Tuesday 11 June 2019

Tragic death of Sister Roberts

Entrance to Tywyn Cottage Hospital
The main First World War memorial in Tywyn, a small seaside resort on Cardigan Bay, is a splendid Cottage Hospital built between 1920 and 1922 in the Arts and Crafts style. Despite the passage of time, it has firmly retained its original style and is fronted by a wonderful stone structure announcing its original purpose as a war memorial. At the other end of the town is St Cadfan's church, whose congregation decided to remember those who had lost their lives by erecting a new stone porch. Inside the porch is a series of plaques, one of which states, in the elegant phrasing typical of the time: "This Porch was erected by the Parishioners As a thanksoffering to Almighty God for The victorious peace vouchsafed to Great Britain and her Allies at the Termination of the Great War A.D. 1914 - 1919". Other plaques show the names of 30 soldiers and a Nursing Sister "Who Gave their lives for the honour of the Empire and the liberties of The World".
St Cadfan's church porch

The Nursing Sister, whose name is picked out and separated from the rest, is Sister Jane Roberts of the QAIMNSR (Queen Alexanda's Military Nursing Service Reserve) who died when the 'Salta' sank off Le Havre harbour on 10th April 1917. The story is a tragic one. The Salta had been built as a passenger ship of 7,200 tons in 1911. When war broke out, she was acquired by The Admiralty and converted for use as a hospital ship. The Salta was approaching Le Havre with a cargo of medical stores when she hit a drifting mine (later established to have been laid the previous day by a German submarine).An enormous explosion breached the hull near the engine room and she quickly listed to starboard and sank in less than 10 minutes. 

Sister Roberts
Despite help arriving rapidly, the state of the sea and the strong winds hampered the rescue operation and the human cost was appalling. Of 205 passengers and crew, 130 perished. Despite extensive searches, only 13 bodies were initially recovered. There are now 24 burials from the sinking of the Salta in Ste. Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, and also a memorial to those - including Sister Jane Roberts of Tywyn - whose bodies were never recovered.