The Journal of the Honourable Company of Master...

The Journal of theHonourable Company of Master Mariners

Issue 4/2019Volume XXV No. 004

Livery Company of the City of LondonFounded 1926, Incorporated by Royal Charter 1930

The Honourable Company of Master Mariners

PATRONHer Most Gracious Majesty THE QUEEN

Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets

ADMIRALHis Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,

Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom, KG KT OM GBE KCVO

FOUNDERSir Robert Burton-Chadwick, Bt.

b. 1869 d. 1951

Contents

Contents

Company News Page 107

Features Page 123

Obituary Page 136

Book Review Page 137

Events Diary Page 138

Merchandise Inside Back Cover

Court of the CompanyWardens and Court from 1 May 2019

MASTERCaptain W J Barclay FNI

SENIOR WARDENCaptain D Chadburn

IMMEDIATE PAST MASTERCaptain R B Booth AFNI

WARDENSCommander L A Chapman CMMar RN; Captain R F A Batt; Captain GEnglish AFNI

COURT OF ASSISTANTSCommander P R F D Aylott MNI RN; Captain R W Barnes CMMar; Mr M Burrow; Captain B A Cushing; Mr C Dancaster; Captain S PDonkersley RFA; Mr H Dundas; Captain I C Giddings FNI; Captain P THanton RFA; Captain L J Hesketh FNI; Commander D Ireland MBEMRIN; Captain J M Simpson; Mr J Johnson-Allen FRIN; Captain P JMcArthur MNM CMMar FNI FIMarEST; Captain J K Mooney AFNI;Captain T Oliver; Captain M C Powell FNI; Captain M A Robarts MNIARINA; Captain N R Rodrigues; Captain T W Starr MSc LLM; Captain S E Thomson CMMar; Captain H J Conybeare; Captain F K D'Souza FNI; Captain M Reed RD* FNI RNR

OUTPORT REPRESENTATIVESNE Scotland – Captain R CurtisClyde – Mr H DundasNW England – Captain L HeskethBristol Channel – Captain T HughesSouth West – Ms V Foster MBESolent – Captain C DouglassNE England – Captain M James

CLERK OF THE COMPANYCommodore Angus Menzies MNI RN – [email protected]

BUSINESS MANAGER – 0207 845 9872Mrs Alison Harris BA (Hons) – [email protected]

FINANCE OFFICER – 0207 845 9875Mrs Penny Burningham – [email protected]

CHARTERED MASTER MARINER ADMINISTRATORLieutenant Scott Hanlon BA (Hons) AlnstLM, RNR

– [email protected]

RECEPTIONIST – 0207 836 8179Gail Byrne – [email protected] Carter

HONORARY CHAPLAINThe Reverend Reginald Sweet BA RN

CORPORATE MEMBERSThe Baltic Exchange; J&J Denholm Limited; Furness Withy(Chartering); *International Maritime Pilots' Association; Maritime &Underwater Securities Consultants Limited; P&O Ferries; Star Reefers;Stephenson Harwood; John Swire & Son Limited; WitherbyPublishing Group; X-PRESS Feeders; (*Tenant company)

HQS WELLINGTON, Temple Stairs, Victoria Embankment, London WC2R 2PN

www.hcmm.org.uk Tel: 0207 836 8179 Fax: 0207 240 3082 Email: [email protected]

Produced by Perfect Imaging Limited, Enterprise House, Cranes FarmRoad, Essex, SS14 3JB. Telephone: +44(0)208 806 6630

Published by The Honourable Company of Master Mariners, HQSWellington, Temple Stairs, Victoria Embankment, London WC2R 2PN.

Company News

www.hcmm.org.uk The Journal • Issue 1/2019 • Page 107www.hcmm.org.uk The Journal • Issue 4/2019 • Page 107

From the MasterCaptain WJ Barclay FNI

The last time I wrote was in the summerand how things have changed. I am nowwriting this on a very damp and miserableNovember afternoon. For me it is hard tobelieve that I am now just over 6 months inon my term. Since my last update therehave been a considerable number of LiveryEvents, whether lunches, dinners or churchservices…really too many to mention here.

One of the many great pleasures as Masteris to welcome new members. This year hasseen close to record numbers of newmembers making their Declaration as theyjoin the Honourable Company. The lunchesthat follow are always convivial affairs. Ofeven greater pleasure is to welcomeApprentices and junior members, as it isfrom this group (we now have 270) that

the future Court Assistants, Wardens andMasters will eventually come. These juniormembers have the added benefit of beingable to join our Mentoring Scheme whichreally is proving very successful and is verymuch envied by other Livery Companies inthe City.

I was very pleased to attend the 1st

Anniversary of the Chartered MasterMariners Scheme. This was held on boardHQS WELLINGTON with most CharteredMaster Mariners attending. This scheme isone which I have tried to champion fromits inception. I am very pleased to advisethat I have just received my ownchartership and will be proud to wear thenew insignia created.

In early September the annual MerchantNavy Day Service was held at NationalMerchant Navy Memorial at Tower Hill. Asalways this was a proud day for theMerchant Navy with the Red Ensign flyinghigh on Tower Bridge and throughout theCity. It was also very satisfying to meet manyof our Apprentices at the commemorationand at Trinity House afterwards.

Later in the month I hosted 38 LiveryMasters, Wardens and some Clerks for thenow traditional breakfast on board HQSWELLINGTON prior to the City Livery HallsWalk. This charity event, in aid of the LordMayor’s Fund proceeds at a leisurely pace,to every City Livery Hall…all 40!Comfortable attire, especially footwear, isessential as the route is over 9 miles long.Time was of course allowed for a goodlunch half way. This was a thoroughlyenjoyable event and an excellentopportunity to get to know some of myfellow Masters.

An excellent evening was spent at thenewly renovated Painted Hall in the OldRoyal Naval College Greenwich celebratingMerchant Navy 100. I was pleased to see somany members in attendance with othersfrom the maritime community.

The Sheriffs’ Ball is always a fun evening.This is hosted by the outgoing Sheriffs ofthe City of London at Guildhall and seeingthis ancient venue decked out for the eventis something special. Guildhall was packedwith Masters and Consorts old and new allenjoying themselves. This event is a charityevening and over £70,000 was raised in aidof the Lord Mayor’s Charities.

The Annual National Service for Seafarers atSt Paul's is always a special event and waswell attended. This is British pomp at itsfinest. Unfortunately, I was unable to attendthe Hot Pot Supper on board afterwards as Iwas attending a Livery function hosted bythe Dyers Company for the highlight oftheir year, the Swan Dinner. One of thecourses is traditionally swan…. but I hastento add that in our enlightened society theswan is now replaced by chicken!

A service for the Book of Remembrance washosted by the Maritime Foundation at theMariners' Chapel of All Hallows by theTower. Although the Merchant NavyMemorial at Tower Hill, just across the road,is seen to be the official site and listshundreds of names of those lost at sea, theMaritime Foundation hosts this service forthose lost at sea with no known grave.During the service a bunch of blue andwhite flowers was laid beside the Book ofRemembrance – a moving tribute. This is alovely church with a very long history andhas some remarkable stained-glass panelsincluding our own.

We are sorry to re cord the death ofthe following members (and pastmembers) of the HonourableCompany of Master Mariners:

• Captain Maurice Bonner28 August, 2019

• Captain Peter Yeandle30 August, 2019

• Captain Kim Milnes02 September, 2019

• Captain Archie Munro (Past Master)17 September, 2019

• Mr Peter Roberts22 September, 2019

• Captain Sam Judah (Past Master)26 October, 2019

• Captain Mike Marchant27 October, 2019

Left to Right : Miriam Weber, Jake Waterman, William (Jamie) Wilson, Capt Jim BarclayHCMM Master, Charles Warrington, Jon James Hulford Funnell, Jake Worthy, Scott Bruges

Company News

Page 108 • The Journal • Issue 1/2019 www.hcmm.org.ukPage 108 • The Journal • Issue 4/2019 www.hcmm.org.uk

Trafalgar Night is always a memorableoccasion and an excellent dinner with theRNR was held at HMS PRESIDENT. The SeaCadets Trafalgar Day Parade was as ever anexcellent outing. This year the event had atthe last minute to be transferred to HorseGuards Parade. This did not, however, spoilthe day. In fact, the Sea Cadets found thevenue quite inspiring with thoughts ofparading at the same venue as HerMajesty’s Household Divisions at the timeof her Birthday Parade. Sea Cadets fromvarious units around the country cametogether with only a couple of daysrehearsal to provide a stunning display.

The annual Remembrance period startedwith a special service at St Paul’sCathedral, with the Lord Mayor, Sheriffsand nearly all Livery Masters plantingcrosses in the Garden of Remembrance,accompanied by the band of the WelshGuards. Thankfully the rain held off untilthe end of the service.

I was then very honoured to represent theCompany, the Merchant Navy and theFishing Fleets, by laying a wreath at theCenotaph in Whitehall. It was a stunning

day with bright autumnal sunshine and wassuch a memorable day and just being partof this special service was very humbling.

The Senior Warden laid our Companywreath at the Remembrance Service at TheMerchant Navy Memorial in TrinityGardens at Tower Hill, which of course theCompany organises.

On board Havengore

My final act of Remembrance was held onboard the HAVENGORE, a former PLASurvey Boat and which carried Sir WinstonChurchill’s coffin from the Tower of London

up river on the day of his funeral. This timewe travelled from HMS PRESIDENT up riverto the Houses of Parliament. Along withthe Master of the Company of Watermenand Lightermen I stood on the bow withfour Thomas Doggett’s Coat and Badgewinners resplendent in their bright redcoats. We had a very bracing butmemorable journey. Tower Bridge wasraised for us as a mark of respect. All WarMemorials as well as HMS BELFAST weresaluted as we passed. A fitting tribute wasmade by WELLINGTON with the lowering ofour Red Ensign. At 1100 on 11th November,we held station outside the Houses ofParliament and after a brief service andsilence, I laid a wreath in the river. This wasa very moving experience.

The Lord Mayor William Russel and his newSea Cadet ADC Lt Cdre Scott Hanlon

Congratulations to the following onbeing sworn in as: Freeman:Mr James Barnett-Viney, Captain MattBland, Mr James Brighton, Captain JamesBuchan, Captain Ashley Cook, CommanderNeil Griffiths, Commander Chris Hardinge,Mr Edward Hill, Captain James Illingworth,Captain Nick Jeffery, Captain DavidMcNamee, Captain Stephen Tindale,Commander Scott VerneyMember:Ross Collingwood, Fiona Doherty, AdamKeen, Alex Lovell-Smith, Harriet Phillips,Kate PikeAssociates:Stephen Bailey, Mike Bartlett, WillCandlin, Maja Cizmic, James Gillanders,Frank Nellen, Dan WoodwardApprentices:Anya Haydon-Guppy, Lisa Hunter, Will Spiegl

And to the following on attainingCertificates of Competency:

Masters:Rob Goodall, Mark Hart, Mike Stannard

Mates:Henry Andrews, Samantha Belfitt,Robert Bellis, James Faulkner, MattO’Brien, Dan Pile, Jack Stephens, LukeTarget, Conor Warde, George Whitfield

OOW:David Allan ,Michael Bartlett, NicolaBoak, Alastair Bolton, Edward Derrick,Alice Kent, Mike Moore, Felix Nellen

Congratulations also to the following:

On being elevated from Apprentice toFreeman:Sam Brunton, Rob Goodall, Mark Hart

On being elevated from Member toFreeman:Mr John Almond, Professor John Carlton

On being clothed as Liverymen: Mr Steve Cameron, Captain NikolaosKarimalis, Captain Louise Sara

Company News


As is tradition we hosted a lunch for thenew and 692nd Lord Mayor, AldermanWilliam Russell as our principle guest ofhonour along with the Aldermanic SheriffProfessor Michael Mainelli. A big thank youto Members and their guests for filling theCourt Room and making them so welcome.A few days later I attended at the MansionHouse with the majority of other LiveryMasters to hear the new Lord Mayor’s visionfor his year in office. I was accompanied byour Clerk and Lieutenant Scott Hanlon, ourChartered Master Mariner Registrar. Scott isalso the Commanding Officer of theGreenwich Sea Cadets and I am delighted toadvise that he has been made Naval Aide deCamp (ADC) to the Lord Mayor. This is agreat honour not only for Scott but also forthis Company.

As ever the visit to Liverpool for the annuallunch with the NW Output was a hugepleasure and a great opportunity to meetup with old friends and make some nowones as well. It was a delight to see somany of our young Apprentices andmembers in attendance.

By the time this reaches you, Christmasand New Year will have come and gone, soElizabeth and I simply hope that all willhave been enjoyable for you and yours,and that we all have a safe and successful2020, when we hope to welcome you onboard Wellington.

Clerk’s CornerCommodore Angus Menzies RN

Remembrance SundayThe Government had decided quite early in

WWI that the bodies of servicemen killedoverseas would not be returned to Britainbut would be buried in military cemeteriesnear the battlefields. However, because ofthis the need to provide an alternativefocus for public and private grief whichresulted in war memorials in towns andvillages throughout the country. In London,the national war memorial, the Cenotaphin Whitehall, was supplemented by a gravecontaining the body of one of the manyunidentified dead as a representative of allthose who had been killed and it wasconsidered appropriate to combine theceremony with dedication of the Cenotaphon 11 November, the second anniversary ofthe Armistice.

On the night of 7 November, one body wasselected from the remains of fourunidentified British soldiers brought to theArmy headquarters at Saint-Pol, near Arras,from different parts of the Western Front.It was placed in a coffin and the followingday it was taken under escort to Boulogne,where it was placed in an oak coffin sentout from England. The coffin bore theinscription "A British Warrior who fell inthe Great War 1914-1918" and was bandedwith two iron straps, through one of whichwas fixed a Crusader sword from the Royalcollection. On the morning of 10November, the coffin was covered with asoiled and torn Union Jack which had beenused by an Army chaplain throughout thewar, and was taken through the streets ofBoulogne, escorted by French troops it wasthen carried aboard the destroyer H.M.S."Verdun" - selected as a tribute to France -which then set off into the mist to anineteen-gun salute to meet its escort ofsix destroyers of the Atlantic Fleet.

At 3.30 pm, H.M.S. "Verdun" camealongside the Admiralty Pier at Dover andthe coffin was carried ashore towards theMarine station along a route was lined bytroops. The coffin was placed in van No.132, which had been decorated withlaurels, palms and lilies, and covered withwreaths and flowers which were broughtby the crew of the "Verdun". Four sentries,one from each Service, stood guard untilthe time for departure. Van No.132 hadpreviously been used on two separateoccasions to transport the body of CaptainA FRYATT and the body of Nurse EdithCAVELL. The van has been preserved atBodiam Station.

A passenger coach was attached for theescort of one officer and fifteen men, andat 5.50 pm the special train pulled out ofthe Marine station. People gathered at everystation on its journey to London. Arriving

some three hours later at Victoria station(platform 8) where there was a crowd ofsilent watchers behind the barriers. As thecorrespondent of The Times put it, "thecarriage, with its small shunting engine,came in very slowly. The few civilians whoawaited its coming on the platform took offtheir hats. Officers and the GrenadierGuardsmen drawn up at the end of theplatforms saluted. There was great silence....One heard a smothered sound of weeping.The smoke in the roof bellied and eddiedaround the arc lamps. The funeral carriagestopped at last. The engine-driver leanedfrom his cab." The coffin remained in thevan at the station for the night, watchedover by Grenadier Guards.

The next morning, 11 November 1920, wasa lovely autumn day with mellow sunshine.The coffin was taken from the van andplaced on a gun carriage drawn by sixblack horses; on the coffin were a steelhelmet, webbing bell and bayonet. Withadmirals, field marshals and generals aspall-bearers and led by massed bands, theprocession set off from Victoria throughGrosvenor Gardens and Grosvenor Place. Itwent down Constitution Hill, pastBuckingham Palace and along the Mall toreach Whitehall. At 10.45 am, theprocession stopped opposite the Cenotaph.King George V laid a wreath on the coffin,and as Big Ben began to strike eleven, hepressed a button which caused the UnionJacks which had shrouded the Cenotaph tofall away. For two minutes there wassilence, not only in Whitehall butthroughout the country. With the Kingfollowing the gun-carriage on foot as thechief mourner, the procession continued toWestminster Abbey for the burial service.During the six days before the tomb wassealed with a temporary stone, more than amillion people filed past to pay homage.

MSc Maritime Operations andManagement – City UniversityLondon; Semester 2020.This Second-degree course has beensupported by the Honourable Companysince its inception and is designed to trainprofessionals for the various sectors andoccupations within the maritime and seatransport industries in the UK andinternationally. The Course is open tograduates and those serving at sea,offshore or with inland based organisationsand repair facilities. The Trustees of theHonourable Company of Master Marinersand Howard Leopold Davis Charity(HCMM&HLD) have initiated a Presentationfor full tuition fees (currently circa

£12,000.00) for the Course for a suitableUK member of our Company.

Detailed information on the course can beobtained by contacting the [email protected].

Journal ArticlesMembers and especially Apprentices andAssociates are enjoined to provide articlesfor our Quarterly Journal. Articlessupported by pictures or illustrations areparticularly encouraged. The best article for2020 by an Apprentice or Associate, asselected by the Master and Wardens, willreceive the Anchorites Prize of £250. Allcorrespondence, articles and reports for theJournal should be in Word Format/TimeNew Roman font and forwarded to theEditor at [email protected].

Careers at Sea AmbassadorsAlthough overseen by the Merchant NavyTraining Board, our Company doesencourage our Apprentices and Associatesto join the “Ambassadors Scheme” Jointoday! Full details from the Clerk or theMNTB website.

The Royal Naval Birdwatching SocietyThe Society was formed in 1946 by the RNand MN to provide a forum for theexchange of information on seabirds andland birds at sea by members for whombirdwatching is a spare time recreation andhobby. The Master Mariner is the standingVice President of the Society.

