More about John Houvelsronde Anderson

John has no known grave but is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

John was serving aboard S.S. CALLIOPE which was owned by the Calliope Steamship Co. Ltd, London (Scaramanga Bros.) and built in 1900 by William Pickersgill & Sons, Sunderland; 2,883 tons.

On July 12th, 1917, S.S. Calliope was on a voyage from Sevilla to Newport with a cargo of iron ore when she was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-155 (Kapitänleutnant Karl Meusel) 150 miles North of Madeira. All 27 crew were lost.

John Hovelsroude Anderson  32088  S.S. Calliope

ANDERSON―In loving memory of my dearly beloved husband, John Hovelsroude Anderson, gunner, R.N.R., lost at sea, between July and November 1917. – Inserted by his wife and family, 3 Hilltown.

Dundee People’s Journal 16th November 1918

John H Anderson was the son of Mr John Houvelsronde Anderson and Mrs Ann B Anderson and was married to Mrs Isabella Anderson of 3 Hilltown, Dundee. He was a pre-war member of the Royal Naval Reserve in Dundee, joining in 1910. He worked as a Merchant Seaman, a crew member of the Tay Ferries and as a fisherman at times. In August 1914 he was called up and drafted to a Mine Carrier vessel supplying mine laying operations. In 1916 he trained as a Gunner and formed part of a gun crew placed on Merchant ships to defend the ship against surface attacks by German submarines and warships. His last ship, The SS Calliope, a Hired Collier, was sunk west of Gibraltar by U-155. 12 Jul 1917 is given as his date of death in Naval History Net. John H Anderson is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial on Southsea Common in Hampshire and also on the Tower Hill Memorial in London.