On Tower Hill Memorial is the name of Chief Engineer Officer William Thompson Rewcastle serving on S.S. Caspia (London) with the Merchant Navy who died 16/04/1942.
He was the husband of Mary Rewcastle, of South Shields, Co. Durham.
S.S. Caspia, ship number 160551, 6018 tons, [Haifa (16th April),Tripoli, Lebanon, Cargo 7000 tons of light benzine was hit by a torpedo from an U Boat U-81, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Guggenberger, at 19.54 hours on the 16th April 1942, U-81 spotted a tanker and one escort vessel off the coast of Lebanon and fired at 20.38 and 20.39 hours two torpedoes each at both ships. FFL Vikings (P 41) exploded and sank 23 miles 240° from Beirut after being hit by a torpedo. At 21.48 hours, the U-boat fired two torpedoes at the Caspia and hit her with one torpedo in the bow. The tanker sank in flames 10 miles south of Beirut after being hit by a coup de grâce at 22.10 hours.
The master, 23 crew members and two gunners from the Caspia (Master Cecil Henry Humphries) were lost. Ten crew members and one gunner were picked up by the British motor launches HMS ML-1023 (Lt C.S. Roberts) and HMS ML-1032 (Lt C.D. Searle) and landed at Beirut.
The Shields Daily Gazette 20/01/1943 reports with a photograph :-
COMMENDATIONS
William Thompson Rewcastle Chief Engineer of 4, Dulverton Avenue. South Shields. who lost his life when the ship on which he was serving was sunk, has been posthumously commended for his courage and bravery under enemy attacks.
A native of South Shields, he was 60 years of age and has been in the Merchant Navy for 39 years. He leaves a widow.
Sources: U Boat Net; The British Newspaper Archive; Library of Contemporary History;
William Thompson Rewcastle is remembered at South Shields in S86.094, on S86.037, panel 15, at Westoe in W101.08, page 69 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.
