Alfred worked for a time in Liverpool on leaving school and eventually qualified as a Radio Officer in the Merchant Navy.

At 20:20 hrs on 18^th December 1940 the unescorted SS Napier Star was hit amidships by one of two torpedoes fired by U-100, 321 miles from Rockall. The ship sank by the stern after being hit by a coup de grâce at 20:49 hrs. The master, fifty-eight crew members and twelve passengers were lost. Nine crew members, one gunner and four passengers were picked up by the Vaalaren and landed at Liverpool on 23^rd December.

Alfred was on his second voyage when his ship was lost and he was last seen alive in the ship's lifeboat in the North Atlantic on Wednesday 18^th December 1940: he was 20 years old

Son of Alfred Rowland & Gertrude Rowland of West Kirby, Cheshire.

A downloadable copy of this story is available here.

See also the Commonwealth War Graves Commission permanent digital memorial, ‘Evermore: Stories of the fallen’ relating to:- Second Radio Officer Alfred ROWLAND