In 1903, the British Mediterranean fleet conducted military manoeuvres off Corfu. It ended in disaster with damaged ships and dead men. This is the story of what happened, why, and a little known commemoration of the incident.
HMS Orwell
Laird & Company Ltd built HMS Orwell in Birkenhead, near Liverpool, in 18981. This was 1 of 24 Royal Navy B-class destroyers. One of their unique selling points at the time was their speed; the Navy called them ’30-knotters’. The destroyers cost GBP 60 000 at the time, approximately GBP 5 000 000 in today’s money2.
Ralph Hudeleston captained the destroyer from April 1900, stationing her in the Mediterranean1. I couldn’t find any record of where in the Mediterranean, but given Malta’s large naval base, it’s one of the options.
Incident
On 30 January 1903, the British navy ran night operations in Corfu, off the Ionian islands3. It was one of a series of exercises the navy executed3 4. Out of 14 ships involved, only 2 were not destroyers3:
- HMS Pioneer, which was a third-class cruiser, captained by Hugh Edward Thomas. It was a new ship, in service since 19001.
- HMS Tyne, a Royal Navy store ship.
One of the destroyers was HMS Orwell3, captained by 29-year old Percy Arthur Roberts4.
The destroyers split into two groups of six3. One group blockaded San Giovanni Bay5, while the other 6 had to figure out a way to outmanoeuvre them and break free3 4. After breaking free, the destroyers then needed to find HMS Pioneer and attack it3 4. As night exercises go, this sounds like a normal military one. Since detection, and avoiding detection, is one of the exercise’s objectives, all lights on board all ships were off3 4. It’s worth noting there was a new moon5.
The defenders detected HMS Orwell early on3 4. As per protocol, they switched their lights on, and steamed away to a rendezvous3 4. As they powered away, there was a cry of “She’s right upon us!”3 It was HMS Pioneer which was still operating without lights3.
Pioneer ploughed into Orwell1 3 4.
Pioneer sliced Orwell in two, hitting the destroyer at the fore bridge, missing the powerful boilers by a few feet (a metre or two)3 4. The forepart of HMS Orwell sank in the deep Ionian waters3. Robarts was on the bridge where the stem of Pioneer hit him as it careered through the destroyer3. Pioneer also pulled Sub-Lieutenant Corlett from the bridge5 but he swam clear3.
Fifteen men from HMS Orwell died as a result of the collision3. Newspapers reported that two people died on the spot3:
- Gunner Edward Smith
- Leading-Stoker William Perry
HMS Pioneer recovered their bodies later3. Thirteen others were missing, and likely to be in the part of Orwell which sank3. Pioneer towed Orwell back into port as the dawn broke, showing the navy they’d lost one-third of HMS Orwell3.
Aftermath
British destroyers continued combing the scene of the wreckage to find more survivors or bodies but didn’t find anything3. The navy decided to tow HMS Orwell to Malta for extensive repairs.
On 2 February 1904, almost a year later, the Orwell reached Malta for proper repairs, accompanied by 6 other destroyers6.
The crew commissioned a plaque in Malta to commemorate their dead colleagues. They erected this in the Upper Barrakka gardens, where it still exists to this day.
This is not the only commemorative plaque in Valletta’s Upper Barrakka gardens.
- Warships, Histories and Vessels; Royal Museum Greenwich; (Retrieved 2024-03-12) [↩][↩][↩][↩]
- National Archives Currency Convertor; (Retrieved 2024-03-12) [↩]
- Cruiser and destroyer in collision; New Zealand Herald; 1903-03-16[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- Percy Arthur Roberts; The Dreadnought Project; 2022-04-07[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- Collision off Corfu; The Times of London; 1903-02-03[↩][↩][↩]
- Naval and Military Intelligence; The Times of London; 1904-04-04[↩]