Research has revealed several Brinston men who lost their lives at sea, all but one during war. However, since fishing was the most common occupation of the Newfoundlanders who make up the bulk of my study, there may also have been deaths at sea due to the hazards of their work.
Leslie Brinston is remembered on the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve monument in St. John's. Douglas Brinston is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial in Hampshire, England.
Ocean Ranger
The most recent death was that of Wade Brinston, one of 84 who died 15 February 1982 when the oil drilling platform Ocean Ranger went down in a storm in the Hibernia Oil Field approximately 315 kilometres (196 mi) east-southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland.[i] Wade was 26 and the son of Aubrey Brinston of Arnold’s Cove who was in the Merchant Navy in WWII. Wade is remembered on a family monument in the Interfaith New Cemetery in Arnold’s Cove and on the Ocean Ranger Memorial in the Confederation Building grounds, St. John’s.
WWII
Three Brinston men died at sea in WWII. Able Seaman Henry Gordon Brinston, born 1914 in Lark Harbour, Newfoundland, died 2 Dec 1940 when the armed merchant cruiser HMS Forfar was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine about 500 nautical miles west of Ireland with a loss of 172 lives.[ii] Henry was the son of Walter Brinston and Susannah Childs and is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent, England.
Able Seaman Douglas Vernon Brinston died 24 August 1940 when the HMS Penzance was torpedoed 700 miles SW of Iceland.[iii] Douglas was born in St. John’s in 1921 to Albert Brinston and his English wife Lena Eccles. Douglas is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial in Hampshire, England.
The third WWII Brinston death at sea was that of Hamilton George Wentworth Brinston, born 1898 in Queensland, Australia to George Brinston and Lillie Russell. Hamilton died 1 Jul 1942 when the unmarked Japanese ship Montevideo Maru, carrying 1051 Australian soldiers and civilian Prisoners of War was torpedoed by an American submarine, approximately 100 km west of Cape Luzon, The Philippines. [iv] Hamilton had been a civilian employee in Rabaul in the Treasury Department for the Australian Commonwealth Government which administered Papua New Guinea at the time. He had enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces in WWI[v] and may have been part of the poorly armed Australian Lark Force in Rabaul at the time of his capture.[vi]
As there were no survivors among the Montevideo Maru prisoners and the tragedy did not become known in Australia until the war ended, the exact number who died is not certain. Memorials have been erected in Melbourne and Ballarat, Victoria.
WWI
Seaman Leslie Brinston of the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve died 25 January, 1917 at the age of 32 in the sinking of the armed merchant cruiser Laurentic that struck two mines in the north of Ireland. He is commemorated on the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Monument in France and the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve monument in St. John's. Leslie was the son of Robert William and Amelia Brinston and husband of Susie Brinston, of North Harbour, Placentia Bay.
[i] The Loss of the Ocean Ranger, 15 February 1982. https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/economy/ocean-ranger.php
[ii] uboat.net. HMS Forfar. https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3323.html
[iii] uboat.net. HMS Penzance. https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3882.html
[iv] Parliament of Australia. The sinking of the Montevideo Maru. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/1011/MontevideoMaru
[v] "CENTRAL QUEENSLAND VOLUNTEERS." Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954) 3 Jun 1918: 6. Web. 21 Dec 2014 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article53844531
[vi] Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954) Sat 8 Dec 1945, accessed on Trove, https://trove.nla.gov.au/