Tag: TOWER HILL MEMORIAL

Keith Finn’s Final Voyage: The Sinking of S.S. British Resource

Keith Charles Finn, an 18-year-old Merchant Navy apprentice from Chatham, Kent, served on the S.S. British Resource. He was lost at sea when his ship was torpedoed by a German submarine on March 14, 1942. Finn is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, honoring those with no known grave.

Keith Charles Finn: A Detailed Biography

Keith Charles Finn, an 18‑year‑old Apprentice in the Merchant Navy from Chatham, Kent, served aboard the British tanker S.S. British Resource (London) and was lost at sea on 14 March 1942 when his ship was torpedoed by German submarine U‑124 north of Bermuda. [1][2][3] He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, Panel 20, among the many merchant seafarers who died in the Atlantic during the Second World War. [1][4][5]

Early Life and Family

Keith Charles Finn was born on 9 May 1922 at Chatham, Kent; his birth was registered in the June quarter of 1922 in the Medway registration district, volume 2A, page 1325. [1] He was the son of Charles John Finn and his wife Eva Alice, née Juniper, and grew up in the Chatham area, a long‑established naval and maritime town on the River Medway. [1]

The individual report records his residence simply as Chatham, Kent, with an address at 425 High Street, placing him in the commercial heart of the town. [1] Later memorial sources, including a Rochester Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School war memorial listing, describe him as the son of Mr and Mrs Charles John Finn of Chatham, confirming both his parentage and local connections in north Kent. [1][4]

Early Life and Family (Education and Youth)

While specific school records are not cited in the report, the presence of his name on the Rochester Mathematical School war memorial strongly suggests that Keith was educated there, a grammar‑type school serving the Medway towns. [4] The school’s roll lists “FINN, KEITH CHARLES, Apprentice, Merchant Navy, S.S. British Resource (London), Son of Mr and Mrs Charles John Finn of Chatham, Died 14/03/1942, Age 19, Tower Hill Memorial, Panel 20,” linking his education directly to his later maritime service. [4]

The report also notes an Atlantic crossing: on 27 May 1941 Keith arrived at New York, New York, United States, aged 18, an early indication of his seafaring career and suggesting that he was already serving as an apprentice on an ocean‑going vessel in the year before his death. [1] His departure port is given as Sheerness, Kent, another Thames‑Medway estuary port, reinforcing the picture of a young man whose working life from late adolescence revolved around merchant shipping and transatlantic trade. [1]

Military Service

Keith served in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War, with his rank recorded as “Apprentice” and his service attached to S.S. British Resource of London, a 7,209‑ton tanker operated by the British Tanker Company. [1][2] Merchant Navy apprentices were trainee deck officers, learning navigation, seamanship and shipboard responsibilities at sea, and their service counted as war service when employed on hazardous ocean routes in time of war. [6]

British Resource had an active wartime career before her loss, participating in several Atlantic and coastal convoys, including OB 124, BHX 42, SL 50, OB 287, HX 131 and EN 3, carrying petroleum products between North America, the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. [2] In early 1942 she loaded approximately 10,000 tons of benzene and white spirit (highly flammable petroleum derivatives) at Curaçao and sailed independently for the United Kingdom via the North Atlantic, part of the broader campaign often called the “Second Happy Time”, when German U‑boats attacked Allied shipping off the American seaboard and in the mid‑Atlantic with devastating effect. [1][2][6]

Circumstances of Death

On the evening of 14 March 1942 British Resource was steaming unescorted about 230–260 miles north of Bermuda, en route from Curaçao to the UK, when she was sighted and tracked by German submarine U‑124, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Johann Mohr, during the U‑boat’s eighth patrol. [1][2][3][6] At 21.18 hours the U‑boat fired two torpedoes which hit the tanker fore and aft, stopping her and causing severe damage; as the ship’s defensive gunners attempted to fire at the periscope, a third torpedo (a coup de grâce) struck near the engine room at 21.33 hours, setting the benzene cargo alight and turning the entire ship into a blazing inferno. [1][2][7][6]

The flames spread rapidly over the sea surface, and British Resource burned fiercely until she finally sank the following day, 15 March 1942. [1][2][8] Of those on board, 43 crew members and three DEMS gunners were lost, with only five survivors – the master, the third radio operator and three gunners – being rescued by the Royal Navy corvette H.M.S. Clarkia (K88) and landed at Hamilton, Bermuda. [1][2][7] Keith Charles Finn, serving as an Apprentice, was among those missing, presumed drowned, his death officially dated to 14 March 1942 in the North Atlantic and attributed to enemy action and sinking of his ship. [1][4][6]

