BOWEN Walter Henry
Distinguished Service Cross.
BOWEN Walter Henry
Distinguished Service Cross.Chief Engineer, Royal Naval Transport. Sunk by mine while on a vital supply mission to Malta.,
Died 2 May 1941, aged 65, Lost at sea from S.S. Parracombe (London), which was sunk by a mine.
Remembered on the MERCHANT SEAMEN MEMORIAL 1939-1945, Swansea.
Husband of Sarah Ann Bowen, whose business was at 458, Mumbles Road.
The nformation below was reported on
GLAMORGAN-L Archives
S.S. Parracombe (London) was owned by Pyman Brothers, Ltd., of 16 St Helen's Place, London EC3,
and had been built in 1928 for general tramping. 4,698 gross tons.
Peacetime colours - funnel: black with white band bearing black disc; hull:
light grey, with red boot-topping (that's the band of colour around the
water line).
On 2nd May 1941, she sailing from the UK to the Eastern Mediterranean on
Admiralty service, and struck a mine (according to Young:
"Britain's Sea War" and HMSO: "British Merchant Vessels Lost or Damaged by
Enemy Action During Second World War") and sank in the Eastern Med., according to Young.
31 of the crew were killed, 18 were made PoWs.
Seems to be two different versions of her sinking, but the mining is the
correct one. There are two records in the National Archive:
ADM 1/11584 MERCHANT NAVY (64): Awards to Merchant Navy personnel after
sinking of S.S.PARRACOMBE by mines 1941-1942
BT 373/244 Parracombe 1941-1943