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William (Willie) Edward Sanders was born in Auckland in 1887. He started his career at sea on a coastal steamer in 1899 and in January 1906 joined the New Zealand Government Steamer Hinemoa for a two year stint. During 1906 he kept a dairy which he titled "Cruises of the GSS Hinemoa". The Hinemoa crew serviced and built lighthouses and the Castaway Depots in the Auckland and Enderby Islands and other Sub-Antarctic Islands. It was at this time he saw the James Craig and made the entry of which a copy is shown here.
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Transcript of Diary Entries
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Tuesday
April 24
(1906)
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In Kaipara Heads two boats were engaged in bringing off
fresh water to the ships all the morning. The crew of the
Barque James Craig were also engaged in watering this ship
and she sailed in the evening for Sydney. 1pm we proceeded
down to the big lighthouse and landed stores and returned
to Pouto Point and anchored for the night.
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Wednesday
April 25
(1906)
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Engaged in cleaning buoys went ashore on a bank at 3pm and
had to run out a kedge but could not get her off so we had
to wait until 8pm to get her off.
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By 1912 he was second mate on the Marjorie Craig
and had one voyage on the Louisa Craig, then moving to first
Mate on the Joseph Craig and was on her when she was wrecked
inside the Hokianga Bar (in the upper North Island of New Zealand).
Willie spent a lot of time in Victorian Ports and also in Newcastle
while on the Trans-Tasman trade route.
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In November 1914 he passed his Extra Masters and Compass Adjusters Exams at the Sydney Nautical School and then worked on Troop Ships during the early part of the War. In April 1916 he arrived in London and accepted a commission as Temporary Sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy Reserve. He was appointed to a Q-Ship Helgoland (Q17) and after good work on that ship he was given command of the HMS Prize (Q21), with the rank of Acting Lieutenant.
On 30 April 1917 he was involved in an action with German U-boat U93 badly damaging it and took the Commander Baron Von Spiegel and two crew prisoner. HMS Prize was badly holed and many crew were wounded. For this action he was awarded the Victoria Cross, gazetted on 22 June 1917. He was also promoted to the rank of Leiutenant-Commander following the action with U93. 12 June 1917 saw another action and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. On 14 August 1917 after a fight with German U-boat UB48, he was killed when the U-boat waited until nightfall and sent two torpedoes towards her. One scored a direct hit causing a huge explosion. The official cause was "Killed when his ship was blown up in an action with an enemy ship".
This is a list of photographs that were taken by Willie, written in his own hand. It is here that he makes mention of the still missing photograph that he took of the James Craig.
Special Thanks to Tricia McRae from Auckland, New Zealand for this information on the James Craig.
