On the Chatham Naval Memorial is the name of M/468 Engine Room Artificer Second Class Thomas Dunbar, serving on H.M.S. Vanguard with the Royal Navy who died 09/07/1917.
Thomas Dunbar was born on the 4th October 1882 in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, son of William and Ruth (nee Ludlow) Dunbar. Thomas was one of 8 surviving children from a family of 11.
In the 1901 census he was aged 18, employed as an apprentice fitter residing at 100 Maughan Street, Benwell in Newcastle with his family.
He joined the Navy on the 16th July 1908 for a term of 12 years. His physical description was described as, 26 years of age, 5 feet 4 inches tall, with brown hair and grey eyes, and a fresh complexion. His occupation then was described as Fitter’s Turner and his character described as consistently “very good”.
After his death, Thomas left effects of £122.19s.9d. to Elizabeth Goodwill, who was his eldest sister and a widow.
The HMS Vanguard of the British Royal Navy was a St. Vincent Class battleship built by Vickers at Barrow-in Furness. On the 9th July 1917, at Scapa Flow the HMS Vanguard was moored less than two miles off Flottas northern shore.
At 11.20 pm there was a series of explosions and the ship was destroyed-neighbouring ships and surrounding areas were showered with blazing debris. The Court of Inquiry attributed the tragedy to the internal explosion of faulty cordite thought to be in either P or Q magazine. The resulting explosion spread rapidly and destroyed virtually all the explosive ordnance on board and the ship was blown apart.
A total of 845 naval personnel were on board HMS Vanguard, including two Australian stokers from HMAS Sydney and an observer from the Japanese Navy, Commander Kyosuke Ito.
Only three men survived the explosion: Lieutenant-Commander A.C.H. Duke, Stoker F. W. Cox and Royal Marine Private J. Williams. Lieutenant-Commander Duke died of his wounds two days later and took the final death toll to 843.
Luckily fifteen of Vanguards officers had not yet returned from a concert on board another ship. The only other survivors from Vanguards company were those who were on leave or seconded to duty on other ships.
Lieutenant-Commander Duke was buried in Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery on Hoy with 17 other crew members whose bodies were identified and named on their gravestones, and 23 whose bodies were recovered but not identified. A Celtic Cross memorial to HMS Vanguard was erected by relatives and squadron mates of the crew.
In terms of loss of life, the destruction of the Vanguard remains the most catastrophic accidental explosion in the history of the UK, and one of the worst accidental losses of the Royal Navy.
Acknowledgments: Jean Atkinson
Additional Research: James Pasby
Thomas Dunbar is remembered at Elswick on E35.10, at Benwell on B86.02 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.
