David John Scale – Merchant Navy, S.S. Baron Carnegie

Seaman David John Scale – Merchant Navy, S.S. Baron Carnegie

Early Life and Family Background

David John Scale

1921 Census

David John Scale was born in 1920 in Pembrokeshire, the son of John Howard Scale and Katherine Harry. In the 1921 Census, the Scale family were recorded living at Neath Farm, Rhoscrowther, where David’s father, John Howard, then aged thirty‑one, worked as a farmer while his mother Katherine, aged thirty‑two, managed the household. Their three young children—Elizabeth, Albert, and David—were all present, along with a visitor, Alice Scott Reid. The census offers a glimpse into a young rural family rooted in the agricultural landscape of south Pembrokeshire, with David still an infant at the time.

1939 Register

Move to Swansea and 1939 Register

By the time of the 1939 Register, the Scale family had moved to 27 Maple Crescent, Swansea. John Howard was recorded as undertaking general farm work, while Elizabeth carried out unpaid domestic duties. David, now nineteen, was employed as a wood machinist, and another family member, William H., was listed as a student. This move to Swansea placed David in the industrial and maritime environment that would shape his wartime service.

Marriage and Merchant Navy Service

In 1940, David married Mary Beatrice Chellew in Swansea.

Merchant Navy Service

David served as a Seaman aboard the S.S. Baron Carnegie, one of the well‑known “Baron Boats” operated by H. Hogarth & Sons, Glasgow. These vessels formed a major part of Britain’s wartime cargo fleet, transporting coal, grain, iron ore, and general supplies essential to the national war effort. Merchant seamen faced constant danger from U‑boats, mines, and air attack, especially along the Welsh and Irish coasts.

The S.S. Baron Carnegie

The Baron Carnegie was a steel screw steamer, built in 1925 by Dunlop, Bremner & Co. Ltd., Port Glasgow, for Kelvin Shipping Co. Ltd. under Hogarth management. She was a typical Hogarth cargo vessel—robust, dependable, and designed for heavy work—with a gross tonnage of 3,178 tons and a length of over 336 feet. Powered by a triple‑expansion steam engine built by David Rowan & Co., she operated extensively around the British coast and into the Atlantic. By 1941, Baron Carnegie was sailing in some of the most dangerous waters in Britain, where merchant ships faced constant threats from German aircraft, U‑boats, and minefields.

Attack and Loss – 11 June 1941

On 11 June 1941, Baron Carnegie was attacked by German aircraft approximately fifteen miles west of St David’s Head. A torpedo struck the aft hold, breaking the propeller shaft and driving it forward into the engine room. The ship began to flood from the stern and was taken under tow, but she sank while being towed, marking the end of the vessel. The wreck now lies off the north Pembrokeshire coast between Fishguard and Strumble Head, where divers have described the stern section lying to starboard, the rudder still in place though bent, the defensive gun broken from its mount, and the triple‑expansion engine visible among the debris—evidence of the violence that destroyed the ship.

Death and Commemoration

Merchant Seamen Deaths Register

Herald of Wales

David John Scale
Morriston Cemetery
credit - findagrave

The Merchant Seamen Deaths Register records that David John Scale drowned following the sinking of S.S. Baron Carnegie on 11 June 1941. His death was reported in the Herald of Wales, marking the passing of a young married seaman whose life ended during one of the most dangerous periods for merchant shipping in the Bristol Channel. David was buried at Morriston Cemetery, where his grave stands among the Merchant Navy and military casualties commemorated in Swansea.