More about James Cowie

James Cowie was the husband of Mrs Margaret W Cowie, 36 Henderson Street, Leith and late of White’s Square, Tayport, Fife and was formerly employed by William Young, Coal Merchant, Tayport. He joined the Royal Naval Reserve in Dundee in 1904 and his first period of Naval training was in the old cruiser HMS Sappho. On the outbreak of war he reported to HMS Excellent, the Gunnery School in Portsmouth and was then drafted to the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Calgarian. He served onboard the Calgarian until January 1917 when he returned to Excellent for further training and advancement to Leading Seaman. His new draft was to man the guns on Defensively Armed Merchant Ships and he would have served of several different merchant vessels. The SS Aparima was a New Zealand merchant ship requisitioned for war work and, on the night she was sunk, she was on passage in ballast from London to Barry, South Wales to load a cargo of coal. After passing the Isle of Wight the Captain took his ship close to the Dorset Coast and was using a zig zag course. A torpedo from the German submarine UB-40 her the stern and sank rapidly. Fifty four died in the sinking and fifty six survived. James Cowie is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent.