More about Roderick McRae

Roderick McRae was the son of Mr and Mrs Alexander McRae of Aberdeen and was married to Mrs Jeanie McRae who lived at 22 James Street, Stornoway at the time of his death. He volunteered to join the Royal Naval Reserve at Aberdeen in September 1914 and was drafted to HMS Pembroke, the Naval Barracks at Chatham in South London. From here he was drafted to HMS Actaeon, an old wooden frigate used as the Torpedo School at Sheerness in South London. In October 1914 he was sent to Dunkirk for 14 days but returned to the Actaeon. In January 1918 he was drafted to HMS Sarnia, a Channel steamer, built in 1910 and taken into Naval service in November 1914, initially as an armed boarding steamer. In early 1915 she sailed for Eastern Mediterranean and spent the rest of the war moving men and supplies in the area. In September 1918 she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-65 while on passage from Alexandria to Port Said with the loss of 53 lives including Roderick McRae. The ship sank very quickly and the survivors were reportedly not picked up for two days. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial on Southsea Common, Hampshire.