Ship's Mascot, Kaiser Bill



Kaiser Bill was rescued from the sea after Falmouth sank a German trawler on 23rd August 1914 & became a firm favourite of all on board.

Thomas Victor Rayson diary: Captured two German trawlers. Heide, other unknown took crews prisoners 28 men. Sunk her taking half a day as they were made of wood. They were first charged with gun cotton & blown up fired by our 6" guns shells weighing 100 lbs each & then had to ram her. After this excitement was caused by seeing a dog clinging to a portion of the wreckage. We lowered a boat & rescued him naming him Kaiser Bill. He proved to be a pup with 6 different breeds & is great friends with the ships company who regard him as a mascot. (In letter home he said about 6 months old.)

The second photo is much the same but from a press report by the look of it.


 * 1) HMS Falmouth Crew List (Photographs)
 * 2) HMS Falmouth Crew List (updated in Real-time)