The RNBWS is the only organisation in theworld which collects, collates and publishesdata on seabirds and landbirds at sea.Membership is open to RN and MerchantNavy personnel who have a commoninterest in sea and land birds at sea.Membership Secretary: Warrant OfficerSteve Copsey

[email protected]

CommitteesThe Company operates five StandingCommittees (this means permanent andreporting direct to the Court). Theygenerally formally meet four times a yearand cover the following areas:

• Finance & Risk – all aspects of theCompany’s investments and accounts.

• Membership – policy on membershipcriterion, recruiting and numbers.

• Education & Training – oversight oftraining standards and theApprenticeship/Associate Scheme.

• Professional & Technical – oversight ofprofessional practices in every area ofmaritime business and shipping.

• Treasures – management of all ourartefacts, library and silverware collections.

Members are invited to consider joiningone or more of those committees andthereby to take more part in the day to daylife of our Company. If interested, I amalways delighted to update members onthe workings of the Committees whoseMinutes are published in the Member’sArea of the Company website.

Video LinkMembers, especially output committeemembers are encouraged to use the videolink. This is connected via the “Go toMeeting” App, available from the GoogleApp Store. The access code and passwordare available from the office. Membersare requested to ensure that mute theirmike unless making comment duringthe meeting.

The Chairman of the Education & TrainingCommittee also encourages members towitness the meeting but due to thesometimes possibly sensitive nature of thediscussions about individuals, it isinappropriate for non-screened observersto conference in and so members mustcheck in with the Chair first (Captain JerryMooney - [email protected])

Honourable Company of MasterMariners and Howard LeopoldDavis Charity Members are reminded that our associatedHCMM & HLD charity is focussed on thesupport of needy Merchant Navy DeckOfficers and their dependents and alsosupport to educate and train thoseinterested in a career at sea andseamanship and sail training generally.

The Charity offers tuition fees for the Cityof London MSc in Maritime Operations andManagement and 2 Bursaries for CadetOfficers through to CoC STCW II/1qualifications. It also oversees ourpresentation at Christ’s Hospital School,Horsham, West Sussex; details of all theabove can be obtained by contacting theClerk [email protected].

The Royal Hospital School at Holbrook alsooffers generous bursaries to the sons ordaughters or the grandchildren of male orfemale officers of the UK Merchant Navy.Scholarships are available in four areas:Academic, Arts, Sports and, in particular,Sailing. The Royal Hospital School,Holbrook, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2RX Tel: +44 (0)1473 [email protected]

AccommodationThere are two ensuite cabins, one double

and one twin, onboard WELLINGTON forthe use of members (£50 single, £60 doubleoccupancy Please let us know if you will bearriving after normal working hours tocheck in and collect your key.

If unable to book onboard, The Vintner’sCompany, Upper Thames Street, LondonEC4V 3BG (close to Cannon Street orMansion House District/Circle Line TubeStations) offers our members access totheir overnight accommodation, somerooms are ensuite and start at £60 + VAT.Contact 0207 651 [email protected].

Similarly, The Mercer’s Company offers arange of bedrooms all with ensuite facilitiesand start at £90 single, £110 doubleincluding VAT and Breakfast. Contact Collette 0207 776 [email protected]

Members, who are still “serving”, may makeuse of the facilities of the Union Jack Clubat Waterloo Station, where a single ensuiteroom begins at £72.00 and a doubleensuite room begins at £126.00. DischargeBooks need to be carried. Contact DaivaSobole, Advance Reservations Manager([email protected]) Tel. 0207 902 7379,Fax. 0207 620 0565, Union Jack Club,Sandell Street, London SE1 8UJ.

Meeting RoomsThere are three bookable rooms forbusiness meetings available onboardWELLINGTON:

– The Committee Room – seats 16 at thetable. (With Video Conference facility)

– The Medals Room – seats 14 at thetable. (large-screen wall mountedcomputer monitors (HDMI)

– The Charthouse – seats 8 in an informalsetting (with superb views of theThames).

Contact the Office for details and forbookings.

In addition, the Catering Company canoffer business meeting facilities in:

– The Model Room – seats 20 at the table

– The Court Room – seats 52 at the table

The Court Room is provided with full IT andsound facilities and both are bookedthrough SEARCYS – via Egle, whose officeis onboard WELLINGTON on 0207 240 9888or [email protected] are entitled to generous discountson the Room Hire charge for both venues.

WardroomThe Wardroom is available for members andtheir private guests from 0900 until 1700,

Company News

Page 110 • The Journal • Issue 4/2019 www.hcmm.org.uk

Company News

www.hcmm.org.uk The Journal • Issue 4/2019 • Page 111

Monday to Friday. It is best to advise theOffice if you will be onboard, to preventover-booking. The bar opens from 1230 to1430, and serves a full range of drinks aswell as cold and hot food (hot food shouldbe ordered 24 hours in advance) onlyavailable when the chef is on duty, (pleasecheck beforehand).

Members are reminded that during baropening hours, formal business meetingsunderway in the Wardroom must be put onhold. Please be advised that dress formembers and their guests in the Wardroomis jacket (optional in the summer) and tie. Astock of spare maritime ties is held inReception.

Income Tax Relief on AnnualSubscriptions and LiveryQuarteragePlease contact the [email protected] for details.

Royal Garden Parties 2020Royal Garden Parties are hosted by HerMajesty the Queen and other members ofthe Royal Family annually and for 2020,will be held in May and early June atBuckingham Palace and in July at Holyroodhouse Palace (dates tbc).

The Honourable Company receives a limitednumber of invitations to the events andMembers should apply to the Clerk to jointhe waiting list. If supply outstrips demand,then a ballot will take place to fill theavailable slots. Please visit the Royal GardenParty website or the [email protected] for details.

Applications, with the full names and up todate home postal addresses and preferencefor dates, should be with the Clerk beforethe end of January 2020.

Although Apprentices and Associates areencouraged to apply, please be aware thata withdrawal after the deadline Thursday31 January 2020, causes us to lose theplaces as tickets are not transferrable.

Curry Lunch BookingsMembers are strongly encouraged to jointhe waiting list for fully booked CurryLunches as we regularly receivecancellations at short notice which throwup spare seats. Additionally, henceforth, inorder to improve availability and loss ofincome, group Table bookings which arecancelled at less than 7 days’ notice willincur the full cost of that Table.

The Office is currently working on:

• Curry Lunches

– Friday 31 January 2020 (FULLY BOOKED),

– Friday 28 Feb 2020, Friday 27 March

2020. Friday 24 April 2020 and Friday 29May 2020. Members are reminded thatguests must conform to our Curry Lunchdress code of jackets and ties andequivalent (no jeans please). A stock ofmaritime type ties is held at Reception.

• The annual Liveries Lunch on Wednesday4 March 2020 (1220 for 1300). Thisevent is primarily for members of theHonourable Company to help entertainMasters and Clerks of the various LiveryCompanies in repayment for thehospitality they have extended to theMaster over his year and an opportunityto host other important individualsconnected with the maritime scene.Wardens will wear Morning Dress;members, who wish, may conform,although Lounge Suit or equivalent isperfectly acceptable.

• The Installation Court Dinner on Friday 1May 2020 at 1830 for 1900 is thesecond formal event of the year and acelebration of the installation of thenew Master for 2020-2021. Dress isBlack Tie and equivalent.

LibraryThe restructuring and restocking of theLibrary is now virtually completed thanks toherculean efforts of Past Master GrahamPepper. Although now usable an up to datecatalogue is still in production.

New Books• Practical Ship Handling (4th Edition) -Malcolm C ARMSTRONG FNI Pilot9 781649 270847presented by Brown, Son & Ferguson Ltd.

• Marine Heavy Lift and Rigging Operations(Second Edition)David J House9-781-849270786presented by Brown, Son & Ferguson Ltd.

• CARGOES – A Celebration of the Sea –John Masefield & Kenneth D ShoesmithGlyn L EVANS9 781913 297015presented by the Author.

• British Warship Recognition 1860-1939Richard PerkinsISBN 978-1-52673738-0presented by the Maritime Foundation(includes HMS WELLINGTON).

• Devon Heroes from World War Two – 5Tales (specifically Captain Bockett-PughDSO** RN – CO HMS WELLINGTON1940-1941)C W RobillardISBN 978-0-9934451-4-9presented by the Author.

CMMar ColumnLieutenant Scott Hanlon

Since my last submission, the RegistrationAuthority (RA) has been very proactive inpublishing new policies and action plans,outlining how we are going to grow theChartership globally. We have approved andsigned a new RA’s Terms of Reference,which will ensure the high standards andprofessionalism of the RA will remainexemplary. We have also started to draft anew CMMar Growth Strategy documentwhich we aim to publish in the new year.This will be drawing together ourInternational Rollout Action Plan (MAY2019) that I previously shared with you. InJanuary, we will be hosting our next rolloutmeeting to help with our European rolloutfrom April 2020.

A momentous occasion took place onFriday 6th September; we hosted our firstChartered Master Mariners’ Annual Awardsand Alumni Event onboard HQS Wellington.It was a beautiful occasion which broughttogether 22 CMMars. We also welcomed sixnew CMMars too: Captain MichaelRowland; Commander Gareth Jenkins;Captain Scott Baker; Captain MichaelMeade; Captain John Lloyd and CaptainAllen Brink. The day was blessed with goodweather and gave CMMars the chance tomeet members of the RA and a chance forwider networking with professionals acrossthe maritime community. The day consistedof a formal graduation ceremony, withrowed seating, on the quarterdeck where acitation of each recipient was shared. Thenthey were invited up to receive theirCharter from the Chair of the RA, AdmiralSir Nigel Essenhigh GCB and the Master

Mariner. Afterwards, we proceeded to theCourt Room where we had a traditionalcurry lunch. The ship was full ofenthusiasm and energy. I must give thanksto Ms Helen Kelly, Head of Communicationsat Nautilus International, who came to theevent and produced a fantastic two pagewrite up in their October newsletter.

At the most recent Court of theHonourable Company, four new Marinerswere awarded their Charterships: CaptainKaushik Roy; Captain James Barclay;Captain John Mansell and Captain FlavianD’Souza. This means that within the year of2019, the chartership has grown by 41%.An amazing achievement secured by all ourverifiers, assessors and the committeemembers of the RA.

PRI AssessorsTo help with the expansion of theChartered Master Mariner Scheme globally,we are looking to increase the pool of ourPRI (Professional Review Interview)Assessors. The PRI is one of the most crucialparts of the CMMar process. This interviewis delivered by trained assessors, who haveattended a half day’s course onboard HQSWellington. They are trained to assess acandidate’s application and to find out whothey really are and to what level they canproved their eminence within the maritimecommunity. Without these PRI Assessors,we cannot grant Charterships. Who canbecome a PRI Assessor? Any Liverymen ofthe Honourable Company of MasterMariners or/and a Chartered MasterMariner. We have three training daysplanned for 2020 which are 21st February,19th June and 23rd October. If you wouldlike to express an interest in becoming aPRI Assessor, please email me [email protected].

On a heartfelt note, to all who have mademe feel so welcomed and have given meyour support and encouragement since Istarted in January, thank you. See you allin 2020.

Heads up-Reply Actions Sharing some good mentoringnews; Ben Avery. Please find attached the graduationphotographs from my mentee Ben Avery.He is doing rather well, since leavingemployment with ABP Southampton, Bengot a cadetship with P&O ferries which hehas just about completed. He has passedhis written exams (one of only 6 studentsout of 18 for the year) and now revisingfor his orals which are due to be takenduring the first week of December atFleetwood. He has gained the accolade ofTop graduating student for 2019(something I could only dream of when atRiversdale in the early 1980’s).

Ben Avery, top graduating Student 2019

Chris Douglass Mentor to Ben Avery

The Library –An Update on ProgressPast Master Graham PepperSince its formation in 1926, theHonourable Company has been the grateful

recipient of many gifts and donations,including a substantial number of booksthat cover many disciplines. Indeed, inretrospect it seems very likely that weaccepted anything we were offered andconsequently, by the early years of thiscentury the Library contained a largenumber of volumes that were either out-dated or not relevant to the Company.

In 2012/13 we began a review of the Libraryand disposed of a considerable number ofvolumes while formulating a policy on theparticular areas on which we shouldconcentrate, e.g. shipping company history,navigation, etc. The review was a slowprocess, both in selecting books to keep andfinding outlets for unwanted books,including advertising them to members.

This was still continuing in 2015 when wereceived an unofficial approach from theMarine Society and Sea Cadets (MSSC),which was seeking a home for itsapproximately 4000 volume PermanentCollection. This was brought about as aresult of the MSSC considering relocationand the likelihood of there being no spacefor the collection in their new premises. Itwas apparent that there were manyduplicates within our own collection butequally apparent that the addition of themany volumes we did not have wouldconsiderably enhance the HCMM Library.Progress with the MSSC plans was slow andit was not until early 2018 thatnegotiations for the transfer of theCollection to the HCMM became detailed,resulting in an agreement between the twoorganisations in June 2018.

About 110 boxes were delivered by theMSSC to HQS “Wellington” in August 2018and the long process of sorting began,

Company News


Company News


which was not completed until July thisyear. We have identified about 50% of theMSSC books as either duplicates of ourown or those that have no relevance to theHCMM or our maritime collection. Theextent of duplication surprised us and hascaused a problem for the MSSC, to whom,by the June 2018 agreement, we arerequired to return them, as it now has nospace in which to store them.

Fortunately, we have been able to act asintermediary between the MSSC and theLondon Nautical School (where the HCMMhas provided a Governor since 2000 and anumber of our members were pupils),which has agreed to take the books thatare surplus to our needs.

We are now embarking on merging theretained MSSC books with the HCMMcollection, which will require considerablere-organisation of the lay-out of sectionsand probably some new shelving. This too,will take some time but will, we think,result in the HCMM having one of the bestnautical book collections in the UnitedKingdom which will be available for studyby our own members and apprentices aswell as serious researchers outside theCompany. However, until the re-organisation is complete, it will not bepossible to open the Library to membersbut advice will be provided in the Journaland on the HCMM website when itbecomes available.

During the last few years we have receiveddonations from sources other than theMSSC, including 36 bound volumes of“The Motor Ship” dating from the 1920sto 1980s, about 500 books from thepresent writer (mainly British shippingcompany histories and British shipping)and 60 volumes from the WorshipfulCompany of Shipwrights as well asnumerous smaller donations from otherorganisations and individuals.

Since the reorganisation that began in2012, we have concentrated on specificmaritime areas and our collection now hasenviable sections on British shipping

companies, the history of the MerchantNavy, polar exploration, the Merchant Navyat war, the relationship between theMerchant and Royal Navies, navigation(terrestrial and astronomical), seamanshipand cargo. Additionally, we have a smallsection on nautical schools and colleges aswell as a non-fiction section whichprimarily contains works by HCMMmembers and a number of other smallsections such as IMO Publications, ship-building (mainly UK yards), biography &autobiography, the City & the Livery, shipmasters’ business and ports. We also have asmall but interesting collection of sailingship log books, antiquarian books andpersonal logs from our members. These lastare particularly interesting to many of thecurrent members of the Company as theyrelate to a seafaring period to which manyof us can relate.

We continue to receive offers of donationsto the Library and would encouragemembers to continue with those offers.However, we ask that any offers areaccompanied by details of the books, as wewould not wish to take volumes of whichwe already have a copy or are not relevantto our collection.

Wardroom NotesJohn Johnson-Allen

Honorary Wardroom MessSecretary

The Christmas Lunch was fully booked, witha waiting list, by the middle of October! Bythe time you read this it will almostcertainly be but a delightful memory andFather Christmas will have found a worthywinner amongst those who were attired asa star of stage , screen or the firmamentand assessed the most appropriate limerick;

not necessarily the funniest, becauseoccasionally the funniest is also socompletely obscene it cannot be read outto a mixed company! Father Christmas willbe somewhat feeling the cold, as herecently returned from an early Christmasvisit to South Africa, where thetemperatures hovered around the 30° mark.Coming back on his sleigh, the reindeerwere pulling on their winter woollies asthey passed over France.As sorely tempted as I may be, I shall makeno comment here about the generalelection, nor about anything to do withour near continental neighbours. I will letthat fall as it may; Whatever may happen,there is little that any of us can really doabout it, other than to get on withwhatever happens.Do make use of the wardroom both forsandwiches and for pre-booked lunches; itis an ideal place to retreat from theclamour of the city (or from anythinginvolved as noted in the last paragraph!), orto hold a meeting (not between 1230 or1430 when the bar is open).Lastly may I wish all of you a very, veryhappy Christmas and a successful New Year.As in the past I have sought an appropriatequotation to end on:"The object of a New Year is not that weshould have a New Year. It is that weshould have a new soul and a new nose;new feet, and new backbone, new ears andnew eyes. Unless a particular man makesNew Year resolutions, he would make noresolutions. Unless a man starts afreshabout things, he will certainly do nothingeffective.” (G K Chesterton)

The Wellington TrustThe hightlight of the last quarter was theFriends dinner onboard with our Patron HerRoyal Highness the Princess Royal. It was awell attended event with goodrepresentation from Friends and also theHonourable Company. This was acelebration of ten years of support fromthe Friends of the Wellington and also theongoing support from the Master Mariners. The short notice London Open Houseevent was a success with some 627 visitorson the day and some 27 ship toursconducted. We have already subscribedfor the event next year.Our fundraising team, Rosie Fraser and FayeClews have completed their initial reportand delivered a fundraising strategy. Wehave now submitted the initial interest bidto the National Lottery Heritage Fund toseek a major grant in early 2020. In parallel we have achieved a Resilience

Company News


grant from Heritage Lottery to fund someof the preliminary work, this is nowreaching the final stages with the draftdocuments being in final approval for theTrustees to consider. The HonourableCompany is involved with the processwhich will hopefully be of mutual benefit.The three key elements, a Business Plan fora 5 year period in detail and 10 years inoutline. This includes a wide rangingmarket survey for both education andheritage as well as other visitoropportunities. A full review of thegovernance of the Wellington Trust is beingconducted, including the roles of Trusteesand key players and committee structuresto ensure compliance with current charitylaw and also best practice. Finally we aredoing an Education review with the aim ofproducing an updated 5 year plan for oureducation offering to keep it relevant andfocussed on what does well. Readers mayremember that whilst our Primary and 6thform sessions are going well there has beena drop off in Secondary GCSE take up. Weare not alone in this and it is partly due tothe current Ofstead requirement on a highproportion of classroom time in that agegroup, combined with ongoing worry aboutterrorist activity in central London.

