On Tower Hill Memorial is the name of Chief Officer John Stevens Ross serving on SS Stonepool (West Hartlepool) with the Merchant Navy who died 11/09/1941.
The son of Dr. Ross, and of Mrs. M. E. Ross, of Tudhoe, Co. Durham and the husband of Margaret Ann Ross, of Spennymoor, Co. Durham. He was a Master Mariner, Merchant Navy.
Dorothy Hall and Sheila Sheffield have submitted the following:-
John Stevens Ross was born 15th October 1911 at King Street Tudhoe Grange the second son of Doctor Robert Stevens Ross (born 1870 Abernethy Perthshire) and Marie Elizabeth (born Cornwall 1870). Dr Ross was a medical practitioner at Tudhoe.
John attended a school in Scarborough for Merchant Navy Cadets. In 1932 John joined the Merchant Navy and for the next 9 years sailed the seas. He is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, with brown eyes, black hair and a medium complexion. His first ship was SS Waziristan which sailed from West Hartlepool. His character is always described as very good. In 1933 he became Third Mate on the Ss Hindpool then Second Mate until 1936. He then was on SS Seapool, then SS Firby until 1938. He then returned again to SS Seapool till September 1940.
He married in 1940 Margaret Ann Worthy.
John took his exams for Master. In January 1941 John was awarded the Certificate of Competency as master of a Foreign Going Steamship. He then had to wait for a ship to be Master. On 27th June 1941 he left Avonmouth on SS Stonepool as Chief Officer/1st Mate. The Stonepool was one of Sir R. Ropner’s ships and built in Smith’s Docks South Bank Middlesbrough in 1928. The ship in September was carrying 7000 tons of grain, 528 tons of oats and 115 tons of trucks from Sydney to Avonmouth. On the 11th September 1941 the boat was sunk by U-207 at 02.45 hours between Greenland and Iceland.( 63 05’N, 37 50’W ). The master 33 crew members and 8 gunners were lost. Six crew members and one gunner were picked up and landed at Loch Ewe. U-207 was sunk a few hours later by the escorts
Margaret Ross was expecting their child when the news came that John Stevens Ross had been lost on SS Stonepool on 11th September 1941. John had told her that if the baby was going to be a girl he wanted the name to be Sheila. A month after her father’s death his last wish was granted – Sheila Ross was born.
John Stevens Ross is remembered at Spennymoor on S132.02 and S132.04, by inference at Stockton on S138.53 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.
John S Ross is remembered on the Graham Sea Training School War Memorial at Scarborough. The school is no more but the memorial is on display in the Graham School Scarborough.
