RMS MEDINA sunk 1917
In 1987 Consortium Recovery salvaged eighty cases of possessions belonging to Lord Carmichael, Governor of Bengal, lost when the Royal Yacht S.M.S. Medina was torpedoed by a German U-boat of Devon on 28th April, 1917.
Polititian and Art Collector
Thomas David Gibson Carmichael came from an ancient landowning family in southern Scotland. His ancestors were Earls of Hyndford, a title which became extinct in 1817. Another ancestor, Sir James Carmichael, Lord High Treasurer, was a loyal supporter of Charles I and present at his execution; Charles is said to have handed him his cap, which still survives, as a keepsake.
Thomas David inherited a baronetcy from his father, Sir William Carmichael, in 1891. In 1886 he married Mary, daughter of Albert Nugent, who shared his lifelong interest in art. They lived first at Chiefswood, the delightful cottage near Melrose built by Sir Walter Scott for his daughter and the writer Lockhart, before moving to the imposing eighteenth century family house, Castlecraig. Financial difficulties forced Sir Thomas Carmichael to sell Castlecraig in 1905, later he built a smaller house at Skirling.
As family tradition dictated, after Cambridge, Thomas Carmichael entered public life. He was Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Scotland in 1886 and in 1895 won Gladstone?s old Liberal seat in Midlothian. From 1908-11 he was Governor of Victoria, Australia and in 1911 went to India as Governor of Madras, taking over the Governorship of the newly-constituted Province of Bengal from 1912 to 1917.
Sir Thomas (later Lord) Carmichael was also a remarkable art collector. He had gone to Italy in 1885 as a young man with George Curzon (the furniture Viceroy of India). From then on he collected works of art voraciously, with the eclecticism that characterised many late nineteenth century connoisseurs. Carmichael?s interests ranged over early Renaissance painting, medieval works of art, rare books, antiquities and, during his time in India, Asian art.
The Voyage Home
In Spring 1917 that Carmichaels prepared to leave India as the new Governor arrived to take up his duties. Lady Carmichael thought the exchange absurdly dangerous while English ships were constantly being attacked by German gunboats, but both she and her husband looked forward to going home. On 25th January 1917 she wrote to a friend, Miss Thomson:
?Our ship comes from Australia ? we are not supposed to mention the name but it begins with M and ends with A. Everyone seems to be going (or trying to go) by the same boat ? including Lord Montagu ? you know I look upon him as a sort of Jonah and I believe he can never be persuaded to stop discussing the most gruesome details of his experiences?
The Medina, unlike many commercial vessels, had not been commandeered by the Admiralty and was still doing the mail run to Australia. When the Carmichaels (and Lord Montagu) embarked at Bombay she was carrying a valuable cargo of tin and Australian meat, much needed in blockaded Britain.
The Medina was torpedoed in the late afternoon of 28th April 1917 four miles ENE of Start Point, Devon. Five crew members were killed by the explosion; the rest took to lifeboats in the fortunately calm waters as the Medina sank, taking half a decade of Lord Carmichaels life with her. He returned to a busy life in Britain ? visiting his new house at Skirling, taking up City directorships, becoming active in the Burlington Fine Arts Club, museums and masonic affairs ? yet his wife said that he felt the loss of his Indian possessions to the end of his days?.