The PlymouthMonument to theMerchant Navy andFishing Fleets;Vivien Foster OBEHCMM freeman and SW Outport secretaryThe Monument was unveiled on September3rd, Merchant Navy Day, by HRH ThePrincess Royal. The service of dedicationwas led by Joe Dent, Rector of the Churchof St Andrews, Plymouth with HM RoyalMarines CTCRM Band Lympstoneaccompanying the service.

It was a bright, sunny day and theculmination of a 4-year fundraisingcampaign by the Plymouth Monumentcommittee chaired by Vivien Foster OBE(HCMM freeman and SW Outport secretary)

Standard bearers from local and NationalMerchant Navy Association branches, RFA,RNLI, Royal Naval Association, RoyalArtillery, RAF and Wrens; and contingentsfrom the Merchant Navy, RFA, Sea Cadetsand RNLI mustered on the Hoe andmarched to the Monument for the service.

Many attendees represented all aspects ofthe seafaring community and following

HRH The Princess Royal laid their wreathsin tribute.It was a very poignant and splendid day andit is especially fitting that the Monument isnow in place alongside all our other fightingforces Memorials on the Hoe recognising thecontribution of Merchant Navy and FishingFleets to the freedom of our Nation.

The Monument its self is made up of threeblocks of granite, weighing a total of 14tonnes, on top of which is the Watchkeeperstatue. Burlite Stonemasons of Maidstonewere responsible for the Monument. Theywere also the firm who erected theFalklands Memorial at Tower Hill.

MN DAY SERVICE,MN MEMORIAL,9TH SEPTEMBER 2018:Roger J HoeflingCentenary commemorations of the FirstWorld War will culminate on Sunday 11thNovember, the anniversary of the Armistice.As at the Cenotaph and beyond, this will be

marked by the annual service here onTower Hill but remembrance first had formhere 90 years ago with the unveiling of theMerchant Navy Memorial.It was neither Sir Edwin Lutyens’ initialdesign for the Memorial nor chosen site.Originally similar to his Thiepval Memorialon the Somme, he envisaged its siting atTemple Stairs on the Thames. The RoyalFine Arts Commission objected howeversince this required the demolition of SirJoseph Bazalgette’s Embankment Arch,preferring a position east of Tower Bridgein sight of ocean-going vessels. Instead,Trinity Square Gardens was chosen,described then as ’at the hub of maritimeEngland’. Complications though of landownership were resolved only by thepassing of a special Act of Parliament inJune 1927. Uniquely, it had the support ofthree Prime Ministers, past and present:Lloyd George, Ramsey MacDonald andBaldwin Those complications helpeddetermine the Memorial’s design. Built atthe edge rather than fully within theGardens, formerly there were inner gatesseparating the two together with thepresent outer ones. More fundamentally,there are no name panels on this near facewhile above is simply ’1914-1918’.Rather, it is on the south side, facing theriver, that the full inscription appears,‘1914-1918/ TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND TOTHE HONOUR OF/ TWELVE THOUSAND/ OFTHE MERCHANT NAVYI AND FISHINGFLEETSI WHO HAVE NO GRAVE BUT THE SEA’.It was the unveiling of that inscription onwhat is now the Memorial’s First World Warsection by Her Majesty Queen Mary thatdrew so many thousands on Tuesday 12thDecember 1928, filling Byward Street andTower Hill, both closed to traffic. TheQueen had visited the Port of LondonAuthority’s headquarters at Ten TrinitySquare and walked to a dais in front of theMemorial for a service led by theArchbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo GordonLang. It was the first time The Queen had

Company News

www.hcmm.org.uk The Journal • Issue 4/2019 • 5

performed such a ceremony and her firstwireless broadcast, doing so in place of HisMajesty King George V whose serious illnessmade the occasion all the more sombre. thesignal ’We will not forget’ was flown fromTen Trinity Square

In February 1928, the King had conferredthe title ‘Merchant Navy’ on the MercantileMarine in recognition of its wartime serviceand sacrifice. The introduction of theconvoy system in May 1917 had savedBritain from capitulation later that year.Thus, the Memorial’s First War section bearsa name under which those commemorateddid not serve but had earned.

Uniquely too, those named are civilians andrepresent 103 nationalities.While that includes member countries ofthe then Empire, amongst the largercontingents who served under the RedEnsign were those from Finland, Spain,Greece, Japan, Russia, the USA and evenGermany. Not to be forgotten are thecorresponding official memorials honouring1,708 Mercantile Marine members on the1914-1918 Memorial in Bombay/Mumbaiand 532 on that in Hong Kong.Women as well as men are commemorated.As stewardesses, matrons and typists onboard passenger and cargo vessels, hospitalships and ferries, the wartime MercantileMarine had at least 200 women members.Of that total, 58 died when their unescorted

ships were lost to torpedoes or mines in theAtlantic, lrish Sea, North Sea, Mediterraneanand Pacific. 32 are named here with one onthe Bombay Memorial. The first to be lostwas Miss Nellie McPherson,Stewardess, of the SS Fingal, one of theLondon & Edinburgh Shipping Co’s vesselsrunning a service between London andLeith. Torpedoed by the U-23 offNorthumberland on 15th March ‘I915, theSS Fingal was the first British passengership sunk by enemy action in the War.Even more unsung are those of the FishingFleets. While some of their personnel andvessels served with distinction with theRoyal Navy on such as coastal patrol duties,two Victoria Crosses being awarded, fishingcontinued throughout the War. At its start,the industry employed 44,000 men inEngland and Wales alone. The Ministry ofAgriculture and Fisheries showed the catchequated to half the amount of meatconsumed annually in the British Isles,helping allay Royal Navy concerns aboutthe protection needed. Nonetheless, theprice of helping keep the nation fed was675 vessels and 434 fishermen lost toenemy action. Their names appear at theeastern end of the Memorial, denoted notonly by home ports like Grimsby orScarborough but by the only indication of

rank allowed, ‘Skipper’ replacing ‘Master’.The Commonwealth War GravesCommission states that the ages of those itcommemorates who died in the First WorldWar range from 14 to 67. The MerchantNavy Memorial shows otherwise. PatrickCasey, an Able Seaman, was one of fivecrewmen lost from the SS Dotterel, a cargoship from Cork, to a mine off the Frenchcoast on 29th November 1915. At 73, he isthe oldest. By contrast, 101 named were 15and 30 aged 14 while Sydney Jeffries, acook, was one of the five crew killed whenthe Lowestoft fishing vessel, Vanguard, wassunk by the UB-40 on 24th October 1917.Age: 13, forever.

76th Annual ScottishService for SeafarersHew R DundasCourt Assistant and ClydeOutport Court RepresentativeIn accordance with long-establishedcustom, the Company was formallyrepresented at the 76th Annual ScottishService for Seafarers on Sunday 17th

November 2019 by Captains Stuart Millar,Neil Smith, Tim Oliver, Jamie Wilson andByron Griffiths (the last three in full

Company News


uniform) and by Liveryman Hew Dundas;Fiona Millar and Vân Dundas completed theCompany’s ‘crew’, overall the bestattendance we can remember. The Service was held in a very full SouthLeith Parish Church, conducted by the Rev.Ian May, and the Guest Preacher was theRev. Marjorie McPherson, Clerk to thePresbytery of Edinburgh, whose outstandingSermon, based on the theme “Water”,combined biblical references to waters andthe sea with modern ones and theMinister’s eloquence painted a very visiblepicture of the sea and those who sail on it.

The Service was followed by the customaryWreath-Laying Ceremony at the MerchantNavy Memorial for Scotland, also in Leith,conducted by Rev. May, at which CaptainGriffiths laid the Company’s wreath. A TwoMinutes’ Silence was observed followingwhich Piper Stewart Lindsay played the“Lament”.In addition to the Company’s wreath,others were laid by (inter alia) the LordProvost of Edinburgh, the MNA, TrinityHouse, the RFA, the RN/RNR, Leith SeaCadets and the Arctic Convoy Veterans; all

significant maritime charities were alsorepresented and also laid wreaths.For HCMM Clyde Outport, it was aparticular honour to share duties with theArctic Convoy Veterans given that one ofour number, Captain Kenneth Mackenzie(92 earlier this year but sadly no longerable to travel), is himself such a veteranand a holder of the Ushakov Medal. Weare also fortunate to include amongst ournumber Captain Arthur Young MBE, 96earlier this month and the Company’s 3rd

oldest member, a veteran of the Atlanticand other convoys.Both at the buffet lunch in the Church Halland after the Wreath-Laying Ceremony,constructive quasi-mentoring contact wasmade with four Officer Cadets present whowere supported by the Dean of theNautical College, Mark Stagg, and hislecturer, Andrew Simpson.In a recently-created custom, theCompany’s crew met the previous eveningfor an informal and very convivial dinner inthe Britannia Spice Restaurant right next tothe Holiday Inn, Leith.

THE UK’S NEWCARRIER STRIKECAPABILITYAdmiral Sir Nigel EssenhighThe Royal Navy is in the process ofaccepting into service 2 new aircraftcarriers, HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and HMSPRINCE OF WALES. In parallel, the UK isnow receiving its F-35B Lightning shorttake-off and vertical landing (STOVL) jetsthat will be carried in these new ships.

The Rationale for Maritime Air PowerThis article describes the capability thatthe UK is acquiring and explains some ofthe rationale behind this ambitiousprogramme. Starting with the rationale,the key characteristic of what is known asCarrier Strike is the political andoperational advantage that is conferredby having the ability to project air powerat and from the sea without the need tonegotiate such things as host nationsupport from other countries. The historyof carrier-borne air power begins in theFirst World War and was a critical successfactor in many of the Second World Warcampaigns. More recently, the use ofcarrier strike in the Falklands campaignand in stages of the Balkans campaignsand in the second Gulf War havedemonstrated the enduring utility ofairborne power projection from thesea. But you might ask, why does theUnited Kingdom need this complex andexpensive capability in the 21st century?

The UK’s foreign and defence policies arefounded on the premise that Britishstrategic interests do not stop atDover. We are a trading nation withlegitimate national interestsworldwide. We are also a seafaringnation whose economy is criticallydependent on seaborne trade. Some 95%by weight of all goods entering andleaving the UK are carried by sea. Thus,our prosperity and national security areinextricably linked to an uninterruptedflow of overseas trade. We are also aleading power in the NATO alliance andwe have significant treaty commitmentswell beyond our shores. With these andpurely national defence commitmentsgoes the need for the UK to maintainpowerful and flexible armed forces,optimised to provide the maximum degreeof political choice.

The Carrier ProgrammeTo this end, in the UK’s 1998 StrategicDefence Review, the requirement wasrecognized to replace the then currentfleet of 3 smaller INVINCIBLE Class carrierswith 2 much larger vessels capable ofcarrying a larger number of aircraft ofvarious types and with the ability toachieve the high sortie generation ratethat is necessary in many operationalscenarios. Now, after 2 decades of projectwork and with the usual ups and downs ofdesign and funding issues, the programmeis coming together.

The capability centres on the 2 vessels


themselves plus the development of newaircraft types and the formulation of newCarrier Strike doctrine to scope how theseships will be used to support a widevariety of defence missions and tasks. Theactual construction of the ships has beenachieved by a highly successful alliance ofnumerous companies led by BAE Systems,the Babcock International Group andThales. The modular construction methodsaw parts of the ships of varying sizesbeing built in shipyards all around thecountry and transported by sea to theBabcock yard in Rosyth, Scotland whereassembly was carried out in a speciallymodified dry dock.

At some 65,000 tonnes displacement,280m length overall, beam 39m at thewaterline and 73m overall, the ships havea huge flight deck covering about 8acres. They are the largest ships ever builtfor the Royal Navy and are 50% biggerthan the largest of the Navy’s previouscarriers and some 3 times the size of their

immediate predecessors. A large ramp isbuilt over the port bow to improve theefficiency of fixed wing aircraft takeoff. Unusually, the design incorporates 2“islands” on the starboard side. Theforward one contains the bridge and theafter one the aircraft controlfacilities. The ships are powered by twinfixed pitch propellers on shafts driven byintegrated electric propulsion. Powergeneration is provided by 2 Rolls RoyceMT30 36MW gas turbine alternators and4 Wartsila 10MW diesel engines. Theyhave an operating range of some 10,000nautical miles and a maximum speed inexcess of 25 knots. For warships of theirsize, they operate with a relatively smallcrew of about 750 rising to some 1600when both an air group and troops areembarked.

The Carrier Air GroupThe ships have been built at a size thatprovides considerable flexibility in thecomposition of air power packages that

they will carry. The normal aircraft mixwill comprise at least 3 helicopter types.The anti-submarine Mk2 Merlin is fittedwith a range of active and passive sensorsand carries Stingray homing torpedoes,Mk 11 depth charges and can also befitted with .50 calibre machine guns. Ithas a secondary troop-carrying role andcan lift loads of over 3 tonnes. Forairborne early warning of air or missileattack, the Merlin HM-2 "Crowsnest"helicopter is fitted with a Search waterradar and the Cerberus mission systemthat give it a long-range detectioncapability over sea and land. The latestCommando version of the Merlin, the Mk4, can carry 24 fully-laden troops or over5 tonnes of stores and equipment. Allthese naval variants of the well-provenMerlin airframe have folding rotors andtails to provide maximum flexibility instowing them in the carrier's hangar. Theship's aircraft lifts are large enough tocarry 2 Merlin’s at a time in the foldedconfiguration. Also available as part ofmission-tailored air packages will be navalWildcat helicopters, Royal Air Force heavylift, twin-rotor Chinook helicopters andArmy Air Corps Apache attack helicopters.It is highly likely that a range ofunmanned combat air vehicles will beembarked as this capability is developed.

The fixed-wing air component willcomprise the Lockheed Martin F-35BLightning jets. These aircraft will beoperated jointly by the Royal Navy andthe Royal Air Force. Lightning is a 5thgeneration combat aircraft capable ofmulti-role operations including air-to-surface, electronic warfare, intelligencegathering and air-to-air simultaneously.The aircraft combines advanced sensorsand mission systems with low-observabletechnology or “stealth” enabling it tooperate undetected in hostile airspace. Itsintegrated sensors, sensor fusion and datalinking provide the pilot withunprecedented situational awareness.Information gathered by the jet can beshared with other platforms using securedata links as well as using it to employ itsweapons and electronic systems.

Lightning is powered by a single Pratt andWhitney F-135 engine that providesthrust for both forward flight and verticaltake-off and landing. It is capable ofspeeds up to Mach 1.6 and has a combatradius in excess of 450 nautical miles.Typically, it will be armed with 2 air-to-airmissiles and 2 bombs carried internally.Optionally, it can be fitted with a 25mmgun pod and has underwing pylons that

Company News

Company News


can carry further weapons or pods up to15,000lbs (6,800kg).

Concepts of OperationsGenerally, aircraft carriers do not operateon their own. Usually they form the heartof a Carrier Strike Group comprising Type45 anti-air warfare destroyers, Type 23 andType 26 anti-submarine frigates, often anuclear attack submarine in support, andnaval auxiliary tankers and solid supportships. The Group provides flexible, self-sustaining, layered offensive and defensivecapability that can be deployed alongsideallies at the highest intensity levels ofwarfare as well as being able to adapt to awide range of other tasks on the high seaswithout the constraints of other nations’sovereign rights.

Meanwhile, the evolution of militarytechnologies and the threats that theypose continues apace. Innovations such asquieter submarines, hypersonic missilesand small, hard to detect, unmanned airsystems represent evolving threats to allBritish and allied military operations.However, to counter such developingthreats, the ships of the CSG have open-architecture command systems thatreadily allow for software and hardwareupgrades as well as the development ofApps and the introduction of AI decision-making aids as these technologies becomeavailable. The carriers themselves haveabundant spare capacity for new aircraft.Overall. the carrier strike capability isflexible in its configuration, in its taskingand in its longer-term development tomatch evolving military challenges.

Readers will note that the words “flexible”and “flexibility” have been used in severalplaces in this article. This is no accident

but serves to illustrate the key qualitiesthat Carrier Strike embodies and therange of options that this powerfulmilitary capability provides for the BritishGovernment in an exceptionally widerange of scenarios. This programmerepresents the coming together ofnumerous development strands that willprovide the UK with an outstandinglypowerful military force designed to lastwell into the 21st Century.Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh is a formerFirst Sea Lord, a Fellow of the NauticalInstitute, a Fellow of the Royal Instituteof Navigation, a Younger Brother ofTrinity House and a Freeman of theHonourable Company of Master Mariners.

