The West Equatorial Africa Diocesan Magazine for July 1917 published an article titled CMS Loss through Submarines. It reported that among the passengers on a steamer from West Africa recently torpedoed were the Reverend E. J. Evans and Mr. H. L. Busby, two CMS missionaries returning to England from Lagos on their first furloughs. Reverend Evans was rescued and reached England safely, but Mr. Busby was never heard from again and was presumed drowned. This incident marked the third loss sustained by the CMS as a result of enemy submarine operations (CMS Archive ACO F9).
Against this backdrop, Dennis and his wife set sail for England later that month aboard the Elder Dempster steamship Karina, likely with considerable foreboding. On 1 August, the vessel was torpedoed off the south coast of Ireland and subsequently sank. Mattie was rescued, but Dennis drowned. Although he was a strong swimmer, it was suggested that he may have been injured, as he was the only passenger lost while all members of the crew perished.
A story later circulated that Dennis’s manuscript of the Ibo Bible floated ashore and was recovered, allowing it to be printed posthumously. While compelling, this account was incorrect, as the Union Bible had already been published four years earlier. The origin of the story was traced to an article by the Reverend Charles McAlpine in Christian Endeavour, reprinted in the American Bible Society Record in July 1922. To correct the record, Kilgour of the British and Foreign Bible Society wrote to Dr. L. B. Chamberlain of the American Bible Society on 11 August 1922, and this clarification was published in the American Bible Society Record in August 1923.
The True Account of His Death
What survived the shipwreck was part of an Igbo grammar and a dictionary, later found washed ashore on the Welsh coast. The most detailed account of the tragedy was written by Mattie herself on 8 February 1939, in a letter to Fanny responding to questions she had asked (CMS Archive Ass F9).
During the voyage home, Dennis was working on translations of Children’s Special Service Mission literature. He completed about a dozen leaflets, with his final translated words recorded as: “ka m’gwa gi Chineke-ayi bu Chineke Nke huru ayi n’anya” (“I will tell you, Our God is a God of love”). Anticipating the possibility of the ship being torpedoed, Dennis was determined that these translations should not be lost. After two torpedoes narrowly missed the ship, final preparations were made.
Mattie assisted by strapping the manuscripts to Dennis’s chest with cotton straps beneath his waistcoat. However, when he struck the water, the lifebelt came off because the straps were not secured. Mattie was about to fasten them when she was picked up and thrown into a lifeboat that was being lowered into the sea.
Mattie later wrote, “This manuscript I have now. It is too battered to be made any use of.” Several days after reaching Hastings, the manuscript was sent to her by Elder Dempster through the CMS. When she made inquiries, Elder Dempster confirmed that it had been recovered from a lifeboat.
Regarding the manuscripts washed ashore, Dennis had, over the six or seven years spent translating the Bible into Igbo, identified a large number of new Igbo words. Fearing these would be lost, he began arranging them alphabetically with the intention of preparing them for printing as a dictionary upon reaching England. The manuscript was packed in a veneesta case and placed aboard the ship.
When the ship was torpedoed outside Queenstown, South Ireland, all their belongings were lost. However, the case containing the manuscript was separated during the explosion, floated up the Irish Sea, and was eventually washed ashore on the coast of Wales. There, a fisherman found the broken case with the manuscript scattered along the beach. He gathered the papers, dried them in the sun, and attempted to identify the owner.
Dennis had packed old letters into the corners of the case, one of which still bore a legible address. The fisherman wrote to the woman at that address, explaining the discovery and noting that the name Dennis was printed on the outside of the case. She shared this information with Mr. Everett (late CMS Exhibitions), a mutual acquaintance, who then wrote to Mattie. The recovered manuscript was subsequently sent to the CMS.