Walter Stokes

Below is the story of the life, work and death of Engineer Commander Walter Stokes. The research has been done by Ms. Kate Brett, deputy head Naval Historical Branch, Royal Navy.

From a little research on family history websites I can confirm that Walter Stokes was born into a naval family in Southsea, Portsmouth, in 1874. According to the 1881 Census, Walter’s father, Henry, was a Royal Navy veteran of the lower deck (lower ranks within the Royal Navy of seamen -GvG), aged 49, born in Liverpool. His mother, Ann, was from Kent. Although Walter appears to have been the only son to join the same Service as his father, his two brothers may well have made their livings serving the Royal Navy or maritime sector. Walter’s older brother, also Henry, worked later as an Engineer Draughtsman (technical drawer -GvG) and was still alive at the start of the Second World War and living in Portsmouth. His younger brother, Albert Edward, also worked as a Marine Engine Fitter in the Portsmouth area. Walter had two older sisters, Ellen and Lucy.

As Walter Stokes joined the Royal Navy before the First World War, his service records are now available via our National Archives, and I took the liberty of downloading them for you (see documents attached -GvG). Walter Stokes joined the Royal Navy as a Probationary Assistant Engineer in 1894, and served around the world, progressing to Engineer Commander in 1913. He was appointed to the Cressy-class Armoured Cruiser, HMS Hogue, in May 1914, shortly before the ship was assigned to the 7th Cruiser Squadron. Commissioned in 1902, HMS Hogue was showing her age in a Naval Service dominated by technologically-superior vessels. At the outbreak of the First World War, the 7th Cruiser Squadron was tasked with patrolling the North Sea to prevent German warships from attacking the supply lines between Britain and France.

Alan Coles’ book on the sinking is rather grimly entitled Three Before Breakfast and highlights how unprepared the personnel of Cressy, Aboukir and Hogue were for the rigours of submarine warfare. Coles has a particular interest in the teenage cadets drafted straight from the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth into the cruisers, and a large proportion of each crew had also been pulled from the Royal Navy Reserve. The Admiralty had actually made the decision to remove the Armoured Cruisers from the North Sea patrol because of their potential vulnerability to submarines, but the decision was made too late to prevent Cressy, Aboukir and Hogue from heading out on their last patrol. Early on the morning of 22 September 1914 the three ships were on patrol in line abreast when HMS Aboukir was struck by a torpedo from U 9, captained by Otto Weddingen, at 06:20. The Commanding Officer of the Aboukir, Captain John Drummond, assumed that he had hit a mine and signalled to the other ships to close to transfer wounded men. The Commanding Officer of the Hogue, Captain Wilmot Nicholson, realised that the damage could have been caused by a submarine’s torpedo and ordered the Cressy to look for a periscope as his ship closed the Aboukir. At 06:55 two torpedoes hit the Hogue and she began to sink rapidly. HMS Cressy sighted the submarine after U 9 torpedoed the Hogue and opened gunfire, attempting also to ram the submarine. U 9 escaped unscathed, HMS Cressy resumed the rescue of the survivors, but was herself torpedoed by U 9 at 07:35. As the title of Coles’ book reflects, all three sister ships had been sunk in just over an hour, all before breakfast.

Distress signals had been sent by the cruisers, but the situation was desperate for the men clinging to wreckage, and particularly for Commander Walter Stokes. When the torpedoes hit HMS Hogue, the impact fractured both of Stokes’ legs and he was left immobile while the fearful stokers under his command stampeded. As the crew prepared to abandon ship, Stokes was carried by a Sick Berth Attendant to the upper deck tied to a wooden door. As the Hogue sank, the door floated Stokes within range of the cutter employed to rescue as many men as possible. Stokes suffered in agony as more and more men clambered into the cutter, but at least he was not left to float alone into the North Sea.

Although British destroyers were making best speed towards the position of the sinking, two of the first rescue ships to arrive were Dutch neutrals. Arriving shortly after two British trawlers, the Dutch freighters Flora and Titan assisted in the search for survivors in the water, as well as transferring the injured personnel from the cutter. Commander Stokes received medical assistance for the first time in the cabin of the Flora. Amongst the other survivors embarked in the Flora was his Commanding Officer, Captain Nicholson. Whilst rescuing survivors, the captains of the Flora and the Titan had sighted further enemy submarines. As British destroyers arrived on the scene, Captain Voorham of the Flora broke Dutch neutrality laws by signalling a warning to the British, but could do no more. Uneasy about the presence of the submarines, and seeing no more survivors in the water, Voorham turned the Flora towards IJmuiden, only 30 miles away, rather than England. The Titan also headed back towards the Netherlands, although she was ordered to transfer all but the most seriously injured of her survivors to HMS Lucifer.

Having survived the desperation of the sinking, the British personnel on board the Flora may not have realised that they were heading towards internment in a neutral country. The people of IJmuiden were shocked to see around 250 survivors disembarking from the Flora, most wearing torn blankets, bunk curtains, or pieces of clothing provided by the crew of the Flora. Walter Stokes was carried off the freighter unconscious and rushed to a Red Cross hospital. The Dutch Government decided that the rest of the personnel from the Flora would have to be interned and took them under military escort to a camp at Gaasterland. The period in internment was short and filled with luxuries as the Dutch military and general public showered the survivors with gifts of clothes, money, and large amounts of cigarettes and tobacco, while diplomatic negotiations between Britain and the Netherlands continued. By 25 September it was agreed that the survivors could return to Britain, as long as their return was achieved quietly.

Walter Stokes, however, was too ill to be moved as the leg fractures and exposure wore down his health. Stokes succumbed to his injuries on 20 October 1914, under the care of the Dutch Red Cross doctors who had struggled to save his life, and this is why his grave is alone in Haarlem General Cemetery. Five of the seamen from the cruisers were buried shortly after their arrival in the Netherlands at ‘s Gravenzande Cemetery, while other personnel are commemorated in The Hague and Noordwijk.