More about George Craik Guthrie

George has no known grave but is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial. He was serving aboard H.M. Steam Drifter Plantin, which was hired by the Admiralty in 1915 as an armed net drifter. She was built by McIntosh Boat Builders, Buckie in 1912 and was 84 tons.

On April 26, 1917, she was engaged in minesweeping just off Old Harry Rocks, dealing with a minefield laid by the German U-boat UC-72 (Oberleutnant zur see Ernst Voight). She fouled a mine which detonated beneath her, destroying the 84-ton wooden vessel, sinking immediately with the loss of nine men including the 47-year-old skipper John Wood and his two sons John, 20, and William, 18.

Only one of the nine man crew survived and no bodies were recovered.

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George C Guthrie was born in Dundee  and was married to Mrs Ethel Guthrie of 35 Stevenson Street, North Shields. George Guthrie joined the Royal Naval Reserve in February 1910 and trained onboard the battleship HMS Bulwark at Chatham. However, he was discharged from the RNR in July 1910 for disciplinary reasons. He volunteered again in June 1915 and was based in Newcastle onboard HMS Rosy Dawn. In August he broke out of his ship for four days whilst under stoppage of leave and was later marked as “Run” in December. He was found in April 1916 and taken into custody. In 1917 he was drafted to HM Drifter Plantin which was based in Poole, Dorset attached to the shore base HMS White Oak. The Plantin is believed to have struck a mine in the English Channel and all nine crew were lost. George Guthrie is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent.

Iain Stewart and Iain Birnie