Burial and Commemoration

As a casualty lost at sea with no recovered remains, Keith has no known grave. Instead, he is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial in London, which records the names of merchant seamen and fishermen who died in both world wars and have no known grave but the sea. [1][4][9] His entry appears on Panel 20 of the Second World War section as “FINN, KEITH CHARLES, Apprentice, S.S. British Resource (London), Merchant Navy, 14 March 1942, aged 19, Son of Charles John and Eva Alice Finn, of Chatham, Kent.” [1][4]

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission online database preserves this information and provides a central, authoritative record of his service and sacrifice. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2786691/keith-charles-finn/ [1] A Find a Grave memorial (ID 12398173) also lists Keith’s details, including his association with Tower Hill Memorial and his family in Chatham, offering an accessible digital place of remembrance for relatives, researchers and the wider public. [1]

Legacy

Within his extended family tree, Keith is recorded with a FamilySearch profile under ID LY9B‑M9F, ensuring that his story is integrated into wider genealogical research on the Finn and Juniper lines. [1] The combination of civil registration data, migration records, and official war memorial listings allows a coherent reconstruction of a short life that moved rapidly from Medway schoolboy to transatlantic seafarer, ending in one of the many sudden and violent losses of the Battle of the Atlantic. [1][2][4]

In the broader historical context, the sinking of S.S. British Resource is frequently cited in accounts of U‑124’s highly successful Bermuda and mid‑Atlantic patrol in March 1942, during which the submarine sank or damaged multiple Allied ships. [2][3][10][6] Keith’s name on Tower Hill, the Rochester Mathematical School memorial, and in Merchant Navy casualty lists stands as a reminder of the crucial but often under‑recognised role played by young merchant seamen in sustaining Britain’s lifelines at sea, and of the heavy price they and their families paid in the struggle to keep those routes open. [1][4][7]

Key External Links

Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Keith-Charles-Finn.pdf
[2] MT British Resource sunk U-124/Mohr 13 March 1942, 46 men … https://ericwiberg.com/2014/03/mt-british-resource-sunk-u-124mohr-13-march-1942-46-men-ablaze-by-benzene-or-drowned
[3] German submarine U-124 (1940) – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-124_(1940)
[4] rochester sir joseph williamson’s mathematical school war memorial https://www.roll-of-honour.com/Kent/RochesterMathematicalSchool.html
[5] List of shipwrecks in March 1942 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_March_1942
[6] Second Happy Time | World War II Database https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=277
[7] 14 – 20 March 1942 – The TimeGhost Army https://community.timeghost.tv/t/14-20-march-1942/6446
[8] Ships Lost in 1942 https://sunkenshipsobx.com/index.php/lost-ships-obx/late-1910s-to-early-1940s/1942
[9] Tower Hill Memorial, London, England – Surnames N-O – Interment.net https://www.interment.net/data/eng/greater-london/tower-hill-memorial-records-n-o.htm
[10] U-124 under Johann Mohr Bermuda patrol March 1942 – Eric Wiberg https://ericwiberg.com/2014/04/u-124-under-johann-mohr-bermuda-patrol-march-1942
[11] Seaman Percy Donald Duncan Melvin – Veterans Affairs Canada https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/657966
[12] Surnames P-R – The Radio Officers Association https://radioofficers.com/in-memoriam/ww2-radio-officers-killed-at-sea-1939-1945/ww2-radio-officers-killed-at-sea-1939-1945-p-r/
[13] Keith Finn | LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-finn-2b7407239
[14] CRL https://catalog.crl.edu/Author/Home?author=British+Library
[15] Keith Charles FLINT personal appointments – Find and update company information https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/9eiYuQhnehR6l3tpj0AUqjbOek0/appointments
[16] SS Muskogee sunk by U-123 near Bermuda – Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldhistoricalphotos/posts/682069964652706/
[17] Appointments https://kfinlay.github.io
[18] Eastern Sea Frontier – War Diary March 1942 https://www.uboatarchive.net/ESF/ESFWarDiaryMar42.htm
[19] Brit+Resource+Lorient+return+for+U-124 – Eric Wiberg https://ericwiberg.com/2014/03/mt-british-resource-sunk-u-124mohr-13-march-1942-46-men-ablaze-by-benzene-or-drowned/britresourcelorientreturnforu-124/
[20] charles finn http://charlesfinn.blogspot.com
[21] List of shipwrecks in May 1942 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_May_1942

Thomas John Keelan: Merchant Navy Hero

Thomas John Keelan (1909-1943), Liverpool Merchant Navy fireman, lost at sea during WWII Battle of the Atlantic. Survived U-boat torpedo on SS Empire Shackleton but drowned on rescue ship Janvan. Commemorated on Tower Hill Memorial, honoring 24,000 seamen with no grave but the ocean.

