Mary B Mitchell
Encyclopedia
The Mary B Mitchell was a British schooner
which served as a Q-ship
during the First World War. She was in service from April 1916 until the end of hostilities, operating in the Southwest Approaches
from her base in Falmouth
.
She had five encounters with German U-boat
s in her career, and was credited with the destruction of two.Post-war analysis established that no U-boats were sunk. She had a reputation for being an efficient and successful vessel.
After the war she returned to merchant service but was wrecked in 1944.
, as a three-masted topsail schooner. She started her career exporting slate from North Wales to Hamburg. She was owned by Lord Penrhyn and served for a period as a yacht, before being put to work as a coaster, transporting china clay from Cornwall. In 1916 three Arklow schooners were requisitioned by the Admirality to be used as Q-ships, they were: Cymric
, Gaelic and Mary B Mitchell.
, where she was requisitioned for service as a Q-ship. She was armed and outfitted, under the command of Lt
. M Armstrong RNR, to carry a 12-pounder and two 6-pounder guns as well as two machine guns and small arms.
She commissioned on 5 May 1916 and sailed on her first patrol on 26 June, returning to Falmouth on 25 July.
During this period she sailed the usual sea routes in the Channel
and the Southwest Approaches
, masquerading as a merchant ship and inviting attack by a German U-boat.
Over the following months she undertook a series of such patrols, in a variety of disguises. Great success was claimed
On 20 June 1917, under the command of Lt J Lawrie and in the guise of the French schooner Eider, she encountered a U-boat sailing west of Brittany
, which approached and opened fire. Mitchell carried out her role as a decoy, being hove to and abandoned until he U-boat was within 600 yards, when she returned fire scoring several hits. At this the U-boat dived and was not seen again. The U-boat, later identified as UC-65
, was not damaged.
That evening, Mitchell had a further encounter, which unfolded in the same way, though on this occasion the U-boat was more wary, and Mitchell's crew had a more difficult time before scoring hits on their assailant. This U-boat, UC-17
, was also not damaged.
On 3 August 1917 Mitchell had her third encounter, sailing south of Start Point
in the guise of the French schooner Cancalais. She encountered a U-boat, UC-75
, which approached, opening fire at a range of nearly three miles. Mitchell's crew again hove to and the panic party abandoned ship, while the gun crews waited for their target to come into range. However the U-boat was too cautious, and after being shelled for fifteen minutes, Lawrie elected to clear away and close under engine power. Mitchell was able to score some hits before the U-boat disappeared, but no loss was confirmed.
For these actions Lawrie was awarded the DSO.
After the war, it was concluded that Q-ships were greatly over-rated, diverting skilled seamen from other duties without sinking enough U-boats to justify the strategy.
Mary B Mitchell appearred as the doomed Mary Celeste
in the film The Mystery of the Marie Celeste
, which was released in the U.S. as The Phantom Ship (1935
), one of the early films from Hammer Film Productions
. She featured in the 1936 film McGlusky the Sea Rover
. Other Arklow schooners Harvest King and James Postlethwaite featured in the later, 1956, film Moby Dick
.
In December 1944 Mary B Mitchell was wrecked in a gale in the Solway Firth
and written off.
there were only 56 ships on the Irish register, 14 of those were Arklow schooners. These schooners played a vital role in keeping Ireland supplied. Mary B. Mitchell carried food exports and pit props to Wales; returning with cargoes of coal.
In 1943 she went on the hazardous “Lisbon run”. American ships would not enter Irish waters; they brought Irish-bound cargoes to Lisbon. Ships like the Mary B. Mitchell had to collect them. Britain had declared the Bay of Biscay to be an “exclusion zone”; their objective was to prevent supplies from reaching Germany, in particular Japanese exports. However Britain needed foreign currency, which she could obtain by exporting coal to Portugal. ‘Navicerts’ were introduced. Ships with a navicert were permitted safe passage through allied lines. They were to follow the line of longitude at 12° west. Allied convoys to Gibraltar
were at least 20° west to avoid the range of German bombers. However, it was difficult for sailing ships to adhere to this straight line, particularly in the stormy conditions, common in the Bay of Biscay
.
Mary B. Mitchell made five of these voyages, carrying food to Britain, then British coal to Lisbon, returning with the American cargo to Ireland. Arthur Dowds was captain James Harte was sailing master and Patrick Brennan was first officer. She survived these hazardous journeys. Cymric, another Arklow schooner, which had also been requisitioned as a Q-ship in World War One, was not as fortunate. She vanished with all hands; she may have hit a mine, been torpedoed by a U-boat or bombed by the RAF
who were enforcing the blockade of Germany, as was the on this same route.
