A relative of a sailor who was killed in an accident on board a US army vessel in St George’s Harbour more than 100 years ago paid an emotional tribute yesterday.

Bill Crealy was on a cruise ship visit that took in Bermuda, and his holiday climaxed at the Olde Towne when he visited the grave of Thomas Alfred Crealy, his late grandfather’s brother, who was shot dead on New Year’s Day in 1918 on board the US Army tug Fred E Richards.

The sailor was shot as the vessel was berthed in St George’s Harbour on her way to serve in the First World War.

Mr Crealy said his plans to visit the island started several months ago when he did some research on his great-uncle who was about 33 years of age at the time of his death.

He said: “Our family in Australia knew that Thomas had been buried in Bermuda, but we didn’t know many of the details because he was still young when he had left.

“My cousin and I have been doing a bit of family history and I thought when we arrive here, we should search for Thomas’s grave.”

He said he found out about the Guild of Compassion and St Peter’s Church, and two months ago started communicating with people on the ground, including Derek Tully, the secretary of the guild.

The guild is still responsible for the upkeep of about 25 sailors’ graves at the cemetery at St Peter’s Church in St George’s, including Mr Crealy’s.

Mr Crealy, from Sydney, Australia, said: “I remember my father telling me stories about his uncle being killed in Bermuda back when I was a child but they didn’t have much information about how or why.

“They didn’t even have much information about why he was going to America on board the US Army vessel.”

He said he was not sure whether he was the first of his family to visit his late relative’s grave but said the feeling was “surreal” when he finally arrived in St George’s yesterday morning.

He added: “We were coming over on the ferry and it felt a bit surreal because we’ve been thinking about this trip all this time and we have bits and pieces I’ve read with my cousin.

“We had seen photographs of the grave, but to be able to put flowers on it, it’s a bit emotional when you think about it.”

Accompanied by Dr Tully, Henry Hayward, the former Mayor St George and chairman of the guild, and wellwishers, Mr Crealy laid flowers and spent a few moments at his late relative’s grave under the mid-morning sun.

He paid tribute to the guild, telling The Royal Gazette that it had done “amazing work over the years to upkeep the cemetery”.

He added: “It’s been 107 years in existence and a lot of organisations don’t usually last that long.”

Dr Tully said the charity was honoured to meet the late sailor’s relative and noted that his visit to the island was “historic” and “significant”.

Thomas Crealy’s death was the inspiration for the Guild of Holy Compassion.

The charity has tended the graves of merchant seamen who died in Bermuda since the incident.

At the funeral of Crealy in 1918, Leonard Tucker, nicknamed “Dickie”, was asked by the late sailor’s shipmates to tend his friend’s tombstone.

It was a request that would lead him to found the guild as well as the Bermuda Sailors’ Home.

Mr Tucker died in December 1988 at his Paget home, but his legacy and that of the guild remains strong today.

It conducts an annual wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate sailors who have died in Bermuda.

Dr Tully said the legacy of the Guild of Compassion will continue as it intends to honour the gesture left by Mr Tucker when he made a promise to look after Crealy’s grave in 1918.