Detectives are seeking the following persons of interest: Robert Tapscott, 34; Tina Ellis-Sanquenetti, 46; Angela Claybaugh, 43; and Amber Shelton, 41.
The Clan Line steamers were based out of Newport, Glasgow and Liverpool and it was a name famous in merchant shipping. On October 15 1914, the Clan Grant was steaming 150 miles off Minikoi near the Maldive islands off the south-west coat of India. The Emden spotted her and captured her, however her cargo was not deemed to be useful enough and the Newport-based ship was sunk by gunfire. Often crews were less fortunate. In October 1916 the Newport trader SS Penylan was steaming off the coast of Algeria when it was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine U-39 when it was five miles west of Cape Bougaroni. The ship took two hours to sink and the crew were able to take to the life boats. They were eventually picked up by a French destroyer and all of her crew survived.