Rushden Naval Hero - Lost Life in Barge Disaster Rescue Effort

Able Seaman Dennis Hulatt, of Rushden, recently reported missing, presumed drowned, was one of the five sailors of the crew of a small naval boat, who lost their lives last week in attempting to rescue the victims of the barge disaster off the coast of Wales. Eighty-one members of the Forces were drowned when two barges were overwhelmed by rough seas. The ship on which A.B. Hulatt was serving attempted rescue work, but did not get close enough to throw a line. The boat was then put out, but met the same fate as the barges and most of the gallant crew lost their lives.

The body of A.B. Hulatt has been recovered and the funeral took place at Rushden this afternoon, following a service at 4, Glassbrook-road, where the widow is residing with her husband’s parents.

Aged 27, A.B. Hulatt was an old boy at the Rushden Intermediate School and worked for Messrs. G. Selwood and Co. Ltd. until joining the Navy two years ago. He had been mentioned in dispatches and awarded a certificate for devotion to duty.

A Shipwreck Disaster in West Wales waters in April 1943 occurred when two experimental landing craft set out from Belfast to Falmouth. The craft were on their first sea trials, each carrying thirty young marines and ten crew, eighty men in all. The voyage proved disastrous for these landingcraft with guns.

“LCG 15 and LCG 16” took on provisions at Holyhead and then set off south. For the first part of the trip the sea was calm, but as the winds rose the sea became extremely rough. The marines and crew soon realised there was a major design fault with the craft; a large gap between the bow and the deck was allowing water to flood in. As they approached Fishguard they asked for permission to enter the Harbour, but were refused.

As they continued around the Pembrokeshire coast, in mountainous seas, the water rushed into the landing craft faster than it could be pumped out. The men then sought permission to enter Milford, but were again refused.

The LCG 15 struck the rocks, throwing its forty men into the ice-cold raging waters. HMS Rosemary, a Royal Navy corvette, was standing out to sea and saw the disaster unfold as the huge seas moved closer. She lowered a lifeboat over the side, with six volunteers but it was overturned by a huge wave, tipping a further six men into the cold waters. People watched in horror as bodies were washed ashore at Freshwater West. The second landing craft LGC 16, was following at a distance, but it also capsized tossing a further forty men into the sea.

Only One man was found alive in the water and two others managed to reach shore, making the death toll 79 on that fateful night. A memorial plaque is erected in memory of those who lost their lives in the disaster, at Freshwater West, and a larger memorial is in Milford Haven Cemetery in Pembrokeshire.

Those who died from HMS Rosemary with Dennis Hulatt from Rushden were:-
Herbert B Holmes of Dewsbury, Yorkshire; George T King of Enfield, Middlesex; Geoff Lambert of Tankersley,Yorkshire; James A Poynting of Gosport, Hampshire and Robert W Smith of Millfield, Sunderland.