More about Thomas Samuel Paul

Thomas S Paul was the husband of Mrs Mary Paul of 19 Crescent Lane, Dundee. He was the son of Mr Edward and Mrs Selina Paul of Cardiff. In September 1914 he volunteered to join the Royal Naval Reserve and was immediately drafted to minesweeping duties in the hired trawler Oyama, based in Cardiff. From June 1916 to March 1917 he was based at HMS Gunner, the Naval Base at Granton Harbour, Edinburgh and would have served in the trawlers and drifters based there. From there he was sent to the Paddle Minesweeper HMS Eridge and then to HMS Ascot, a very similar paddle minesweeper, joining her in August 1917 just as she was transferred first to Grimsby until May 1918 and then Portsmouth until October 1918. During June he received a temporary draft back to Grimsby to the trawler Vic based at HMS Pekin, the Auxiliary Patrol Base at Grimsby. HMS Ascot left Portsmouth on 7 November 1918, on passage to Granton and was torpedoed the German submarine UB-67 on 10 November, off the Farne Islands, Northumberland. Thomas Paul and all his crewmates died in the sinking and he is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial on Plymouth Hoe in Devon. The Ascot was the last British warships sunk in WW1 by direct enemy action. The Peoples Journal has an article on 23 November 1918.

For reasons unknown this man is not listed on the original Dundee Roll of Honour.

Thomas Sam Paul   R.N.D.

DUNDEE MAN DROWNED AT SEA.

The sad news reached Mrs Thomas Paul, 19 Crescent Lane, that her husband, A.B. Thomas Sam Paul, R.N.D., had been drowned at sea on 10th November.  A.B. Paul, who was 33 years of age, enlisted in 1914, and had been on the mine sweeper, Ascot ever since.  In civil life he was employed as a fisher in Cardiff.  Two brothers of the deceased are serving with the colours in France—Private George Paul and Private Jack Paul.

Dundee Courier 22nd November 1918

HMS Ascot was the first of the paddle-steamer minesweepers, a class of twenty-four ships named after Racecourses. Each ship was fitted to carry two seaplanes. Five were lost at sea with 9 officers and 72 men. Ascot was commissioned April 1916, and was employed in the Firth of Forth till August, 1917: then at Grimsby till May 1918, and Portmouth till October 1918. She left Portsmouth on 7th November 1918, on the way to Granton and was torpedoed and sank with all hands on 10th November off the Farne Islands by German Submarine UB-69, making her the last British ship to be sunk during the Great War.