The next five pictures are provided as updates to this Honor Page by John’s
Grandson.

The first photo is of my grandfather(on the left) when
he was in the U.S. Navy during WWI.

The Second one is a photo and his friend on the deck
of the W.P. Frye, date unknown.

The third photo is a plaque dedicated by the Mystic
Steamship Company for those lost during the sinking.

The fourth photo is of Ens.Carl S. Dalby Jr., who
continued to man the radio room sending out an s.o.s.
as the ship went down. He was lost as well.

The fifth is of the S.S. William P. Frye, which
judging by the photo may be tied up at the New England
Shipbuilding yard in So. Portland, Me. where it was
built, but I’m not sure.

I also wanted to mention one nugget of information
which might change the After Action Report (AAR) and
any account on it’s sinking, which was provided to me
by an eyewitness. He was one of only two Naval Armed
Guard survivors, the other five were Filipina
stewards. Together they swam to a barge that had
broken free and which stayed afloat until they were
picked up several days later by the HMS Shikuri.

He stated that the report regarding a lifeboat having
gotten off with other survivors was untrue. He said
they could not lower any of the boats due to the fact
that in the interest of keeping the ropes up out of
the way, the ropes had been knotted and thrown up over
the top of the davits. After being torpedoed, and as
the ship began to sink, they couldn’t untie the knots
to lower any of the boats. Secondly, he said that
they didn’t really have time. He said that the Wm. P.
Frye went down so fast that he barely had time to get
his leg over the rail and jump free.

He got let off in Northern Ireland after having been
picked up by the HMS Shikuri, as I mentioned above.
He was then transported back to New York and never
learned the fate of the rest of the crew, nor of the
other Naval Armed Guard surivor who he said was a guy
named “Blackie” Bauer. He thought he lived in the
Cincinnati, Ohio/Kentucky area.

As an aside, the HMS Shikuri was the last ship to
leave the beaches of Dunkirk with a load of survivors.
Thanks,
Alan Poore, grandson of John Poore, 2nd Ass’t
Engineer, S. S. William P. Frye