Maritime record MWX1506 - Baygitano (Cayo Gitano)

Remains of English cargo vessel, torpedoed by German U-boat. RNLI Lifeboat, THOMAS MASTERMAN HARDY, involved in rescue of survivors, 18 March 1918.

The BAYGITANO was built in 1905 by J. Redhead and Sons, South Shields. She has two boilers and her screws were driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine. She carried a single stern-mounted 14 pounder. gun. She was owned by the Hudson Bay SS Co Ltd and her Master was A Murrison. Two of her 37 crew were lost. (2)(6)

Ex. CAYO GITANO. Torpedoed just aft the engine room on the starboard side at 11.45am by the German mine laying submarine U-77, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See J Reiss. The ship was stopped and abandoned immediately. The 4th engineer was believed to have been killed outright in the explosion and the chief engineer, who went back to his cabin for a pair of boots, was never seen again, and presumably went down with the ship. Being a fine day all the Lyme fishermen were at sea and upon witnessing the sinking they quickly sailed and rowed to the awesome scene to give assistance. Oberleutnant Reiss surfaced his boat with the intention of interrogating the ships crew but quickly submerged when a fast patrol boat closed in on him after calling out 'Give my regards to Mr Hinton of the Alexander Hotel (a hotel in Lyme Regis whose chef was German and a friend of Reiss)'. The master and part of the crew were picked up by a shore boat, returning to the wreck which did not sink immediately, in order to search for the missing men, after which the master and four crew members were landed at Torquay by a patrol vessel. The Chief Officer and 29 others landed in their own boats at Lyme Regis. The W/T code books and confidential papers were saved and landed by the master.(2)(3)(4)(5)(6) Today she is very broken up, her boilers are huge and the engine blocks and still stand almost upright, parts of her stand 5 metres off the bottom. Diving is best at high water. (7)(8)

The lifeboat THOMAS MASTERMAN HARDY first service was on 18-MAR-1918 to save the fate of the crew of the large steamer BAYGITANO which had been torpedoed by a German submarine a mile and a half to the south west. Two to three men were killed by the explosion but thanks to the calm weather all the rest got away either in the lifeboat or aboard the ships boats. (9)

Survey history from UKHO:
Torpedoed and sunk by German submarine UC77 position given 50 41 750N 002 55 984W
18-MAR-1918 Position 50 41 30N 002 56 00W, position Lyme Regis bearing NE 1.5 Miles.
18-NOV-1919 Depth 42 feet.
16-APR-1953 Wreck very much disintegrated and well known locally for fishing.
16-JUL-1952 Very poor sonar contact wire drift sweep clear 39 feet foul 40 feet seabed 56 feet least depth 44 feet, seabed rock, the wreck extends in a N/S direction for about 300 feet; there are a number of bottom rock contacts in the vicinity wreck much disintegrated.
15-MAR-1967 Reported to be very broken up.
06-JUL-1984 Examined in 50 41 45N, 002 55 59W. Swept clear at 12.8m, foul at 13.0m. Least depth 13.0m in a general depth of 17m, scour 1m deep, height 4m, lying 150/330 degrees (1).

A gear cog recovered from this wreck, position 50 41.48N 002 56.03W. (Droit A/2102).(10)
An oil temp. sender unit, a water inlet box and a lead sounding weight recovered from this wreck. (Droit A/4161).(10)

Additional sources: Lloyds Register 1917 and 1918, N 320(B) PRO Kew.

