11 11 2014

There are two cemeteries in Dervaig both on the road to Tobermory, the old and new. The old one is sat on lumpy ground, a pleasant area that looks over the village and loch. I planned to take a shot of the village but instead this seemed more relevant - with one stone dated the 12 November 1940 - the dates above are about two months earlier. Only one of the stones has a name, William Davies aged 40 an Able Seaman in the Merchant Navy from the ship SS Bilbury his date of death 02/09/1940

I found the following on the internet and it's a possibility:
Considering the span of these dates over which the bodies were recovered I wonder if these were shipmates of Able Seaman Davies of S.S. Bibury, or crew members of S.S. Thornlea. Both vessels were travelling in the same convoy OB205 which dispersed on 30th August 1940. The two vessels remained together and were torpedoed by U46 on 2nd September 1940 off the West coast of Ireland55.41N 14.30W. The S.S. Thornlea however only lost three crewmen, the rest being rescued by the Canadian Destroyer H.M.C.S. Skeena, and the Norwegian S.S. Hild.
There are more unidentified Merchant Seamen who were recovered over the same period of time in 1940 buried in the graveyard at Iona.