HMS Hampshire
Off Marwick Head, Orkney
HMS Hampshire was carrying Lord Kitchener, the War Secretary, on a secret mission to Russia when she struck a mine laid by a U-boat off Orkney in a gale. 737 men died, including Kitchener, and only 12 survived.
Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.
- When
- 5 June 1916
- Where
- 59.1000, -3.3700
- Group
- Shipwrecks
Visiting
An RSPB clifftop walk leads to the Kitchener Memorial and a memorial wall.

Blood and Gold
Sixteen true stories of mutiny, mercy, treasure and the gallows from the Golden Age of Piracy: Henry Every, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, Edward England, Howell Davis, Christopher Moody, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Calico Jack, Edward Low, Captain William Kidd and Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy. Where the record is uncertain, the book says so.
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- Stones of StennessAncient monument · Mainland, Orkney · 9 miles away
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