Clyde Outport Visitto NorthernLighthouse Boardand NLV Pole StarHew R DundasCourt Assistant and ClydeOutport Court RepresentativeOn Tuesday 1st October, thanks toconnections made with Captain PhilipDay, NLB’s Director of Operations, on theRN-MEF course on HMS Collingwood inApril/May 2019, Clyde Outport visited NLBat its George Street, Edinburgh, headoffice followed by a visit to NLV Pole Starin Leith Docks where Captain Eric Smithacted as tour guide. The Outportattendees were Hon. Sec. Captain StuartMillar, Captains Lucas and Oliver (CourtAssistant) Chief Eng. (rtd) J Aitken andLiveryman/Court Assistant Hew R Dundaswith Alan Edmonds, formerly an Engineerwith Port Line, also in attendance as aguest of Captain Millar.The NLB was established in 1786 and hasbeen at its present address since 1832; it isgoverned by a Board of Commissioners,including the Lord Advocate, SolicitorGeneral the six Sheriff Principals of Scotlandas well as the Lord Provosts of Scotland’sthree main maritime ports, Edinburgh,Glasgow and Aberdeen. There are also six co-opted Commissioners, selected for theirmaritime experience. NLB has approx. 80staff in Edinburgh and an additional 20 in

Company News


Oban with small staffs in Inverness, Lerwickand Kirkwall. Of particular interest to theHCMM, NLB has recently taken on its firstapprentice technicians in modern times.Ultimately, NLB reports to the Departmentfor TransportPerhaps surprisingly, NLB is not tax-payerfunded but is funded (i) by collecting lightdues, (ii) operating on a semi-commercialbasis for other government agencies suchas through vessel hire to MoD and (iii) alsooperating on a commercial basis byproviding services to commercialcompanies such as maintaining andmonitoring Aids to Navigation (AtoNs) ondisused oil installations.NLB’s is responsible for 10,000km ofcoastline, 790 islands, 206 lighthouses,170 statutory buoys and 23 beacons and,in addition, it supervises 2,000 AtoNs, 130oil & gas platforms and >500 aquaculturefacilities. Very interestingly, several of thelighthouses were privately-ownedstructures built as monuments anddonated for use as lighthouses; further,while we are all used to the classicbrick/stone-built lighthouses such as theStevenson-built Bell Rock, modernalternatives are made from concrete,aluminium or GRP.As well as the obvious managing oflighthouses and buoys, NLB operates in asupervisory manner in respect of anywaters navigable by sea-going vesselssuch as the Caledonian Canal.NLB’s offshore operations are conductedfrom NLV Pharos (commissioned in 2007;3,672T) and NLV Pole Star (commissionedin 2000; 1,174T; due for replacement by2024). Interestingly, the latter’s enginesare now the only ones of their type left in

service in the world and there is only oneengineer worldwide who can deal withthe electric drive system. Of criticalimportance is NLB’s membership of theParis-based IALA1, created in 1957, inwhich NLB, along with the other UK andIreland Lighthouse Authorities, plays asignificant role.

Onboard NLV Pole Star, we were all struckby how small she seemed; she has a crewof 15 including Master, Chief Mate, twoSecond Mates, a Chief Engineer, a SecondEngineer, a Bosun and a deck crew of four. Fifty-two meters in length and with adraught of 3.5 metres, NLV Pole Star ispowered by three Cummins WärtsiläCW8L170 - 3 x 920 kW AC generatorsdriving 2 x Rolls Royce Aquamasterazimuth thrusters and 2 x variable pitchtunnel bow thrusters forward. Equippedwith an 18T crane, she is routinely used tomaintain buoyage around the Coast ofScotland and the Isle of Man. The Master Mariners present wereparticularly interested in the ship’s DPsystems since these were largely new tothem; the systems can hold the ship onstation to within three meters up to 30knots windspeed and 6 knots current towork buoys in up to 2.5-meter seas’informal lunch followed where ClydeOutport entertained Captains Day andSmith. A feature both of the lunchtimediscussions and on the tour of the shipwas the interchange of experiences from.Masters who had commanded widelydiffering ships. The author wishes to thank Captain PhilipDay, NLB’s Director of Operations, for hisvaluable contributions to this article; anyerrors are the author’s

UK HydrographicOffice A New andImpressive HQCdre Bob ThorntonChair SW Outport

If I begin by asking the question, “Whatdoes the UK Hydrographic Office do?” myguess is that the majority of readers willrespond without hesitation, “It producescharts”. This might be followed by a shortpause, then something along the lines of“Oh, and all that other stuff like SailingDirections, Light Lists, and Tide Tables”. Thatmight be followed by another slight pauseas the cogs gain traction then, “and List ofRadio Signals, Navigation Warnings, TheNautical Almanac, The Mariner’s Handbookand all those books beside the chart table”.(or, for the very careless, all over the chartroom deck in rough weather!) If you reallywanted to impress our learned Clerk, youmight also add that they look after amagnificent sundial presented by HCMM inwhich case congratulations, because theanswer to all of the foregoing would be“Yes, but….” The “but” is there for goodreason – read on and learn.I was delighted to be asked andsubsequently represent our HonourableCompany at the opening ceremony of thevery impressive new HQ of the UKHydrographic Office in Taunton. I ampleased to report that Thursday 25th Aprilwas not only a day of sunshine andshowers, but also one of tangible pride,broad smiles and much professionalenthusiasm as HRH The Princess Royalofficially opened the building in thepresence of some 850 staff and 100 guests,representing 18 countries, the localcommunity and our own commercial,academic and Naval sectors.

In the 800 square metre central atrium, theassembled company heard speeches from

Features


The Rt. Hon. Earl Howe, Deputy Leader ofthe House of Lords and Minister of Statefor Defence (who incidentally has anancestral link to the foundation of theHydrographic Office in 1795), Rear AdmiralTim Lowe CBE, National Hydrographer andActing Chief Executive UKHO and of courseHRH The Princess Royal who, as a keen andaccomplished sailor, takes rather more thana passing interest in UKHO products.

So, mention of products brings me back tothe earlier question “What does the UKHOdo?” and the “but” of the first paragraph.The correct answer is as follows: The UKHOis a world-leading centre for hydrographyproviding marine geospatial data to informmaritime decisions. They source, processand provide location-based information,ranging from seabed to surface. Oftquoted, but not widely appreciated, 95% ofour trade is seaborne, but there is more tothe sea than shipping. “Blue economy” isthe term applied to the sustainable use ofour oceans for economic growth which isexpected to double by 2030. The term“Blue economy” encompasses all aspects ofmaritime trade and the exploitation ofresources both on, and below, the seasurface and seabed. All of these activities,along with defence, clearly depend uponcomprehensive and up-to-date geospatialdata which means bathymetry and seabedprofiles, seabed geology and samples, tidalinformation, pipelines, cables and subseainfrastructure, navigational information,water column data, marine biologyinformation, astronomical and celestialinformation, maritime limits andboundaries. A mind-numbing amount ofdata must be verified and analysed beforeit makes the transition to knowledge andthence useful information for the end user.The management of these vast amounts ofdata demands a high degree of softwareengineering and data science capabilitythrough the development and applicationof complex algorithms and artificial

intelligence. The UKHO is one of 6 hubsthat deliver the Government’s Data ScienceAccelerator Programme. If you have been paying attention, you willhave noticed that the UKHO describes itselfas a world-leading centre for hydrography,a claim that is unequivocally evidenced bytheir role as the primary charting authorityfor 71 coastal states and of course, theirrespected position within the InternationalHydrographic Organization. Add to all ofthis an outstanding archive, which containshundreds of thousands of records andrepresents one of the most completehydrographic collections in the world.I hope you will agree that the UKHO doesrather more than “produce charts”, there ismuch more to it than that. I would describetheir work as something of a nationaltreasure, a highly valued gemstone perhaps,set in a striking new setting that will makeit shine yet more brightly.Images courtesy of UKHO

Rethinking MaritimeTraining:The Maritime world continues itsevolutionary change, but are the skills ofthe seafarer keeping up with thetechnology as the role of the ship driverbecomes ever more complex. we have toask whether the training model used is fitfor purpose, and if not, how it needs tochange. This paper will it is hoped, pose a numberof questions that need to be answered, inrespect of moving forward to achieve thegoal of providing an educationalframework that encompasses the best inbasic seacraft skills, with the technological,management and teamwork elements thatnow make up a good ships officer, and willshape the industry over the coming years.The present;Training of Ships officers is carried out under

the model ratified by the IMO (InternationalMaritime Organization) in 1978. It took tenyears to get the agreement of its countrymembers for ratification and acceptance, sothat by the time it came into being it was ineffect out of date.Certainly by 1978 the new technologywhich the 39, 45 conflict had spawnedwe’re moving on a pace, yet little of it wasincorporated into the training model otherthan Radar plotting. Not only that but many of the nationsaligned to the IMO were beginning torealize that sea trade could provide theirpopulation with work but they may not beable to cope educationally with theexaminations necessary to get the requiredmaritime certificates. This has led over the years to a number ofprotocols, drawn up at various venues thathave allowed the introduction of multichoice question written examinations andfixed question orals examinations. Allaccepted willingly by an industry that hastaken up more and more technology in thebelief that it will be better than welltrained competent officers.Yet we see that accident numbers haveincreased; crew contentment levels havedeteriorated dramatically and theanticipated profits from increasedTechnology and reduced manpower costshave not materialised? The reality is, onecausal factor follows on from the previous,but they are all related. The industryresponse has been to stick with the planand push even further along the path ofthe flawed STCW model - implementingever decreasing educational, technical andhuman skill-competency standards all ofwhich cost less. Therefore, surely, the profitsmust increase? Not so!Fundamentally, the STCW model was and iscritically flawed, from the outset it washistorically based, without any thought tothe technological changes already takingplace and from the outset failed to providethe up to date training necessary for acareer in what has always been andcontinues to become a highly technical anddemanding environment.

What is the problem with STCWMaritime Certification?The definition of “seamanship” is a goodstarting point when considering theproblems with STCW.SEAMANSHIP: Skill in Navigating andOperating a Ship in ALL circumstances.As an industry, we recognise (or should do)that instead of one “skill”, the qualities foroperating a vessel successfully requires

Company News

many skills, areas of knowledge andbehaviours, it cannot simply be defined asthe manual skill of physically sailing ornavigating a ship.When a newly qualified OOW is appointedto take charge of a navigational watch, wegenerally assume that they haveprofessional ‘skills’ adequate to the task inhand. The industry’s underlying premise isthat they would not be there otherwise. The STCW certificate of competency isacquired on the basis that the individualhas been tested and found fit andsufficiently knowledgeable (Competent) tooperate ship-wide controls and manage itssystems. That said, a newly qualified OOWdoes not always have a high level of“seamanship”, previously referred to. Anymariner will agree that “seamanship” issomething that improves with experienceas the skills and knowledge involved taketime to develop and, as was the case in thepast, are passed on to those comingthrough the training regime. Taking the definition one step further.Seamanship involves self-discipline and thecarefully judged application of acquiredcompetency skills, behavioural traits andtheoretical knowledge. Correct and safeuse of all these are, historically speaking,thought of as good “seamanship”.The word “seamanship” is often used as athrow away comment to cover manysituations. But experience, all too often,shows us that the foregoing underlyingassumptions are far from the truth.Good seamanship is something thatseparates the superior mariner from theaverage. It is not a measure of skill ortechnique, nor is it just common sense (ournormal understanding and judgement).Instead, and historically, it is a measure of amariner’s accumulated learning, theirknowledge and awareness of the industry,transferable training on a multitude ofdifferent vessel types and an intimateknowledge, even relationship, with themaritime operating environment.Moreover, a good seaman will have arealistic understanding of his owncapabilities and behavioural characteristics.This, when combined with good judgement,good decision making, attention to detailand self-discipline, begins to give us areasonable understanding of the technical,professional competence and personalattributes that, more holistically andcorrectly, define the term ‘seamanship’.Self-discipline and the exercise of goodjudgement are vitally important to thepractice of good seamanship. Both requirewell developed character traits and a

personal confidence borne out of practicalexperience that is tempered with wideranging theoretical knowledge.

Good seamanship comes at a cost, a costthat the industry and its masters have notbeen willing to pay. How often have weheard this mantra down the years?

The issue of safety, competency and profitderives from a complex set of questionswith an equally complex set of response.The cause is fundamentally systemic - withdegrading crew competence, driven byfalling skill levels and deterioratingsituational awareness, declining safetystandards have, inevitably resulted inhigher accident levels that have acommensurately greater cost to theindustry as a whole. Profits must suffer, itis a natural consequence of weakregulation, poor training and decliningseamanship levels.

The comparison between the Maritime andAviation Industries is often drawn, butcommentators habitually fail to grasp thatdiffering attitudes towards human-playerand related safety-culture consistentlyimpacts a single (accident) determiningfactor Situational Awareness!It is interesting to note that both industriesclaim to use the same risk avoidance modelJames Reasons (2000) multi-layered ‘SwissCheese’ Accident prevention concept,whereby errors are captured, or mitigatedfor, at an early stage.

Unfortunately, as we shall see, claiming toapply the same model is where thesimilarity between the two industries ends.

The maritime and aviation industries havevery different attitudes regarding how theSwiss Cheese model works in practice. Thedifferences manifest very differently intraining and professional value cultureoutcomes for the two industries which, in

reality, are almost diametrically opposite -despite claims to the contrary.Consequently, it should come as no surprisethat the accident safety record outcomesare very different.

It is one thing to make such a statement, itis another to demonstrate the outputrealities of the different cultures, and thatis what this paper will show.

What do we mean by SituationalAwareness?Within the maritime sphere, situationalawareness is attributed to the ‘man on thebridge’ and can generally be defined as:

an appreciation of the vessel and how itis interacting with the environment it isoperating in.

Those with a high level of situationalawareness are deemed to be knowledgeablein relation the mechanical status of theship, geographical position, vessel course /speed and manoeuvring systems, cargocare, the proximity of other vessels and thepotential hazards that they represent.

By this definition,” situational awareness”is attributable to the man on the bridgealone. Thus, someone with low situationalawareness would, potentially, be in dangerof running aground, damaging the cargo orcolliding with other vessels that approachthem unnoticed.

So far, so good! The industry’s answer tosolving low situational awareness isincreasingly found in the drive towardsautomation. The argument is simple - takethe human element (the inherentweakness) out of the system and automateas many systems as possible, then thedeteriorating industry safety record shouldresolve itself.

The simple reality is, this model hasconsistently been proven not to work. Yet,


The STCW regulatory, training-safety model, has a natural cause and effect output,namely;

within the maritime industry, where STCWwas adopted around 1978, it has beensupported by a regulatory framework whichhas driven training and competencystandards towards the lowest commondenominator using the arbitrary (and clearlyunsupported) arguments that all maritimetraining is equal and all seafarers are trainedto the same standard. (Which they are not) So how do we see the future:Seafaring is and always has been avocation, but it eventually evolved into aprofession. Inshore, coastal, and rivertransport took men and women into anatural world of adventure where the wideexpanses of water were looked at assomewhere to be explored. No mountainsor visible terrain just vast expanses ofnothing, what was over the horizon?So, the human interface has always been atthe forefront of maritime, the link betweenthe sailor, the ship and the forces of Nature. Knowledge of ship and its interaction withthe forces of nature was a fundamentalaspect of shipping until the advent of thepowered vessel. Steam power gave the shipand its crew some control over the forcesof nature, they were not ruled by them.That ability has developed exponentiallyespecially over the last 30 years or so. Thecoming of the computer and its ability tocontrol many of the Navigational andEngineering functions, was seen by the shipowners and managers as mana fromheaven, fill the ship with gadgetry andthere will be no need for Crew!!Things have not actually worked out thatway; aids to Navigation such as ECDISwhich should have prevented collisions andgroundings have not, they still occur, so wemust question why? Is it because thetechnology itself is at fault, is there an overreliance on such technology, or is it thatthe personnel using it are inexperienced ornot trained correctly in its operation? There most probably are elements of both inthe argument, technology that is not builtto a standard which allows for easy humaninterface and the training and competencystandards of those using it. An over relianceon technology by inexperienced poorlytrained officers, who, when faced withconfusing or conflicting information do nothave the ability to respond and questionwhat they are faced with, or have theability to use the basic seafaring skills ofpractical seamanship, simply looking out thebridge window to have the specialawareness necessary to safely navigate theship without causing harm to themselves,others, or the environment. Each new situation or task onboard ship

needs to be assessed individually andresolved by the application of asophisticated set of well-developedknowledge, skills and accepted practices bya professional mariner.Professionalism has been defined as a self-disciplined group of individuals, who holdthemselves out to the public, as possessinga special skill derived from training oreducation, and who are prepared to exercisethat skill primarily in the interest of others. Professionalism is a requirement for resolvingthe complex and unpredictable problemsfaced by seafarer’s onboard ship. There is nosingle recipe for getting a ship her cargo andcrew from A to B. These skills need to bedeveloped through appropriate educationand guidance from experienced practitionersSo, where do we go from here, there arethree possible scenarios;• Keep STCW review and modify.

• Scrap it keep the model and rewrite inmore modern terms incorporating newtechnology and training methods

• Scrap it altogether and look at acompletely new model of training, onethat incorporates all the basicseamanship elements necessary andincludes regular high-level training forassessment and evaluation in a real timesimulated environment. (like aircraftsimulators) and increase the use ofVirtual Reality in maritime educationtraining and operations.

But and it is a big BUT, are we too late?Have the movements to automate shippingovertaken us to the extent that we arefighting a loosing battle. There is a body ofopinion that tells us Technology has alreadysurpassed what we believed would be thefuture, for many it is here now. Maybe now is the time, and, given thespeed of development over the last fewyears -possibly our last chance to startdiscussing the moral, ethical and legalframework required to steer the evolutionof digital life and to bridge the gapbetween what technology can do and whatit might do - if we let it.If we, as an industry, wish to retain masteryof the seas and create a place where ourskills, knowledge and livelihoods meansomething, then we need to be mindful ofwhat is going on in the exponentiallydeveloping world of automation andhuman augmentation. We must beginpreparing for, and accept the burden of, anew kind of maritime stewardship andexercise more prescient foresights. The onusis upon us to become active in creating andimplementing the ground rules for what

goes on out of sight of land - in the waterywilderness that is the domain of wemariners and our forebears. We need to bedecisive, yet remain open-minded andflexible enough not to inhibit real progress. • Daunting? Yes!

• Impossible? No!

• Alternatives? Regrettably, None.

