SS Ottawa - Lost at Sea

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The Tragedy of the SS Ottawa

Lost At Sea

The Ottawa was a 309' x 40' tanker operated by the Anglo-American Oil Company built in 1888 in Newcastle. She was carrying 3,600 tons of fuel oil from Port Lobos, Mexico to Manchester, England when she was lost with all hands during an Atlantic hurricane. The Ottawa left Norfolk, Virginia on Feb. 2, 1921 bound for Manchester. Her last contact was with the British steamer Dorington Court, on 6th February. There was a hurricane in the area which caused the abandonment of both the French steamer Victorieux and the Belgian-owned Bombardier. The Esperanza de Larrinaga departed Norfolk the same day as the Ottawa. And the Monte San Michelle departed New York the same day. Both were lost at sea. There seems little doubt but that all three were victims of the hurricane.^[1]

William Henry Wilson

Contributed by Kenneth Cook, nephew of William Henry Wilson.

The date when William was demobbed from the army is unclear but it would have been about 1920 as he was one of the final drafts for the First World War. At this time there were many unemployed in Barrow-Furness. By September 1922 the number employed in the Barrow shipyard had fallen from its peak of 31,000 in 1917 to just 3,150 .

William Henry however found work in November 1920 as a fourth engineer on a tanker called the “S.S.Ottawa” , this ship was owned by the Anglo American oil company which was latter to be known as ESSO . They had a depot in Barrow-in-Furness and in 1921 brought in some 84,000,000 gallons of motor spirit into Barrow . My mother told me that William took the job as engineer on the Ottawa this turned out to be a tragic decision. The Ottawa was lost with all hands the following February. I have researched the loss of the Ottawa and was surprised at the amount of information that was available. First of all the Anglo American oil company named a number of their tankers after North American Indian Tribes . The Ottawa was built by Armstrong Mitchell and Co. Ltd. Of Newcastle and was launched in 1888 for Lane and Mac. Andrew , she was christened the Elbray and was 2,742 gross tons , L A O 309 ft , beam 40 ft. with 13 cylinder steam engines. In 1895 she was sold to the Galbraith Pembroke Co. and in 1900 sold again to the Anglo American oil company who renamed her the Ottawa . She was requisitioned by the Admiralty in August 1914 to help maintain the oil supplies to the Fleet . In December 1918 she was returned to the Anglo American oil company. The Ottawa arrived in Barrow on November 5th.1920 with a cargo of motor spirit . The date that William joined the ship would have been between the ship arriving on the 5th. and it leaving on the 29th. The agents for the ship was James Fisher of Barrow-in-Furness . The Ottawa was in Barrow for three weeks which is longer than required to discharged her cargo , it is possible that she was under going repairs but I have researched the Lloyds register in Barrow-in-Furness and found no evidence to that effect ,she may have just been waiting for a cargo . When the Ottawa left Barrow she left from the Graving Dock entrance , this entrance is now part of the Dock Museum and Devonshire Dock Hall occupies what was once part of Devonshire dock . It was a Monday when the ship left Barrow and my mother went with her mother to see William off and her most vivid memory of William was that when he kissed his mother good by he left a smudge of oil on his mothers cheek . When the Ottawa sailed she sailed with a crew of thirty five , five of these were Barrow men , her destination was Port Lobos on the west coast of Mexico in the Gulf of California . After loading her cargo she left Port Lobos on January 21st. 1921 and proceeded to Norfolk Virginia , where she left on February 2nd bound for Manchester. The Ottawa was due in Manchester on or about February 20th. , the relatives of the crew in Barrow started to worry when the ship was over due and on seeing advertisements appearing in the national press asking for information concerning the Ottawa . The relatives then started to go to the offices of James Fisher the shipping agent for information . On March 2nd the Anglo American oil company contacted the relatives concerned. The last contact that was made with the Ottawa was with another ship the S.S. Dorington Court on the 6th. at 8-20 p.m.. This was by wireless telegraph , she said that all was well and that she had no messages . Sailing from Norfolk the same day was the Esperanza de Larrinaga with a crew of forty and a cargo of 6,000 tons of wheat , this ship also was never heard from again and all hands lost. A ship called the Monte San Michele sailed from New York that same day with a crew of fifty and a cargo of 328,072 bushels of wheat and rye . The Monte San Michele made contact with an American steamer the Casper at 3-30pm on February 8th. calling for assistance , she gave her position as latitude 36 degrees north and longitude 49 degrees and 40 minutes west after fifteen minutes these calls ceased . The Casper and another steamer the West Imboden searched the area but found no trace of the Monte San Michele . There were also two other ships that were abandoned in the same area due to the hurricane , they were the S.S. Victorieux and the S.S. Bombardier . The details of the abandoning of the Victorieux are that on the 10th. she was abandoned after heavy seas had completely wrecked all her steering gear , stove in all her hatches , all the doors , destroyed the life boats , washed over the captains cabin and the wireless house . The wireless operator was drowned but the rest of the crew were saved by another steamer . I do not know the details of the Bombardier. The insurance broker which insured the hull of the Ottawa were Willis, Faber and Dundas this is the same insurers which insured the Titanic . Another coincidence is that the position of the hurricane and where the Monte San Michele sank was 6 degrees south of where the Titanic sank eight years earlier. The company wrote to all the relatives of the crew and below is the letter that was received by the relatives.

