I wonder if you could possibly help me Amongst the family papers that I have is the notification of my Uncle´s death sent to my Grandmother on the 17th January 1917. My uncle - John Piper was on a merchant ship , the name was something like SS Bayreauly, or Bayreanly, or Bayreaux (the writing on the document is very difficult to decipher), the lifeboat of which was washed up off the coast of Aberystwith on December 9th 1916, and there was no other trace. I have been trying to find records/details of the Bay Steamship COmpany, of 21 Old Broad Street, London EC (the piece of paper I have is headed up from them) and I can find no trace of a)the company, b) any ship with any similar name that was lost around this time. I suppose the ship was torpedoed or attacked by enemy fire etc. I wonder if you have come across any of these names, or could indeed point me in the right direction - I seem to have hit a blank and would really like to find out the details of what happened to my uncle etc. best regards Vicki Piper-Wall
Hello Vicki, The Bay Steamship Co was owned by Sale & Co, London. The company lost several ships during the Great War - BAYHALL 17.12.1916, BAYCRAIG 1.1.1917, BAYNESK 9.1.1917, BAYNAEN 25.3.1917, BAYSOTO 6.8.1917, BAYCHATTAN 11.10.1917, BAYVOE 9.1.1918, BAYGITANO 18.3.1918. >From the dates you give, this would seem to be the BAYHALL. This was a 3,898 gross ton steamer, built 1906 by R. Stephenson & Co, Newcastle for Guthe Bros & Co, West Hartlepool as the DINSDALEHALL. 1915 sold to Belgium renamed BRABANDIER. 1916 sold to Bay SS Co, London renamed BAYHALL. 17th Dec.1916 captured by German submarine U46 while 90 miles N x E from Cape Ortegal in position 45.16N 08.00W and sunk with explosives on voyage Port Louis, Mauritius to Bordeaux with a cargo of sugar. The Master was taken prisoner. The rest of the crew would have been set adrift in lifeboats. See http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?14961 Photo of similar ship BAYNAEN at http://www.wreck.fr/baynaen.htm regards Ted ----- Original Message ----- From: "vickipiperwall" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 1:51 PM Subject: [TSL] The Bay Steamship Company, 21 Old Broad Street,London EC 1916/17 I wonder if you could possibly help me Amongst the family papers that I have is the notification of my Uncle´s death sent to my Grandmother on the 17th January 1917. My uncle - John Piper was on a merchant ship , the name was something like SS Bayreauly, or Bayreanly, or Bayreaux (the writing on the document is very difficult to decipher), the lifeboat of which was washed up off the coast of Aberystwith on December 9th 1916, and there was no other trace. I have been trying to find records/details of the Bay Steamship COmpany, of 21 Old Broad Street, London EC (the piece of paper I have is headed up from them) and I can find no trace of a)the company, b) any ship with any similar name that was lost around this time. I suppose the ship was torpedoed or attacked by enemy fire etc. I wonder if you have come across any of these names, or could indeed point me in the right direction - I seem to have hit a blank and would really like to find out the details of what happened to my uncle etc. best regards Vicki Piper-Wall ------------------------------- visit TheShipsList Website http://www.theshipslist.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.6.14/1647 - Release Date: 02/09/2008 06:02