Rev. David Youngson has submitted the following:
John Gatenby CARLING
Mercantile Marine
Master S.S.Thames
He was the father of Mrs. K.G. Hardie, of 249 Whitehall Road, Gateshead. He resided at 89 Station Road, Norton, Stockton on Tees and was Initiated into 1418 Lodge of Fraternity, Freemasons Hall, Stockton on Tees on 26th July 1917. There are no records of any further advancement. According to the Lodge and CWGC records he was lost at sea with other members of the crew on 14th August 1917 aged 51 and is remembered on the Tower Hill Memorial.
Editor’s Note:
According to Maritime Records the S.S. Thames of Hull (403 GRT) was built at Goole in 1910 and owned by Dale Coasters Limited. She was reported to have sailed from Middlesbrough for Fecamp with a cargo of pig iron on the 14th August 1917. Nothing more was heard of her and she was posted as missing/untraced on the 21st November 1917. The German U Boat diaries indicate that she was sunk by gun fire from the German U Boat UC-63 commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Karsten von Heydebreck at 53 degrees 42 North, 00 degrees 24 East with the loss of all hands.
The Times 22/11/1917
Missing Steamers Posted
At Lloyd's yesterday the British steamers AYLEVAROO and THAMES, and the Greek steamer FRIXOS, were posted as missing. The AYLEVAROO, 908 tons, Tracey master, was re-ported to have sailed from Liverpool for Tralee and Limerick on October 7, with a general cargo, and waslast seen off the Skerries on the same morning by the British steamer Conigbeg. The AYLEVAROO was built at Newcastle in 1908 as the Lillie, and was ownedby the Limerick Steamship Company. The THAMES, Carling master, was reported to have sailed from Middlesborough for Fécamp on August 14, with a cargoof pig-iron. She was of 403 tons, built at Goole in 1910, and owned by the Dale Coasters (Limited). The FRIXOS, Fakis master, sailed from New York for Man-chester on April 19, with a cargo of wheat. She was a steamer of 3,531 tons, built at West Hartlepool in 1907, and managed by Embiricos Brothers.
John Gatenby Carling is remembered in Stockton on S138.08, S138.18a and S138.75
He is also included in Masonic Roll of Honour Mercantile Marine deaths, 1917 and on our on our List of Ships’ crews
