The Mary Rose left Norway on 16th October 1917, one of two British destroyers escorting 12 unarmed steamers laden with coal – 5 Norwegian, 1 Danish & 3 Swedish. Next morning when they were about 70 miles off Lerwick (Shetland Isles). they spotted two British warships coming towards them and signalled for recognition. They did not receive a reply because the ships were actually German Cruisers, modified to have a British “outline”. Frederick Honeysett was a stoker in the engine room. 
The German ships closed to 2,700m (3,000 yds)and then opened fire, firstly on the other destroyer, HMS Stongbow, which was disabled. They then turned their attention to the Mary Rose, hitting the engine room immediately so the ship sat like a log in the water . All of the guns, except one, were disabled. Two of the crew, French and Bailey, continued to fire until the order was given to scuttle the ship and abandon it.
Few Survived
Only two officers and eight enlisted men survived so about 70 of the crew of the Mary Rose died,including Fred Honeysett. The crew of the Strongbow were lost and nine of the defenceless merchant ships were also sunk, killing around 250 men in total.
The Navy was criticised not only about the loss but also because the German ships got away. The response was that the only radios were on the two escorts and these were destroyed before any message was sent. A courtmartial was announced, a method of determining what happened. The court acquitted all the survivors but further details were not published in case they helped the enemy.
We’re not done yet!
Although the first reports in the newspapers were full of shock, distress and criticism of the Navy, later they were given an “official version” which described“plucky” Mary Rose taking on the German warships singlehanded, fighting to the last gun whilst declaiming cheerily “we’re not done yet”.
Who was Frederick Honeysett?
Frederick John Honeysett joined the Royal Navy on 11 August 1910, enlisting for 12 years,and had worked his way up from a Stoker, 2nd class to Acting Petty Officer.
He was born on 06 Feb 1892 to John Frederick & Sarah Ann (nee West) in Yalding, near Maidstone. His father John, was a foreman on the roads. He had two siblings; Isa Dorothy born in 1894 and Russell George, born in 1897 in Mereworth, Kent.
Frederick married Alice Maude Crowhurst in late 1914. She received his widow’s pension but didn’t claim for any children.
Frederick is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial, for those lost at sea. He is also on the World War I memorial at St Lawrence’s, Mereworth, Kent. The 100th year anniversary of the loss of the Mary Rose was commemorated in 2017, and in a Facebook group, the HMS Mary Rose & HMS Strongbow Memorial Group.
Do you have them in your family tree?
I have traced Frederick’s ancestors back to John Honeysett & Sarah Bailey (married 1773) in the Headcorn area of Kent.
Russell Honeysett
Russell is also listed on the memorial in Mereworth.
He had joined the Royal West Kent Regiment, but then was transferred to the South Irish Horse, 7th Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment. Originally a mounted regiment, the South Irish Horse were retrained as Infantry in September 1917.
On 21 March 1918, the Germans launched the “Kaiserschlacht” (Kaiser’s Battle) a decisive attack planned to destroy the British Army across a wide area of the Somme. The tactics were to “punch a hole and things would develop”. The whole area had been devastated in previous battles and the British lines were in a poor state of repair and easily overrun.
The official regimental history shows that 2 companies of the 7th Battalion were posted in forward zones on the Somme. “They suffered terribly, not a man succeeded in escaping”. Russell died on 23 March 1918, aged 20.
No grave has been found for him but his memorial is at Pozieres, panel 30/31. Pozieres commemorates 14,657 British and South African soldiers who died between March and August 1918.
Russell’s names were reversed in his military records, where he is George R Honeysett. As a member of an Irish Regiment, he is also recorded in the Irish records.
A common story of the times, but John & Ann lost their two sons within 5 months of each other and both disappeared without trace.
Is this your family?
The surviving child, Isa Dorothy, married Frederick D Burbridge in Q4 1916. They appear in the 1939 register living in Gillingham,Kent.
Sources
www.gro.gov.uk
www.gravestonephotos.com
www.ancestry.co.uk
www.findmypast.co.uk
www.longlongtrail.co.uk