A CAMPAIGN, backed by the Harwich and Manningtree Standard, has been launched to honour a legendary Harwich seafarer in time for the centenary of his execution.
Harwich Town Council wants Captain Charles Fryatt, whose passenger ship, the SS Brussels, helped to sink a German U-boat during the First World War in 1915, to be given a posthumous honour by the British Government.
When the German boat surfaced to torpedo his ship, Capt Fryatt ordered full steam ahead and proceeded to try to ram the enemy, which was forced to crash dive.
Capt Fryatt was captured by the Germans a year later on another crossing and was executed on July 27, 1916, in Bruges.
At a meeting on Wednesday, Harwich town councillors unanimously agreed to have the town’s archivists draw up a document on Capt Fryatt’s story and then forward it to MP Bernard Jenkin to pursue it through the appropriate Government channels.
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