2nd Master, Blue Funnel Line (Merchant Service)
Born: May 5th 1918
Died: October 27th 1942
Age at Death: 24
Killed in the Atlantic, October 27th 1942
Claud Hearn was born on 5 May 1918 in Wonersh, Surrey, to Frances (née Trotter), an army nurse, and Hugh Hearn, a lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Artillery.
On the outbreak of the Second World War Hearn joined the Merchant Navy. Serving with the Blue Funnel Line, he worked his way up the ranks to become a third officer. The Merchant Navy has historically been regarded as the less glamorous part of the naval effort during wartime, but was crucial to the survival of Britain, an island nation that has always required essential supplies from across the seas.
Hearn died on or about 27 October 1942 when his ship, the Stentor, homeward bound for Liverpool, was torpedoed off the coast of Freetown, Sierra Leone, by the German submarine U-509. He is commemorated at the Tower Hill Memorial in London, which remembers those lost at sea while serving in the Merchant Navy or in fishing fleets.
To mark Remembrance in 2023, two members of Brighton College staff visited the Tower Hill Memorial, and found Claud’s name.