Girvan historians’ 10-year toil to give French sailors a fitting memorial

Two local historians from South Ayrshire have toiled for 10 years to give 31 fallen French sailors a fitting memorial.

Ritchie and Lorna Conaghan were determined to track down the families of those who died off the coast of Girvan in November 1917 when a German u-boat torpedoed the merchant steamer Longwy.

The couple’s investigations began when they discovered two of the men who washed ashore were buried in the town’s Doune Cemetery.

A memorial in honour of the crew has now been installed in the cemetery and was given a special service on Saturday, attended by representatives of the Scottish and French governments and family members of the sailors.

Mr Conaghan told the BBC he “never for a minute” imagined his work would lead to such a turnout.

“Ten years we’ve been trying to get the story out there,” he said. “We always knew it would happen but we thought at one point it was just going to be Lorna and I standing in front of a stone.

“When we searched where they were from, the Brittany region, we found out there was no memorial to them there and we knew there was not one here – so we thought well, we need to make that right.”

Only three of the crew, including the captain, were washed ashore after the attack during World War One.

Then in 1924, the body of Captain Joseph Huet was exhumed and repatriated to France, with Adolphe Harre and Samuel Brajeul remaining buried in Girvan.

Once the Conaghans realised Harre and Brajeul were not from the local area, they began trawling through newspaper cuttings, burial records and internet forums to try and find out more about their families.

Eventually they managed to make contacts in Brittany, where many of the sailors came from, which resulted in thousands being raised for the French granite memorial.

It includes all 31 names and occupations of those on board the Longwy.

“For us they were the only three that were found,” said Mr Conaghan. “The rest of the guys are still on active service out at sea.”

On Saturday family members of the sailors were able to mark their passing while standing next to government representatives and members of the French navy.

Eric Marais is the great-great-grandson of Captain Huet and grew up learning his story.

“It’s a very, very large part of my life,” he said. “My grandmother used to talk about Captain Huet whenever I met her. It was like an obsession for my father.

“I never met him, but I know him very well.”

Mr Marais said it was incredible to have so many people turn out to pay their respects to his relative.

He said: “It’s more than a century after the tragic wreck of the boat.

“I’m very proud and I’m very honoured to be here and to see all those people. I feel at home here thanks to Scotland.”

First Minister John Swinney said Scotland and France had been united by the tragedy – but now, also “by deep remembrance”.

He said: “The local community has really commemorated that story and it’s become part of the narrative of this community.

“Ritchie and Lorna Connaghan have worked so hard to make sure there could be a fitting and appropriate memorial to the sailors here in the cemetery.

“It has brought together people from France and from Scotland in affectionate remembrance to mark the sacrifices that have been made so we can enjoy our freedom today.”