H.M.S. Pathfinder was torpedoed off St. Abbs Head in the North Sea in 1914, apparently the first British warship to be lost to the new weapon. I have been "Googling" for information but I am getting a bit a sceptical about some of what I have found.

Specifically I am trying to identify the location of the sinking and also find out how many casualties/survivors there were.

Clive Cussler's "NUMA" website comes up on Google and apparently it was he that discovered the wreck of the Pathfinder. However, the co-ordinates quoted are a long way off St. Abbs Head and the crew numbers present/lost/survived are all at wild variance with figures given on other sites.

Does anyone have definitive answers?

Regards.

Andy.

Hello Andy

The CWG figures are 261 men lost in PATHFINDER. 9 officers, 250 ratings, and two Canteen personnel.

don

There should be a Court of Enquiry file at Kew that might help you if you can access it.

HMS Pathfinder, 2,940 grt, was torpedoed by U21 off St Abb's Head on 7th September 1914.

An intersting point is that Janes states that the complement was 298.

If Don's figures are correct, and I have no reason to doubt them, then it seems that Pathfinder was 12.5% undermanned at the time.

Best wishes

David

All,

Great info as usual !. Many thanks.

I'm beginning to suspect that the information I obtained from the NUMA website would be better served being used as an outline plot for the next Dirk Pitt fantasy.

Andy.

Here's a picture of HMS Pathfinder for you. Did you have it already?

adrianjohn