Wreck of boat believed to be sunk in WWI with Inch man among 500 dead is found

A boat that was sunk by a German U-boat torpedo in October 1914 in which a Donegal man was among 500 who perished might have been found.

A wreck believed to be HMS Hawke was discovered by a team of divers about 70 miles east of Fraserburgh off the Aberdeenshire coast earlier this week in "remarkable" condition.

Hugh McGinley was one of those who perished onboard, Stoker 1st Class, SS /105931—Son of John and Mary Ann McGinley (nee Gallagher), Castlequarter, Inch Island. Royal Navy, HMS Hawke. He was 27. He is remembered at the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent.

It is hoped that the wreckage will be formally identified by the Royal Navy in the coming weeks. The wreckage was found by the Lost in Waters Deep group - which searches for shipwrecks to remember wartime losses in Scottish waters.

In September 1911 the Hawke collided with the ocean liner RMS Olympic; the damage smashed the Hawke's bow and damaged the stern of the Olympic. In October 1914 she was sunk by a German submarine. The ship caught fire and, following an explosion, sank in less than eight minutes with just 70 sailors surviving some 110 years ago.