Whilst the scenario may sound dramatic andsomewhat far-fetched, it is, in fact, barely afew years away and it is rapidly comingupon us. The technologies described, oralluded to, already exist. They are real andthey are already being exploited – this issimply a statement of fact.On current trend, if we do nothing toregulate or retain at least some legislativeand human control of our industry andworking environment, the seas riskbecoming the domain of manipulatedbeings that service an autonomous shippingindustry that could, in the space of barely ageneration, be lost to most of humankind. Our starting point must be to recognisewhat is going on and speak out. We have amoral, ethical and human obligation tomake others aware of the risks thatdeveloping, then implementing, theseunregulated technologies poses to ourindustry in the first place, then to otherindustries and, eventually, to all of mankind.If what is here alluded to becomes theeventual outcome from this rapidlyincreasing technological drive, history mayjudge that our generation and those thatwe are currently training, were guilty of thegreatest ever crime against humanity.To do nothing, is to become redundant! Captain Peter MacArthur.Captain Les Hesketh.Captain Robert Booth.

Are our days alreadynumbered?In the preceding article we looked at whatif anything needs to be done to the waythe Young Mariners are trained for amodern 21st century merchant Fleet. The problem is, that the maritime industry isnot only fickle but financially driven, do wecave in and accept the inevitable or fightfor a better future for our young mariners.We are going to have to realize that thefight will take in not only the training ofthe Cadets but also the industry itself,where attitudes will have to be changed onhow ships and shipping operate. We are all well aware of the efforts to curban arms race after the devastating conflict

Company News


Features


of World War 1 and 2, the nuclearproliferation treaty being the main onethat comes to mind. Much is talked aboutthe ethics of using weapons of massdestruction and their effect on the planet.Yet here we are on the cusp of anotherpossibly far greater problem that couldresult in the demise of humankind as weknow it. A problem that is alreadyencroaching on our lifestyle, cybertechnology, touted by those "in the know"as the panacea for all the problems onearth and to improve the life of humans.The push by big business, includingshipping is to automate with roboticmanufacturing and service, to make itquicker and easier for us simple humans tolive an easy life.

We already see in the car industry,electronics, mega retail warehouses andsome container berths. I have not includedthe airline industry, although most of theplanes you fly in on holiday or to work, areflown by computers, yet they still maintainwell trained and very competent pilots andEngineers to watch over them.

Much of what we see happening comesunder the heading of "improving safety,efficiency and profitability ". Remove thehuman, but what do you do with them?This is where we have a conundrum, withour weapons of mass destruction we nowhave ethically based policies that ensure atleast some control. Technology has no suchoverarching ethical principles yet it has thepossibility to bring about the demise ofhumanity as we know it.?

So is it not about time that we in themaritime sector started to question what isgoing on and to look at its effects onship's, shipping and ship drivers, don't weneed to ask for an ethical policy on thedevelopment and use of technology notonly in our industry, but across the wholegamut of the modern industrial world.

We do it now or we do not do it at all, thetime for procrastination is passed, there isno more leeway to consider the future, it ishere and now and if we and the industry donot get to grips with it, it will overwhelm usand our days will certainly be numbered.

Captain Robert Booth.

Royal Navy SteamLaunchNo.2 in the Royal Navy series by Henri Gervèse.Henri Gervèse, the nom-de-plume ofCaptain Charles Marie Joseph Millot (1880-1959), late of the French Navy, had served

from 1897 to 1923. During this period, hedrew a series of 100 postcards depicting allaspects of life in the French Navy –JoHCoMM passim.

This final card in the French Navy series, �100, is far from his best and is ratherpoignantly entitled: “Having treated theflush on the Admiral’s WC with brute forceand ignorance”, as seen here.

He had also produced a series of 22postcards of the Royal Navy as a result ofhis secondment to the staff of Admiral deRobeck, RN in the Dardanelles. He travelledout to the Dardanelles on the Australie, apassenger liner of the MessageriesMaritimes with Captain Roger Keyes (laterto become Admiral of the Fleet, Sir RogerKeyes) who described him as “always agood companion”. Gervèse was servingaboard HMS Ocean when she struck a mine,laid by the Turkish Navy in Erenköy Bay. Themine was most probably German made andof the very reliable Hertz horn contact type.These had five soft lead horns around theupper sides of the ovoid mine containing aglass vial of electrolyte; when broken bycontact with a vessel, this completed theelectrical circuit for detonation.

These sea mines also had automaticanchors that used hydrostats to set themine’s depth and then lock the mooringcables. These proved so reliable andsuccessful that the Royal Navy started toproduce an exact copy by 1917.

On the 18th March 1915 and, despite allefforts, HMS Ocean sank later that dayhaving just managed to steam into MortoBay, an inlet on the South West tip of CapeHelles on the Gallipoli Peninsula. For his

coolness during the sinking, was awardedthe DSC unusually for an officer fromanother Naval service and on secondment.His main regret and concerns, as he wroteafterwards, was that he had lost all his manysketches, paintings, brushes and artist’smaterials, rather than the loss of his spareuniform, “mais heureusement pas ma vie”

In November 1916 a naval mine sank itslargest vessel ever near the Greek island ofKea, the British hospital ship, HMHSBritannic, the sister ship of the ill-fatedRMS Titanic.

This steam picket boat or pinnace, sub-titled: 2. Beach party steam-boat, appearsrather the worse for wear with a couple ofdents in the bow and a large riveted patch.Signed H. Gervese, “Anzac” 1915, thematelots are rather a scruffy lot and thesplash and plume rising from the waterbehind the pipe-smoker, perhaps a nearmiss from a Turkish gun battery ashore? Idoubt it as they seem to be exhibiting a bittoo much sang-froid, even for phlegmaticjack tars, but what is it? The portside funnelappears to have sprung a leak at the topand the general condition of the boat, evenin wartime, would have given the Admiralan apoplectic fit. It is often said that “Aship is known by her boats”, so it isprobably as well that the Admiral has notseen this one, especially with not with awashing line strung between the funnelstrut and the ventilation funnel withlaundry hung out to dry. Hung out to dry?Their feet wouldn’t touch the ground. Theusual “Windermere kettle”, a steam coilwater boiler found on steam driven leisurecraft and running at 80psi, appears to havebeen replaced by a “Dardanelles kettle”;one that allows toast to be made at thesame time. Of interest was to see a photoof an RN steam pinnace of this era as I wassure it would be instantly recognizablefrom Gervèse’s postcard and it is. LikeHergé, Gervèse’s eye for detail and accuracyis astonishing.

Features


Finding a photo of the type shown inGervèse’s drawing was difficult as most ofthe later versions had only a single funnel.Many were built for the Royal Navy andother foreign naval forces by J. Reid ofPortsmouth. These vessels were 56ft long,carried sixteen crew men plus a coxswain,weighed 18 tons and had a lifesavingcapacity of 80 souls. Some of the originalengines were built by J. Samuel White ofEast Cowes and were compounds, 4" + 7½" x 5", rated at 19 IHP at 485 rpm, givinga top speed of 21 knots. Perhaps it was onone of these steam pinnaces that the poetRupert Brooke, a Sub-Lieutenant at thetime was transferred from HMS Canopus ,anchored off Skyros to the French Navyhospital ship Duguay Trouin anchored atTrebuki Bay and from which the Marconi-gram reported: “Etat désespéré ” and thenhis death at the age of 27 in 1915 of“œdème malin et septicémie foudroyante”.

The gun in the bow is probably the quick-firing French Hotchkiss 3-pdr, designed andmade in France by Hotchkiss et Cie in theirfactory at St. Denis near Paris. Founded byan expatriate American gunsmith, BenjaminB. Hotchkiss, the company’s first factorywas at Viviez near Rodez in 1867, the moveto St Denis coming in 1875 after theFranco-Prussian War. Made under licence inBritain the specifications had to beconverted from metric into Imperial, so the3lb projectile actually weighed 3.3 lbsconverted from the 1.5 kilos of the original;the complete shell weighed double. Thebreach was a vertical sliding wedgeoperated by a handle on a very coarsescrew thread requiring only a short arc andtravel to open or close the breech. A strongdesign, it is well supported by the receiveragainst the forces generated on firing. Firstdesigned in 1885, it has a 47mm calibreand as such it has a rate of fire of 30rounds per minute with maximum range of3.7 miles or 5.7 kilometres. On some a 5-barrelled, gravity fed 0.45-inch calibreNordenfelt was fitted on the cabin roofinstead of the Hotchkiss. They could also,should the need arise, be rigged to launch14inch spar torpedoes over each side,perhaps hoping to be designated as

torpedo craft as the latter are said to bethe only RN vessels to have their rumration issued neat, as opposed to one-partrum to three parts water. As well as theHotchkiss, they were armed with a lightVickers-Maxim gun and twelve .303 riflesstored in rack in the aft cockpit withsufficient .303 ammunition for both. Thequote from Hilaire Belloc’s poem “TheModern Traveller”, published in 1898:“Whatever happens, we have got theMaxim gun, and they have not”, was nolonger true by 1914. Pretty much allmodern forces, Army and Navy, had anynumber of them, firing 550-600 rounds perminute, further adding to the butcher’s billof the First World War. With all thisfirepower the RN steam launch was, for itstime, a very aggressive small craft.Hotchkiss 3-pdr

Vertical sliding wedge breach

The cards that Gervèse drew during hissecondment to the Royal Navy are anaccurate and kindly observation of BritishNaval life and many bear direct parallels tothose that he drew of the French Navy,Russian Navy and the Argentine Navy, all ofwhich have been discussed in previousarticles. The accuracy and detail of hisportrayal, even as cartoons, of uniformsand naval installations was quiteextraordinary. This can be seen in the cardbelow, � 12, sub-titled: First command. Themidshipman, white collar tabs, dirk, knotand all, is learning to drive a picket boatunder the anxious eyes of the petty officerwith crown and fouled anchors of his rankon his sleeve and below, three goodconduct stripes that he doesn’t want tolose. The contrast between the twomembers of the Royal Navy is sowonderfully observed and then portrayed.

Features


These last two postcards in the RN serieswere published by Raffaelli, Quai Cronstadt,Toulon; Toulon being the home of theFrench Navy. This Royal Navy series becameso well know and liked, that King George Vis believed to have asked for a set of them.

Artist, writer, naval officer and musician,Henri Gervèse will long be remembered asthe personification of the humorous,compassionate, educated, cultured FrenchNaval officer and Master mariner.

150th Anniversary ofOpening of the Suez CanalCaptain A.L. WhiteThis year, during December, Egypt and themaritime world will celebrate the 150thanniversary of the opening of the SuezCanal so it is timely to look briefly at itsachievements and its impact on theconstruction and operation of ocean-going ships.

For centuries various ideas were proposedfor the construction of a canal across theIsthmus of Suez to link the Mediterraneanand the Red Sea, mostly by the Ottomans,the Venetians and the French. During the1790s Napoleon had an interest andsanctioned a survey but the idea wasabandoned after his Chief Engineercalculated that the Red Sea was 33 feethigher than the Mediterranean, an errorthat set the project back by half a century.In the early 1850s the French diplomat andadministrator Ferdinand De Lesseps (seephotograph), who had held diplomaticposts in Egypt in the 1830s, and backed byan international commission of engineers,proposed a new lock-free Suez Canalscheme. In 1854, de Lesseps received an Actof Concession from the Ottoman viceroy(Khedive) of Egypt, Said Pasha, to constructa canal, and in 1856 a second Actconferred on the Suez Canal Company theright to operate a maritime canal for 99years after completion of the work.Construction began in 1859 and took ten

years to complete instead of the plannedsix but in August 1869 a 102 mile single-lane waterway with several passinglocations was completed and it officiallyopened with an elaborate ceremony inNovember that year. Its original depth was26 feet and the largest ship load that couldpass through was about 5000 tons. InitiallyDe Lesseps was anxious for internationalparticipation and the shares were offeredwidely including to the British Government.However, only the French responded,buying 52 percent of the shares; of theremainder, 44 percent was taken up by SaidPasha. But the first board of directorsincluded representatives of 14 countries.However, in 1875, due to financialdifficulties a new viceroy was compelled tosell his Canal holdings. By thenapproximately 80 percent of ships using theCanal were British so the shares wereeagerly bought by the British Governmentunder Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli.Soon after, in 1882, a British invasion ofEgypt brought the Canal and the countryunder full British control. The Canalremained in the ownership andmanagement of the UnitedKingdom and France until 1956 when theEgyptian President, Gamal AbdelNasser, nationalised it.

While the Canal greatly reduced voyagetime to and from ports in the Gulf, theIndian sub-continent and the Far East, italso had a significant impact on voyagecosts and the structural development ofmany ocean-going steamships. Passages

through the Canal were expensive andgenerally based on a ship's net tonnage, ameasurement of potential earning capacityintroduced in the British MerchantShipping Act of 1854. From 1873 the SuezCanal Company used a modified version ofthe British net tonnage rules that includedthe width of the upper continuous maindeck. Transit fees could represent a highproportion of a ship's operating costs, forexample in the 1880s up to 25% for acargo passenger steamer of 1400 net tonsvoyaging to India. Efforts to reduce thislevel of cost led to a number of innovativeship designs, among them DoxfordShipyard’s turret deck design was the mostnotable (see photograph). Based on anAmerican 'whaleback' design, from 1893182 turret deck ships were delivered,mostly from Doxfords, despite claims ofsuspect stability. Among many Britishshipowners Clan Line took 30 of theseturret ships before 1912 when Sueztonnage regulations changed andproduction ceased. Similar to the turretdeck design were Ropner's trunk steamersfrom 1894 but unlike the turrets they hadmain decks stepped only in the way ofcargo holds. Another version from Ropner’sYard was the long bridge-deck tramp thatprovided increased carrying capacitywithout increasing net tonnage. However,with the Manchester Ship Canal thatopened in 1894 and the Panama Canal in1914 that both also used net tonnage fordetermining passage costs, the firstdecades of the twentieth-century sawdevelopment of the two-deck open shelterdeck general cargo ship with tonnageopenings. This design offered the greatestflexibility under the various tonnageregulations and the type would surviveuntil the container revolution.A more general problem for internationalshipping has been that the canal is locatedin a politically sensitive region and this hasresulted in its closure on several occasions.The first serious closure followed the

Features


British-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt inOctober 1956, when President Nasser gaveorders for the Canal to be blocked bysunken ships. It was cleared and reopenedin March 1957. Its longest period ofinactivity commenced in June 1967 whenas a result of the Six-Day War betweenIsrael and Egypt the waterway was againclosed, this time trapping fifteen foreignships, four of them British, in the Canal’sGreat Bitter Lake. This ‘Yellow Fleet’remained there until the Canal reopenedfor navigation in June 1975.

For ship builders and managers, the sizeand depth limitations of both Suez andlater Panama would for decades determinethe maximum size of most ocean-goingtrading vessels. Some improvements to thelength, depth and width of Suez began asearly as 1876, but like Panama, at times itwas somewhat behind the shippingindustry’s demands for larger moreeconomical vessels. Now, after a hugeexpansion programme, the Suez Canal canaccommodate ships up to 240,000deadweight tons with a maximum beam of245 feet, a draught of 66 feet and norestriction on length. Also, from 2015, thereis two-way traffic over a long stretch ofthe Canal and this has reduced transit timeto between eleven and sixteenhours. However, for most vessels shipspeed is still limited to 16km/hour (8.6knots) to prevent erosion of the waterway’sbanks. More than 18,000 ships used theSuez Canal in 2018, a 3.6 percent increasefrom the previous year. On average up to50 ships a day now transit the Canal and anew record was reached on 2nd August2019 when 81 ships passed through, 43south bound and 38 north bound.

JOTTING MONTHLYBy Glyn L Evans

The California,by W L WyllieThe artist Edwin Bale RI wrote, in hisIntroduction to the book “Marine Painting inWater-Colour” by W L Wyllie, A.R.A., “Topaint the sea as Mr Wyllie does it, one mustbe a sailor as well as a painter. From a lad ithas been his home, and painting it his dailybusiness. No matter how tiny or how queerlyrigged, he had to have his boat and to getabout on board her, and it makes alandsman tremble to think of the voyageshe must have had crossing the Channel toHolland and France in boats that wereveritable cockleshells. Marine painting is astudy of perpetual motion, an art which

seeks to represent objects that are never still,and which are seen under an infinity ofchanging conditions of wind and tide andlight; an art for success in which one mustpossess keen eyesight, to observe, a powerfulmemory to carry away, and a deft hand torecord the ever-shifting face of the sea andsky, with the objects moving upon them.”

While Bale writes above of Wyllie’s water-colour painting, it is of a Wyllie oil paintingthat I write, the painting being that of “TheCalifornia in full sail passing a lighthouse”.This magnificent picture, measuring 5 ft. x3 ft. (overall with frame - 6 ft. x 4 ft.)painted in 1897 and framed in 1910, hangsabove the main staircase on board HQSWellington, having been presented as abequest by Sir Geoffrey Beazley*. Thepicture and its frame were returned to theship on Tuesday 30th July 2019 after alengthy process of restoration carried outby Tom Mayhew and his staff at the SouthEast Conservation Centre, St Leonards onSea. Visitors to the ship in the interim couldbe excused for not noticing its absence,this having been taken by a full-sizephoto/printed stretched canvas look-alikeprocured by the Clerk for that very

purpose. Without delving too deeply intothe technicalities of the work carried outby the conservators, the immediate impactnow is of white sails above a sparkling sea,all enhanced by the fact that the old, un-necessary glass has been removed, leavingthe oil paint to shine through a coat ofmuseum-quality varnish.The California, was built in 1890 (launched22nd February – delivered 24th April) atthe Belfast yard of Harland & Wolff (HullNo 225) for Ismay, Imrie & Company ofLiverpool, part of the White Star Line. Shewas 392.3 ft long with a beam of 45.2 ft., adepth of 26.6 ft and of 3,099 grossregistered tons. California was the last andlargest of the White Star sailing ships, afour-masted barque with fore and aft sailson her mizzen, she was built as a bulkcarrier to bring wheat from the west coastof North America to Britain. On her maidenvoyage in 1890 she sailed from Liverpool toSan Francisco in 130 days and back in 121days. Sold to new owners in 1896 andsubsequently to various others, shestranded on the Isla de Providencia in theCaribbean Sea, approximately 150 miles offthe east coast of Nicaragua, and wasabandoned to underwriters as aconstructive total loss in 1927.

