More about John William Mussett

John W Mussett was the son of Mr James and Mrs Ann Amelia Mussett of Norfolk and, in 1910, married Mrs Isabel Mussett of Dundee and later 174 St Lawrence Square, Newcastle upon Tyne. He joined the Royal Naval Reserve in North Shields in December 1904 and trained on board HM Ships Andromeda, Irresistible and Vindictive. He worked as a Merchant Seaman and as a Rigger in the Hawthorn Leslie Shipyard at Hebburn on the River Tyne. He was mobilised on 2 August 1914 and drafted to the Chatham based cruiser HMS Aboukir. This ship and two others, HM Ships Hogue and Cressy, were sunk by torpedoes from the German submarine U-9 whilst on patrol in the North Sea. Over 1400 men died in the action. John Musset’s body was washed ashore at Terheyde in Holland on 1 October 1914 and he is buried in Gravenzande General Cemetery, Hook of Holland. All three wrecks were declared protected 3 March 2017.