HACK, Frank Rupert
Service Number: | PM2541 |
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Enlisted: | 23 October 1939 |
Last Rank: | Seaman |
Last Unit: | HMAS Goorangai |
Born: | Coburg, Victoria, Australia, 1 October 1921 |
Home Town: | Coburg, Moreland, Victoria |
Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
Died: | Lost at sea after Ship collision , Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia, 20 November 1940, aged 19 years |
Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Plymouth Naval Memorial, Plymouth, Devon, England, United Kingdom |
Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Plymouth Naval Memorial to the Missing / Lost at Sea, Queenscliff HMAS Goorangai Memorial |
World War 2 Service
3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Royal Australian Navy, Ordinary Seaman, PM2541, HMAS Goorangai | |
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23 Oct 1939: | Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Seaman, PM2541 | |
20 Nov 1940: | Discharged Royal Australian Navy, Seaman, PM2541, HMAS Goorangai |
Help us honour Frank Rupert Hack's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Rupert Vernon Hack and Rhoda M. Hack, of Coburg, Victoria, Australia.
It was his first and last day at sea for another member of the crew, seaman Francis R. Hack, of South Yarra. It had been Hack’s dream all his life of 17 years to go to sea, but he had got no further than the sea cadets. His chance came when he was given the berth of a seaman who suffered violently from sea-sickness. He rushed home, said good-bye to his family, and boarded the Goorangai. A few hours later his parents were reading a telegram from the Navy Department. Hack who was the youngest member of the crew, had been a Sea Scout and Sea Cadet before entering the naval reserve.
Youngest of the Goorangai's crew, 17-year-old Francis B. Hack lost his life his first day at sea. A regular members of the mine sweeper's crew suffered violently from seasickness on previous cruises, so he was ordered a spell on shore duty. Hack took his place. Told to prepare for service on the minesweeper, the young member of the R.A.N. Reserve rushed home to tell his family in Clara street, South Yarra, the news. Not many bours later the family re ceived a telegram from the Navy Department informing them H.M.A.S. Goorangai had foundered after a collision with another ship, and that Ordinary-Seaman Hack was among those who had perished.
Horace, his only brother, told today how Frank had planned to go to sea while still at school.
'Nearly every afternoon after school be used to cycle down to Port Melbourne to watch the ships and talk to the sailors,' said Horace. 'As soon as be was old enough he joined the sea cadets and put in all his spare time at the district naval training depot at Port Melbourne.'