H.M. Tug Saucy,
Brixham, Devon
Researched &
Copyright © Lynda Smith.2004
Thanks to Deane Wynne of The Deep Sea Rescue Tug Association for all
his help including the photo of Saucy.
Where
would we have been without Tugs?
Tugs
played a vital role in both World Wars, and particularly in the dark
days of the Second World War when we were in desperate need of the vital
supplies being brought over the Atlantic in the convoys of Merchant
Ships.
Most
were manned by the T124T (H.M. Rescue Tugs) section of the Royal Navy
a lot of these being experienced Merchant Seamen and Trawler men recruited
by the Royal Navy. Some were manned by Royal Navy itself, and some by
Merchant Seamen who flew the Red Ensign.
It
was a difficult and dangerous job – out in all weathers, and on
many occasions coming under enemy fire. Many of these men lost their
lives in the course of their service. 20 Tugs were lost during the war
either by enemy action or capsizing in seas they were never designed
to cope with. The tugs worked not only in Home Waters. Wherever the
Merchant Navy and Royal Navy went, there were tugs. The sight of a tug
steaming into view must have cheered many a sailor as his ship, disabled
by enemy action or breakdown, wallowing in the oceans, a sitting duck
to U-Boats, the Luftwaffe, or Japanese Kamikaze Pilots. Admiralty figures
show that 3 million tons of Merchant shipping plus their valuable cargoes
were saved by their Rescue Tugs, also 254 Allied warships and countless
lives.
It
was not only ships that the tugs towed. 160 tugs were deployed during
the Normandy invasion alone. They were vital to the success of D-Day,
and on 7th June 1944, it was tugs that towed the Mulberry Harbours to
Arromanches, without which the Normandy Invasion might have been a very
different story. They also towed the massive ‘Conuns’ that
carried the vital PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) from the Isle of
Wight to Cherbourg. Without these pipelines carrying petrol and oil
across the Channel the armies could not have moved an inch.
We
owe a very great deal to the brave men who manned these tugs.
This
memorial, which is sited on a stone wall on the old market building
adjacent to the “Golden Hinde” in Brixham Harbour, is cast
in bronze with raised polished text.
It
was dedicated on 4th September 2004, 64 years after the tragic incident.
(Note.
This tug should not to be confused with HMRT Saucy which was built by
Cochranes of Selby, Yorkshire, and launched in 1942. HMRT Saucy was
one of the Assurance Class of tugs)
H.
M. S. Saucy
To
the memory of 28 crew who gave their lives on
September 4th 1940 when their Search and
Rescue Tug was mined and sank in the Firth of Forth, Scotland.
18
of the crew that lost their lives were Brixham men.
| CLIFT |
John
William |
Fireman.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 38. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval
Memorial. Panel 21, Column 2. |
| COYSH |
Thomas
William |
Sailor
1091721. H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy).
Died on 4th September 1940. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval Memorial.
Panel 21, Column 2. |
|
CRANG |
Seymour
William |
Sailor.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 29. Husband of Agnes A. A. Crang,
of Brixham, Devon. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval Memorial. Panel
21, Column 2. |
| CUDD |
William
Herbert |
Sailor.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval Memorial.
Panel 21, Column 2. |
|
FOSTER |
Sidney |
Sailor.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 24. Son of Jim and Susan Foster; husband
of Dorothy Bessie Foster. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval Memorial.
Panel 21, Column 2. |
| GARDNER |
Stanley
Edward |
Fireman.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 26. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval
Memorial. Panel 21, Column 2. |
|
HARVEY |
Cyril
John |
Fireman.
H.M. Tug. Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 20. Son of Harold Turner Harvey and
Elsie May Harvey, of Brixham, Devon. His brother, Roy Harold (below),
perished with him and is commemorated on the Liverpool Memorial.
Buried: Edinburgh (Seafield) Cemetery. Ref. Sec. P. Grave 813.
|
| HARVEY |
Leonard
Turner |
Donkeyman
1091723. H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy).
Died on 4th September 1940. Aged 37. Son of Samuel and Eliza Harvey;
husband of Adda Elizabeth Harvey, of Brixham, Devon. Commemorated:
Liverpool Naval Memorial. Panel 21, Column 2. |
|
HARVEY |
Roy
Harold |
Fireman.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 19. Son of Harold Turner Harvey and
Elsie May Harvey, of Brixham, Devon. His brother, Cyril John M.
