Specifications Displacement : 2,940 tons Length : 385 feet (117.3m) overall Beam : 38.4 feet (11.7m) Draught: average 13.8 feet (4.2m) Complement : 270 (268 at time of loss) Armament : 9 4-inch guns, 2 18 inch torpedo tubes Propulsion : Two 4 cylinder triple expansion oil fired steam engines driving twin screws Speed : max 25 knots Armour : 2 inch belt, 0.6-1.5 inch deck The Destruction of HMS Pathfinder There is no known surviving official report on the destruction of Pathfinder, one of the most historically significant of European wrecks . The only file at Kew refers to the casualty list. Maritime historians Bob Baird and Clio assembled a cohesive account from a mosaic of personal accounts and official fragments. Hersing spotted Pathfinder at periscope depth at 1530. He had observed the ship earlier on the day in her outward journey but the distance had been too great to make an attack. At 1543 Otto Hersing fired a single 19.69” Type G torpedo. September 5 was a sunny afternoon. At 1545 lookouts spotted a torpedo wake heading towards the starboard bow at a range of 2,000 yards. The officer of the watch Lt Cdr Favell gave orders for the starboard engine to be put astern and the port engine to be set at full ahead while the wheel was fully turned in an attempt to take avoiding action. At 1550 the torpedo detonated beneath the bridge. What happened next remains a matter of conjecture but there is reason to believe that cordite charges may have ignited leading to a flash causing a second, massive explosion within the fore section of the ship as the magazine blew up. The fore mast and No 1 funnel collapsed then toppled over the side. The forensic evidence of the wreck is that everything before the first funnel disintegrated. The majority of the crew below decks in the forward section had neither the time nor the opportunity to escape. Although the explosion was well within sight of land, Captain Martin-Peake knew it was essential to attract attention. He ordered the stern gun to be fired (see painting). The king-pin must have been fatally damaged by the explosion because after firing a single round, the gun toppled off its mounting, rolled around the quarter deck, struck the after screen then careered over the stern, taking the unfortunate gun crew with it. There was no list but there was insufficient time to lower boats. Indeed the remains of a lifeboat davit and rope can still be seen on the wreck. The propeller belonging to the ship’s boat lies forlornly on the deck nearby. Lt (E) Stallybrass recalled that the bulkheads held firm until five minutes after the big explosion: “The ship gave a heavy lurch forward and took an angle of about forty degrees down by the bow. Water came swirling up to the searchlight platform. The Captain said, ‘jump you devils jump !’. The Captain and his secretary remained with the ship until the very end but somehow both survived” The bow section sheared off under the strain as the stern heaved up to a sixty degree angle. Then it quietly slipped below the surface. The explosion was seen by Aldous Huxley (while staying at Northfield House, St. Abbs) who recorded the following in a letter to his father sent on 14 September 1914: ‘I dare say Julian told you that we actually saw the Pathfinder explosion — a great white cloud with its foot in sea. The St. Abbs' lifeboat came in with the most appalling accounts of the scene. There was not a piece of wood, they said, big enough to float a man—and over acres the sea was covered with fragments—human and otherwise. They brought back a sailor's cap with half a man's head inside it. The explosion must have been frightful..’ The destroyers Stag and Express headed for the pall of smoke. One of the destroyers had an engine problem when a water inlet was blocked by a leg in a seaboot. HMS Pathfinder Roll of Honour (Don Kindell) FAVELL, Ernest T, Lieutenant Commander CARTER, Eccles J, Lieutenant LEATHER, Gerald, Lieutenant VENNING, Thomas A, Engineer Lieutenant Commander MURPHY, John C, Canteen Manager, Admiralty civilian ROGERS, Louis S, Canteen Assistant, Admiralty civilian ADDLEY, Edward, Officer's Steward ALDOUS, Cecil, Able Seaman ALEXANDER, Ernest, Officer's Steward AMIES, Stephen J, Boy ARMSTRONG, James, Stoker Petty Officer AUSTEN, William F, Ordinary Seaman AVIS, William, Sergeant, RMLI AXUP, Victor E, Leading Signalman BAILEY, George H, Leading Seaman BAKER, Edward J, Petty Officer BAKER, George B, Electrical Artificer BALDOCK, William R, Stoker BALMAIN, John, Officer's Steward BANKS, George E, Stoker Petty Officer BARNETT, William (real name, but served as William Swann), Stoker BARTLETT, Henry A, Stoker BAYFIELD, Alfred, Stoker Petty Officer BELL, George S, Stoker BERTRAM, Philip, Stoker BIRCH, Arthur E, Stoker BISHOP, James, Able