In preparation for D-day, Britain withdrew navicerts in April 1944. At this time there was a severe shortage of fuel in Ireland. Gas rationing was introduced and there was severe curtailment of rail services. The Minister for Supplies instructed the Arklow schooners to cease other imports and only to import coal. The schooners averted a possible great hardship that winter. By the autumn they had imported 40,000 tons of coal, while bringing food supplies to Britain.
Mary B. Mitchell left Dublin for the last time on 13 December 1944; she was bound for Cumberland with a cargo of burnt-ore. She was to return with a cargo of coal. In a storm she was driven onto rocks at the entrance to Kirkcudbright Bay
, and lost. Captain Patrick Brennan (the former chief officer) and his crew of eight were taken off by Kirkcudbright lifeboat, all survived. Some items from ship are on display in the Stewartry Museum
. Some wreckage remains at the base of the cliff near Senwick Church.
, Wales, by a memorial plaque and a bronze weathervane which adorns the city’s new shopping precinct. It was designed and made by Ann Catrin Evans and Roger Wyn Evans. The plaque gives a brief account of the ships history, while the weathervane depicts her in silhouette.
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
which served as a Q-ship
Q-ship
Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships, or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them...
during the First World War. She was in service from April 1916 until the end of hostilities, operating in the Southwest Approaches
Southwest Approaches
The Southwest Approaches is the name given to the offshore waters to the southwest of Great Britain. The area includes the Celtic Sea, the Bristol Channel and sea areas off southwest Ireland...
from her base in Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
.
She had five encounters with German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s in her career, and was credited with the destruction of two.Post-war analysis established that no U-boats were sunk. She had a reputation for being an efficient and successful vessel.
After the war she returned to merchant service but was wrecked in 1944.
Early career
Mary B Mitchell was built in 1892 at CarrickfergusCarrickfergus
Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...
, as a three-masted topsail schooner. She started her career exporting slate from North Wales to Hamburg. She was owned by Lord Penrhyn and served for a period as a yacht, before being put to work as a coaster, transporting china clay from Cornwall. In 1916 three Arklow schooners were requisitioned by the Admirality to be used as Q-ships, they were: Cymric
Cymric (schooner)
Cymric was an Arklow Schooner, built in 1893. Initially she traded with South America. She served as a Q-ship during the First World War. She failed to sink any U-boats, but did sink a British submarine, in error. She returned to the merchant service. In Ringsend, she collided with a tram, her...
, Gaelic and Mary B Mitchell.
Service history
In April 1916 she was at FalmouthFalmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
, where she was requisitioned for service as a Q-ship. She was armed and outfitted, under the command of Lt
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
. M Armstrong RNR, to carry a 12-pounder and two 6-pounder guns as well as two machine guns and small arms.
She commissioned on 5 May 1916 and sailed on her first patrol on 26 June, returning to Falmouth on 25 July.
During this period she sailed the usual sea routes in the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
and the Southwest Approaches
Southwest Approaches
The Southwest Approaches is the name given to the offshore waters to the southwest of Great Britain. The area includes the Celtic Sea, the Bristol Channel and sea areas off southwest Ireland...
, masquerading as a merchant ship and inviting attack by a German U-boat.
Over the following months she undertook a series of such patrols, in a variety of disguises. Great success was claimed
On 20 June 1917, under the command of Lt J Lawrie and in the guise of the French schooner Eider, she encountered a U-boat sailing west of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, which approached and opened fire. Mitchell carried out her role as a decoy, being hove to and abandoned until he U-boat was within 600 yards, when she returned fire scoring several hits. At this the U-boat dived and was not seen again. The U-boat, later identified as UC-65
SM UC-65
SM UC-65 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 12 January 1916 and was launched on 8 July 1916...
, was not damaged.
That evening, Mitchell had a further encounter, which unfolded in the same way, though on this occasion the U-boat was more wary, and Mitchell's crew had a more difficult time before scoring hits on their assailant. This U-boat, UC-17
SM UC-17
SM UC-17 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the Kaiserliche Marine in World War I. She was ordered on 29 August 1915 and launched on 29 February 1916...
, was also not damaged.
On 3 August 1917 Mitchell had her third encounter, sailing south of Start Point
Start Point, Devon
Start Point is a promontory in the South Hams district. It is one of the most southerly points in Devon, England, . It marks the southern limit of Start Bay, which extends northwards to the estuary of the River Dart....
in the guise of the French schooner Cancalais. She encountered a U-boat, UC-75
SM UC-75
SM UC-75 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 12 January 1916 and was launched on 6 November 1916...
, which approached, opening fire at a range of nearly three miles. Mitchell's crew again hove to and the panic party abandoned ship, while the gun crews waited for their target to come into range. However the U-boat was too cautious, and after being shelled for fifteen minutes, Lawrie elected to clear away and close under engine power. Mitchell was able to score some hits before the U-boat disappeared, but no loss was confirmed.
