Captain William Cain

Title: Captain

Epithet: Captain of the paddle steamer Mona's Queen II

Record type: First World War Biographies

Biography: Captain William Cain was born in Douglas in 1862 and joined the Steam Packet Company as an ordinary seaman. He worked his way up to Second Mate and Mate until 1905 when he was promoted to Master. This was at the height of the Isle of Man’s tourist boom, and summer seasons would have been very busy with ships crossing regularly to the Lancashire ports.

In 1917, during the First World War, he was master of the paddle steamer Mona’s Queen II, which was in service as a troop ship crossing the English Channel. It is important to note that she had been chartered by the Admiralty, rather than requisitioned, so her Manx crew remained on board. In one famous incident a German U-boat surfaced directly in front of the Mona’s Queen. Cain made the decision to ram her, and the port paddle wheel collided with the U-boat’s conning tower. Both vessels were damaged, the Mona’s Queen managed to limp on to Le Havre to discharge her troops, but the U-boat was believed sunk.

On the night of 16 February 1917 the Mona's Queen left Southampton at 23:50 hours with a full complement of troops embarked. At a position approximately 12 nautical miles from Le Havre, a German U-boat was observed approximately 500 yards ahead of the Mona's Queen. Captain Cain continued ahead at full speed until when within 30 yards the U-boat fired a torpedo which narrowly missed the vessel; a few seconds later the U-boat was struck by the port paddle wheel of the Mona's Queen.[1][2][3][4] Although it was widely regarded that SM UC-26 was sunk by the ramming, it subsequently transpired that although damaged by the action the U-boat was still able to remain on station and subsequently continued its mine laying sortie, resulting in the sinking of the French naval trawler Noella the following day. During the action the Mona's Queen had sustained significant damage, resulting in her starboard paddle box being almost submerged. With only one paddle wheel working, Capt. Cain exhibited some fine seamanship in being able to bring the vessel slowly into port. He subsequently took the Mona's Queen back to Southampton under her own steam, the journey taking 18 hours, instead of the usual 8 hours. The crew of the Mona's Queen received £1,000 from the Admiralty, in recognition of the action and in addition the Freemasons of the Isle of Man presented Capt. Cain with a suitably inscribed rose bowl to commemorate the action. (Information kindly supplied by Paul Quine, May 2023).

After the war, Cain became Commodore of the Steam Packet fleet, until his death in post in August 1932. (Image ref: PG/8655/590).

Nationality: Manx

Gender: Male

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