During the war, millions of servicemen and women were transported by sea, with a remarkably good safety record. However, transport ships were lost either to mines or submarines. Nine locals perished, the worst occasion being the sinking by torpedo of HMT Aragon off Alexandria on 30th December 1917. Thomas Holmes, a K Shoes worker of Kendal, Harry Jennings of Stricklandgate and John Shepherd of Arnside were among the dead.

HMT Royal Edward was carrying amongst others, 1st Border Regiment reinforcements to the Dardanelles when she was sunk on the 13th August 1915, by a torpedo fired from U 14. Among the 59 men of 1st Border who went to the bottom of the Aegean Sea were Reginald Hickman, a gardener for Mrs Ainsworth at Wray Castle and Joseph Pepper, age 19 of The Bield, Little Langdale.

James Hawes of Strawberry Bank Skelsmergh and John H Bowness of Kendal went down when HMT Arcadian which was also carrying reinforcements to the Middle East was sunk 15th April 1917. George Harris of Oakthwaite Road Windermere died when his transport ship Citta Di Palermo was mined and sunk off Brindisi, Italy, and on 4 May 1917 Captain Richard Nelson, a Kendalian serving with the R A S C went down with HMT Transylvania. She was sailing from Marseilles to Alexandria, escorted by two destroyers from the Japanese navy. With 3000 men on board, she was torpedoed and sunk off Genoa by German Submarine U 63, with the loss of 400 lives.

Only two men have marked graves. John Dawson of HMS Hampshire is buried at Lyness on the island of Orkney and Robert Shorrock, a Royal Marine from Kendal, who was lost at sea when HMS Cleopatra struck a mine whilst on patrol 20 miles off the Belgian coast. His grave is at Flushing on the island of Walcheren in Holland. The others are commemorated on various memorials, the Royal Navy at their manning ports in England and the others mostly on memorials nearest to their final resting place.

All the graves and memorials from both World Wars are in the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It is only because of their superb record keeping, the building of and the maintenance of all these sites that we are in the uniquely fortunate position of not only being able to trace those who died, but have some tangible memorial to visit.