Gross tonnage

She lies on a gravel seabed at 18m and stands 5m high, her steam boilers and engines are easy to recognise. The remains of the mast can be seen, her bow area has partially collapsed. (12)

Torpedoed by UC-77, Oberleutnant Johannes Ries at 11.45am, hit the port side in the number 4 hold. All the crew survived apart from two. (13)

She was torpedoed abaft of the engine room on the starboard side at 11.45am, 1.5 miles SW from Lyme Regis. The ship was abandoned and the submarine came up and questioned the crew, going off on sighting the approach of a patrol vessel. The 4th engineer was probably killed by the explosion and the chief engineer who went to his cabin for a pair of boots was not seen again. The master and part of the crew were picked up by a shore boat and after returning to the wreck to search for the missing men, the master and 4 men were landed at Torquay by apatrol vessel. The Chief Officer and 29 men were landed at Lyme Regis.(14)

Built: 1905 (2)(6)
Builder: J. Redhead and Sons (2)(6)
Where Built: South Shields (2)(6)
HP: 318 (2)(6)
Boilers: 2 (2)(6)
Propulsion: screw driven, 3 cylinder triple expansion engine (2)(6)
Armament: 1 x 14 pdr, stern mounted (2)(6)
Owner: The Hudson Bay SS Co Ltd, Old Broad Street, London (2)(6) The Bay SS Co Ltd (18)
Former owner: Cuban SS Co Ltd (1905-1916) (18)
Master: Arther Murrison (2)(6)
Crew: 37 (2)(6)
Crew Lost: 2 (2)(6) Fourth engineer and first mate (13) 3 (14)
Gunners: G. Glew, LS RNR, No 4138B, Devonport; G. Duncan, AB RNR, No 9056A, Portsmouth (13)

Date of loss qualifier: Actual date of loss

Additional sources:
Lloyds Register 1917-1918 No 320(B)
The Book of the Cobb by Nigel Clarke

<1> United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, 1992, Hydrographic Office wreck index, Extracted 12 November 1992 (Index). SWX4837.

<2> Larn, Richard, 1992, United Kingdom shipwreck index, Extracted 23 November 1992 (Index). SWX5030.

<3> 1988, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 and 1939-45, p84 (Monograph). SWX4538.

<4> 1990, Lloyds war losses, The First World War: Casualties to shipping through enemy causes 1914-1918, p207 (Index). SWX4540.

<5> Tennant, A J, 1990, British Merchant Ships Sunk by U boats in the 1914-1918 War, p204 (Monograph). SWX4539.

<6> Larn, R, and Larn, B, 1995, Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 1 : Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset Section 6, Dorset (AJ) Vol 1 (Monograph). SWX4541.

<7> Hinchcliffe, J and V, 1990, Dive Dorset: a diver guide (2nd Edition), 32 (Monograph). SWX5640.

<8> 1999, Scuba World, Issue 113, March 1999 p51-53 (Article in serial). SWX4550.

<9> Farr, Grahame, 1971, Wreck and rescue on the Dorset coast, p24 (Monograph). SWX1056.

<10> 2001, Maritime and Coastguard Agency: Receiver of Wreck Amnesty, 23-Jan to 24-Apr-2001 (Index). SWX4542.

<11> Hinchcliffe, J and V, 1984, Dive Dorset: a diver guide (1st Edition), no 22, p32 (Monograph). SWX1714.

<12> Hinchcliffe, J and V, 1999, Dive Dorset: a diver guide (3rd Edition), No 25, p41-42 and diagram (Monograph). SWX1.

<13> Maw, Neil, 1999, World War One Channel Wrecks (Vessels lost in the English Channel 1914-1918), Area 8, No 8/10 p157 (Monograph). SDO20146.

<14> Admiralty Records, ADM/137/2964 p59 (Monograph). SDO20160.

<15> Receiver of Wreck, Receiver of Wreck Droit, 2002 (Unpublished document). SWX6384.

<16> SeaZone Hydrospatial, Digital marine geographic information derived from SeaZone Hydrospatial, 07-Jun-17 (Digital archive). SDO20540.

<17> United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, Wreck report, 18693 (Monograph). SDO20514.

<18> Miramar Ship Index www.miramarshipindex.org.nz, Accessed 07-JUN-2017 (Digital archive). SDO20161.

<19> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, 040 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<20> Cumming, E, The Dorset shipwreck and maritime incident directory, 12 (Monograph). SDO16406.

<21> National Record of the Historic Environment, 832231 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 9 2024 11:07AM