More about Arthur Melville

Arthur has no known grave but is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. He was serving aboard H.M.S. Sarnia which was passenger ship requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an Armed Boarding Steamer. She was torpedoed and sunk 12.09.1918 by German Submarine U-65 while on route from Alexandria to Port Said with the loss of 53 lives.

DUNDEE NAVYMAN’S FATE

Mr Arthur Melville, 87 Watson Street, Dundee, has been notified that his son A.B. Arthur Melville, Royal Naval Division, is missing, presumed drowned.  This intimation will be received with feelings of regret by travellers on the Dundee and Arbroath Joint Railway, where for about twelve years Arthur had been employed, latterly as a porter-guard.  He enlisted three years ago.

Dundee Courier 27^th September 1918

Arthur Melville was the son of Mr Arthur and Mrs Annie Melville of 87 Watson Street, Dundee. He volunteered to join the Royal Naval Volunteer onboard HMS Unicorn in Dundee in October 1915 and carried out his initial training at the Crystal Palace in South London. He enrolled for service in the Royal Naval Division but transferred to sea service, reporting to the Naval Barracks in Portsmouth in February 1916. Within a week he was drafted to HMS Europa, the Base Ship at Mudros on the island of Lemnos in the Eastern Mediterranean. After he arrived he was sent to join HMS Sarnia, an armed Boarding Vessel. In September 1918 she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-65 while on passage from Alexandria to Port Said with the loss of 53 lives including Arthur Melville. The ship sank very quickly and the survivors were reportedly not picked up for two days. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial on Southsea Common in Hampshire.