William Lionel Wyllie was born in Camden,London in 1851, the eldest son of W MWyllie, himself a prosperous minor-genrepainter living in London and Wimereaux,France. Most of Wyllie’s early summerswere spent in France with his parents. Hebegan to draw from an early age, hisnatural talent being encouraged by hisfather. He was given an artistic education

White Star Line Building, Liverpool.

Features


at the Hatherley School of Fine Art andthen, aged 15, at the Royal AcademySchools. He won the Turner Gold Medal in1869 with Dawn after a Storm, at the ageof eighteen. He has since been described as“the most distinguished marine artist of hisday” with his works hanging in the Tate,the Royal Academy, the Imperial WarMuseum, the National Maritime Museum,the National Museum of the Royal Navy,many other institutions around the worldand, of course, on board HQS Wellington.

Oil on Canvas, 30.5 inches x 50 inches -sold at Sotheby’s, London on 14th

December, 2006 for £26,400. This begs thequestion, what might Wyllie’s painting ofthe California make at auction today.

A prolific exhibitor at all the leadingacademies and galleries, Wyllie became amember of the Society of British Artists,the Royal Institute of Painters in WaterColours and the New English Arts Club. In1907 he was elected a full member of theRoyal Academy. As a founder member ofthe Society for Nautical Research hecampaigned vigorously for the restorationof HMS Victory, and in 1930 his 42-footpanorama of the Battle of Trafalgar wasunveiled by King George V. The paintingstill hangs in the Royal Navy Museum,Portsmouth. Wyllie and his latter work wereso closely associated with the Royal Navythat, upon his death in 1931, he was buriedwith full naval honours. His 1883 painting,

and perhaps the best known, Toil, Glitter,Grime and Wealth on a Flowing Tide, wasbought by the Chantrey Bequest for theTate Gallery.

*Colonel Sir James Geoffrey Brydon BeazleyMC TD DL (at whose bequest the HCMMnow has the California) was born into ashipping family. It was back in 1845 that aJames Beazley formed the Beazley Line,owning 28 sailing ships between 1849 and1875 which made regular sailings fromLiverpool to Australia and New Zealand. In1864 he founded and managed the BritishShipowners Company, extending crossingsto San Francisco and South America. In1868 the possibility of establishing aninstitution in Liverpool for the care oforphaned children of seamen was proposedby Ralph Brocklebank and Bryce Allan.James Beazley, leading shipowner, wasinvited to take up the chairmanship of theexecutive committee formed to further theplan to establish an orphanage. TheLiverpool Seaman’s Orphan Institution atNewsham Park, Liverpool, opened on 30th

September 1874. Older boys who wereinterested in a career at sea could transferfrom the home to the training shipIndefatigable which was moored in theriver Mersey.

The domed roof of the Mersey Docks &Harbour Board to the right of the Liver andCunard Buildings, Pier Head, Liverpool.

In 1882, Edwin Arthur Beazley of thisshipping family joined William Gracie to

form Gracie, Beazley & Co., a company, setup exclusively to charter its ships to othershipping companies, notably Anchor Line,American Line, New Zealand ShippingCompany, White Star Line and Shaw, Savill& Albion. Edwin Beazley’s son, Geoffrey wasborn in 1884 and went on to becomeChairman of the Liverpool SteamshipOwners Association from 1933 to 1937 andto serve as a director of the Mersey Docks& Harbour Board (MD&HB) from 1928 to1959. He was Deputy Chairman of the MD& HB from 1948 to 1950 and Chairmanfrom 1950 to 1954. For his services toshipping he was knighted in 1954, and inDecember 1959 he retired after what hedescribed as “a long innings.” Sir Geoffreydied on 29th March 1962.

Haven Ports and thepiloting of largecontainer vessels:Michael Robarts: Senior Pilot Harwich Haven Authority

As a former Chairman of the HarwichHaven Authority Board said ‘the HarwichHaven is one of the most beautifulharbours and has been turned intosomething completely useful’. The harbourhas numerous seaward approach channelsand inside the harbour is connected by tworivers the Orwell and Stour. The area andthe terminals are known as the HavenPorts. The main terminal complex at theharbour is The Port of Felixstowe containerterminal owned by Hutchison Whampoa,this handles the most modern and ultralarge container vessels now exceeding 400metres in length and 23000 TEU. The Portof Felixstowe handles close to 40% of theUK’s containers and is the UK’s largestcontainer facility. The river Stour has thepassenger terminal handling Ro/Ro andlarge cruise liners and also petroleumtankers at the local refinery. The riverOrwell of ABP Ipswich handles dry bulkvessels with cargoes arriving from Europeand worldwide.

Dawn after a Storm

Features


The Harwich Haven Authority [HHA] is thestatutory authority for the harbour areaand seaward approaches to Haven Ports.Harwich Haven Authority is a Trust Port anddoes not own any of the terminals in theharbour as these are privately owned butderives it income from the tariffs levied forconservancy and pilotage services. TheAuthority was established under an Act ofParliament in 1863. It is not supported bythe public purse, but any profit is reinvestedto maintain the highest marine navigationaland environmental standards. The authorityis a statutory authority with powers toregulate navigation, a competent harbourauthority and provides the pilotage servicefor the Haven Ports and seaward area and alocal lighthouse authority providingnavigation marks in its area.

All of the seaward approaches areencompassed by marine conservation zonesand the rivers used for navigationsurrounded by SSSI protection as they arespecial sites of scientific interest.

Environmental compliance is high and oneof the reasons for regulated navigation.Harwich Haven Authority continuouslymonitors the ecology and wildlife in theHaven and no adverse effects have beenfound as a result of commercial operationsin the area. Doing all of this has meantsignificant investment in marine operationswhich includes pilotage, surveying,dredging and public awareness of what theauthority does and is something we areextremely proud of.

Pilotage:Harwich Haven Authority is deemed acompetent harbour authority under thePilotage Act of 1987. The definition of apilot is a ‘person who has the conduct ofnavigation’. I often get asked what thismeans, to be brief; passage planning,navigating, manoeuvring, ship handlingand ensuring that whilst under navigationall port byelaws and regulations arecomplied with, it involves looking aftereverything until the ship is safe alongside

her berth or safely put to sea. It is aresponsible job and one that gives legalpowers for navigation and has penalties formisconduct. Harwich Haven Authorityinstalls responsibility on pilots, and recruits’pilots from a senior marine career andcurrently sets the bench mark as a Masterscertificate of competency coupled withMasters experience or senior officer withpilotage/port experience. Once a pilot hasstarted training, they are doubled up untilauthorised and continuously developedwith training in marine resourcemanagement, simulator training and othercourses in ship handling with six monthlydevelopment reviews. The standards set bythe authority are high and quite rightly sowhen you take into account what has to beaccomplished in an environmentallysensitive area.

My role as a PilotIts 0300 and the telephone rings. The onlyperson in the house who is glad to hear thephone ring is the dog who knows this is thesignal for him to occupy my warm side ofthe bed. The pilot co-ordinator is calling tolet me know that a large container vesselhas given an ETA to the pilot station at theseaboard area. I get myself ready and headout of the house and get the firstindication of the weather to expect. As thecar pulls out of the drive most of myneighbours probably have no idea what Ido or where I am heading when my carlights head up the road. It’s a thirty-minute

Features

drive to the Vessel Traffic Service centrewhich allows me to contemplate the natureof the pilotage I am about to undertake.

I arrive at the pilot station which is theVessel Traffic Services and operationscentre, here I check my personal protectiveequipment and begin planning thepilotage. At the VTS centre I have access toreal time meteorological sensors for windstrengths and tide heights. I am also able tosee past trends and the forecasts. As I amdoing all of this, I discuss with the portduty officer the berth location and plannedside too and traffic forecast. Part of riskassessment carried out by the port in thepassage plan was whether vessels require‘clear runs’ at certain parts of the route byregulation or whether adopting riskassessment and methodology is sufficientto manage that risk. I discuss also whattowage I expect will be needed and if atidal window for minimum under keelclearance to be maintained. All of thisstarts the integrated port system and thekey players understand what the plan is. Inote essential elements and calculations onthe Master/Pilot exchange form fordiscussion once I’m onboard the ship.

Harwich Haven Authority has done more,by putting together a Passage Plan SupportDocument, which can be freely downloadedand gives Masters more information and

guidance on planning the port passage.Pilots are equipped with portable pilotunits which allow passage plans to bedeveloped and taken onboard. I always saythat an electronic tablet can carry moreinformation in it than I could carryonboard in a suitcase. From the VTS I godown to the jetty to board the pilot launchfor the trip out to the arriving vessel.

Arriving at my work station.

As the pilot launch approaches the ship, Iam already assessing what the exposed hullform is like. Where can the tugs connectspeedily with the shape of the hull andwhat will the flare on the bow and stern belike for berthing? Will extra towage berequired? Once on the bridge I meet withthe Master. A lot has been written aboutthe Master Pilot relationship and prettypictures with bridge seating plans and whogoes where. I have always found that agood handshake and a warm ‘hello captain’and a joke about the English weather getsthings off in the right way.

Exchange of information

On the bridge the master and myself willgo through an exchange of informationstarting with two documents; my MPX andthe ships pilot card. Depending on the sizeof the ship and risk this can be a straightforward process of exchange ofinformation, on larger ships this can be theroute, berth and towage followed by asteady feed of information to keep themaster briefed. From the pilot boardingarea, the ship is steadied on her first course.Track error minimises as the shipapproaches the approach channels to theport. My first report to the VTS is that theroute has been agreed and that I havetaken the conduct and agreed towage. Thevessel is given permission to enter theregulated traffic system. VTS monitor thepassage and use ‘trigger’ messages shouldthey see the vessel deviate from the genericport passage plan.

With the ever-increasing size of ship thedisplacement and reduction of UKC leadsto a larger swept path. Large alterationsneed to be planned and monitored as theyare executed. The purpose-built channelalso gives bank effect increasinghydrodynamic forces on the ship. A lot ofskill of the pilot comes in judging whethershorter course alterations should be doneby generating a rate of turn rather thanrapid course and helm orders. Any ordersgiven regarding helm and engine speedneed to be clear and short and closed offat the end. I remember that not everyone’sfirst language on the bridge is English.


Escort and harbour assistancetowage;

Towage is an important part of handlinglarge ships, not only is it a tool used formanoeuvring these ships, but it also formspart of risk assessment and a tool foremergency handling and keeping the shipand port area safe.

Traditionally tugs connected over the sternto pull and push ships. Different designs oftug were used for coastal or salvagetowage and harbour towage. Over theyears and with development in tug designwe have some very efficient and powerfultugs that can be used in different towmodes. The most modern of the designs isthe Azimuth Stern Drive Tug (ASD) which iscommon across Europe. There are otherdesigns such as Voith Schneider and poddesigns all with different qualities.

The ASD offers the pilots in the HavenPorts a design that is useful for harbourassistance when berthing and unberthingthe vessel, as well as a design that coupledwith new techniques allows us a mediumrange escort tug for the harbour andapproach channel. Large ships need bothescort and harbour assistance for us tomanage both the risks posed with such alarge ship and the handling characteristicsof their design.

During the pilotage the tug is connected atthe outer area of the harbour to provideassistance for the large turns at speed. Thisis possible from the tug towing over itsbow, and for the tug’s safety, stability andsea keeping qualities. It works withoutpower in an indirect mode but utilises theunderwater shape and area of the tug andacts as second rudder for the ship. Similarly,if power is needed the tug can apply thisthe same as the ship.

As the vessel comes through the turn, sheis able to be slowed by the tug intransverse arrest mode where the ship isbraked by the tug and her azipods creatinga ‘wall of water’. As the ship thenapproaches the swing, she is able to do adynamic swing (handbrake turn) assisted bythe tug operating on a 180 or semi-circle

radius. The tug has not had to alter her towline or the connected position meaning afast and safe response time.

The tug continues to operate in theseradiuses whilst the ship is manoeuvring atslow speed backwards through the harbour,and where at a slow speed the ship isaffected by the wind and tide in thenarrow harbour. the most important thingis response time.

As the ship approaches the berth the abilityfor the tug to come in and push the megaship is difficult due to the design and flatarea available. Here the tug is able toshorten her line and pull towards the quaybefore flipping around quickly to providethe check. Again, this brings safetyredundancy if the ships engines fail, eachtug is able to work on the fore and aft linesand position the ship in a safe position.Again, if external elements are strongwhilst positioning the ship the tug can beapplied to work against these forces withproper performance as she can tow in clearwater and not have to keep positionagainst a hull.

I always say to the ship’s crew that a ship isdesigned to go forwards rather thanbackwards with the shape of its hull. Roomis tight when we manoeuvre and we aresometimes required to turn the ship aroundand go backwards up a river to the berth.

This represents a number of situations, firstslow speed for the 180 degree turn andthen counteracting the elements before wego backwards. This time the blunt endrather than the pointy end has to go firstand the ship will behave differently.

As we approach the berth, we have to beextremely accurate due to the flare of the

bow and we have to park them as flat, aswell as displace something in the region of200,000 tons of water and counteract anywind or tide, and hold the vessel in positionin a tidal way with only 50 metres eitherend, till all mooring lines are fast which cantake about 40 minutes.

A Short History ofRailway SteamersBy John Eric TinneyIt is difficult to write about the RailwaySteamers without writing about theRailways themselves.

In the 1970s Sealink was the largestshipping company under the British flag,perhaps not in terms of tonnage but innumber of ships and number of seafarersemployed, the latter not difficult with threecrews of ratings and five crews of officersper ship. Even so, Sealink together withother BR subsidiaries such as Hovercraft,British Transport Hotels, BR Engineering,Freightliners, BR Parcels, BRTelecommunications, Railfreight, Red StarParcels and Travellers Fare, to name but afew, contributed 4% of British Rail'srevenue, 96% of the revenue came fromRail passengers ticket sales. It all revolvedaround the railways, the ships were alwayssubordinate, I will, however, endeavour tokeep the mention of Railways to theminimum, but it won't be easy.

Part 1 – The beginningBefore the railways came there was athriving coastal shipping network aroundBritish waters. Towns such as Clacton andSouthwold were dependent on the searoutes because the ‘roads’, such as theywere, were impassable in all but the mostclement weather. These ‘coasters’ weremainly one-ship companies owned by themaster, however, some had joined forcesand created what we now consider to be‘companies. All carried freight and somecould also transport passengers. Theytended to sail from population centre topopulation centre. The railways, at first,were not interested in shipping and justdelivered passengers and freight to theharbours. It did not take long for therailway companies to see the benefit (andprofit) in providing ‘through booking’ andto do this they entered into agreementswith the local shipping organisations toprovide the services.

These organisations alas were not reliable, ifa ship had a defect there was noreplacement available, so the railwaycompanies, in general, decided to provide

Features


Features


their own ships. Some companies boughtexisting shipping companies and othersbuilt their own company from scratch. Inmany areas, Firth of Clyde is a goodexample, the railway companies wereforbidden by law from operating shippingservices. This was overcome by creating‘arms-length’ wholly-owned subsidiaries. Inthe Clyde the Caledonian Railway createdthe Caledonian Steam Packet Company andchartered them to provide shippingservices. In other cases, the railways gottogether for mutual benefit e.g. TheStranraer Larne Steam Ship Company wasan ‘independent’ company funded by theMidland Railway, London & North WesternRailway, Caledonian Railway and Glasgow& South Western Railway and acceptedtickets from the four companies. The‘independents’ such as G & J Burns, of Viperfame, continued to provide services frompopulation centre to population centre, intheir case Glasgow to Belfast and Glasgowto Londonderry, whereas the railwayspreferred to carry their passengers as far asthey could by rail before transferring toship. For example, the train whichpreviously took passengers from London toLiverpool to embark a ship for Dublin nowran to Holyhead where they embarked on aferry to Kingstown (now known as DunLaoghaire) and again train to Dublin. Asaving in time of about six hours or moreon the journey.

In the middle of the nineteenth centurythere were many small railway companiesoperating shipping services. Over time theyeither amalgamated with, or were takenover, by other railway companies to leavefourteen which operated shipping services.

In Scotland the main area was undoubtedlythe Firth of Clyde which already had athriving ferry service run by some five ormore independent companies. Thesecompanies had an arrangement and ingeneral did not compete with one another,there was of course some competition, orshould I say shared services, on the busy,more lucrative routes. This group ofindependents had convinced localgovernment that the railway companiesshould not be allowed to operate ferryservices on the Firth.

The North British Railway, based inEdinburgh, was the largest railwaycompany in Scotland. They operated ferrieson Forth and Tay before the respectivebridges were built. They also ran some smallpleasure steamers on the Firth of Forth,River Tay and the Solway Firth, however,their main shipping business was the Firthof Clyde where they had an 'arms-length'

company (North British Steam Packet Coy.).The North British ran the railway on thenorth bank of the Clyde, from Glasgow toHelensburgh. They built a pier atCraigendoran, near Helensburgh, andoperated ferries to Gareloch, Loch Long andalso served the holiday resorts of Kirn,Dunoon, Innellan and Rothesay.

The main company on the Upper Clyde wasthe Caledonian Steam Packet, which onbehalf of the Caledonian Railway, based atGlasgow Central Station, ran services fromGlasgow, Greenock, Gourock and WemyssBay to all seaside towns in the Upper Firthand associated lochs, and during thesummer months operated excursions to theLower Clyde calling at Ardrossan, Ayr, Arranand Campbeltown. David McBrayne, anindependent shipping company, had a veryclose relationship with Caledonian and ranservices connecting with Caledonian trainsto the Kyles of Bute and the Inner Hebrides.

