Gontes Cloules was born in Malta in 1891 and lived at 99, Vicnarsa Hania, Malta.
Although the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, show that he served on board the final voyage of the Lusitania as a fireman in the Engineering Department and was killed when the ship was sunk, he does not appear in the Cunard Steam Ship Company's list of crew members, either missing or having survived.
However, a Cunard list of crew members who engaged at New York on the 30th April
1915 includes the name Cloules Goutes, who signed on as a fireman at a monthly rate of pay of £4-5s.-0d. (£4.50p.). Presumably some mistake was made and Goutes was thought to be his surname. The names are too similar for it to be anything else, although there is no Goutes listed amongst the missing either!
The name Gontes Cloules is embossed on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London, however. The register for the memorial does not record any verifying details of his age, family, or home.
Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UniLiv D92/6/1, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 9th January 2023.