The
memorial is off to the side in Liverpool Street Station, made from marble
with a circular bronze portrait of Charles Fryatt, the artists was H.
T. H. van Golberdinge. Charles Algernon Fryatt (1872-1916), was the
44 year old Master of the unarmed Great Eastern Railway Steamer merchant
ship, SS Brussels and a regular on the Rotterdam/British East Coast
route since the start of the war and this was the cause of much annoyance
to the Germans. Fryatt had used the Brussels to help evacuate many Allied
troops from France during the First World War. In March 1915 they made
two determined efforts to sink the Brussels. On the 3rd March 1915 Capt.
Fryatt successfully dodged an attack on his ship by a U-Boat and sailed
home to a heroes reception and was presented with a gold watch by the
ship's owners.
On
the 28th March 1915 a further attempt was made to sink his ship by a
U-Boat. Capt. Fryatt saw it surface and as it was trying to line up
a torpedo shot on the ship, he turned the helm over and bore down on
the U-Boat which was forced to crash dive in order to avoid him. It
appears that the U-Boat passed from starboard to port under the ship
as it surfaced close enough to the ship so that, as Capt. Fryatt reported
"you could have easily hung your hat on the periscope as she lay
along side us". The U-Boat then disappeared never to be seen again.
Capt. Fryatt was awarded another gold watch, this time by the Admiralty.
Captain Fryatt continued his voyages for another fifteen months until
on the 23rd June, 1916, he was trapped by a flotilla of German torpedo
boats and taken to Zeebrugge. For his audacity in rescuing Allied troops
and for his breach of military etiquette, Fryatt was summarily shot
by his captors. Captain Fryatt was one of the very few British casualties
to be repatriated for burial and he was also one of the even smaller
group to be repatriated post-war. He was buried at Dovercourt, Essex
on 9th July 1919 having been executed at Bruges on 27th July 1916.
See
also Liverpool Street Station memorial