Third Engineer James Murray

Third Engineer James Oliver Murray, Mercantile Marine. He was lost at sea, aged 33, aboard the S.S. “Australdale” on the 19th October 1917 He had been born in Jedburgh and was the son of the late Robert and Barbara Murray of New Bondgate, Jedburgh and the husband of Elizabeth Murray of Burg View, Jedburgh. He is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, London. ( His brother John also fell – see above ). He had served his apprenticeship as an engineer in Jedburgh  and was employed in Newcastle before he went to sea in 1907. He qualified as a marine engineer and latterly was employed by the Australian Steamship Co. His ship was in convoy from Wales to Gibraltar, carrying coal, when it was torpedoed by U-22 off the coast of N.W. Spain. The ship went down quickly and all the crew got away in three lifeboats except for James Murray who had probably died when the torpedo struck. Two of the boats reached safety with 19 crew but the third with 27 men aboard was never seen again. (S.S. “Australdale” was a general cargo vessel of 4397 tons and had been launched in 1907 ).