which there was the Chinese cook and seven Chinese seamen, was picked up by the steamship LEINSTER at 11.15 am on 6 February and landed at Holyhead. The boat in which were the DEMS Gunner James McQueen, six Europeans and eight Chinese, capsized when being picked up by the steamship WAR BRACKEN. Only the gunner and three Chinese were saved. These were landed at Milford. The Chinese boson and five other crewmembers were landed at Douglas, and another boat appears to have reached Holyhead. Those lost included the Master, who was last seen going into his cabin to collect the code books and ship's papers in order to throw them overboard.
Sources include:
ADM137/4010 Home Waters Ships Attacked February 1 to 14 1918, The National Archives, Kew
Gater, D, 1992, Historic Shipwrecks of Wales, pp.132-3
HMSO, 1988, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 and 1939-45, p.80
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Confidential War Loss Record 1914-18, p.199
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 January - 31 March 1918, p.11 (i)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping 1 July 1915 -30 June 1916, number 1109 in M
McCartney, I., 2022. Echoes from the Deep. Leiden: Sidestone Press. https://www.sidestone.com/books/echoes-from-the-deep
U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea
UKHO ID 6992: Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, from UK Hydrographic Office.
J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, May 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.