Current Information:

Age-26

7, Mitre Road, Waterloo

Faslane Cemetery, Scotland

On 29th January, 1917, HM Submarine K13 was undergoing sea trials in Lochgare at the mouth of the Clyde river in western Scotland when tragedy befell. She had 80 people aboard, 53 crew members and 27 others, including civilian shipyard workers when she dived into the 50 feet deep loch. Things immediately went wrong. The ventilating shafts had been left open and water rushed into her stern section which straight away killed the 31 people in the rear of the vessel. With that section sealed off, K13 sank to the bottom and was unable to re-surface. There followed 57 hours of frantic rescue attempts as the oxygen gradually dwindled away. Navy divers were sent down and were able to communicate with the rest of the trapped men by tapping in morse code on the ship’s hull. Captain Goodhart, of HM Submarine K14 who was aboard to witness the trials, then attempted to blow himself free from the conning tower using compressed air cylinders, but knocked himself unconscious while doing so and drowned. The ship’s captain Lt Commander Herbert then tried the same thing and miraculously got to the surface. Acting on the information he was able to give them, navy divers went down again, attached thick wire hawsers to the stricken vessel and she was hauled to the surface. There, a hole was cut in the side of the submarine and the surviving 42 men were final rescued. Among those who did not survive this ordeal was Stephen Clark.