Lieutenant Carl Hubert SANDERS RNVR
HMS Edinburgh Castle, Royal Navy

Date of birth: 7th August 1884
Date of death: 30th October 1942

Killed in action aged 58
Commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial Panel 76 Column 3
Carl Hubert Sanders was born at Betchworth in Surrey on the 7th of August 1884 the son of the Reverend Canon Charles Evatt Sanders MA, Vicar of St Michael's Betchworth, and Evelyn Augusta (nee Gilliatt) Sanders of The Vicarage, Dorking Road, Betchworth. He was christened at St Michael's Church, Betchworth on the 21st of September 1884.

He was educated at Hazelwood School until July 1898. On leaving the school the magazine wrote the following on him: - "....leaves behind him a rare record for unblemished character. he has been a pillar of strength to the Second Elevens in both games."

He went on to Marlborough College where he was in Littlefield House from September 1898 to July 1901. He suffered from a serious attack of peritonitis in his first term at the college and did not return to school until the following summer term.

He farmed in Manitoba in Canada from 1905 to 1914 where he was married at Vancouver to Mary Linton (nee Pettle) on the 16th of July 1907; they had a son, Evatt Anthony, born on the 6th of December 1908. They lived later at Cuckolds Green, Wrentham in Suffolk.

Following the outbreak of war he was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant the Royal Naval Reserve on the 12th of August 1914. He was posted to the shore establishment HMS Victory for a course of instruction on the 3rd of June 1915 and was promoted to Temporary Lieutenant on the 27th of June 1915 . He served on board Motor Launch No. 11 Minnehaha at Port Said until March 1916. In July 1916 he was posted to Motor Launch No. 153 Betsy Jamieson and served with her until the 4th of September 1917 when he returned to England but he was posted overseas once more on the 17th of September to the command of Motor launch No. 244 based at the depot at Port Said. He was mentioned in despatches:- "For services in Egypt between 1-7-18 and 11-11-18", which appeared in the London Gazette of the 22nd of April 1919. A note on his file described him as an: -
"Exceptionally good officer in command of Motor Launch. Good disciplinarian and very tactful - plenty of initiative."
He was demobilised on the 20th of February 1919.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War he served as Head ARP Warden for his local area before re-joining the Royal Navy and was re-appointed with the rank of Lieutenant on the 5th of May 1941, serving on board the accommodation ship HMS Edinburgh Castle based at Freetown in Sierra Leone

On the 17th of October 1942 Carl Sanders boarded the 11,898 ton troop transport President Doumer at Bathurst in Sierra Leone as a passenger. The ship, under the command of Master Jean Paul Mantelet, formed part of Convoy SL-125 bound for England. Also joining the vessel at Bathurst were two officers, three NCOs and sixteen other ranks from the Army as well as two officers and seven NCOs and thirty airmen from the Royal Air Force. A pantry boy from the Merchant Marine also came aboard, along with twenty nine bags of mail which were loaded on board. After setting sail, the ship joined the convoy at sea on the 19th of October.

At 9.29pm on the night of the 30th of October 1942, while in bad weather in a position to the north east of Madeira, she was struck by a torpedo fired by the U Boat U-604 which was under the command of Kapitainleutnant Horst Holtring. As the passengers and crew rushed to abandon ship panic broke out and many of the lifeboats were cut down and crushed. Some survivors were picked up by the Norwegian merchantman SS Alaska and the destroyer HMS Cowslip but two hundred and sixty passengers and crew were lost with eighty five being rescued.

His wife received the following telegram: -

"From Admiralty. Deeply regret to inform you that your husband Lieutenant C.H. Sanders has been reported missing on active service."

He is commemorated on a memorial at St Michael's Church, Betchworth and on the war memorial at Marlborough College.
Went on to Marlborough College

Back