The East Point ’ s steering quadrant
Long decompression is the penalty for technical diving
Final journey
Fortunately , Harold Young ’ s fears proved unfounded . The East Point successfully returned to the UK and was released from war service , allowing her to resume her role carrying passengers and cargo , including a number of trips to America . In late 1916 in the mid-Atlantic she suffered another fire in the hold , which was only extinguished by opening the seacocks . Her final journey was from London to Philadelphia carrying general cargo , when she was torpedoed by the submarine U-48 .
Despite the horrendous losses of shipping created during the first period of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1915 , the Admiralty was reluctant to implement a convoy system when it resumed in 1917 . As a consequence , the seas around the UK were full of vessels , which must made it easy for German submarines to locate targets . By the time it met the East Point at 5.45pm on 9 March 1917 , U-48 had already sunk a small
Harold James Young DSC
The master of SS East Point first went to sea in 1898 as an apprentice on the sailing ships Principality and Loch Trool . He was given command of the SS East Point in 1908 and the records show her travelling extensively around
40 the UK , and also to Boston and Philadelphia .
Along with Sub Lt John Stewart RNR of HM Tug Flying Witch , Capt Harold James Young , or HJY as he is known to his family , was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross ( DSC ) for his role in preventing the loss of the East Point . In those days , they didn ’ t seem to have felt the need to waste words , as the medal citation merely reads “ Performed good work off the Peninsula , where his ship was set on fire by enemy shell fire while unloading supplies .”
Following the sinking of the SS East Point , the Furness Withy line gave him command of the newly launched SS Rapallo . Unfortunately , his bad luck continued and on 13 January 1918 this was also sunk by the Austrian submarine U-28 , in the Straits of Messina between Italy and Sicily . The 15-year-old assistant cook , Thomas Samuel Jenkins , was the only casualty and is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial to the men of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who lost their lives in both World Wars . HJY was there for the memorial ’ s unveiling in 1928 ; he must have taken more than a moment to remember a life cruelly taken so young .
It is nearly impossible to imagine how traumatic Harold Young ’ s experiences in The First World War must have been , but he continued to ply his trade at sea . Before retiring in 1940 , he commanded a number of other vessels . Retiring