Spracklin, Edgar Jonathan
Leading Seaman
No. 1113X, Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve, HMS Bayano
Died on Thursday 11 March 1915 (aged 36)
Buried:
Ballyhalbert (St. Andrew’s) Church of Ireland Churchyard, Ballyeasborough, Co Down (in North-East part)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Newfoundland Book of Remembrance
BIOGRAPHY
Not everyone who was buried in a Commonwealth War Grave in the Ards and North Down area was a local person.
Seven men from HMS Bayano whose bodies were washed ashore along the coastline of the Ards Peninsula were buried in three local graveyards.
HMS Bayano was an Elders & Fyffes merchant ship that was commissioned by the Admiralty in 1914 for use as an Armed Merchant Auxiliary Cruiser and she served with 10th Cruiser Squadron.
HMS Bayano sank off Corsewall Point, Stranraer around 4.45 am on Thursday 11 March 1915 when on route from Glasgow to Liverpool after being hit by a torpedo fired from the German Submarine U-27.
It was pitch dark at the time and many of the crew were sleeping.
Around 200 men died and less than 30 were saved.
Survivors clung to wreckage in the water for more than four hours before being picked up by the SS Castlereagh.
HMS Bayano disappeared within about three minutes of being torpedoed and the majority of those who perished were sucked into the vortex created by the rapidly sinking ship.
Many of the bodies were washed up on the shores of the Isle of Man.
The seven men who were buried in three local graveyards were as follows:
An unidentified Royal Marine of the Great War from HMS Bayano was buried in the North-East part of Ballyhalbert Church of Ireland (St Andrew’s) Graveyard, Ballyeasborough.
Also buried in that Graveyard was Leading Seaman Edgar Jonathan Spracklin of the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve.
His body was found washed up on the shore at Portavogie.
Frederick William Chater, a British Able Seaman in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, was buried near the middle of the South-East boundary of Whitechurch Graveyard, Ballywalter.
His body was found washed up on the shore at Ballywalter.
Two unidentified sailors from HMS Bayano were buried in Ballyphilip Church of Ireland Graveyard, Portaferry.
Their headstones affirm that they are:
Known Unto God.
Also buried in that Churchyard was Private Alexander George Bain of the Royal Marine Light Infantry.
Identified by means of a letter in one of his pockets, he was buried in Grave 197.
The fourth casualty from HMS Bayano who was buried in that Graveyard was Able Seaman W A Wellstead of the Royal Navy.
Identified by means of having his name embossed on his belt, he was buried in Grave 198.
Leading Seaman Edgar Jonathan Spracklin was a son of Thomas and Cicely Spracklin of Cupids, Newfoundland and he was baptised on 15 March 1879 in Brigus, Newfoundland. He had at least two sisters, Mary Jane and Georgina.
Edgar and his wife Marcella lived in Cupids and they had at least five children – Gladys Belle; Anne Beulah; Graham Wallace; Aleck Lloyd and Gordon Livingstone.
Leading Seaman Edgar Jonathan Spracklin was 36 when he died and his body was found washed up on the shore on 25 March 1915 at Portavogie. An inquest was held the following day and the cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning.
Leading Seaman Edgar Jonathan Spracklin was buried in Ballyhalbert (St. Andrew’s) Church of Ireland Churchyard, Ballyeasborough, Co Down (North-East part) and his CWGC headstone bears the following inscription:
In fond memory of a beloved husband and father
Leading Seaman Edgar Jonathan Spracklin is commemorated on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and in the Newfoundland Book of Remembrance (Page 118).