Herbert Fleming was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, in 1896, the son of John Thomas and Hannah Fleming (Holt). He was one of six children, and when he was only aged 4 years, his mother died. His father was a railway carter.
He began his apprenticeship as a seaman while in his early teenage years, serving on the training ship, Indefatigable. In 1915, he lived at 36, Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, Cheshire, not far from Woodside Ferry, which crosses the River Mersey to Liverpool. This address was the boy’s hostel for the Royal Navy training ship, Indefatigable.
On the 12th April 1915, he engaged as an able seaman in the Deck Department, on the Lusitania at Liverpool, his monthly rate of pay being £5-10s.-0d., (£5.50p). He reported for duty on board the liner at 7 a.m. on the 17th April, before she left the River Mersey for the last ever time. His previous ship had been the Harrison Liner the S.S. Collegian.
The liner crossed the Atlantic Ocean without incident and having docked in New York, eventually left there on the early afternoon of the 1st May, for her return to Liverpool. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of the 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine, U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland. At that time, she was only about 250 miles away from the safety of her home port. Herbert Fleming lost his life because of this action. He was aged 19 years.
A shipmate, Seaman Thomas O’Mahoney, later told something of his fate in an article published in the Merseyside newspaper, The Liverpool Echo, on the 29th March 1957, which stated: -
On the morning of May 7 all baggage and mail had to be lifted, ready for disembarkation. Lusitania carried about 10,000 bags of mail, and it had to be brought from the very depths of the ship to the deck. O'Mahoney’s name was fourth on the watch roster, and while he was not on look-out, he was for’ard helping the bosun on lifting work.
Misty weather ran up, and because of the ship’s high speed, it was decided to double the lookouts, and the Master-at-Arms told O’Mahoney to leave his work and go on watch. But because he had a long reach, and could grab the swinging bundles better as they were hoisted from the hold, the bosun overruled the Master-at-Arms. Another seaman named Fleming, next on the list was detailed.
“We were having breakfast when Fleming pointed out the lookout system was not now in strict rotation and we agreed I should do his next lookout“, Mr. O’Mahoney told me. “I was called at 11.20 for dinner and afterwards, at 11.45, I got dressed in all the clothes I could find and went on watch, while Fleming went to the baggage room aft, which was now being worked.”
At four bells, (2 pm), O’Mahoney and his watch colleague were relieved, and they went to drink the customary tea that the oncoming watch had brewed, half drunk and left. “I was telling the other fellow we ought to be getting below, (we only had ten minutes and five were needed for the descent into the ship), when, like everyone does, we decided we could manage just one more drink of tea. I had just put my cup down when we were hit. We were stunned. The fo’c’sle was filled with steam and we groped up the two ladders to the decks.
Far below, my shift, waiting for us to come, were trapped, with Fleming among them, They probably did not die until the ship went down 18 minutes later, though they could have been killed by the tons of baggage falling as she listed drunkenly.”
Able Seaman Fleming’s body was not recovered and identified afterwards and as a result, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
On the Australian Merchant Seamen’s Memorial in the garden of The Australian War Memorial, in Canberra, Capital State, Australia, under the section for the First World War, is the name FLEMING W.R. S.S. LUSITANIA. This actually refers to First Engineer William Robert Fleming who was lost on board the Capper, Alexander & Company Limited vessel the S.S. Lorle of West Hartlepool, which was sunk by the German submarine UB-103, on the 11th June 1918, and does not seem to have any connection at all with the Lusitania.
In August 1915, Able Seaman Herbert Fleming’s family were paid the balance of wages owed to him in respect of his service on the Lusitania’s last voyage, which was reckoned to be from the 17th April 1915, until the 8th May, 24 hours after the vessel had gone down!
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1901 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Liverpool Echo, Australian War Memorial, British Ships Sunk By U-Boats, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 19th November 2023.