HMS Trinidad

HMS TRINIDAD

HMS Trinidad

A Crown Colony-class cruiser launched in 1940. Built in Devonport Dockyard and launched 21 March 1941. In this picture, painted for active service protecting convoys.

Courtesy of Steve Johnson

The story of HMS Trinidad - the ship that sank itself on the 29th of March 1942 - is a most tragic piece of Naval history. Go to the sites below to read accounts of the events which sent her to the bottom of the ocean displaying flags which carried the poignant signal, ”I am sailing to the Westward”.

http://www.royalmarinesbands.co.uk/history/Trinidad1.htm

http://www.royalmarinesbands.co.uk/history/Trinidad2.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/88/a2737488.shtml

Plaque in memory of men from HMS Trindad

Plaque in memory of nine men from the ship's band of HMS Trinidad

This hand-written memorial on the wall of St. Werburgh's Church in Wembury tells a poignant story. Framed by drawings of the instruments of bandsmen in the Royal Marines and headed by the phrase AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM (to the greater glory of God) are the names of 9 bandsmen who suffered a horrible fate on 29 March 1942 after being trapped in a rising flood of oil and sea water.

Below the names of the men on the plaque are the words:

"Members of the Band of HMS Trinidad who were lost at sea, March 1942, and who, in this Chapel, often assisted in the services of our Church."

Action Stations had been sounded and the whole band had gone to the Transmitting Station where they joined others and took up their complementary duties as gunners, switchboard operators etc. A single ladder provided the only exit from this compartment. A gyro fault on a torpedo fired from the ship caused it to move in an arc and return to HMS Trinidad from which it had been fired, hitting the compartment immediately below the Transmitting Station.

Bandsman George Lloyd survived as did the man whose life he saved (not yet confirmed but he may have been Louis Barber). Of the 21 men in the Transmitting Station, only 4 were to survive. George Lloyd (who eventually became a composer of distinction) was severely traumatised but years later composed a march called HMS Trinidad in remembrance of his colleagues and the event.

The memorial tells us why the men are remembered in Wembury which had close connection with the shore establishment, HMS Cambridge, the Royal Navy Gunnery School which the RoyalMarine Bandsmen would have known well.

HAROLD A. DAVIS	RMB 2978 Bandmaster Harold Alfred Davis of the Royal Marine Band. Son of Joseph Henry and Minnie Lavinia Davis (née Carter); husband of Jacqueline Joyce Davis. Born in Alverstoke, Hants in the March Quarter of 1910. Died 29 March 1942 aged 32.
STANLEY B. BENNETT	RMB/X228 Musician Stanley B. Bennett of the Royal Marine Band. Son of Benjamin and Eleanor Bennett (née Cartwright); husband of Irene Bennett. Born in London in the March Quarter of 1914. Died 29 March 1942 aged 28.
LEONARD BONFIELD	RMB/X310 Musician Leonard Bonfield of the Royal Marine Band. Son of Reuben and Harriet Bonfield; husband of Doris May Bonfield of Kidderminster, Born in Portsmouth in the December Quarter of 1914. Died 29 March 1942 aged 27.
RONALD G. S. BREWER	RMB/X1015 Musician Ronald George Stephen Brewer of the Royal Marine Band. Son of Charles Stephen and Annie Rose Brewer (née Hollingdale). Born in Midhurst, Kent, in the September Quarter of 1922. Died 29 March 1942 aged 19.
WILFRED COLLINGE	RMB/X1557 Musician Wilfred Collinge of the Royal Marine Band. Son of Willie and Ethel Collinge (née Ashworth); husband of Margaret Collinge of Bacup, Lancs. Born in Bacup in the September Quarter of 1913. Died 29 March 1942 aged 28.
ALBERT E. W. FIELD	RMB/X493 Musician Albert Edward William Field of the Royal Marine Band. (Please note: the third initial on the Wembury Plaque is incorrect). Son of Albert Edward William and Mary Marlow Field of Bishop's Waltham, Hants. Born in Eastbourne in the March Quarter of 1924. Died 29 March 1942 aged 18.
ARTHUR E. GLASS	RMB/X985 Musician Arthur Edward Glass of the Royal Marine band. Son of Edward Arthur and Lilian Gertrude Glass of Wymering, Hants. Date of birth not yet known. Died 29 March 1942.
CECIL H. B. MASON	RMB/X1577 Musician Cecil Henry Bland Mason of the Royal Marine Band. Son of Henry John and Annie Mason (née Bland). Born in Coventry in the September Quarter of 1920. Died 29 March 1942 aged 21.
C. J. H. SULLIVAN	RMB/X269 Musician Charley John Hutchins Sullivan of the Royal Marine Band. ("Charley" is the name registered at birth, not "Charles".) Son of Denis and Hannah Sullivan (née Hutchings); husband of Evelyn Sullivan of Teignmouth. Born in Moretonhampstead in the March Quarter of 1912. Died 29 March 1942 aged 30.