Clement Yetman of the Royal Naval Reserve was born 14th August 1892, Harbour Grace South, Newfoundland son of Moses and Selina. He was just 24 years old when he was lost by the sinking of the Laurentic while returning on furlough after an absence of 2 1/4 years. Yetman had first left his native Harbour…
Thomas Steele
Lieutenant Thomas Steele of the Royal Naval Reserve was born on 8 July 1890 in Monkstown, County Antrim. He was the youngest of Alexander and Anna Maria Steele’s three children. His sisters Isabella (born in 1887) and Margaret (born 1888) were born in Whiteabbey. Thomas’ mother Anna died in a diabetic coma in 1892 (aged…
Thomas Pike
Thomas Pike was born in Kingsteignton, Devon on the 15th Dec, 1873, and lived there with his widowed mother until he first went to sea in 1891. Thomas entered the Navy in 1889 at the age of 16 and in 1891 he received promotion to Ordinary Seaman. That same year he saw his first active…
Victor Yule
Victor Yule was born on 11 June 1897, the youngest son and fourth child of George and Bathea Yule of Dundee. The sea probably ran in his blood as he was the son and grandson of two Dundee Sea Captains. The family story has it that when asked what service he was going to join…
Luke Smith
Luke Smith was the fourth oldest born to Martha and Joseph on August 7, 1886. He enlisted with the Royal Naval Reserve on March 18, 1906 and completed his training at HMS Calypso. At that time he was given the Newfoundland #233 which was replaced when he re-enlisted in 1914 and assigned the number 947X….
John Coyle
Fireman John Coyle was born in Dublin on 22nd January 1879, son of John and Mary and second eldest of 6 children. As a boy, he and his younger brother Thomas worked as deck hands, but also took work when they could with Cartwrights and Coopers around the docks. When John was old enough he…
George Edwin Coaffee
George Edwin Coaffee was born 11th March 1878 in Walcot, Somerset. He was the youngest of six children born to George and Lucy Coaffee. His first period of service in the Royal Navy began on 6th February 1895 on the HMS Northampton, when he was 16 years old. At that time the HMS Northampton was…
Martin Moloney
Seaman Martin Moloney of the Royal Naval Reserve was born in 1877 in County Clare, Ireland, the son of Martin and Ellen Moloney. When he married Bridget Shanahan on 22nd September 1896 in Kilrush, he was working as a fisherman. They had four children, all boys. Their eldest son Michael was killed in action in…
Albert Henry Andrews
Albert Henry Andrews was one of only two children born to George and Jane Andrews. He was born in Clapham in March 1876 but his service record has his date of birth as 28th December 1875. We know from his record that he took part in his first period of naval service on 20th May…
George Gill
One of four children born to George and Louisa Gill (née Coney), Petty Officer George Gill was born in Twyford, Hampshire, England in 1878. His naval career began on the HMS Northampton, a boys’ training ship, in 1897. He went on to serve on no less than 17 battleships before joining the crew of the…
The Legacy of the Laurentic 