• Home
• About
• Gallery
• History

MERCHANT MARINES of the UNITED KINGDOM

Departure Date: January 24, 1918
Departing Port: New York
Destination Port: Liverpool 

Note: The names above were transcribed from old documents, these documents may have not recorded the correct spelling of some of these names.

One of the MIA listed above is buried in the Kilnaughton Cemetery as an Unknown Negro. He is actually a man of mixed race. His FG page is located here

According to one American newspaper, the Tuscania departed the Cunard dock at Hoboken New Jersey with a staff of 198 men and 2 women. However the ships manifest dated January 17, 1918 reveals that there were approximately 250 Tuscania employees returning on the final voyage.
 
The Tuscania disaster took the lives of 52 known Mercantile Marines, the majority of those casualties were never found. Many of these men, whom were lost at sea, were either in the areas that flooded because of the hole the torpedo ripped into the hull, or were locked behind water tight doors. These Men, whom were Mercantile Marines of the United Kingdom perished 5th of February 1918 and they are not forgotten. 

Captain MacLean was my Grand Uncle. He was dearly loved by his nieces and nephews and visited my grandfather in Spokane, WA in 1924. He died at age 86 in 1943.
 
Thank you for your information, I may contact Cunard also, as this was who Captain MacLean sailed for during most of his career. Who knows, I may find something interesting! If it pertains to the Tuscania, I'll share it with you.
 
I have no pictures of Captain MacLean dressed as a captain or on board any of the ships he sailed but I do have photos of him riding elephants on a tiger hunt in India. From pictures, I know that Captain MacLean was a smallish man.
 
Captain MacLean was a Scotsman, which accounts for the "Mac." The Irish newspapers used a spelling I hadn't seen before. I know very little about him so it was strangely exciting to read about the Tuscania on your web site.
 
Karen Wierenga
kwierenga13{at}yahoo.com
January 27, 2001

My Granddad "Fred Tarbuck" was a young steward on the Tuscania during the voyage from NY to Liverpool when it was torpedoed. I remember as a child, him telling me the tale and of his time in the lifeboat before being rescued. He had a tattoo of the Tuscania on his arm in memory of his time on the ship and those who lost their lives.
 
My Granddad was only 16 at the time of the sinking; he died in 1984 or 1985. I have found him on your list of ship’s crew; however you have his surname spelled incorrectly. You have him recorded as Fred Lanbuck, when his surname was in fact Tarbuck, which my Mum’s maiden name.
 
Fred was a character who always had a story to tell of his time working on the ships and on the docks in Liverpool especially during the Second World War. He played mean game of cribbage too and taught me and my brother many card games.
 
The family still lives in Liverpool and although Fred has been dead for many years now, he is still fondly remembered by us all.
 
Regards
 
Graham Wortley
graham{at}cqfinanceuk.com 
July 16, 2012 United Kingdom