More about David Moodie Chalmers

David has no known grave but is remembered on the Tower Hill Memorial, he was serving aboard S.S. Samoset, which was built by Napier & Miller, Ltd., Glasgow in 1909 and owned at the time of her loss by Standard Transportation Co. Ltd., Hong Kong, she was a British tanker of 5,251 tons.

On March 20th, 1918, Samoset, was on a voyage from Port Said to Brindisi with fuel oil, she was sunk by the German submarine U-33 (Gustav Sieß), 50 miles NxE3/4E of Port Said. 3 persons were lost.

David Moodie Chalmers    Third Engineer   S.S. Samoset

CHALMERS―Killed on 20th March, 1918, on the S.S. ――, sunk by enemy action, David Moodie, engineer, in his 26th year, youngest son of Mr and Mrs John Chalmers, 226 Blackness Road, Dundee.

Dundee Evening Telegraph 8th May 1918

Drowned at Sea.

Engineer David Chalmers was the youngest son of Mr John Chalmers, 266 Blackness Road.  Deceased served his apprenticeship in Blackness Foundry.

Dundee People’s Journal 11th May 1918

David is believed to be the brother of Cpt William Chalmers, Inland Waterway Transport, Attd Royal Engineers, and Captain John Chalmers, Royal Garrison Artillery.

David Chalmers was the son of Mr John Chalmers of 266 Blackness Road, Dundee. In 1915 he was serving onboard the Liverpool registered SS Phidias. Whilst in this ship he was promoted from Fourth Engineer to Third Engineer. The SS Samoset was an Oil Tanker, registered in Glasgow, was sunk by a torpedo fired by the German submarine U-33 whilst on passage from Port Said in Egypt to Brindissi, Italy with cargo of oil. Three crew members were lost in the sinking. David Chalmers is named on the Tower Hill Memorial in London. The Peoples Journal published on 29 July 1916 reported his death and that he was a Second Engineer on a Government Transport.