Frederick B. Hancock was one of the first veterans from Renton, Washington to die in the First World War. Fred Hancock was born on July 6, 1892, in Thurber, Texas, to Mary Jane Richardson Hancock and George W. Hancock, a thirty-one-year old naturalized citizen from England. Fred had four brothers— Isaac, Harry, John, and George Jr.—and three sisters—Pauline Hancock Roberts, Carrie Hancock Davis, and Jessie Hancock Merritt. As a young boy in about 1898, Fred came with his family to King County WA where they first lived in Carbonado. They moved to Renton in about 1901. His father George was a coal miner and, at the time of Fred’s death, was Renton’s second Police Chief (then called “Marshall”). Before entering the Navy, Fred was working as a laborer for Butler Bros. Contractors in 1917. He never married. As a sailor he served aboard the USS Mt. Vernon, a troop transport. The Mt. Vernon was steaming homeward at about 18 knots and about 300 miles out from Brest, France on September 5th, 1918. The sea was smooth and the air was clear. At between ten and fifteen minutes before eight in the morning as the boys were changing watch, the ship was hit on the center bulkhead amidships by a torpedo. The explosion forced fumes, flames, coal, and soot out of the boiler room, burning, stifling and blinding all the men in the two fire rooms; about fifty in all. Two men were blown to bits and thirty-four failed to come out alive, including Fred Hancock. Thirteen were badly wounded but lived to tell their stories. The periscope of the submarine was located and shot at by the gunners. Also the incoming torpedo was shot at but not hit. The ship was too large and unwieldy to escape being hit. The torpedo was released in their direction from about 500 yards away. None of the dead were removed until three days later after the ship was dry docked and the water removed. After one of the most beautiful and impressive funeral services that were attended by many high officials of the American, English, and French Naval and military forces, all of the bodies were returned to the United States on the USS Leviathan for internment. In early October 1918, Fred Hancock's individual funeral was held at the Masonic Hall, “the largest gathering of any funeral ever held in Renton” to that time. His pall-bearers were other unidentified sailors from the U.S. Navy. He was buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
