In Gateshead (Saltwell) Cemetery is the Commonwealth War Grave of:

J.L. Jones
Wireless Operator
S.S. Horsted
4th December 1939 age 26

SS Horsted, ship number 164707, was a 1,670 GRT coaster launched by Burntisland Shipbuilding Co. in 1936. On the 4th December 1939 she was in an east coast convoy in the North Sea when she suffered an explosion caused by a mine. She sank with the loss of five of her crew. The vessel was owned by Stephenson Clarke Ltd.

The Reverend Ralph Clarke, a vicar of Longbenton, Tyneside had two sons, Ralph and Robert Clarke. The boys went to sea, working their way up to being master mariners.

During their career at sea, they began to buy shares in ships, gradually making the transition from captain to owner. The company that would become Stephenson Clarke was formed when the brothers bought shares in a 300-ton sailing vessel. Thus the business was established in 1730, in the early years of the reign of King George II.

Stephenson Clarke had managed other owners’ ships as well as its own. For several decades it managed the collier fleets of the Gas Light and Coke Company and other gas and electricity utility companies.

Monday, 4th December 1939 D93
SS Horsted (1,670t) on a voyage from London to Sunderland, struck a mine and sank South East of Flamborough Head.
Source: The North East Diary 1939-45.

The master was commended for his action on this day.

Joseph Lllewellyn Jones is remembered in our List of Ships’ Crews.