The Black Prince's dramatic end
& the story of one young life lost
JUTLAND, 31 MAY 1916

Harold Blow was a young man with a bright future, a merchant navy officer who at the age of 23 was at that time the youngest ever to have gained an extra master’s certificate.

It was a promising career which came to an abrupt and violent end nearly four years later on Wednesday 31 May, 1916, when the already damaged HMS Black Prince, the cruiser in which he was serving as a Royal Naval Reserve officer, was caught alone by German battleships during the Battle of Jutland.

Raked by an accurate and deadly hail of shells she became a helpless wreck before she could fire a shot in reply. Then she blew up with a tremendous explosion, vanishing with all 857 officers and men.

The debate still rages today about who really won of the Battle of Jutland, the biggest clash of two opposing fleets the world has ever seen. No fewer than 250 warships fought off the coast of Denmark n 148 British ships against 99 German.

As the Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet raced towards one another, no-one was experienced in the sort of battle which was about the take place. After all, Jutland was only the second major battle of the steam age. The first, the 1905 Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War, had been fought with older ships at short range in mostly clear weather, without any fear of torpedoes. Everything was different at Jutland.

As an apprentice deck officer in the Mercantile Marine n  as the merchant navy was then known n former Cardiff High School boy Harold served first with the Leyland Line from 1904, sailing mostly from Liverpool. He joined the Cardiff company of W & C T Jones soon after gaining his first mate’s certificate in 1910. Just over two years later he earned his extra master’s certificate which was issued to him at his home port of Cardiff.

This equipped him with the credentials for a step up in his career and in January the following year he joined Cunard, working on the luxury transatlantic service in such famous ships at the Mauretania  and the ill-fated Lusitania, torpedoed with heavy loss of life in 1915.

When war was declared between Britain and Germany on August 4, 1914, Harold was on less glamorous duties with Cunard’s Mediterranean service. Eight days later Britain declared war on Austria, just as he had reached the then Austrian port of Trieste. He and another officer were arrested but were subsequently released, making their way to Malta where Harold soon joined the 14,600-ton cruiser HMS Defence.

When the Defence returned to Devonport in September 1915, Harold was posted to the obsolete battleship HMS Mars which was then being sent to the Mediterranean as a troopship after her gun turrets had been removed to equip other ships. On December 12, 1915 the toothless old warship and other vessels helped evacuate troops from Suvla during the British withdrawal from the Dardanelles. Harold was one of the officers conducting operations as the last soldiers were taken off. A few days later the Mars, crammed with Australian and New Zealand troops, returned to the British base at Mudros on the island of Lemnos.

But the work was not over. A week into the New Year the Mars, working during the night, took off 2,600 troops from Helles, on the southern tip of the Dardanelles.

Harold clearly made an impression on the men who served under him in the Mars. His obituary later in 1916 reported that when he left the old battleship in March he was first officer. The petty officers and men gave him a group photograph, signed by them all and taken specially to mark his departure.

His next posting was to be his last. He joined the Black Prince on 30 March, 1916, when she was one of the four ships of the 1st Cruiser Squadron in the Grand Fleet. Among them was his earlier ship, the Defence

Two months later at Jutland the Defence was sunk in an action which left the Black Prince badly damaged. As the Grand Fleet turned southward the struggling Prince was left behind n and the Germans pounced on her with tragic consequences.

Harold’s parents n Cardiff shipowner Walter Blow and his wife Bessie n desperate for news of their son, received an official telegram of sympathy on 3 June at their home in Cathedral Road. Commanders of the Cunard ships in which he sailed had predicted a ‘brilliant’ career for him. Now it was all over.

After the Battle of Jutland, the bulk of our fleet n despite the loss of 14 ships n was still at 24 hours readiness for sea. The German High Seas Fleet was not ready until the middle of August, and some of the ten ships damaged were not available even then.

The Germans never again put to sea in strength to challenge the supremacy of Britain’s Grand Fleet. Harold Blow and his shipmates had not died in vain.

(c) Richard Taylor 2003

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