Honouring the Men who gave their lives whilst serving in the Merchant Navy
and whose names are on the Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

H.M.S. CHAMPAGNE  -  WW1

HMS Champagne was sunk between the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. Named Oropesa, she was initially built for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company but was taken over by the Admiralty in November 1914 for service in the First World War as an auxiliary cruiser. In 1917 she was lent to the French navy but retained her British crew and was given the operational name Champagne.
On Monday 8th October 1917 the German submarine U-96 was spotted in the Irish Sea, about 30 miles off the mouth of the Mersey, moving northwest towards the Isle of Man. Captain Percy G Brown of HMS Champagne decided to avoid U-96 when she left Liverpool early on Tuesday 9th October 1917, by sailing west along the coast of North Wales and then across the Irish Sea well towards Ireland, before turning northeast, putting the Isle of Man to starboard. Meanwhile, U-96 found shelter from the north-northwest gale in the lee of Spanish Head in the south of the Isle of Man, eventually leaving this haven, heading towards the Irish coast.
At 6.10 am in position 54 17 N, 05 10 W HMS Champagne was struck by a torpedo fired by U-96. The torpedo hit the engine room on the starboard side and there were several casualties. Shortly after she was struck on the port side. After the order to abandon ship, four men stayed aboard and volunteered to man the guns. At 6:30 am HMS Champagne was struck again by a third and final torpedo and sank within 30 seconds. Lifeboats on the ship were used to evacuate the crew but owing to the bad weather and masses of floating wreckage, the boats experienced difficulty in picking up survivors. Two of these lifeboats made it to Port Erin at around 11:30 am and the remaining boats were towed into Port St Mary at 1:30 pm. Peel’s lifeboat, Mayhew Medwin, was launched at 12.25 pm to look for survivors, and 21 men were found alive aboard a life raft.  - Manx National Heritage