Glasgow & South Western Railway, basedat Glasgow St Enoch Station, concentratedtheir services on the Lower Clyde, operatingfrom Ardrossan, Fairlie and Ayr to Arran,Bute and Campbeltown. At one time theyhad the monopoly of the Upper Clyde withtheir branch to Princes Pier at Greenock,however, their station was not close to thepier and passengers had to take a coach orwalk to the pier, through a not verysalubrious part of the town of Greenock.When the Caledonian opened terminalswith trains alongside the ferry, Glasgow &South Western lost all their business in theUpper Clyde.

Stranraer was in the Glasgow & SouthWestern territory; however, the companycould not afford to run the Stranraer-Larneservice on its own and sought assistancefrom other railway companies with interestsin the northern part of a yet undividedIreland. The Larne and Stranraer SteamshipJoint Committee was formed. The membersand funding coming from the London &North Western, Midland, Caledonian andGlasgow & South Western RailwayCompanies. This committee ran the StranraerLarne Steam Ship Coy which served theroute and tickets of the four fore-mentioned

companies were accepted for travel.

In the Irish Sea, the small Furness Railway,based at Barrow-in-Furness, had two smallvessels which operated excursions fromBarrow to Fleetwood and in summermonths also to and from Belfast and theIsle of Man. This company also operatedsteamers on Lake Windermere andConiston Water.

The Midland Railway, based in Derby,operated shipping services from Heysham,near Morecambe in Lancashire, to Belfastand Douglas in the Isle of Man. ThisCompany also had a share in the Stranraer-Larne service.

The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, the‘Lanky’, based in Manchester, had shippingservices on both sides of England. Theyoperated out of Fleetwood in conjunctionwith L & NW Railway to Belfast and Derryand on their own account from Liverpoolto Drogheda. On the North Sea theyoperated from Goole to Copenhagen;Hamburg; Rotterdam; Antwerp and Ghent,and from Hull to Zeebrugge. This companybought the Goole Steamship Coy in 1905and also had a close working relationshipwith the Hull & Netherlands SteamshipCompany.

The London & North Western Railway,based at London Euston, operated shippingservices from Holyhead to Dublin andKingstown (now known as Dun Laoghaire)and from Fleetwood to Belfast and Derry

in conjunction with the ‘Lanky’. ThisCompany also had a share in the Stranraer-Larne service.

The photograph shows two mailboats,Cambria on right, at Holyhead harbourwaiting for boat train from London. It wasthe custom for two ships to get up steamahead of departure time. Cambria wasalongside the rail station and scheduled forservice. The one on the left was on stand-by, fully crewed, in case there was a faultwith the designated ship. When the mail-ship on the right sailed, the stand-by shipwould shut down boilers and stand downuntil the following morning. The other twomailboats of L&NW were doing the samething at Kingstown.

Features


Following the 1800 Acts of Union passedby both the British and Irish Parliamentsthe Government was looking to improvecommunication of dispatches betweenLondon and Dublin. Holyhead was deemedto be the most suitable port for the IrishSea crossing. The problem was the MenaiStrait. The Government commissionedThomas Telford to build an improved roadfrom Chester to Holyhead which wouldinclude road bridges across the Conwayriver and Menai Strait. After muchdiscussion in Parliament the Governmentagreed that the bridges should also be railbridges and encouraged the construction ofa railway from Holyhead to Chester whereit would connect with the line to London.The Government gave an unwrittenpromise that the rail company would begranted the mail contract so the Chesterand Holyhead Railway was formed andconstruction of the line commenced. Thecompany also ordered four ships to run theservice from Holyhead to Kingstown. TheLondon & North Western Railway wasoriginally intended to provide the link fromChester to London, however, C&HR decidednot to operate their own trains on theroute and in 1847 came to an agreementwith L&NWR for them to operate the trainsfrom Holyhead to London. On completionof the line in 1850, the governmentchanged its mind, as they do, and the mailcontract was not forthcoming. C&HR hadstarted carrying passengers on its shipsfrom Holyhead to Kingstown in 1848 andnow was in financial difficulties. L&NWRgave financial support and eventually thetwo companies were merged in 1859.

It is not clear whether the route was notgenerating the return that was expected orthe returns on other business were verygood, I expect the latter, however, duringthe American Civil War two of the shipswere engaged in running the ConfederateBlockade in 1861 to bring cotton andtobacco to the UK. In October 1862 theywere captured by Union forces, andrenamed. Scotia became General Banks andAnglia became Admiral Dupont.

In the Southern Irish Sea, the GreatWestern Railway (GWR known as God’sWonderful Railway), based at LondonPaddington, ran services from Fishguard toRosslare, Waterford and in summer monthsto Queenstown (now known as Cobh) andCork. In the English Channel, Great Westernoperated services from Weymouth to theChannel Islands and a small ferry across theRiver Dart from Dartmouth to Kingswear.

The London & South Western Railway,based at London Waterloo, ran shipping

services from Southampton to Le Havre, StMalo and the Channel Islands. Thiscompany also ran services from Lymingtonto Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight andshared services from Portsmouth to Rydeand Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight withthe London, Brighton & South CoastRailway.

The London, Brighton & South CoastRailway, based at London Bridge, ranshipping services from Newhaven to Dieppeand, as mentioned previously, sharedservices from Portsmouth to Isle of Wightwith L & SW Railway.

The South Eastern & Chatham Railway,based at London Charing Cross, ran theshipping services from Dover andFolkestone to Calais and Boulogne.

The Great Eastern Railway, based atLondon Liverpool Street, operated shippingservices from Harwich to Hook of Holland,Rotterdam, Antwerp, Zeebrugge andlatterly Hamburg. When the Admiralty tookover Harwich Harbour in 1914 most routeswere altered to sail from Tilbury.

The Great Central Railway, based inManchester was first formed in 1847 as theManchester, Sheffield & LincolnshireRailway Company and ran a ferry servicebetween New Holland, in Lincolnshire, andHull. In 1865 they commenced steamshipservices to Hamburg by taking over theAnglo-French Steam Ship Company. Then, in1866, they commenced Grimsby -Rotterdam service, and in 1867 Grimsby -Antwerp service. The Hamburg servicebecame daily in 1891. The Company also ranservices to Belgium from Goole and Hull.

The North Eastern Railway, based in York,had harbour facilities and trading rights inthe ports of Northumberland, Durham andYorkshire. The Company owned the HullDocks Company (which comprised ofQueens dock, Humber Dock, Railway Dock,Victoria dock, Albert dock, William WrightDock, St Andrews dock) and the KingGeorge Dock, which it operated inconjunction with the Hull and BarnsleyRailway; also, Hartlepool Docks, Tyne Dockand Middlesbrough Dock. Despite this moveinto port ownership, neither railway chose

to operate sea-going vessels but the NorthEastern had powers to do so, and chose,perhaps wisely, to join with the well-established Thomas Wilson, Sons & Co. ofHull in a joint venture. The 'Wilsons andNorth Eastern Railway Shipping Company',was established in 1906 and operated toAntwerp, Ghent, Hamburg and Dunkirk. Sixvessels were transferred from Wilson (from1916 Ellerman's Wilson Line) and a furthersix were built for the company between1907 and 1925. A separate butcomplementary venture was the Hull &Netherlands Steamship Company, formed in1894 from a merger of earlier privatecompanies and becoming a subsidiary ofthe NER in 1894. The fleet was renewedwith four 'Abbey' steamers built in 1907-08.The Wilson ships, when operating on railwayroutes, changed their funnel markings.

To be Continued in Part 2

TroopshipsPart 1John Eric TinneyAlthough the transport of troops by sea hasbeen customary since the days of JuliusCaesar and even earlier, it is rathersurprising that, even in peacetime, Britainrelied to a large extent on charteredpassenger ships to carry her troops overseasto meet her military commitments.

Towards the middle of the 19th centurysteam was beginning to replace sail and thefirst steamship used for trooping was theEnterprize, a wooden paddle steamer of479 tons completed in 1825. Built toinaugurate a service between Britain andIndia, the venture was a failure and shewas eventually sold to the Bengalgovernment and used for towingtroopships from Calcutta to Rangoon.

As early as 1833, during the PortugueseCivil War, six steam paddle ships werechartered from P&O and used to embarkPortuguese troops at Oporto to invadesouthern Portugal. Until the coming ofsteam, the time taken by troopships onpassage to Africa and particularly to India,combined with their uncertain date ofarrival, had always involved unavoidabledifficulties. By the early 1850s, however,there was no shortage of passenger shipsavailable to carry troops overseas, as mostof the early British steamship companieshad been able to begin operations onlywith the aid of a Government subsidy. Thisfinancial assistance was given solely on theunderstanding that the companies were toallow their ships to be used as troopshipsby the government in wartime.

Features


As the advantages of screw propulsion hadbeen amply demonstrated in 1845 during acontest between the propeller-driven sloopHMS Rattler and the paddle sloop HMSAlecto, screw-driven ships began to replacethe paddlers. With all the campaigns andwars which were to follow during the nexthundred years or so, the trooping serviceassumed increasing importance andalthough, on occasion, naval ships wereused as troop transports, charteredmerchant ships always formed thebackbone of the service. While shipsconstructed primarily for the transport oftroops continued to be built up to 1957,even their role ceased in 1962 when it wasdecided that all future trooping would becarried out by aircraft. This policy, althoughcorrect, caused a hiccup in 1982 whentroops were required to be transported tothe Falklands, however, Cunard's QueenElizabeth 2, P&O's Canberra and Sealink'sSt Edmund were requisitioned tosupplement the RFA fleet.

With the advent of iron ships, the navy wasdoubtful of their value as ships of war andin 1844 shooting trials were carried out toassess the effect of gunfire on iron plating.The initial results were such that theAdmiralty ordered all new building of ironwarships to be cancelled and the threealready under construction - the paddlesteamer Birkenhead building at Laird's yardin 1846 and the screw steamers Megaeraand Simoom - were to be completed asnaval troopships. This decision resulted inone of the most tragic incidents in thehistory of troopships. I am sure that you areall aware of the fate of HMS Birkenhead,briefly. HMS Birkenhead sailed fromSpithead and Queenstown in January 1852carrying reinforcements to South Africa forthe Kaffir War.

HMS BirkenheadShe arrived at the naval base ofSimonstown in February where most of thewomen and children left the ship. Thoseremaining numbered 648, made up of 487soldiers, 31 women and children and thecrew of 130. Birkenhead left Simonstownat 1800 on 25th February for Port Elizabethwhere the remainder of the troops andfamilies were to be disembarked. At 0200

on the following morning, the Birkenheadran headlong onto a reef on a coast which,as the chart showed, had not yet beenproperly surveyed. In an attempt to pull theship off the reef the engines were putastern and a pinnacle of rock, alreadyembedded in her keel, cut into the iron hullripping her bottom open as she movedastern. The crew and soldiers attempted toget the boats away but only two cuttersand a gig managed to clear the ship,carrying all the women and children.

Strange as it may seem today, the OFFICERSOF HMS BIRKENHEAD WERE ALL WARRANTOFFICERS. Shortly before the ship sank, hercaptain, Warrant Officer Salmond, climbeda few feet up the rigging and told all onboard that he could do no more for themand they must save themselves. The SeniorArmy Officer ordered the troops to 'StandFast', they did so and the world has eversince remembered them as heroes. "Womenand children first" has been a firmlyaccepted code on all the seven seas sincethose far off days. Of the 648 souls onboard, only 193 were saved.

The outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854resulted in the British Government havingto organise their first large scale movementof troops overseas since the introduction ofsteam. At this time P&O had recently builtthe 3,438-ton Himalaya, then the world'slargest iron screw ship. After a short time inservice she was sold to the Navy for£130,000 and converted into a navaltransport. She was destined to have a longcareer in the trooping service and waseventually converted into a coal hulk; shewas still afloat at the outbreak of WWII,her iron hull still being in good shape.Eleven other P&O ships werecommandeered as transports. The CunardCompany provided eleven ships and theBibby Line their first two steamships, theTiber and Arno.

HimalayaFollowing the Crimean campaign, theIndian Mutiny of 1857 caused furtherstrains on the trooping transport service.The main problem arose through therebeing few steamers with sufficient

bunker capacity to carry troops round theCape into the Indian Ocean. In 1856 theCalcutta and Burmah Steam NavigationCompany was formed and later, as theBritish Indian Steam Navigation Company,was destined to become the third of thegreat troopship lines. During the mutinyone of their early ships, the 500-ton screwsteamer Cape of Good Hope, carried thefirst reinforcements to reach Calcutta fromCeylon in support of the hard-pressedBritish army in India. It was about this timethat the Army started to use the “OverlandRoute” to serve the garrisons in India,troopships sailed from Britain toAlexandria, the troops then travelled bycoach to Suez where they embarked foronward transport to India.

Cape of Good hopeAlthough the shipping companies fulfilledall the agreed arrangements in transportingtroops during the Crimean War and theIndian Mutiny, it was during these eventsthat the handicaps of the existing systembecame apparent. The principal difficultyarose when ships urgently required were notalways immediately available. After much

discussion it was finally decided that aregular service of Government transportsshould be inaugurated and the Navy wasinstructed to build five specially designedtroopships to service the huge number ofBritish troops stationed in India. In 1866the Crocodile, Euphrates, Jumna, Malabarand Serapis were built.

HMS SerapisMagnificent-looking rigged screwtransports of 6,211 tons with a speed of 15knots; each was designed to carry acomplete battalion of troops. With theSuez Canal due to be opened in 1869, allwere given dimensions which would enablethem to pass through the canal, thussaving a considerable time on their voyageto India. The Indian Government paid the

costs of running the service but the Navyoperated the ships.For almost thirty years these shipsmaintained the routine Indian troopingservice, becoming familiar to generations ofBritish soldiers. In their early years theywere better than any other ships on theservice, reducing the time on passage by alarge margin, but towards the end of theirdays they dropped far behind the standardsof the contemporary merchantmen andwere bitterly criticized.The 'Indian Trooping Season' generallybegan with troop ships leaving England inSeptember, and ended with the last shipsleaving India in March. This pattern wasprobably established once troop ships nolonger sailed around the Cape of GoodHope and started using the "OverlandRoute", and then the Suez Canal after itsopening in 1869.The reasons for a restricted period were totravel in the cooler months so that troopswere not travelling during the hot summermonths in unventilated ships, particularly inthe Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, whenconditions could become dangerous andunacclimatised troops from Britain were nottravelling from the ports of Bombay orKarachi to their cantonments during theheat of an Indian summer. During the GreatWar garrison troops were sent to Europe andthey were replaced by Territorial Units andthe Trooping Season Routine was disrupted.This led to an incident in 1916 whennineteen Territorial troops died of heatstroke on a train from Karachi to Lahore.Each season generally there were only twoof the twelve or so voyages which called atAden on the way out to India and three onthe way back. The extra one coming fromIndia was needed to affect the annual reliefof the British infantry battalion in Aden.

In the year 1891 the great change wasmade. The Serapis and her sisters wereobviously wearing out rapidly and, with somuch money being spent on navalconstruction, it was doubtful whetherParliament would supply the funds to buildships to replace them. The trooping servicewas a nuisance to Portsmouth, but theLondon and South Western Railway waswilling to offer superior facilities atSouthampton Docks. The Crocodile,Euphrates, Serapis and Jumna were in abad state and would require a considerableoutlay if they were to continue on theservice. So, the decision was made. Only theMalabar was retained and, in place of theother four, the Britannia and Rome, of theP&O Line, and the Dilwara, of BI weretaken up on charter.

Everybody was surprised at the result.Officers and troops were infinitely morecomfortable in the passenger quarters ofthe regular liners, and the cost to theGovernment was far less. The companiesfound it paid so well that it was worththeir while to refit the ships completelyand, rather than change them backwardsand forwards continuously, to lay them upfor the slack season. After the opening ofthe Suez Canal in 1869, the Dacca, one ofBritish India's finest steamships, joined theIndian trooping service despite intenseopposition from P&O.

From the 1860s to the early part of thetwentieth century any sizeable militaryoperation forced the Government to turnto the merchant service. In the Abyssiniamilitary operations of 1868 P&O suppliedsix troopships and British India nine. Thesecompanies also supplied ships for theAshanti War of 1873 and the Zulu War of1879. During the Egyptian campaigns ofthe early 1880s, eight P&O and nine BritishIndia ships were chartered.

The Boer War of 1899 to 1902 involved thetransport overseas of the largest force everto leave Britain, resulting in the AdmiraltyTransport Service having to draw on theships of virtually every major shippingcompany. Thus, in addition to thecompanies already involved in peacetimetrooping, P&O, British India and Bibby lines,ships were requisitioned from the Cunard,Anchor, White Star and Allan lines in theearly months of the campaign. The Unionand Castle companies, united in March1900 into the Union-Castle Line, had shipswhich were specially designed for theSouth African service and were thus idealas long-distance troopers. It is notsurprising, therefore, that their ships provedthe most useful transports during thecampaign, notwithstanding that thepeacetime troopers were specially fitted outto carry troops.

SS Assaye

On the outbreak of the Boer War, threeCastle liners were immediatelyrequisitioned, the Roslin Castle, LismoreCastle and Harlech Castle. By the end ofthe war over fifty ships had beencommandeered as troopships, including

twenty British India ships carrying troopsfrom Indian ports to South Africa. Between1899 and 1900 P&O built the Assaye,Plassy and Sobraon especially as transports.So that the troops could parade andexercise, each ship had wide decks clear ofobstructions. All were convertible intointermediate passenger liners when theywere not required as troopships.

In the years between the Boer War and theoutbreak of WWI the Governmentcontinued to use the contract method ofcarrying the military reliefs to India and theother overseas garrisons. This encouragedthe companies involved in trooping to buildnew tonnage and withdraw their olderships. Bibby Line built five ships namedafter ‘shires’, (Worcestershire, Herefordshire,Leicestershire, Gloucestershire andOxfordshire). Their tonnages were around7,000 apart from Oxfordshire, completed in1912, with a tonnage of 8,500. British Indiaalready had Dunera (1891) and built fournew ships Jelunga (1891), Dilwara (1892),Rewu (1905) and Rohilla (1906). In 1912two more ships were added Neuralia andNevasa which were destined to become themost famous of all troopships. Neuralia waslost in 1945, striking a mine in the Gulf ofTaranto, but Nevasa survived to open post-WWII peacetime trooping. She was finallywithdrawn from service in 1947.

