HMS Opal (1915) On the 12 January 1918 Opal joined her sister ship HMS Narborough and the light cruiser HMS Boadicea in a night patrol to hunt German auxiliary warships suspected to be laying mines on the Scottish coast. By 5.30pm the weather had deteriorated to such an extreme degree that the destroyers were in danger of swamping and foundering and visibility was near zero. Fearing that her companions might sink, the Boadicea ordered the Opal and Narborough back to Scapa Flow while she continued alone. For the next four hours Opal regularly sent reports indicating her course and intention to return, but at 9.27pm, a garbled message stating have run aground was received, followed by silence. The weather was so atrocious that no vessels could be despatched until the following morning, and it was two days before the Opal was found, battered, broken and empty on the Clett of Crura. The Narborough was found in a similar position nearby. One survivor, William Sissons, was later located on a small islet, and he related that the ships had been sailing a regular slow course making frequent soundings and radio reports, but had suddenly crashed headlong in to the rocks, probably due to a navigation error by the Opal's captain. Both wrecks were abandoned and broken up by the sea over the next few weeks taking the bodies of both crews, bar the single survivor, with them. RN Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class M/115 CUBISS Ernest Stanley 25 Son of Thornton and Maria Cubiss of Keighley, Yorkshire; husband of Florence Ethel Cubiss of 4 St. Paul's Square, Southsea, Hampshire. http://www.gwpda.org/naval/opalcasl.htm http://www.kbrady.com/opal.html The wedding ring of a World War I sailor, which was found on the seabed 89 years after a naval warship ran aground, is going on display in Orkney. It belonged to Stanley Cubiss, who was one of 188 crewmen who died when two British warships ran ashore on South Ronaldsay on 12 January 1918. The ring, engraved "to Stanley from Flo", was found by divers last summer. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7595292.stm The ring is still in perfect condition after 89 years on the seabed
