More about Peter Lesslie

Peter was serving aboard  the fishing vessel Zarina when she was torpedoed and sunk by a German Submarine with the loss of 9 crew. She was fishing some 73 miles east of North Spurn. So violent was the explosion that men on nearby fishing vessels said the Zarina was blown right out of the water.

Peter Lesslie was the son of Mr Peter and Mrs Margaret Lesslie and was married to Mrs Euphemia Blair Lesslie (nee Matthew) of 2 Reita Bank, Hermitage Road, Broughty Ferry. The Zarina was a fishing trawler and sank 72 miles north east of the Spurn Light Vessel off the Humber estuary after an enormous explosion which witnesses said lifted the Zarina out of the sea. Two reasons have been advanced for the loss. The first is that the Zarina was torpedoed by an unknown submarine, the second is that the explosion was caused by a mine laid by the German cruiser SMS Strasburg in January 1915. Nine lives were lost and Peter Lesslie is named on the Tower Hill Memorial in London.