John A Mackenzie
(1917 - the SS Heron)
John Alexander MacKenzie was born in Dundee on 11th September 1889, but in 1900 the Mackenzie family moved south for a new life and in the 1901 Census they were living in Charlton, south London.
When John was 16 a group of local boys started a new football team and in the 1906/07 season John became secretary of the newly-formed Charlton Athletic team. He was included in a couple of early photos of the football team and the family later donated these to Charlton Athletic FC. (You can see one of the team photos and read more about John’s family in "Families" under 'Annie Buik & William Mackenzie').
In the March 1911 census both John and his younger brother William were listed as crew on the steamship SS Huron (1990 tonnes) when it was berthed in Swansea docks. John, aged 21, is recorded as a “Mess Room Steward.”
By 1915, at the age of 25, John is recorded in the Merchant Navy Crew Lists as the Ship’s Cook on the SS Heron (885 tonnes). But in the summer of that year (July 1915) John managed to join the rest of the family at the wedding of his eldest sister, Grace. (In the wedding photo on the 'Home' page, John is in the middle of the back row).
The Heron was recorded as a “foreign-going ship” and with the onset of the First World War it was one of many merchant ships moving supplies to and from European ports. In 1917 the ship departed Newcastle in northeast England with a cargo of coal destined for Oporto in Portugal. But on the 30th September 1917, whilst crossing the Bay of Biscay, the Heron was torpedoed by the German submarine U90 and sank with the loss of 22 crew.
Just nine days before the sinking John was photographed with some of the crew on board the SS Heron. His hand-written note on the back of the photo reads:
"A Heron snap when we left the ship on 21st Sept. 1917.
My Mate
The two Relieving Gunners
The Armourer in charge of gun being transferred
'Allen' (Eagles 3rd Eng.)
and
'Mac'"
The sinking of the SS Heron is mentioned in the book "A Century of Sea Trading 1824-1924 The General Steam Navigation Company", written by Leslie Cope Cornford. The following is an extract:
On Sunday, 30th September, 1917, at midnight, the Heron and Drake were three days out from Falmouth in company with a convoy of twenty or thirty vessels. According to the evidence of Higo, the Japanese crane-man, the Heron was struck in the engine-room by a torpedo at one o’clock am. The Japanese had just come out of his bath. He felt the ship going down under his feet, and naked as he was, he snatched a lifebelt, scrambled on deck, and dived into the sea. When he came to the surface, the ship had disappeared. The sea was smooth and the moon shining. Higo heard the cries of the crew, whom he could not see. He had been in the water some twenty minutes when the German submarine picked him up. The German gave him a shirt and trousers. They left the rest of the crew to drown. About ten o’clock, Higo, sitting below, heard the firing of guns on board; and an hour later, Captain Carter of the Drake came below and told Higo the Drake’s crew were safe…….. the Japanese was kept in the submarine until Monday, when the Germans, having sunk a French sailing ship, put him with the French crew in their lifeboat, which was picked up on the following Wednesday afternoon by the British mine-sweeper Camelia. Captain Carter was carried to Germany in the submarine.
John Mackenzie is commemorated, along with the other 21 members of the crew who died, on the Tower Hill Memorial in London. The Memorial commemorates men and women of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who died in both World Wars and who have no known grave. It stands on the south side of the garden of Trinity Square, London.
Other naval records
The website NAVAL-HISTORY.NET has a number of references to the sinking of the SS Heron including the following (note: the records in each document are listed in date order):
http://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyBritishShips-Locations10AttackedMNDate1917.htm