The Viknor and the Racoon, Bonamargy Friary, Ballycastle
On December 12th, 1914, the Viking Cruising Company’s steamer Viking, 5386 gross tons was renamed Viknor and commissioned into the Squadron (10th Cruiser Squadron). She had been built back in 1888 as the Atrato for Royal Mail Lines. Just a month later she left Derry for a patrol and was not heard of again. There were 294 lives lost, including two Donegal Seamen, Begley and Farren from Greencastle, who had just joined. The consensus of opinion was that Viknor had struck a mine “somewhere off Tory Island” on 13th January, 1915. It would seem that this must have been one of the Berlin mines, for mine-laying by submarines, which later in the war accounted for the Laurentic and the two ships off Rathin Island H.M.S. Brisk and the Lugano, had not yet been introduced. The first U-boat appeared in the Irish sea on 30th January, 1915 and there is no evidence of activity north-west of Ireland before that.
A war grave of one of the crew of the Viknor can be seen on Rathlin Island while at Bonamargy Friary near Ballycastle stands a monument to war graves marking six graves of her men. Local knowledge puts the wreck 11 miles west of Tory.
Extract from Ian Wilson’s excellent book “Donegal Shipwrecks” published 1998
(ISBN No. 0 948154 56X
The inscription on the Celtic Cross reads;
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"Presented by the people of Ballycastle
To the memory of
William Faulkner -stoker
William McKay.
F. Walter Mechanician
J Harvey A.B.
HMS RACOON
James Griffin Private R.M.
4 Seamen and 1 Stoker Unidentified
HMS VICKNOR
Who gave their lives in defence of the Empire in the Great War 1914 -1918
Whose bodies were cast ashore on this coast and interred here"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For information
HMS Racoon
Three funnelled destroyer HMS Racoon sank on 9 th January 1918.
“It was calculated by the set of the tide and the position of the bodies that the Racoon had struck the Garrive or Grvan Isles, a little over a mile off Malin Head pier. Nothing was found of her. It was only recently that the wreck has been located, debris lying at 20 metres. Items have been recovered (though it is a war grave) most notably the engine room telegraph, which appears to have been set at half revolutions. A more alarming discovery in 1996 was live ammunition among the lobster pots hauled up by the Malin men, which brought an Irish Army team, and the press, to the scene, the first attention the Racoon had received since brief reports appeared among the war headlines in 1918. At Bonamargy Friary, near Ballycastle, is a marble monument erected to men of Racoon and Viknor. As the fast Racoon was a coal burner more than half her crew were stokers. Nine lucky men (eight stokers and a seaman) had been left behind when she sailed. She had distinguished herself in the Dardanelles campaign and in Mediterranean convoy escort”
Extract from Ian Wilson’s excellent book “Donegal Shipwrecks” published 1998
(ISBN No. 0 948154 56X)
The Viknor and the Racoon, Bonamargy Friary, Ballycastle
On December 12th, 1914, the Viking Cruising Company’s steamer Viking, 5386 gross tons was renamed Viknor and commissioned into the Squadron (10th Cruiser Squadron). She had been built back in 1888 as the Atrato for Royal Mail Lines. Just a month later she left Derry for a patrol and was not heard of again. There were 294 lives lost, including two Donegal Seamen, Begley and Farren from Greencastle, who had just joined. The consensus of opinion was that Viknor had struck a mine “somewhere off Tory Island” on 13th January, 1915. It would seem that this must have been one of the Berlin mines, for mine-laying by submarines, which later in the war accounted for the Laurentic and the two ships off Rathin Island H.M.S. Brisk and the Lugano, had not yet been introduced. The first U-boat appeared in the Irish sea on 30th January, 1915 and there is no evidence of activity north-west of Ireland before that.
A war grave of one of the crew of the Viknor can be seen on Rathlin Island while at Bonamargy Friary near Ballycastle stands a monument to war graves marking six graves of her men. Local knowledge puts the wreck 11 miles west of Tory.
Extract from Ian Wilson’s excellent book “Donegal Shipwrecks” published 1998
(ISBN No. 0 948154 56X
The inscription on the Celtic Cross reads;
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Presented by the people of Ballycastle
To the memory of
William Faulkner -stoker
William McKay.
F. Walter Mechanician
J Harvey A.B.
HMS RACOON
James Griffin Private R.M.
4 Seamen and 1 Stoker Unidentified
HMS VICKNOR
Who gave their lives in defence of the Empire in the Great War 1914 -1918
Whose bodies were cast ashore on this coast and interred here"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For information
HMS Racoon
Three funnelled destroyer HMS Racoon sank on 9 th January 1918.
“It was calculated by the set of the tide and the position of the bodies that the Racoon had struck the Garrive or Grvan Isles, a little over a mile off Malin Head pier. Nothing was found of her. It was only recently that the wreck has been located, debris lying at 20 metres. Items have been recovered (though it is a war grave) most notably the engine room telegraph, which appears to have been set at half revolutions. A more alarming discovery in 1996 was live ammunition among the lobster pots hauled up by the Malin men, which brought an Irish Army team, and the press, to the scene, the first attention the Racoon had received since brief reports appeared among the war headlines in 1918. At Bonamargy Friary, near Ballycastle, is a marble monument erected to men of Racoon and Viknor. As the fast Racoon was a coal burner more than half her crew were stokers. Nine lucky men (eight stokers and a seaman) had been left behind when she sailed. She had distinguished herself in the Dardanelles campaign and in Mediterranean convoy escort”
Extract from Ian Wilson’s excellent book “Donegal Shipwrecks” published 1998
(ISBN No. 0 948154 56X)