Captain James Ernest Taylor of Goole

Goole History > Goole People & Families > Capt. James Ernest Taylor

From the Goole Times, Friday 29th November 1935:

MASTER MARINER'S DEATH - LONG SERVICE OF CAPT. TAYLOR
RECALLS DRAMA OF GOOLE SHIP IN WAR

After an illness of many years, the death took place on Saturday night of Captain James Ernest Taylor, a well-known Goole master mariner, at the age of 59. Capt. Taylor was the elder son of the late Capt. Michael Taylor, and commenced his seafaring career when about 13 years of age in sailing ships owned by his father. Later he became a master in ships belonging to the Goole Steam Shipping Company, with whom he was employed for about 25 years.

In 1914, at the outbreak of the war, Capt. Taylor was in command of the Dearne at Hamburg. The following paragraph regarding the Dearne appeared in the Goole Times issue of 1st August 1914:- "Out of the Goole Steam Shipping Company's fleet of 26 vessels, only three are away from Goole, these being the Equity, Dearne and Berlin. The first two named are at Hamburg. The Dearne had taken on board a cargo of sugar for Goole when the German soldiers boarded her and ordered the cargo to be discharged. All the crew, it is understood, were treated in a proper manner, excepting that they were made to unload the cargo. Efforts to get into communication with the captains of the ships proved very difficult."

Capt. Taylor and the members of the crew were interned in Germany during the greater part of the war. The Dearne was used by the Germans and in 1916 was sunk by a British destroyer in the North Sea. About a year before the war ended Capt. Taylor was repatriated and went to Holland. Shortly before the Armistice he was sent home. In the course of his service with the Goole Steam Shipping Company, Capt. Taylor commanded the Duke of Clarence, when she carried troops back to England after the war, the Ouse, which was then the H.M.S. Rule, the Mersey, the River Ribble, and the Hodder.

He leaves a widow, two sons and one daughter.