Second World War memorial to Petty Officer Jubilee
Jack Tweed, RN (C/JX153024), who died on HMS Mashona on 28th May
1941, aged 44 and was the son of Benjamin and Eleanore Tweed and the
husband of Alice Tweed of Shirley, Southampton.
HMS Mashona was a Tribal-class destroyer In September 1939 she was
serving with the sixth Destroyer Flotilla at Scapa Flow. She was crewed
from Chatham naval base with a mix of experienced seaman such as veteran
sailor 38 year-old Petty Officer Jubilee Jack Tweed and new hands like
17 year-old Boy Seamen Sidney Dobing who would join the ship in December
straight from training at one of the Royal Navy’s shore bases HMS
Wildfire. She took part in operations resulting in the sinking of the
Bismarck on 27 May 1941. The ship came under heavy air attack from the
Luftwaffe while returning to port the following day and was bombed and
sunk off the coast of Galway with the loss of 48 men. Michael O Grady recovered the body of PO Tweed whilst on passage in
his sailing boat from Clare Island to Roonagh Point on the mainland of
County Mayo. He took the body back to Clare Island for burial. The
Island priest refused to have it interred within consecrated ground and
it was that it was interred outside the cemetery wall. The situation was
redressed in 2002 by Father Ned Crosby and the island people. The
cemetery wall was diverted to incorporate his grave and he now rests
within the cemetery proper. Cistercian church on Clare Island, County Mayo, Ireland.
