Senior Third Engineering Officer Richard Vert

Senior Third Engineering Officer Richard Fowler Vert, Merchant Navy. He was lost at sea aboard the M.V. “Pacific President” on 2nd December 1940, aged 22. He had been born in Gordon and was the son of William and Joanna Vert of Ashley House, Gordon and is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, London. The ship, of 7113 tons, was built by Furness ,Withy & Co.in 1928 and was in transit from Leith to Oban and then to New York, in ballast when it was torpedoed by U-43 and sank with all 51 crew lost. The U- Boat was herself sunk on 30th July 1943 by an Avenger torpedo plane from the USS “Santee”. All 55 crew were lost. ( There are no Second World War names on the Gordon War Memorial.) Richard Vert had served his engineering apprenticeship with Messrs Bryce of Gordon. He had been educated at the Berwickshire High School, Duns and is also commemorated on the Memorial Tablet placed in the new High School, Duns.