Wenman Humfrey "Kit" Wykeham-Musgrave (1899–1989) was a
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
officer who has the possibly unique distinction of having survived being
torpedoed on three different ships on the same day.
He was born on 4 April 1899 at
Barford,
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
,
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, the son of Herbert Wenman Wykeham-Musgrave and his wife Gertrude St. Aubyn Walrond, daughter of the Rev. Main Swete Alexander Walrond. He was educated at
Royal Naval College, Osborne
The Royal Naval College, Osborne, was a training college for Royal Navy officer cadets on the Osborne House estate, Isle of Wight, established in 1903 and closed in 1921.
Boys were admitted at about the age of thirteen to follow a course lasting ...
,
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
, and at
Royal Naval College,
Dartmouth
He was serving as a
midshipman aboard when, on the morning of 22 September 1914, HMS ''Aboukir'', and , three armoured cruisers, were on patrol in the
Broad Fourteens off the Dutch coast. They were attacked by the German U-Boat
''U-9'', which was under the command of Kapitänleutnant
Otto Weddigen. Wykeham-Musgrave's daughter, Pru Bailey-Hamilton, recounted the tale of his torpedoing during a BBC interview in 2003:
"He went overboard when the ''Aboukir'' was going down and he swam like mad to get away from the suction. He was then just getting on board the ''Hogue'' and she was torpedoed. He then went and swam to the ''Cressy'' and she was also torpedoed. He eventually found a bit of driftwood, became unconscious and was eventually picked up by a Dutch trawler."
The U-Boat torpedoed all three ships within the space of an hour. Wykeham-Musgrave survived the war and re-joined the Royal Navy in 1939, reaching the rank of
commander.
See also
*
Violet Jessop
Violet Constance Jessop (2 October 1887 – 5 May 1971), often referred to as the ''"Queen of sinking ships"'' or ''"Miss Unsinkable,"'' was an Argentine woman of Irish heritage who worked as an ocean liner stewardess, memoirist, and nurse in t ...
, ocean liner stewardess and nurse who survived three disastrous maritime incidents, notably aboard , and
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wykeham-Musgrave, Wenman
1899 births
1989 deaths
People from Barford, Warwickshire
Royal Navy officers of World War I
Royal Navy officers of World War II
Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College
People educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne
Shipwreck survivors