Thomas John Keelan: A Detailed Biography

Early Life and Family

Thomas John Keelan was born on 3 October 1909 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, the son of James Patrick Keelan and Dora Pilcher [1]. Growing up in the industrial heart of north-west England during the Edwardian era and the Great War, young Thomas would have witnessed the profound social changes reshaping British society. By 1911, the Keelan family were residing at 28 Maria Road, Walton-on-the-Hill, Lancashire [1], an area that housed many working-class families employed in Liverpool’s bustling docks and maritime industries. The family’s proximity to the Mersey estuary would prove formative; maritime employment was the lifeblood of the region, and by his teen years, Thomas had chosen a seafaring career [1].

In the inter-war period, whilst many of his contemporaries sought work in other industries, Thomas followed the maritime tradition. By 1921, at eleven years old, he was recorded as a scholar at his school in Walton-on-the-Hill [1]. However, the economic uncertainties of the 1920s and 1930s would have shaped his early adulthood. On approximately October 1931, Thomas married Mary Cusack in West Derby, Lancashire [1]. The young couple settled in the Bootle area of Liverpool, establishing their home at 37 Brasenose Road, where Mary remained during the Second World War [1].

By September 1939, when the National Register was compiled, Thomas was employed as a wharf labourer in Bootle [1], but his career at sea was about to accelerate dramatically. In a nation mobilized for total war, experienced seafarers became invaluable assets. His physical description from official merchant marine records shows he stood 5 feet 8 inches tall, with blue eyes and dark brown hair, bearing a dark complexion [1].

Military Service and Merchant Navy Career

Like so many British working men of his generation, Thomas John Keelan answered the call to service, joining the Merchant Navy during the Second World War. He held the rank of Fireman and Trimmer, a position of considerable responsibility aboard cargo vessels [1]. Fireman and Trimmers were essential crew members responsible for maintaining the ship’s boilers and engines—demanding, dangerous work that required skill, vigilance, and nerves of steel. The role was particularly hazardous during wartime, as these men worked deep within the ship’s engine rooms, often unaware of external threats until catastrophe struck [2].

Thomas’s service record indicates he held a Seaman’s Certificate and was registered with the Prudential Health Society [1]. His continuous discharge certificate, produced on 12 December 1942 at Liverpool, shows he had completed a P.T. (Passage Transport) voyage, gaining valuable experience in the dangerous waters of the Atlantic [1]. In December 1942, Thomas was assigned to the SS Empire Shackleton, a cargo steamer of 7,068 gross tons registered at Greenock, Scotland, with official number 169666 [1].

The Empire Shackleton was one of the standardized “Empire” class vessels built during the Second World War to replace merchant ships lost to enemy action [3]. These workhorses carried vital supplies and cargo across the world’s oceans, but they remained vulnerable to submarine attack and other hazards of wartime maritime commerce.

Circumstances of Death

In late December 1942, the SS Empire Shackleton departed on what would prove to be a fatal voyage. The ship was proceeding northward across the Atlantic, carrying supplies and cargo vital to the Allied war effort. On 1 January 1943 (some records indicating 29 December 1942, with discrepancies in documentation being common in wartime), the Empire Shackleton was attacked and struck by a German U-boat torpedo [4], [5]. The torpedo found its mark, and the vessel began to sink. Thomas John Keelan and the other crew members were forced to abandon ship, taking to the lifeboats in the icy waters north of the Azores [5].

The survivors, numbering approximately 43 from the Empire Shackleton’s complement, were rescued from the lifeboats by the rescue ship Janvan [1], [6]. However, the tragedy did not end with the sinking of the cargo vessel. Whilst attempting to bring the survivors to safety, the rescue ship Janvan herself was lost at sea, overwhelmed by the very same hostile conditions that had claimed the Empire Shackleton [1]. Thomas John Keelan, having survived the initial torpedo attack and the ordeal in the lifeboat, perished when the Janvan went down. According to the official record of the death of merchant seamen maintained by the National Maritime Museum, Thomas suffered a fractured injury during the emergency and subsequently drowned on 11 January 1943 during the loss of the rescue ship Janvan [1]. He was thirty-three years old.

The Liverpool Evening Express reported on 26 February 1943 that “Mrs. T. J. Keelan, of 37, Brasenose-road, Bootle, Liverpool 20, has received information that her husband, Thomas J. Keelan, fireman, Merchant Navy, is reported missing at sea. He is an old boy of St. Francis de Sales School, Walton” [1]. The newspaper notice reflects the anguished uncertainty that characterised the experience of merchant seamen’s families during the war—the waiting, the hope for rescue, and ultimately, the grim confirmation of loss.

