Every Name a Story
On Tower Hill Memorial is the name of First Engineer William Fraser serving with the Mercantile Marine on S.S. Abaris, who died 17/11/1917.
Born at Pictou, Nova Scotia, he was married to Jane Fraser of 7 Hunter Terrace, Sunderland.
The SS Abaris, ship number 118491, was torpedoed and damaged by a German U Boat UB 40, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Hans Howaldt on the 17th November 1917, 10 miles West of Eddystone on route from Calais to Manchester carrying ballast. There were three casualties. William Fraser was one of them.
Sources; U Boat Net;
William Fraser is remembered at Sunderland in S140.048 Part 8, Page 170, where the name of the vessel on which he served is given as “Arabis”, and on our List of Ships’ Crews.