Jane Williamson

Official Number 58191

The Jane Williamson was a 193 ton brig launched on the 17th March 1870 from the shipyard of H & J Williamson at Whitehaven.

The Jane Williamson was lost on the 10th September 1917 when she was attacked and sunk by a German submarine 20 miles NNE of St.Ives. The vessel, which was registered at Belfast, had been travelling from Liverpool to Cherbourg with a coal cargo. She was attacked at 4 pm, and the six crew abandoned the vessel, which was then rigged as a brigantine, in their small boat. After the vessel had been sunk by gunnery, the submarine then launched a murderous attack on the survivors. The master and three other crew were killed, and the mate was wounded. Only the ship's boy escaped unharmed, and the two survivors were rescued by a trawler crew and landed at Penzance.
 

Sources :

1. There is a painting of the Jane Williamson at the Castletown Maritime Museum, Isle of Man, along with other Whitehaven vessels owned by J.Karron, including the Sumatra.
2. "Shipbuilding in Whitehaven - A Checklist" by Harry Fancy, Whitehaven Museum (1984)
3. Wreck info from "Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" Vol. 1 (1995) by Richard & Bridget Larn, pub. Lloyds Register, 2000, ISBN 0 900528 88 5. Information provided by Bill Butland.
4. See Naval History Net (citing from "British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-1918" published by HMSO, 1919) - states 4 lives lost.