Soldier Record

George Edwin Rowberry was a Petty Officer (221187) on HMS Pegasus, which was sunk on 20 September 1914.

George Edwin Rowberry was a Petty Officer (221187) on HMS Pegasus, which was sunk on 20 September 1914. In the early morning of that day, HMS Pegasus was anchored in Zanzibar harbour, now part of Tanzania, having left her battle group, which included HMS Hyacinth and HMS Astraea, to attend to boiler and engine problems. The German cruiser SMS Konigsberg launched a surprise attack on the ship. Out-ranged and out-gunned, Pegasus was incapacitated within eight minutes and the captain, Commander Ingles, struck the colours to avoid further bloodshed. The ship sank later that day with the loss of 38 killed and 55 wounded. The hospital ship Gascon and Scottish ship Clan Macrae came to the aid of the survivors. The Pioneer, PegasusÂ’s sister ship, later assisted in the blockade of the Rufiji River where the Konigsberg had taken refuge. Six of the eight guns were salvaged and two named Peggy III & Peggy IV were used in the land campaign until 1916, of the other four, two remained in Zanzibar, one was mounted on board the lake steamer Winifred and the last mounted at Mombasa, Kenya, where it survives to this day outside Fort Jesus museum. Of the British sailors that died in the battle 24 were laid to rest in a mass grave in part of the naval cemetery on Grave Island, Zanzibar; the remaining 14 were buried in the town cemetery, but in 1971 were moved to Dar es Salaam War Cemetery, Tanzania.