REMEMBERING THE DEAD: Sailors’ Society’s CEO Stuart Rivers lowered the charity’s flag as Lieutenant Mark Rooke RN from HMS Sultan played the Last Post on the bugle
A MARITIME charity lowered its flag to half-mast to commemorate the sinking of a hospital ship 100 years ago, which caused outrage across the nation when it was torpedoed in the English Channel, killing 123 people.
His Majesty’s Australian Transport Warilda was transporting hundreds of wounded soldiers from the French port of Le Havre to Southampton when, despite being clearly marked with the Red Cross, it was struck by a torpedo from a German U-boat.
The most prominent person who died was Violet Long OBE, deputy chief controller of the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corp (QMAAC). Violet was born in Gosforth in 1883, was the last woman to leave the stricken ship.
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