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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

William Oddy

In memory of:

Chief Steward William Oddy

December 6, 1916
North Atlantic

Military Service


Age:

38

Force:

Merchant Navy

Unit:

Canadian Merchant Navy

Division:

S.S. Mount Temple (Liverpool, England) (13496)

Additional Information


Born:

January 1, 1878
Wharfedale, England

His full name is William Halliday Oddy and he served as William Gilbert.

Son of Joseph and Mary Oddy. Husband of Sarah Annie Douglas of 154, Walton Village, Liverpool, Lancashire, England. Father of Mary Iris Oddy.

On 6 December 1916, the Mount Temple, en route to Brest, France, was ordered to break down by the German corsair ship Moewe. Refusing to obey, she was bombarded with cannon fire, killing four sailors. The Germans opened the ship's holds and placed explosive charges in. She sank 620 nautical miles (713 miles/1,148 km) west of Fastnet Rock, a lighthouse island in south-eastern Ireland, with 710 horses for the army and 22 wooden boxes containing dinosaur artefacts. The 112 sailors were taken prisoner, transferred to the captured British freighter Yarrowdale and disembarked at Warnemünde, Germany, on 31 December. They were released in November 1918.

Commemorated on Page 55 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:

TOWER HILL MEMORIAL
London, United Kingdom

Grave Reference:

N/A

Location:

THE TOWER HILL MEMORIAL stands on the South side of the garden of Trinity Square, a hundred yards East of Mark Lane Station, and just within the boundaries of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney and the Liberty of the Tower. It is at the hub of maritime England. Behind it are Trinity House and the offices of the Port of London Authority, and the Thames stretches before it; the wide space of Great Tower Hill, leading down from it to the river, is the traditional forum of merchant seamen and their fellow workers. Lloyd's is on the North, the Custom House and Billingsgate Market are near it on the West, and beyond the Tower, Eastwards, is the long line of the Docks the greatest dock system in the world.

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