George Holbrook – Mercantile Marine - S.S. Treveal

Second Engineer George Holbrook – Mercantile Marine, S.S. Treveal

Background and Service

George Holbrook, born in 1878 in Swansea, was among the many local men who served — and perished — with the Mercantile Marine during the First World War. Unfortunately, little is known about his early life or family background.

Registers and Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Passengers and Seamen at Sea

Official records of his service appear in the Registers and Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Passengers and Seamen at Sea, which note his final place of residence as the Westgate Hotel, Cardiff. It is likely that George was lodging there while awaiting his next voyage, as was common among merchant seamen between assignments.

Loss of the S.S. Treveal

At the time of his death, George Holbrook was serving as Second Engineer aboard the S.S. Treveal, a British steam cargo vessel operated by the Hain Steamship Company Ltd., a prominent British shipping firm based in St Ives, Cornwall.

On 4^th February 1917, the Treveal was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine SM U-53 off The Skerries, near the Isle of Anglesey, in the Irish Sea. The ship had been on a routine voyage in home waters when she was struck without warning.

The explosion was devastating, and the ship sank rapidly, leaving the crew little time to escape. Second Engineer George Holbrook was among those who lost their lives in the attack. His body was never recovered, and like so many of his fellow seamen, he was lost to the sea.

The S.S. Treveal

The S.S. Treveal was a British cargo steamship of approximately 4,160 gross register tons, built in 1913 by John Readhead & Sons Ltd. of South Shields. The vessel served the Hain Steamship Company Ltd., transporting vital cargo such as coal, ore, and food supplies between Britain and her allies.

On 4^th February 1917, while sailing through the Irish Sea, the Treveal was intercepted and torpedoed by SM U-53, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose, one of Germany’s most experienced U-boat officers. The ship went down swiftly, taking many crew members with her.

Her loss was one of many suffered by the Hain Steamship Company during the war, as German submarines extended their attacks to merchant shipping in Britain’s home waters.

The German Submarine SM U-53

The SM U-53 was a Type U 51 submarine of the Imperial German Navy, commissioned in April 1916. Measuring 65.2 metres in length and displacing around 715 tons surfaced and 902 tons submerged, she was a long-range U-boat capable of operations deep into the Atlantic.

Under the command of Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose, U-53 became one of Germany’s most successful submarines of the war. She completed 13 patrols and was credited with sinking 87 merchant ships, totalling more than 224,000 tons of Allied shipping.

U-53 gained notoriety for her audacious visit to Newport, Rhode Island, in October 1916, where Captain Rose paid a diplomatic call before sinking several Allied merchant vessels just outside American territorial waters — a calculated act of propaganda demonstrating German naval reach.

After the Armistice in November 1918, U-53 surrendered to the Allies at Harwich on 1^st December 1918. She was later taken to Swansea, where she was dismantled and scrapped in 1922.

Commemoration

S.S. Treveal
Tower Hill Memorial
credit - findagrave

Second Engineer George Holbrook is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, London, which honours those of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who have no known grave but the sea.

His name also stands among Swansea’s long roll of maritime dead — men who worked in the dangerous, unseen world below decks, ensuring that the engines of Britain’s lifeline ships continued to turn amid the threat of war.

Legacy

Although little is known of George Holbrook’s personal story, his service represents the countless seafarers who faced the perils of the U-boat campaign with courage and endurance. His sacrifice, aboard the Treveal, is part of Swansea’s enduring maritime heritage and the wider history of the Mercantile Marine, whose quiet heroism kept Britain alive during the Great War.