Arthur Bland was born on 4 August 1916. He was married and lived at 2, back of 47 Kent Street, Grimsby.
Before the war he was a wireless operator on the Grimsby trawlers; when war broke out he went back out as an able seaman ‘on the big boats’.
He was 23 when SS Deptford was sunk by enemy action, by reason of a torpedo attack.
He was married, and his father was serving as a skipper in the Navy.
“Aitken, Kulinick and I were in our bunks when the explosion occurred. We hadn’t time to clear out as the ship sank in about three minutes. Gough and I were sucked under as the ship went down.” (Lancashire Evening Post, 14 December 1939)