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Crew Casualty Mrs Doig

on July 22, 2019

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26th Oct 1918

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Finding out about the SS Burutu

The Elder Dempster steam ship S.S. Burutu sank on 3rd October 1918 with heavy loss of life. Due to the fact that the ship was not sunk by enemy action, very few of those on board were eligible for a war grave or commemoration on a memorial. I have compiled lists of casualties and survivors from the passengers and crew from a variety of sources, survivors from a list published in The Times on 8th October 1918, passenger casualties from the official Dead Passengers list for October 1918, crew casualties from the Roll of Honour in the book Elder Dempster 1914-1918 cross checked with the Deaths at Sea index. There are varied accounts of the number of lives lost in this tragedy so it is difficult to know exactly how many people died, 7th October 1918 (4 days after the tragedy) The Times reported 35 lives were lost. 8th October 1918 (5 days after the tragedy) The Times reported that the casualty list was expected to be 170-200, this article also carried a list of names of 22 survivi...

Lieutenant J.C.Orr

The information and photo in this post are taken from: Lieutenant John Charles Orr The following is a record of the heroism displayed by Lieutenant John Charles Orr (formerly of our Ladysmith branch), when the Elder Dempster liner "Burutu" sank in mid-ocean, with a loss of 150 lives, after collision with another liner. For the part played by him in this occurrence, Lieutenant Orr has been awarded the Board of Trade Silver Medal. "Fuller details of the sinking of the Elder Dempster liner 'Burutu' after collision with another liner, with the loss of over 150 lives, were given by one of the few survivors yesterday. The inky blackness of the night, the heavy list of the vessel, and the high seas running made launching and rescue work impossible. One lifeboat got away successfully containing the main body of the survivors. Another boat was being launched full of passengers, but descended to the top of a raft full of people which had drifted in ...

An account of the sinking - from The Elder Dempster Fleet in the War - 1914-1918

The Elder Dempster Fleet in the War 1914-1918 (Printed 1921) Chapter XI. The R.M.S. "BURUTU." To realize what is meant by the "fortunes of war," one should read the story of the R.M.S. Burutu during one of the most eventful years in British history - 1918. To engage unaided an enemy submarine and escape after a fierce running fight lasting an hour and a quarter, with the loss of but one man, during which time the Burutu, which had many passengers on board, fought in a manner which would have done credit to a ship of war, let alone a peaceful liner, and then a few months later to go to the bottom the victim on a tragically sad marine disaster brought about by the exigencies of war when almost within sight of Liverpool, and alas ! the ends of the war, is as a sailor-man tersely puts it : "the hardest of hard luck." It was on April 6th, 1918, that the R.M.S. Burutu, one of the mail steamers of the Elder Dempster Line left Lagos bound...

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Crew Casualty Mrs Doig

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