Seaman, BLOOMFIELD, Sidney H, Able Seaman BOCK, Robert H, Stoker BOLTON, George, Stoker BRASH, Prentis S, Petty Officer body recovered buried Warriston, Edinburgh BRAY, George, Able Seaman BRIGHT, Eli, Gunner BROWN, Frederick G, Stoker BROWN, George F, Stoker BUCK, Frederick, Petty Officer BUTLER, Walter, Stoker CALVERLEY, Lawrence B, Ordinary Seaman, CARDY, George J, Stoker CAREY, Edward, Ordinary Seaman CARNEGIE, Alexander, Shipwright CHAMBERS, William, Private, RMLI CHAMPION, Edward T, Stoker CHANCE, Joseph, Leading Stoker CHAPPLE, John H, Corporal, RMLI CHARITY, John E, Stoker CHARLTON, John R, Telegraphist, aged 19 body recovered buried Bridlington CLARK, Albert, Private, RMLI CLARKE, Frederick W, Stoker CLAYTON, Robert W, Private, RMLI CLOUGH, Alexander J, Chief Stoker COBB, Arthur V J, Signal Boy COE, Herbert C, Leading Cook's Mate COLEMAN, George H, Stoker COLEMAN, William, Act/Leading Stoker COLLINS, Thomas, Stoker COOPER, Thomas, Stoker COPELAND, Tom, Officer's Steward COPPINS, Hugh J, Stoker CORBETT, Michael P, Leading Stoker COSTELLOW, William J, Stoker COX, Swithin J, 2nd Writer DALEY, Herbert, Ordinary Seaman DASH, Frederick J, Officer's Cook DAVISON, Charles H G (real name, but served as Charles Henry Pettman), Petty Officer DAVY, George H, Stoker DENNIS, Clarence F V, Stoker DUCK, Edward, Ordinary Seaman DURRANT, Cyril G P, Act/Engine Room Artificer EVANS, William J, Able Seaman, FELTHAM, Arthur, Signalman FINCH, Sydney W, Paymaster body recovered buried at Ford Park, Plymouth FISHER, Robert, Leading Carpenter's Crew FLUCKER, Thomas, Able Seaman FORD, Philip H, Signal Boatswain FORSYTH, Peter, Able Seaman FREEMAN, Charles W C, Stoker FRENCH, Harry, Private, RMLI FRENCH, Henry J, Able Seaman, GALLOWAY, Archibald W, Signalman GIBBONS, John, Signalman, GIBBS, Ernest, Stoker GILBEY, William E, Able Seaman GOBLE, Albert E, Stoker GOODWIN, Sidney A, Stoker GORMAN, Charles J, Stoker GOSLING, Ernest A, Stoker GRAHAM, James, Ordinary Seaman GREENAWAY, Sidney, Private, RMLI GREGORY, Thomas, Officer's Cook GUILL, Raymond J, Petty Officer Telegraphist GURR, Stephen, 2nd Cooper GUY, William, Stoker HALL, Ernest A, Stoker HALL, George W, Stoker Petty Officer HALL, John F, Stoker HARDISTY, Wilfred, Boy HARLEY, George A, Stoker HARLOW, Thomas H, Act/Leading Stoker HARPER, William P J, Stoker HENRY, Charles B, Leading Seaman HENSELEIT, Frederick, Ordinary Seaman, HENSHER, Joseph, Stoker HIGH, George H, Boy HILL, Albert, Stoker HILLIS, James H, Leading Stoker HILTON, William E, Stoker HITCHCOCK, Edward W, Stoker Petty Officer HOLBROOK, Henry G, Stoker HOLDBROOK, Joseph, Boy HOLMES, Frederick H, Stoker HOSIE, William J, Leading Stoker HOWARD, Ernest G, Leading Stoker HOWARD, Thomas J, Leading Cook's Mate, body recovered buried Dalmeny HOWLING, John M, Yeoman of Signals HUGHES, Charles, Stoker JARVIS, Edward W, Stoker JOLIFFE, John, Stoker JONES, Arthur W, Stoker KEENE, Fred, Officer's Steward KELLEHER, Christopher, Ordinary Seaman KING, Alfred C L, Stoker KING, Sydney H, Stoker KINGSTON, Sydney, Sick Berth Steward KNIGHT, Albert A, Stoker LADD, Ernest W, Able Seaman LANDER, William E, Chief Shipwright LANE, Frank E, Ordinary Seaman LARDNER, Roderick D, Yeoman of Signals LAW, James T, Private, RMLI LEVERINGTON, William E, Stoker LEWIS, Alfred E, Leading Stoker LEWIS, Henry E, Able Seaman LILLEY, Albert E G, Stoker LONG, Stuart S, Leading Seaman LUNON, Arthur J, Stoker MACKENZIE, Kenneth, Blacksmith MAGEE, Richard E, Master at Arms MANSFIELD, William, Stoker Petty Officer MARSH, Arthur, Act/Engine Room Artificer MASON, Albert E, Ordinary Seaman MAY, John, Ordinary Seaman MCCORMICK, Frank, Stoker MCDONALD, Alexander T C, Stoker MCKAY, James, Artificer Engineer MEAD, George H, Officer's Steward MEDHURST, George, Able Seaman MEEKER, Charles E, Ordinary Seaman MESSAM, John W, Private, RMLI MILLS, Archibald H, Ship's Steward's Assistant MOORE, Henry J, Engine Room Artificer MORGAN, Francis M, Stoker MORPHEW, Arthur, Stoker MORRIS, William, Leading Seaman MORRISON, Henry E, Gunner MOSS, Horace G, Signalman, MULADY, Alfred, Stoker MUNN, Duncan, Painter MUNN, George A, Shipwright NEVE, Basil H, Act/Chief Engine Room Artificer NEWMAN, Richard H, Chief Petty Officer Telegraphist, NIXON, Francis E A, Ship's Steward NUNN, Frank A, Act/Engine Room Artificer OLDBURY, Frederick, Chief Armourer OWEN, Edward R, Stoker PALMER, George, Stoker PATTON, William, Leading Seaman PAUL, George T, Stoker PEARCE, Harry C, Able Seaman PERYER, Albert E, Stoker Petty Officer PHILPOTT, Horace H, Stoker PHILPOTT, Walter, Stoker PLUMB, William, Private, RMLI PONTEFRACT, Robert, Private, RMLI POULTON, William M, Able Seaman POWELL, Charles V, Stoker PROWSE, Arthur R, Able Seaman PUTTICK, James F, Able Seaman QUIGLEY, Hugh D, Sick Berth Attendant QUIN, Sidney