I am always amazed at how the small churchyards in the villages of Devon and Cornwall can yield so many wreck stories, many of which have happened hundreds of miles away on a foreign shore.
Thurlestone Church in Devon has one such story. In the small churchyard is the grave of Elizabeth, the wife of William Earnest Wood a Petty Officer Stoker who lost his life in the Dardenelles aboard H.M.S. Goliath in May 13th, 1915.
HMS Goliath was one of the six Canopus-class pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Royal Navy in the late 19th century. Commissioned in 1900, she served in the Far East on the China Station until 1905, at which time she joined the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1906, she was attached to the Channel Fleet and about 1909 was put into the reserve, at Portsmouth.
When the First World War broke out in August 1914, Goliath was returned to full commission and assigned to the 8th Battle Squadron, Channel Fleet, operating out of Devonport. She was sent to Loch Ewe as guard ship to defend the Grand Fleet anchorage and then covered the landing of the Plymouth Marine Battalion at Ostend, Belgium, on 25 August 1914.
Goliath transferred to the East Indies Station on 20 September to support cruisers on convoy duty in the Middle East, escorting an Indian convoy to the Persian Gulf and German East Africa until October. She then took part in the blockade of the German light cruiser SMS Königsberg in the Rufiji River until November, during which crew member Commander Henry Peel Ritchie won the Victoria Cross.
On 25 March 1915, Goliath was ordered to the Dardanelles to participate in the campaign.Commanded by Captain Thomas Lawrie Shelford, Goliath was part of the Allied fleet supporting the Allied Army during the landing at Cape Helles on 25 April. She sustained some damage from the gunfire of the Ottoman Turkish forts and shore batteries, and then again supported Allied troops ashore during the First Battle of Krithia that day. She later went on to cover the evacuation on 26 April.
On the night of 12–13 May, Goliath was anchored in Morto Bay off Cape Helles, along with H.M.S. Cornwallis and a screen of five destroyers, in foggy conditions. Around 01:00 on 13 May, the Turkish torpedo boat destroyer Muâvenet-i Millîye, which was manned by a combined German and Turkish crew, eluded the destroyers Beagle and Bulldog and closed on the battleships. Muâvenet-i Millîye fired two torpedoes which struck Goliath almost simultaneously abreast her fore turret and abeam the fore funnel, causing a massive explosion. Goliath began to capsize almost immediately, and was lying on her beam ends when a third torpedo struck near her after turret She then rolled over completely and began to sink by the bows, taking 570 of the 700-strong crew to the bottom, including her commanding officer, Captain Thomas Lawrie Shelford and William Earnest Wood.
Although sighted and fired on after the first torpedo hit, Muâvenet-i Millîye escaped unscathed. For sinking Goliath, Turkish Captain Ahmet Saffet Bey was promoted to rank of Major and the German captain of Muâvenet-i Millîye, Kapitänleutnant Rudolph Firle, was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class as well as Austro-Hungarian and Turkish decorations.
Admiralty 10th April 1915
VC citation
The King has been graciously pleased to approve of the grant of the Victoria Cross to Commander Henry Peel Ritchie Royal Navy for the conscious act of bravery specified below –
For most conspicuous bravery on the 28th November 1914 when in command of the searching and demolition operations at Dar-es-Salaam East Africa Though severely wounded several times his fortitude and resolution enabled him to continue to do his duty inspiring all by his example until at his eighth wound he became unconscious The interval between his first and last severe wound was between twenty and twenty five minutes.
