Bertram Fox Hayes
Sir Bertram Fox Hayes | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 April 1864 |
| Died | 15 May 1941 (aged 77) |
| Occupation | Ship captain |
Sir Bertram Fox Hayes (25 April 1864-15 May 1941) was a sea captain with the White Star Line.
Bertram Hayes was born in Birkenhead in Cheshire, but his family moved to Goole in Yorkshire when he was four years of age. He began his service in the Merchant Navy as a Junior Clerk at the age of 14 in the Goole Shipping Company. He went to sea in 1880 and gained his Master’s Certificate in 1889 and his Extra Master’s in 1897. In 1898 he joined the firm of Ismay, Imrie & Company, sailing as Mate aboard the Coptic. He was promoted Master and commanded the Britannic, and during the Boer War he took troops to South Africa, carrying 37,000 troops in three years. for which he was awarded the Transport Medal.
He also served on the White Star Line ships Teutonic, Germanic, Suevic, the Arabic, and the Laurentic, in which he inaugurated the company's Canadian service.
During the First World War he was appointed Captain of the RMS Olympic, sister ship to the Titanic. The ship was employed as a troop carrier across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. In 1917 he was awarded a CMG for his services. On 12 May 1918, en route from New York to Southampton and while in the English Channel, the Olympic, sighted the U-boat SM U-103. After opening fire, the Olympic turned to ram and sank the submarine. For this service, the first and only sinking by a merchant vessel during the First World War, he was awarded the DSO.
He was knighted in 1920 and created KCMG, Between 1922 and 1924 he captained the RMS Majestic, which then the world's largest ship, and retired as Commodore of the White Star Line in 1924. In 1925 he published ‘Hull Down, Reminisces of Windjammers, Troops and Travellers’ by Sir Bertram Hayes. He died on the 15 May 1941 at his home in Liverpool.
References
- www.angloboerwar.com
- News from 1924/1941: Retirement/Death of Commodore Hayes - www.encyclopedia-titanica.org