Harvey (above), perished with him and is buried in Edinburgh (Seafield)
Cemetery. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval Memorial. Panel 21, Column
2. |
| LAUNDER |
Charles
Henry |
Sailor.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 36. Son of William R. Launder and
Ellen F. Launder, of Plymouth. Buried: Edinburgh (Seafield) Cemetery.
Ref. Sec. P. Grave 799. |
|
MEDWAY |
Vincent |
Sailor.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 39. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval
Memorial. Panel 21, Column 2. |
| LOVELL |
Thomas |
Sailor.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 53. Husband of Blanche Elizabeth Lovell,
of Brixham, Devon. Buried: Edinburgh (Seafield) Cemetery. Ref.
Sec. P. Joint grave 799. |
|
PIPER |
Samuel
John Ronald |
Fireman.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 26. Son of Mr. and Mrs. A. Piper;
husband of Ermyntrude Bessie Piper, of Goodrington, Devon. Buried:
Edinburgh (Seafield) Cemetery. Ref. Sec. P. Grave 814. |
| NICHOLLS |
Harry
Edward |
Sailor.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 30. Husband of Olive Hyne Nicholls.
Buried: Edinburgh (Seafield) Cemetery. Ref. Sec. P. Grave 798.
|
|
ROBERTS |
Charles
Edward |
Fireman.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval Memorial.
Panel 21, Column 2. |
| PULHAM |
Edward
William |
Third
Engineer Officer 1040662. H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel
(Merchant Navy). Died on 4th September 1940. Aged 42. Commemorated:
Liverpool Naval Memorial. Panel 21, Column 2. |
|
STAMP |
Ralph
Edwin George |
Fireman.
H.M. Tug Saucy. Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 23. Son of Ralph Furzeman Stamp and
Mary Grace Stamp, of Brixham, Devon. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval
Memorial. Panel 21, Column 2. |
| SEAWARD |
John
Alfred |
Fireman.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 35. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval
Memorial. Panel 21, Column 2. |
| The
other crew who lost their lives were |
|
ANDERSON |
Walter
Henry |
Sub-Lieutenant
(E). H.M. Tug Saucy, Royal Naval Reserve. Died on 4th September
1940. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval Memorial. Panel 21, Column
2. |
| HOSIE |
George |
Sailor.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 19. Son of William McG. and Mary Ann
C. Hosie, of Torry, Aberdeen. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval Memorial.
Panel 21, Column 2. |
|
JONES |
Frederick
Wyndham |
Sub-Lieutenant
(E), H.M. Tug Saucy, Royal Naval Reserve. Died 4th September 1940.
Aged 53. Son of Herbert and Anne Jones; husband of Esther Jones,
of Lampeter, Cardiganshire. Commemorated on Liverpool Naval Memorial.
Panel 2., Column 2. |
| PHILLIPS |
Francis
(Douglas)
|
Sub-Lieutenant.
H.M. Tug. Saucy, Royal Naval Reserve. Died on 4th September 1940.
Aged 36. He was born Douglas Berry and adopted Wilfred Phillips
taking the name Francis DOuglas Phillips. Buried: Edinburgh (Seafield)
Cemetery. Ref. Sec. P. Grave 812. |
|
REID |
Donald
McGregor |
Fireman.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Died
on 4th September 1940. Aged 25. Son of Donald Reid, (below), who
perished with him. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval Memorial. Panel
21, Column 2. |
| REID |
Donald |
Steward
621892. H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy).
Died on 4th September 1940. Aged 51. His son, Donald McGregor
Reid (above), perished with him. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval
Memorial. Panel 21, Column 2. |
|
STENHOUSE |
John |
Ship's
Cook 650743. H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant
Navy). Died on 4th September 1940. Aged 65. Son of Robert and
Margaret Stenhouse. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval Memorial. Panel
21, Column 2. |
| THOMAS |
David
Llewellyn |
Sub-Lieutenant.
H.M. Tug Saucy, Royal Naval Reserve. Died on 4th September 1940.
Aged 29. Son of John Thomas, and of Esther Thomas, of Aberystwyth,
Cardiganshire. Buried: Edinburgh (Seafield) Cemetery. Ref. Sec.
P. Grave 706. |
|
TOMLINSON |
Robert
John |
Sailor
193444. H.M. Tug Saucy, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy).
Died on 4th September 1940. Aged 24. Son of Alfred Nathan Tomlinson
and Isabella Tomlinson, of Hull. Commemorated: Liverpool Naval
Memorial. Panel 21, Column 2. |
| Seven
of the crew members were related. |
Last
updated
18 May, 2023
|
