A bit of local history

[MART]

Whilst wandering around San Nicola Arcella with my brother and his wife last July we happened to pass the local cemetery.

A lady who was tending the area beckoned us across and directed us to a grave in the cemetery.
It was a single commonwealth war grave of a seaman - the details are on the following links :

CWGC :: Cemetery Details
CWGC :: Casualty Details

He was a crew member of a vessel called the Umballa sank off Dino island on the evening of 25.12.1917 by a German submarine.

The ships bell is kept in the santuary of Madonna della Grotto on the hillside above Praia a Mare.

After a bit of research I found that a book had been written about this episode in 1917 it is called La Notte Dell'Umballa (Last Night of Umballa) by Alberto Cunto [ 1996 ].

The story, written in Italian, of the Umballa which was torpedoed in December 1917 off the Italian coast and then came to form a remarkable relationship with the people of the village, Praia A Mare, where the wreck lay. It was written to mark the 80th anniversay of her sinking and winner of the local prix G Guida, the book contains pictures and facsimiles of official Italian documents.

I thought it was a bit unusual to find the grave of a single British seaman in such a remote place.

Martin

[Melanie]

That is facinating!! I love to hear stories like that.

[Di]

Thanks Mart, I like looking into places with a great story like this. We are getting excited about all the many places we haven't seen yet!

[Dermot Brophy]

Hello, Mart.

That was well worth sharing with us. Thanks.

I too was struck by the lady's gesture in bringing it to your attention. The date is also poignant - no football game in no-man's-land to celebrated Christmas Day for that poor chap and his shipmates.

War is so obscene, it makes me angry!

Dermot