Richard John Harris – Merchant Navy, S.S. Empire Tiger

Donkeyman Richard John Harris – Merchant Navy, S.S. Empire Tiger

A Swansea Birth with Few Surviving Records

Richard John Harris was born in 1884 in Swansea, though very little survives in the historical record regarding his early life or the identities of his parents. Like many working‑class men of the town—shaped by its docks, foundries, and shipyards—he eventually turned to the sea for his livelihood.

Service in the Merchant Navy

Richard served with the Merchant Navy, working as a Donkeyman, a skilled engine‑room rating responsible for auxiliary machinery essential to the running of a steamship. It was demanding, physically punishing work carried out in heat, noise, and darkness, far below the waterline. He was serving in this capacity aboard the S.S. Empire Tiger, a wartime cargo steamer operating during the most perilous years of the Second World War.

The S.S. Empire Tiger: Design, Service, and Wartime Role

S.S. Empire Tiger
credit - wrecksite

The S.S. Empire Tiger was one of the many Empire ships built for the Ministry of War Transport to replace mounting wartime losses and to keep Britain supplied. Functional and robust rather than elegant, she was typical of the fleet: a sturdy steam merchant vessel designed for reliability, endurance, and the unglamorous but vital work of carrying food, fuel, and raw materials across dangerous seas.

Like other Empire ships, she was crewed by civilians who sailed under wartime conditions that grew increasingly hazardous as German U‑boats intensified their campaign against Allied shipping. The Empire Tiger served on transatlantic and coastal routes, her engine‑room staff—Donkeymen, Firemen, Greasers, and Engineers—keeping the ship’s machinery running under constant strain, often in blackout conditions to reduce the risk of detection.

The Final Voyage: February 1941

In February 1941, the Empire Tiger was sailing in the North Atlantic during one of the most dangerous phases of the Battle of the Atlantic. U‑boat activity was at its height, and merchant ships frequently sailed without escort due to shortages of naval protection. On 27^th February 1941, the vessel was attacked and sunk with heavy loss of life. As with many wartime sinkings of the period, the strike was sudden, the opportunity to abandon ship limited, and the chances of survival for engine‑room ratings tragically slim.

For men like Richard John Harris, working deep below decks as a Donkeyman, escape was often impossible once flooding, steam explosions, and structural collapse followed the initial impact.

Loss at Sea and Official Record

Merchant Seamen Deaths

According to the Merchant Seamen Deaths records, Richard lost his life on 27^th February 1941, following the sinking of the Empire Tiger. His death forms part of the immense toll borne by the Merchant Navy during the war—ordinary men performing extraordinary service, often without recognition, yet facing dangers equal to any front‑line combat.

Richard John Harris
Tower Hill Memorial
credit - Benjidog Histroical Research Resources.
The Merchant Navy Memorial

Richard John Harris
Tower Hill Memorial
credit - Benjidog Histroical Research Resources.
The Merchant Navy Memorial

Commemoration and Legacy

With no known grave, Richard John Harris is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, where the names of civilian seafarers lost in wartime are preserved in enduring stone. Though the details of his early life remain sparse, his service and sacrifice stand firmly within the long maritime story of Swansea and the men who sailed from its shores