SS Franz Fischer

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SS Franz Fischer
History
Name
  • Rocklands (when built)
  • Franz Fischer (by 1914)
Owner
  • Hardy, Wilson & Co. (1881–unknown)
  • British Admiralty (1914-1916)
Port of registry United Kingdom
BuilderIrvine's Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Launched1881
FateSunk by German military action 1 February 1916
General characteristics
Tonnage953 GRT
Length222.3 feet (67.8 m)
Beam31 feet 4 inches (9.55 m)
Draught15.4 feet (4.7 m)
Installed power99 nominal horsepower compound steam engine
CapacityAt least 1,020 long tons (1,140 short tons) of coal
Crew16 men

The SS Franz Fischer (originally named SS Rocklands) was a British-built collier. She was initially operated by a British company but by 1914 was operated under the German flag. The vessel was in Sheerness, England, at the outbreak of the First World War and was seized by the British government. She was thereafter operated as a collier by The Admiralty. Franz Fischer was sunk by an explosion on 1 February 1916 with the loss off 13 of her crew. The German press claimed she had been sunk by a bomb from a Zeppelin and the vessel was described as the first merchant ship to be sunk by aerial attack, either by Zeppelin or fixed wing aircraft. Recent research has concluded that the vessel was sunk by the u-boat UB-17.

Early career

Franz Fischer was built, as the collier SS Rocklands, by the Irvine's Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in West Hartlepool, County Durham, in 1881. He had an iron hull and measured 222.3 feet (67.8 m) in length, 31 feet 4 inches (9.55 m) in beam and 15.4 feet (4.7 m) in draught. Rocklands had a gross register tonnage of 953. She had a 99 nominal horsepower compound steam engine.[1]

Rocklands first owner was Hardy, Wilson & Co. of West Hartlepool.[1] By 1914 she was sailing under the German flag. She was at Sharpness on the outbreak of the First World War and was detained by the British authorities. The Admiralty kept her as a collier, one of 34 such ships operated for them by Everett & Newbigin. Unusually her German name was retained in Admiralty service.[2]

Sinking

On 31 January 1916 Franz Fischer left Hartlepool carrying a cargo of 1,020 long tons (1,040 t) of coal to Cowes.[3][4][2] n approaching the Kentish Knock lightvessel at 9.30pm on 1 February Franz Fischer was warned of German sea mines on the route ahead and her captain decided to join a group of vessels anchored for the night.[2]

At 10.30 pm an explosion occurred amidships of the Franz Fischer.[5][2] Franz Fischer appeared only lightly damaged, though the crew prepared to lower her boats in case they had to abandon ship.[6] However she soon developed a list to port and capsized and sank two minutes after the explosion.[6][7] Three crewmen were saved by the Belgian steamer SS Paul, her British chief engineer and steward and a Newfoundland seaman.[2] Other men had survived the initial sinking but perished in the water, resulting in 13 fatalities from the sinking.[2][8]

Cause

There has been much debate over the cause of the sinking. The German news service the Wolffs Telegraphisches Bureau reported that the vessel had been sunk by a bomb from a Zeppelin returning from the 31 January/1 February raid on the English Midlands.[2] The surviving crew of the Franz Fischer reported hearing a mechanical noise to the south-east just prior to the explosion and one described feeling that an aircraft was overhead, lending credence to the claim.[2] She was noted as being the first merchant ship to be sunk by aerial attack and the "first steamship in history whose loss to air attack can be positively confirmed".[9][3]

All Zeppelins from the raid on England had passed over the area by the time of the sinking except Zeppelin LZ 54 (L 19), which suffered from engine problems.[2] For some time the sinking was attributed to her.[4] However, historians from Historic England reconstructed the last movements of L 19 before she was wrecked in the North Sea later on 1 February 1916 and note that she was too far north to have sunk Franz Fischer.[2] An alternative theory at the time and since was that she was sunk by a German bomber flying from Zeebrugge.[8]

The Historic England investigation concludes that the vessel was actually sunk by the German u-boat UB-17. The u-boats logs note she fired two torpedoes at a vessel at Kentish Knock on the night of the sinking. The first missed but the crew claimed a hit by the second. The sound of the first torpedo, which was a misfire, may explain the noises heard by the crew of the Franz Fischer before the explosion. The official British history of the First World War at sea attributes the sinking to UB-17.[2]

Legacy

The story of the sinking of Franz Fischer was told by writer Alfred Noyes in the Times as "Open Boats". A radio dramatisation was made and this was also serialised in the New York Times.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Rocklands 1913 Franz Fischer". Lloyd's Register Foundation. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Wreck of the Week". Historic England. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b Cross & Cockade Journal. Cross & Cockade, the Society of World War I Aero Historians. 1977. p. 20.
  4. ^ a b Hurd, Archibald (1924). The Merchant Navy. Longmans, Green. p. 294.
  5. ^ Brassey's Naval and Shipping Annual. Brassey's Naval and Shipping Annual. 1916. p. 20.
  6. ^ a b Edwards, Bernard (19 August 2010). War Under the Red Ensign, 1914–1918. Casemate Publishers. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-84468-486-1.
  7. ^ Warship. Conway Maritime Press. 1989. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-87021-999-3.
  8. ^ a b Warship International. International Naval Research Organization. 1982. p. 218.
  9. ^ Strabolgi, Joseph Montague Kenworthy Baron (1930). New Wars: New Weapons. E. Mathews & Marrot. p. 86.
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