Frank Percy Richard COTTON, Blakeney born 1892 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, July 07, 2013, 01:30 (4152 days ago) @ alison2

Hi Alison,
thanks for adding so much detail to Percy's war service, and for confirming he was indeed in the Merchant Navy and a fellow engineer too - sounds like his lifetime was rather more "interesting" and indeed usefull than mine though to put it mildly !

I should have already tried to trace his later life, knowing he was a career sailor this looks a good fit for him from FreeBMD, Cardiff a likely home port I guess ?

Surname First name(s) Mother/Spouse/Age District Vol Page
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Marriages Sep 1920 (>99%)
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Cotton Frank P R Davies Cardiff 11a 1253
Davies Annie R J Cotton Cardiff 11a 1253

Sadly it seems he dies quite young, the age fits our Percy's birthyear:

Deaths Dec 1941 (>99%)
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Cotton Frank P R 49 E. Glamorgan 11a 1154

I suspect he was still serving during WW2 ?.

So it seems the Frank Cotton I mentioned in the previous post c1962 probably wasn't "Percy", but as I mentioned perhaps no surprise as Frank seems a very popular Cotton name.
???

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Regarding Percy's WW1 service within the Merchant Navy, thanks for giving his ship, Reliance. I expected such a name to belong to quite a powerfull fighting ship, but it seems not. According to this reference three RN ships bore the name, Percy's was the third
"HMS Reliance was a repair ship, previously the civilian ship Knight Companion. She was purchased in 1912 and was sold in 1919."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Reliance

So she was bought during a major "arms-race" of new British & German warships being launched as War seemed ever more likely, hence an increased need for support ships too.

Searching "Knight Companion" is tricky as the name was used on more than one merchant ship, but I think this may be Percy's ship from these references & photos:
This excellent photo shows what seems an ideal size & layout for refit as a repair/workshop RN ship
http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=4986

"KNIGHT COMPANION was built in 1913 by Chas. Connell & Co. at Greenock with a tonnage of 7241grt, a length of 470ft , a beam of 58ft and a service speed of 11 knots. Sister of the Knight Templar she was built for the Knight Steamship Co. of Liverpool. On 11th June 1917, six days before the acquisition by Holt's was concluded, she was damaged by a torpedo fired by UB-20 and towed into Falmouth for repairs. Until then she had spent the entire war in government service as an Indian Expeditionary Force Transport, Royal Navy Collier No.1389 and as Expeditionary Force Transport No. F 0186. During that period of service, on 10th January 1917, she exchanged gunfire with U-79 off Cape Finisterre. After the war she continued in service with the Ocean Steam Ship Co. until 1933 when she was broken up in Italy. Although the 'Knight' ships were acquired as replacements for war losses and in order to exploit the trading opportunities which followed the war at no time did Holt's ever consider renaming the ships with traditional Holt names. Some say that the management did not think the ships were worthy of a Blue Funnel name."
http://www.red-duster.co.uk/BLUEFUN13.htm

So altho the given build dates may differ very slightly from Wiki the war history & theatre seems a very plausible match to Percy's ship.

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Your records show that after WW1 Percy served aboard SS Willaston. Willaston is a village on the Wirrall near Liverpool, so there may well have been more than one SteamShip of this name, but this seems the most likely fit especially as it's first owners were the Wirrall Transport Company.

This "immigration" site suggests it may have been a passenger ship, serving on the London to New York route from 1914 to 1931.
http://www.ellisisland.org/shipping/Formatline.asp?lineid=75

However this excellent photo suggests a cargo ship albeit still with some passenger space.
http://www.wrecksite.eu/img/wrecks/meandros_34.jpg

More details about the ship is on http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?158614
This 4000ton Tyne-built ship indeed sailed from 1914-31 out of Liverpool, and then was re-registered as the Greek "Meandros" but sunk after a collison in fog in 1934, presumably Percy had long-left the ship by then.

I wonder if Percy was a victim of WW2, dying quite young in 1942 ? Searching the CWGC site for WW2 shows a few "Frank Cotton"s, some were sailors, but not our Percy judging from the dates...