For these actions Lawrie was awarded the DSO.
After the war, it was concluded that Q-ships were greatly over-rated, diverting skilled seamen from other duties without sinking enough U-boats to justify the strategy.
Later career
Mary B Mitchell was decommissioned in 1919 and returned to James Tyrrell of Arklow. She had a long eventful career surviving into the Second World War.Mary B Mitchell appearred as the doomed Mary Celeste
Mary Celeste
The Mary Celeste was an American brigantine merchant ship famous for having been discovered on 4 December 1872, in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and apparently abandoned , despite the fact that the weather was fine and her crew had been experienced and able...
in the film The Mystery of the Marie Celeste
The Mystery of the Marie Celeste
The Mystery of the Marie Celeste is one of the early films from Hammer Film Productions and was directed by Denison Clift. The leading actor is Béla Lugosi....
, which was released in the U.S. as The Phantom Ship (1935
1935 in film
-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
), one of the early films from Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
. She featured in the 1936 film McGlusky the Sea Rover
McGlusky the Sea Rover
McGlusky the Sea Rover is a 1935 British comedy action film directed by Walter Summers and starring Jack Doyle, Tamara Desni and Henry Mollison. It was based on a novel by A.G. Hales. A stowaway becomes mixed up with gunrunners...
. Other Arklow schooners Harvest King and James Postlethwaite featured in the later, 1956, film Moby Dick
Moby Dick (1956 film)
Moby Dick is a 1956 film adaptation of Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. It was directed by John Huston with a screenplay by Ray Bradbury and the director. The film starred Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, and Leo Genn...
.
In December 1944 Mary B Mitchell was wrecked in a gale in the Solway Firth
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...
and written off.
World War Two
At the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
there were only 56 ships on the Irish register, 14 of those were Arklow schooners. These schooners played a vital role in keeping Ireland supplied. Mary B. Mitchell carried food exports and pit props to Wales; returning with cargoes of coal.
In 1943 she went on the hazardous “Lisbon run”. American ships would not enter Irish waters; they brought Irish-bound cargoes to Lisbon. Ships like the Mary B. Mitchell had to collect them. Britain had declared the Bay of Biscay to be an “exclusion zone”; their objective was to prevent supplies from reaching Germany, in particular Japanese exports. However Britain needed foreign currency, which she could obtain by exporting coal to Portugal. ‘Navicerts’ were introduced. Ships with a navicert were permitted safe passage through allied lines. They were to follow the line of longitude at 12° west. Allied convoys to Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
were at least 20° west to avoid the range of German bombers. However, it was difficult for sailing ships to adhere to this straight line, particularly in the stormy conditions, common in the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
.
Mary B. Mitchell made five of these voyages, carrying food to Britain, then British coal to Lisbon, returning with the American cargo to Ireland. Arthur Dowds was captain James Harte was sailing master and Patrick Brennan was first officer. She survived these hazardous journeys. Cymric, another Arklow schooner, which had also been requisitioned as a Q-ship in World War One, was not as fortunate. She vanished with all hands; she may have hit a mine, been torpedoed by a U-boat or bombed by the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
who were enforcing the blockade of Germany, as was the on this same route.
In preparation for D-day, Britain withdrew navicerts in April 1944. At this time there was a severe shortage of fuel in Ireland. Gas rationing was introduced and there was severe curtailment of rail services. The Minister for Supplies instructed the Arklow schooners to cease other imports and only to import coal. The schooners averted a possible great hardship that winter. By the autumn they had imported 40,000 tons of coal, while bringing food supplies to Britain.
Mary B. Mitchell left Dublin for the last time on 13 December 1944; she was bound for Cumberland with a cargo of burnt-ore. She was to return with a cargo of coal. In a storm she was driven onto rocks at the entrance to Kirkcudbright Bay
Kirkcudbright
Kirkcudbright, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.The town lies south of Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie, in the part of Dumfries and Galloway known as the Stewartry, at the mouth of the River Dee, some six miles from the sea...
, and lost. Captain Patrick Brennan (the former chief officer) and his crew of eight were taken off by Kirkcudbright lifeboat, all survived. Some items from ship are on display in the Stewartry Museum
Stewartry Museum
The Stewartry Museum is a local museum in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, which covers the past history of this part of Galloway. One of its most important collections is that of the prehistoric rock art carvings which have been found in the region. The museum also stores some casts made from rock art...
. Some wreckage remains at the base of the cliff near Senwick Church.
Commemoration
The Mary B Mitchell is commemorated in BangorBangor, Gwynedd
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...
, Wales, by a memorial plaque and a bronze weathervane which adorns the city’s new shopping precinct. It was designed and made by Ann Catrin Evans and Roger Wyn Evans. The plaque gives a brief account of the ships history, while the weathervane depicts her in silhouette.