The Wreck of the Rohilla

Welcome to the tragic story of the hospital ship Rohilla and a website dedicated to the sad loss of the fine ship and the memory of those involved during its tragic loss.

The wreck of the hospital ship has always intrigued me, it was a wreck I chose when introducing my dive students to their first open water dive. Although Whitby has a wealth of shipwrecks from two World Wars and numerous shipping disasters, being close to the harbour and in shallow water the wreck of the Rohilla was a logical choice for trainees. When I began work on my book I felt there may be more information available about the tragedy, but was aware that in order to try and obtain more information I would have to attempt contact with descendants of some of those who perished on the ship, in doing so I wondered if my contact would be welcome.

I felt guarded about stirring up feelings which many individuals may not wish to share. In all cases however, my contact was positively received and I now have many new acquaintances. I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to share their stories and feel they have made a significant contribution to my collective research. Throughout the book there are many heart rending pieces of information that only serve to highlight the despair those trapped aboard the Rohilla had to endure over the course of a weekend. The final fifty survivors were rescued after over fifty hours trapped on the ships wreckage. The rescue attempts involved six lifeboats and many daring feats of achievement, the tragedy is still recorded as one of the worst disasters in the annals of the RNLI.

It is not possible to do the story justice in a summary and I can only encourage you to buy my book. I am of course biased, but I hope you find it serves as a definitive account of the tragic events surrounding its loss. I included as much information as I could, so that the book will serve as an excellent reference book for anyone interested in the former British India Navigation Company liner. The book brings together many fine illustrations and photographs some of which had many never published before.

I have many pages planned for this website and am fortunate enough to have a wealth of information to share, although the site currently consists of over 165 pages there are many more to come.

In the book I invited people to contact me if they have anything they wish to share and I have been very lucky to have engaged in correspondence with some very interesting friends and family of those involved when the Rohilla was lost. I have also acquired significant new research some of which is very enlightening, these new developments will allow me to increase the scope of this website as time permits.

The last page added to the website was one first publicised in the Whitby Gazette titled Launching Ceremony At Whitby, that first details the heroic attempts made during the Rohilla tragedy and an exhibition of relics. It then presents the dedication of the 'new' lifeboat station house in 1919 and the christening of the Margaret Harker Smith, it is hosted on my lifeboat website but is mentioned here as it details the Rohilla's loss, it made for a very interesting piece use this link to read it for yourself.

I have also added a page carrying the obituary of Mr. Richard Knagg, one of the founding members of the Whitby St. John Ambulance Brigade founded just one month before the Rohilla tragedy it is one of a number of pages I have planned about Mr Knagg. The fun puzzle page I have on my lifeboat website has proved quite popular and I have therefore added a similar fun page here beginning with a simple wordsearch puzzle to complement the two existing jigsaws.

I was pleased to have been able to add a couple of pages surrounding a unique pair of binoculars found in a auction house at Wrexham.

The binoculars were presented to Mr Bacon, secretary of the Teesmouth lifeboat by the National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) to mark the bravery of her crew which had battled through mountainous seas in a brave attempt to reach the disaster site. The Teesside crew almost perished themselves when their boat was beaten by massive waves, the damage inflicted on the lifeboat hull was such the boat was forced to return back to Teesside. Having secured the binoculars for a princely sum, Mr Lawton, who is treasurer of the RNLI's Llangollen branch has graciously chosen to donate them to local lifeboat museum in view of their direct connection to the Rohilla tragedy. Mr Lawton is pictured above with his friend Peter Stubbs.

The binoculars are just one of many items featured in the Rohilla display case at the lifeboat museum a photograph of which I have added above, the photograph includes a link to a page with a large photograph suitable for downloading. I am also really pleased to have been able to add a new photograph to Mr. Fred Reddiough's page.

I am often restricted during the warmer months with the lifeboat and William Riley website's and therefore do not get to upload new Rohilla content as often as I would like but I do look forward to adding some more new pages soon.

The enamel badge pictured at the top of the page came up on an internet auction, my son bid for it but he was not successful, he did though manage to get me a good photograph of it. The seller of the badge also made him aware of a cabinet that was coming up for auction here in Whitby. I went to see the cabinet which I found to be of the same size as the one I already have but this one has a front door with windows. I aim to upload a page detailing how we got on at the auction and the extra special appeal the cabinet held.

** News **

Last April the tragedy of the ships loss was chosen to be included in an episode of the BBC Coast series. I was contacted by one the series researchers looking for information. I responded to the e-mail with my background and was pleasantly surprised as things progressed. I hope to be able to add some reports and photographs after the culmination of the two day filming, in the meantime however, you are welcome to browse a feature reproduced here which I submitted to the Whitby Gazette about how the Rohilla is to feature on the Coast series.

If you would be willing to create content for this website then I would be very grateful to hear from you. It might seem odd to offer this opportunity, however I am often frustrated that I am not adding more content

If you have any questions, queries or suggestions relating to the Rohilla please do not hesitate to contact me using the link below, I am always happy to receive feedback, good or bad in a hope of improving what I have to offer online.