Hopkin Morgans – Mercantile Marine - Sailing Vessel Frances
Seaman Cook Hopkin Morgans – Mercantile Marine, Sailing Vessel Frances
Early Life and Family Background
Birth and Parentage
Hopkin Morgans was one of Swansea’s youngest
mercantile mariners to lose his life during the First World War. Born in 1903
in Swansea, he was the youngest son of William John Morgans and Annie
Morgans.
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| 1911 Census |
By the time of the 1911 Census, Annie had been widowed and was living with her children at 21 Watkin Street, Swansea. Then aged 44, she worked as a Collector at Swansea Market, supporting her family alone. Her eldest son Brinley, 20, was employed as a Labourer and already married. Also living at home were Catherine, 18; William Page, 15, who worked as a Rougher; George, 10; and the youngest, Hopkin, aged 8.
It was within this busy and hardworking household that Hopkin grew up before beginning his short life at sea.
Sailing Vessel Frances
The Sailing Vessel Frances was a small
merchant sailing ship working at a time when steamships dominated maritime trade,
but traditional sailing vessels still played an important role in coastal and
short-sea shipping. Such vessels were slow, lightly manned, and entirely
unarmed, making them especially vulnerable to German U-boats during the First
World War.
On 27th April 1918, the Frances was
intercepted by the German submarine U-155, one of Germany’s
long-range U-cruisers. U-155 captured the crew of the vessel
before placing explosive charges aboard. The ship was then deliberately
sunk, a method frequently used to conserve torpedoes for larger, more
strategic targets.
Among those killed in the attack was Hopkin Morgans, serving as Seaman
Cook. At only around 16 years of age, he was one of Swansea’s
youngest maritime casualties of the Great War.
U-155
The U-155 began her career as the merchant
submarine Deutschland, launched in 1916 to carry commercial goods
between Germany and the United States. After two successful voyages, she was
taken over by the Imperial German Navy in 1917, converted into a fully
armed commerce-raiding submarine, and reclassified as U-155.
As a Type U 151 submarine cruiser, U-155 was
among the largest submarines of the war, over 65 metres in length. She
carried torpedoes, mines, and heavy deck guns, which gave her the
ability to attack both large steamships and small sailing vessels. With
exceptional range, she patrolled the Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Biscay,
Iberian waters, and even the approaches to West Africa, targeting
merchant ships far from Allied naval protection.
U-155 sank or captured dozens of vessels during her
operations, including the Sailing Vessel Frances on 27th
April 1918, the attack in which young Hopkin Morgans lost his life.
After the Armistice, U-155 surrendered to Allied forces in November
1918, was taken to Britain as a captured war prize, displayed to the
public, and eventually scrapped in 1922.
Legacy
Hopkin Morgans’s story is a powerful reminder of how young
many of the Mercantile Marine’s wartime casualties were. Barely more than a
child, he undertook responsibilities at sea far beyond his years. Working as a Seaman
Cook aboard a small, vulnerable sailing vessel, he contributed to the
essential maritime trade that kept Britain supplied during the war.
His short life reflects the courage of the young seafarers
who faced the growing dangers of enemy submarines, mines, and harsh conditions.
Hopkin’s sacrifice forms part of Swansea’s maritime heritage and highlights the
often-unseen contributions made by the youngest members of the Merchant
Service.
Commemoration
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| Sailing Vessel Frances Tower Hill Memorial, London credit - Benjidog Historical Research Resources: The Merchant Navy Memorial |
Hopkin stands among them as one of Swansea’s youngest wartime mariners, his name preserved for future generations.
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