-------------------------------------- Dear Madam , You have doubtless noticed the press to the fact that the Ottawa is over due. She sailed from Norfolk Virginia February 2nd. for Manchester and since then we have had no communication from her . We are endeavouring to trace vessels which may have sighted her or spoken to her and have received no advices only that another steamer was in communication on the night of February 6th.and that all was well . We are receiving numerous inquiries from relatives and friends of the Ottawa people for the latest news and have thought it well to give you all the information we have at present and to say that we shall pass it to you immediately any further advices come to hand .

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The incident was reported in the local press on March 10th giving all the details but they said that half of the crew were Barrow men. The next public information concerning the Ottawa appeared in the same local paper on Friday June 24th. was a theory about how the Ottawa went missing which I thought very interesting and very speculative but it would be interesting to find out the basis of the speculation .

New Theory of Ship Missing With Local Men Aboard

A new theory as to the fate of the Anglo American oil company’s tanker the Ottawa whose crew included six men from Barrow presumed to have perished with the vessel in the North Atlantic early this year under mysterious circumstances comes from New York . The “ Daily Mails “ correspondent announces the disclosure of a year ago by the New York Police of a plot of American Bolsheviks who were to send comrades to sea as members of ships companies with the object of seizing the vessels and taking them to Russia . Since January twenty ships including the Ottawa and other British vessels have disappeared with out trace . ------------------------------ I assume that at some point the company informed the relatives that all hope of finding any members of the crew alive had now passed . In July there was a court hearing in Barrow-in-Furness County Court concerning the compensation for the dependants , this also was reported in the local press .

The Lost Ottawa - Compensation to the dependants of Barrow Men

It was made clear in the Barrow County Court today that the Ottawa a vessel belonging to the Anglo American oil company which disappeared while making an Atlantic passage at the beginning of the year , is presumed lost , and with it five Barrow men. The court list comprised of matters relating to the appointment of compensation in respect of Angus Griffiths , Frank Victor Williams , William Percy Norris , Peter Begley and William Henry Wilson. Mr. J Pickervance said that he had been instructed in four of these cases and that Mr. F Taylor appeared in the remaining case . In each case the sum of £300 had been paid into the court , but there was a scheme in existence under which the Anglo American oil company proposed to make further extra payments . In Mr Taylor’s case they were going to pay more than £400 over and above the £300 and in the other cases the extra amounts would be £305 , £240 , £209 and £267. Mr. Pickervance went on to say there was some difficulty about the payment into court of the additional sums . His Honour remarked that he had similar cases where it was proposed to pay in to be administered by the County Court not under the compensation act but with the Registrar as the Trustee . In the present case the £300 compensation could be paid in the usual way and for the sums the Registrar could act as Trustee the money would be subject to any order of the court. There upon Mr. Pickervance said they would formulate their scheme and present it for approval . The dependants he added were not taking any harm in the mean time as he and Mr. Taylor were making monetary advances . ------------------------------------ Who Mr. Taylor represented I do not know , or if the four additional payments to those Mr Pickervance represented are in chronological order with the list of the men lost . What is apparent how ever is that the compensation act had set a maximum of £300 for the loss of a life . The variance in the additional amounts may have taken into account the number of dependants , the seniority or position of the crew members . Frank Victor Williams lived in Myerscough street left a widow and nine children . I believe that his widow and Alice May Wilson became friends after the tragedy . William Henry was fourth engineer but I do not know the rank of any of the others as they were not listed among the officers . The officers comprised of Mr. J Williams , Mr. J D Wiseman chief officer , Mr. Hugh Close second officer , Mr. D G Rees third officer , Mr. John Pickering chief engineer , Mr. G H Grub second engineer , Mr. R Ward third engineer and William Henry Wilson fourth engineer. My mother told me that she could remember going with her mother every week to collect the compensation payments . I do not know if the £300 was paid in a lump sum and the extra payment in instalments or if all the money was paid in instalments. The judge on the day of the hearing was Judge Gawan Taylor and the Registrar Mr. F T Hodgson . One final note of interest about the Ottawa and the Anglo American oil company and that is ESSO in 1946 purchased six coastal tankers from the Ministry of War . One of these was called the Empire Coast which was built at Northwich in 1943 , she was renamed the Esso Ottawa , and remained in service until 1967 when she was scrapped at Bruges Belgium.

1. ↑ Auke Visser´s Esso UK Tanker's site, entry for the Ottawa - (1900-1921)