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,

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, 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 ...

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, 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.

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

See also

References