Ensign
Edward REAVELY
US Navy
Died: 26th September 1918 - Age: 22

Commemorated:

1. Book:The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918Pg.133
2. Memorial:The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour3B GQS
    

Awards & Titles:

 

Family :

Mrs. A. E. Little (Sister) Bould, Illinois

Service Life:

Campaigns:

Unit / Ship / Est.: US Coast Guard Cutter TAMPA 

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-us-cs/uscg-sh/cgsh-t/tampa.htm U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa (1912-1918). Named Miami until 1916. The 1181-ton Revenue Cutter Miami was built at Newport News, Virginia. Commissioned in August 1912, she operated in the Atlantic for her entire career. Among her activities were ice patrol duty in the north Atlantic and derelict patrol work out of the Azores. She became USCGC Miami in January 1915, when the U.S. Coast Guard was created by the merger of the Revenue Cutter and Lifesaving Services, and was renamed Tampa at the beginning of February 1916. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Tampa was transferred to Navy control. She began service in the European war zone in late October 1917, with escort of convoys between Gibraltar and the British isles as her primary assignment. During the evening of 26 September 1918, after shepherding a convoy to the Irish Sea, Tampa was steaming through the Bristol Channel when she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB-91. All those on board, 115 crew members and 16 passengers, were killed. This was the greatest combat-related loss of life suffered by the U.S. Naval forces during the First World War.

Action : Naval Campaign 

Naval Campaign is defined as to include all sea operations where attrition rates are in ones and twos and which do not fall within specific naval battles such as Jutland, Coronel, Falklands etc. This includes Merchant Navy losses.

Detail :

OFFICERS AND ENLISTED MEN OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY WHO LOST THEIR LIVES DURING THE WORLD WAR, FROM APRIL 6, 1917 TO NOVEMBER 11, 1918 Edward REAVELY is one of the few Brethren who were members of an English Lodge but were citizens of the USA. He was serving on the USS Tampa, a coastguard cutter engaged on convoy and mine sweeping duties in the Western Approaches. The USS Tampa is thought to have been the victim of an enemy torpedo fired from a U-Boat (UB-91). All hands were lost when the vessel was lost in the Bristol Channel whilst escorting or having left convoy HG.107. In total 115 men, together with 15 British passengers, were lost most of whom were USNRF (reservists) but REAVELY was one of 3 USN men lost. His next of kin was listed as his sister Mrs A E Little of Boulder Illinois.

See USN History - The Sextant for more detail:

"In 1918, the United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Tampa was one such vessel assigned to escort duty. Her primary mission was the location and destruction of enemy submarines attempting to attack convoy’s laden with vital war materials. On September 26, 1918, the Tampa was assigned to escort mercantile convoy HG 107 from Gibraltar to the West Coast of England. According to official reports, the Tampa detached from convoy HG 107 at 4:15 PM and proceeded alone to Milford Haven, Wales. At 7:00 PM the Tampa was last sighted on the horizon by the Commodore of convoy HG 107. No one knew this would be the last time Tampa or her crew would ever be seen. At 8:45 PM a radio operator in the convoy reported feeling the shock of an underwater explosion. Tampa was expected in Milford Haven at approximately 3 AM, and when she didn’t arrive, the dawn saw search and rescue preparations underway. On September 27 and 28, trawlers and military vessels participating in the search discovered debris, including lifejackets and general wreckage marked “TAMPA,” and a lone body floating in the water. Two more bodies were recovered on a beach 55 nautical miles from the wreckage. The exact nature of what occurred didn’t become known until after the war. A recovered war diary described how the German UB-91 spotted Tampa alone in the Bristol Channel at 7:30 PM, and at 8:15 fired one torpedo from a distance of 550 meters. The torpedo hit Tampa on the portside amidships with secondary explosions following minutes later, believed to be Tampa’s depth charges detonating as she sank. At the time of her sinking, naval commanders concluded: “it appears that the Tampa and all on board were lost as the result of an explosion, presumably due to enemy action.”

In all, 131 officers, enlisted men, and passengers were lost. Among these were four U.S. Navy personnel: Lieutenant Junior Grade Hadley H. Teter (Medical Corps), Ensign David Hoffman, Ensign Edward Reavely, and Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class Carl L. Dalton. They were aboard Tampa because in 1918 the Coast Guard did not have its own afloat medical detachments, and routinely used Naval personnel to fill this role."

See also: US Caribbean and Florida Digital Newspaper Project.

Masonic :

TypeLodge Name and No.Province/District :
Mother : Lodge of St. John's No. 115 E.C.Gibraltar

Initiated
Passed
Raised
19th July 1918
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-
 

Edward joined St Johns Lodge in Gibraltar when his vessel was on station there, with the contribution record showing that he was initiated with three of his Naval colleagues on the same day - 19th July, 1918. The other three initiates survived the war and were later raised in their respective constitutions: Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Grand Lodge of New Jersey and the Grand Lodge of New York. Edward, though, a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, aged 22 and from Illinois, rose no higher than Entered Apprentice. The record shows he was "Killed in Action October 1918," only a few months after becoming a Freemason.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

Additional Source:

Last Updated: 2020-03-21 06:19:56