Burial and Commemoration

Thomas John Keelan has no conventional grave. Those lost at sea during the Second World War are remembered not by headstones in cemeteries, but through memorial structures erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). Thomas is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, which stands in London as a testament to the 24,192 merchant seamen and fishing fleet personnel who died in the Second World War and have no other grave than the sea [1].

The Tower Hill Memorial, unveiled in 1928 and dedicated to all merchant seamen lost during the Great War, was subsequently enlarged to accommodate those who fell in the Second World War. Its inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of those of the Merchant Navy and fishing fleet who died in the Second World War and have no other grave than the sea.” Thomas’s name appears on Part VIII of the memorial, a lasting tribute to his sacrifice [1].

Additionally, Thomas John Keelan is recorded in the Find a Grave database (Memorial ID: 15236242), ensuring that his memory is preserved in the digital age and accessible to genealogists, historians, and descendants seeking to honour his memory [1].

Legacy

The loss of Thomas John Keelan represents one small tragedy within the vast tapestry of suffering that was the Second World War. Yet it exemplifies the extraordinary sacrifice made by British merchant seamen, men who served with the same courage and commitment as those in the armed forces, yet often without the recognition or memorialization that fell to their military counterparts. Merchant seamen faced the constant threat of torpedo attack, mine, and storm whilst carrying the supplies without which Britain could not have survived, let alone fought.

Thomas’s death occurred during the darkest period of the Battle of the Atlantic, when German U-boats sank an average of one Allied merchant ship per day [7]. Between 1939 and 1945, approximately 30,248 British merchant seamen died in service, many of them like Thomas, lost at sea [8]. The losses among rescue vessels such as the Janvan testify to the hazards faced not only by crews bringing cargo to Britain, but by those engaged in the desperate work of rescue and salvage.

Thomas John Keelan, a Liverpool-born wharf labourer and merchant seaman, gave his life to the cause of Allied victory. His widow, Mary Cusack Keelan, was left to mourn a husband lost to the sea at the age of thirty-three, their marriage of barely a dozen years ending in tragedy. Today, his name is inscribed upon the Tower Hill Memorial, where it will remain in perpetuity, a permanent record of a life given in service to his country during its darkest hour.

Sources & External Links

Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Thomas-John-Keelan.pdf
[2] Battle of the Atlantic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Atlantic
[3] Merchant Navy Losses WWII – Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk https://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/merchant_navy_losses.htm
[4] IVAN FRANK GARNHAM – Ipswich War Memorial https://www.ipswichwarmemorial.co.uk/ivan-frank-garnham/
[5] Surnames J-L – The Radio Officers Association https://radioofficers.com/in-memoriam/ww2-radio-officers-killed-at-sea-1939-1945/ww2-radio-officers-killed-at-sea-1939-1945-j-l/
[6] Submarine Torpedo Man Experience in the Pacific during WWII https://www.facebook.com/groups/ddayoverlord/posts/2756713327821926/
[7] Battle of the Atlantic – Naval History and Heritage Command https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1942/atlantic.html
[8] Battle of the Atlantic Statistics – American Merchant Marine at War http://www.usmm.org/battleatlantic.html
[9] List of maritime disasters in World War II – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maritime_disasters_in_World_War_II
[10] List of shipwrecks in January 1943 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_January_1943
[11] List of shipwrecks in December 1943 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_December_1943
[12] Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition
[13] June 17th 1943 – SS Yoma torpedoed – 451 troops lost – Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/754427714964136/posts/1969295853477310/
[14] Stories from the past – Company of Master Mariners of Australia http://www.mastermariners.org.au/news-and-articles/stories-from-the-past
[15] List of shipwrecks in January 1943 – Military Wiki – Fandom https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_January_1943
[16] Canadian Merchant Ship Losses, 1939-1945 – Family Heritage.ca http://www.familyheritage.ca/Articles/merchant1.html
[17] Willwatch sinking and its history – Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/135506831182/posts/10163822057496183/
[18] H-022-2 Loss of HMT Rohna – Naval History and Heritage Command https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-022/h-022-2.html
[19] Battle of the Atlantic Statistics – American Merchant Marine at War http://usmm.org/battleatlantic.html
[20] [PDF] ROYAL NAVY LOSS LIST COMPLETE DATABASE http://www.thisismast.org/assets/downloads/rn-loss-list-2023-02-27.pdf
[21] List of Empire ships (Sa–Sh) – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Empire_ships_(Sa%E2%80%93Sh)