SS Oxfordshire

It may be interesting to note that thevessels were known as HMT, e.g. HMTNevasa, this did not signify ‘His Majesty’sTroopship’ as commonly thought but ‘HiredMilitary Transport’. Vessels are notpermitted to be named ‘His/Her Majesty’swhatever’ unless they are crewed by navalpersonnel, merchant navy crews areconsidered civilians.

The ‘tween decks of these latest troopshipswere reasonably well ventilated as thetroops slept and ate on the same deck, themen slept in hammocks, and to every shipan additional Chief Officer was appointedunder the name of Troop Officer. When notrequired for trooping they werereconverted as passenger ships, if businesswas good, and traded on Indian or Easternservices, but more usually they were laid upin Southampton Water.

To be continued.

Features


Features

The rescue of thecrew of the Gallina.Captain Les Hesketh

I had gone to help my brother clear thehouse of a relative of my sister in law whohad become very frail and could no longerlive at home. The walls and stair well of herhome were covered in pictures andartefacts from around the world. Amongthem we noticed a frame containing acollection of 5 medals.

On closer examination we could just readthe words ‘for saving life at sea’ and SSGallina. No one in the family knewanything about the medals, so I decided tosee if I could find the story behind themand what a story it turned out to be. Themedals were awarded for the rescue of thecrew of the Gallina in 1899

The SS Gallina was a single screw steamerbuilt in 1878 by Mounsey & Foster ofSunderland. She was owned by Jesse Lilly &Co and had a crew of 22. She loaded acargo of 2,200 tons of maize and rye inbulk and bags bound for Moss andChristania, in Norway. She left NewportPhiladelphia at 6.00am on the 16th

December 1898 under the command ofcaptain Ernest Frankland.At first the weather was fine, and she wasmaking 7.5 knots, but the weather beganto deteriorate and by the 27th Decemberthe Gallina was labouring and straining inhurricane winds and mountainous seas. Shebegan taking water over both quarters. Atnoon, the master turned her round andhove to. Her engines were still going at fullspeed to try and hold her position. Shortlyafterwards heavy seas broke over the deckand washed away the deck cabins andflooded the berths.

In the early hours of the morning of the28th December the cargo shifted causing alist to port. The crew tried to trim the shipfirst by pumping and then by jettisoning600 tons of cargo overboard but with littleeffect. Heavy seas, continued to pound theGallina. By now all three boats had beenwashed away, and the engine roomskylight was smashed allowing water toflood the engine room. The port rails weredipping 3-4 foot into the water as sherolled with the swell.

A typical Sunderland built steamer ofthe1890s

Despite the difficulties and working waistdeep in water the crew continued to manthe pumps and the engine room. Waveshad doused the fire under the port boilerwhich could not be relighted. Gallina hadto rely on her starboard boiler for power,but there was barely enough to keep herhead on to the seas. The crew were cold,wet and exhausted. The chief engineer hadnot left his post for five days and was onlyrelieved when he collapsed withexhaustion. So desperate was theirsituation that the crew were usingtablecloths and pieces of their own clothesas wicks for the lamps. Despite their heroicefforts the water level in the holdscontinued to rise. Without their lifeboatswhich had been smashed or washed awaythey had no other option but to stayaboard the Gallina and hope for rescue.

The Charing Cross aground off the isle ofArran in 1910. She was sunk by a GermanU-boat in 1918.

At last on the 8th day of their ordeal a shipwas sighted. That ship was the CharingCross, on a voyage from New York toCardiff with a cargo of wheat.

Captain Mills, master of the Charing Cross,

tried to go alongside but the high seasmade it impossible. After several failedattempts, a boat commanded by the chiefofficer Mr Bate and four seamen waslaunched and eventually reached theGallina but could not get alongside becauseof her list. A line was passed, and four menwere hauled into the boat, a fifth jumpedbut failed to catch the line and so washauled back aboard the Gallina. Therescuers themselves were now in danger ofbeing smashed against the side of theGallina due to the suction caused by herconstant rolling and they returned to theCharing Cross. They reached the Charingcross but had taken a lot

of water on board from the high seas andcould not keep alongside for fear of beingsmashed against the side of the CharingCross. Instead a line was thrown downfrom the ship. One by one the men had tojump from the boat into the water andcatch the line. Understandably, the menwere reluctant to jump into the water,but Mr Reynolds the third engineer whowas a good swimmer, took the lead andjumped first, encouraging the others tofollow. The men were then hauled aboardthe Charing Cross.

The boat returned to the Gallina and twomore of her crew were rescued. An attemptwas made to get a line from the Gallina tothe Charing Cross to convey a hawser fromone ship to the other, unfortunately theline could not take the strain and parted.As it was now dusk, with a heavy west-north-west gale blowing and heavy snowsqualls it was decided to stand by overnightand wait for morning.

The Charing Cross stood by all night, but inthe morning the Gallina was not to beseen and it was assumed she had gonedown with the remaining crew during thenight. The Charing Cross resumed hervoyage while the rescued men mournedthe loss of their shipmates.

But she hadn’t gone down, she haddrifted out of sight but was in such aperilous state that the Captain and crewwere expecting her to go under at anyminute. Cold, exhausted and withouthope they feared the worst. Insteadmorning light brought a welcome sightanother ship, the ss Kanawha.

The Kanawha had left Newport News,Philadelphia on the 27th December 1898with a cargo of wheat bound for Liverpool.She too had encountered a succession ofstrong westerly gales and very high seasduring the passage. Her lookout spotted avessel showing signs of distress at 6.00am


on the 5th January 1899 and her captain,captain Maxwell altered course toward her.When daylight broke, they recognised heras the SS Gallina from West Hartlepool.Her exhausted crew manged to hoist asignal, C.H.B.J. – ‘I wish to abandon, buthave not the means at 8.30am CaptainMaxwell sent away the starboard lifeboatunder the command of the chief officerMr Ham with a crew of five seaman. Therescuers encountered the same problemsthat had earlier faced the crew from theCharing Cross, strong winds, mountainousseas and a heavily listing ship. They riskedbeing smashed against the ship’s side orsucked under by the rolling ship. Despitethe hazardous conditions and the risk totheir own lives, they persisted andeventually manged to bring the remaining16 men including captain Franklandaboard the Kanawha.

SS Rappahannock sister ship to ss Kanawha

Once aboard the Kanawha the rescuedmen were given food and dry clothing.Captain Frankland of the Gallina and hismen spoke in the highest terms of thebravery of their rescuers and of the greatkindness they received from the captainand crew of the Kanawha. The Kanawhacontinued her voyage arriving safely inLiverpool on 9th January 1899.

For their service in rescuing the crew ofthe Gallina, the Board of Trade awarded£10 pieces of plate to each of the captains,the silver medal and £5 binocular glassesto each of the mates and the silver medaland £3 each to each of the seamaninvolved. In the 1890s that was a month’swages for the seamen.

But there was still another twist to thestory. On the 8th January the Germansteam ship Aragonia on route fromAntwerp to New York, came across theGallina still afloat, 700 miles off the Irishcoast in placid seas. Seeing her distresssignal and thinking they could see signs oflife on her upper deck, they launched aboat to investigate. What they found weretwo dogs prancing like wild creatures anddelighted to see them. The men spent twohours searching the ship to make sure therewas no one else aboard. Before they left,

they stripped the ship of everything ofvalue that could be salvaged, and collectedmany photographs of the ship’s officers,their wives, children and sweethearts toreturn to their owners later. The Aragoniawas bound for New York. When she arrivedin New York on the 26th January, the lasttwo survivors of the Gallina were taken tothe society for the prevention of cruelty toanimals to be taken care of.

As to the medals, they belong to my sisterin law’s great grandfather, Henry WilsonHam, chief officer, later master of the ssKanawha. The collection includes silvermedals from the Board of trade, TheShipwreck Fishermen’s and MarinersBenevolent Society, Lloyds, the MercantileMarine Association and the LiverpoolShipwreck and Humane Society. However, itis the courage of all those involved thatwill live long in the memory.

Sources.Liverpool Mercury 14th January 1899New York Times 9th January 1899 South Wales Daily News 12th January 1899The Arizona Republican 27th January 1899https://www.wrecksite.eu/doc/wrecks/gallina_ok.jpg

‘A Sea Symphony’ (Vaughan Williams’)Calling all musical seafarers! VaughanWilliams’ masterful work about the sea,with words by Walt Whitman, is to beperformed in London in March 2020.

The English Arts Chorale and the Eye BachChoir, together with the PragueConservatoire Orchestra, will be performingthis wonderful evocation of the power ofthe sea at Dukes Hall, Royal Academy ofMusic, on Sunday 29th March 2020 at18.00hrs.

For those in East Anglia, the same concertwill be performed the previous evening,Saturday 28th March, in St. EdmundsburyCathedral, Suffolk, at 19.30hrs.

If anyone happens to be in Prague afortnight later, there is to be a thirdperformance there on Saturday 18th Aprilat St. Salvator Church.

The other pieces to be performed at eachconcert will be Dvorak’s ‘Te Deum’ andSmetana’s ‘Vltava’.

More details are available viawww.englisharts.org/tour orwww.eyebachchoir.co.uk

For any further details please contact Geoffor Val English.

OBITUARYCAPTAIN ARCHIBALD(“ARCHIE”) MUNROMRIN MNIMASTER 1998-99Past Master Captain Archie Munro passedaway on 17th September 2019; he was 87and the Company had been aware that hehad been in poor health for some while.

Archie was born in Gourock, WestRenfrewshire, and was educated atGreenock Academy and Keil School, Kintyre.

His father, Commander James Munro RDRNR, had been a Clyde Pilot for manyyears and was also the first Warden of theCompany (1960-64) from an Outport;Commander Munro is immortalised inCompany history by reason of hisdiscovering, then acquiring, thendonating to the Company the wonderful‘Viper’ staircase.

Archie began his training for the sea as acadet at the School of Navigation,Glasgow Royal Technical College, from1948-49 and then first went to sea withBen Line, staying with them for almost allhis sea time apart from a short spell withCunard. He was seconded from British &Commonwealth to the SpringbokShipping Company (Cape Town) when itwas formed in 1959. He left the sea tojoin the Munro family towage, tenderingand berthing company, Clyde MarineServices, based in Greenock and servingthe River Clyde, the Firth of Clyde and thewider West Coast of Scotland.

Captain Munro’s career included significantand highly meritorious service to themaritime industry; inter alia, he had been amember of the Marine Safety Agency’s1992 Domestic Passenger Ships SteeringGroup and he had also been involved intheir consultation process in theconsolidation and deregulation of statutoryinstruments relating to domestic passengervessels. He was a founder member of theNautical Institute and a member of theRoyal Institute of Navigation. He was alsothe local representative of the ShipwreckedFishermen’s’ and Mariners’ RoyalBenevolent Society and a Trustee of theSeamen’s’ Friends Charitable Society.

He was admitted to the Company in 1968and thereafter to the Freedom and theLivery, both in 1973. He served on theCourt (1975-84) and was a Warden (1984-97) and Senior Warden in 1997-98 beforebecoming Master in April 1998. One of the

Obituary


Book Review

highlights of his year in office was hostingHRH The Duke of Edinburgh at theAdmiral’s Luncheon on 9th December 1998,this being to mark the 50th anniversary ofHQS Wellington arriving at its permanentmooring at Temple Stairs. In his speech ofwelcome for the Duke, the Master notedthat he had first come aboard in 1949 andhad noticed the absence of a bar …. TheDuke was made our Admiral in 1957.

On his standing down as Master on 30th

April 1999, he and the Mistress were rowedashore in the Company’s Thames Watermancutter, the Master Shipbroker, crewed byCaptains Freestone (cox), Culshaw, Wake,Powell, Adams and Sandeman.

Archie was a very key figure in the ClydeOutport being its Honorary Secretary 1982-2004 and authoring its definitive history,published in the Journal in 1988 and withan update in issue 4/2015, the latterfocusing on the story of the RNVR Clubship Carrick, built in 1864 as the clippership City of Adelaide and, on 18th October2013, renamed at a ceremony presided overby HRH The Duke of Edinburgh beforebeing shipped to Adelaide on a barge.

Captain Munro’s Funeral Service andCremation were held in Greenock onThursday 26th September 2019 and waswell-attended including Companyrepresentatives Past Master Captain Pepper,Clyde Outport Hon. Sec. Captain Millar andCaptains Gillespie, Smith, Oliver and Lucasand Liveryman Hew Dundas, In addition,the Munro family and the Companymembers present were greatly moved bythe attendance of Captain Arthur YoungMBE, Archie’s immediate predecessor(1975-82) as Hon.Sec. of Clyde Outport, afew weeks short of his 96th birthday.

As the congregation emerged from theFuneral Service, it was greeted by a ClydeMarine Services fire tug which came inclose to shore to pay appropriate respect toCaptain Munro with a prolonged blast onits foghorn accompanied by a water jetsalute by its fire pumps.

As is customary on-board M/V Lord of theIsles (Master: Captain Byron Griffiths), theEnsign was flown at half-mast on 26th

September as a mark of respect toCaptain Munro.

Archie’s friends and colleagues contributedthe following:

– PM Simon Culshaw (see above) said “Iremember Archie as a very good friendand full of good advice, particularlywhen I was Senior Warden [in Archie’syear as Master] then Master. Further,when I was sailing on the West Coast of

Scotland, and particularly in the Clydearea, Archie volunteered that he hadmooring buoys dotted around the Clydein secluded spots. He gave me thepositions of some of them. I used one ortwo of them particularly when I wascaught out in bad weather. A great guy.”

– Hew Dundas said “I remember CaptainMunro (I never dared call him Archie)with great respect and affection having‘hit it off’ when my family’s connectionwith the HQS Wellington staircaseregistered after which he all butadopted me. In addition, we connectedwarmly through his service with Cunardwith which, again, my family was closelyconnected. In the time-honoured phrase,“a true gentleman”, one whom it was agreat privilege to have known”.

Captain ArthurYoung MBE

Clyde Outport is very proud to report thatCaptain Arthur Young MBE, the outpost’soldest and the Company’s 3rd oldestmember, celebrated his 96th birthday on10th November 2019, the celebrations nodoubt assisted by some red, whollymedicinal, liquid given by the Outport inrecognition of Captain Young’s outstandingcareer. In WW2 he served on the Atlanticand Maltese convoys and several times hada ship sunk from underneath him. In addition, he served as Hon. Sec. of ClydeOutport 1975-1982.On 21st November2019, at its monthly lunch meeting.

Book Review;“Hard Down, HardDown”by Captain Jack Isbester.Captain John Isbester was bornillegitimately in Shetland in 1852 and died,tragically, in 1913. ‘Hard Down, Hard Down’is a detailed account of his life using the

family correspondence carefully preservedduring the following years and recentlycollated and edited by his grandsonCaptain Jack Isbester. The correspondencebetween Captain John Isbester and his wifeSusie gives a rare insight into the lonely lifeof a Sailing-ship Master, his duties andresponsibilities; not only to the ship ownerbut also to his family members.

Sailing ships were very much at the mercyof the elements having no other motivepower than the wind. Getting them from Ato B required a herculean effort from theMaster, the crew and what needed to be awell-found vessel. The book is of a Masterwho not only has gained knowledge of theenvironment in which he has chosen towork, but also the ship handling skillsnecessary to command a ship under sailtogether with the business acumen to dealwith the ship’s international agents duringtimes when correspondence andinstructions took weeks to arrive. We alsosee a man who has to come to understandhow to use the sailors he has available tohim in ways that get the best out of them,without the need to use the oft times harshmeasures of some Sailing-ship Master. Thenarrative and letters weave you into thelives of John and Susie Isbester; one of feastand famine – short times at home and longtimes apart. Where love and integrity shapethe man and the family. A very personalview of the 19th Century seafarer.

I recommend the book to all, as a goodhistoric record of life in Shetland and the19th Century seafarer but to those whoseprofession is the sea, its content will betruly understood.

Editor 2019


• The Journal • Issue 1/2019 www.hcmm.org.ukPage 138 • The Journal • Issue 4/2019 www.hcmm.org.uk

Events Diary

The HonourableCompany of MasterMarinersEditorial

The views expressed in articles or incorrespondence appearing in the Journalare those of the writer and are notnecessarily endorsed by the HonourableCompany of Master Mariners.

Items appearing in the Journal maynot be reproduced without theconsent of the Editor.

The Editor will be pleased to receivecorrespondence from Members intendedfor reproduction in the Journal.

Committees

Education and Training CommitteeChairman: Captain Jerry Mooney

Finance and Risk CommitteeChairman: Mr Matt Burrow

Membership CommitteeChairman:Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh GCB Vice Chairman:Commander L Chapman CMMar RN

Professional & Technical CommitteeChairman: Commander Derek Ireland RNR

All correspondence, books, documentsor enquiries relevant to the work ofthe P&T Committee should beaddressed to the Secretary, Mrs AlisonHarris c/o HQS Wellington.

Treasures CommitteeChairman: Captain Martin Reed RD* RNR

Joint Informal MeetingsHonorary Secretary: Mr Andrew Bell

Wardroom Mess CommitteeChairman: Mr John Johnson-Allen

The Journal

EditorCaptain Rob Booth, AFNIEmail: [email protected]

All new correspondence, articles andreports for the Journal should besent to the Editor via email or C/OHQS Welington.

Copy for Issue 1/2020 of The Journalshould be received byFriday, 21 February, 2020

Provisional bookings by email, fax or phone will not be confirmed until payment is made.

Please note the cancellations policy as set out in the HCMM bookmark.

CURRY LUNCHES – JAN AND APR CURRY LUNCHES ARE NOW FULLY BOOKED, BUT PLEASE CALL TO BEWAIT LISTED AS PLACES ARE OFTEN FREED UP, PARTICULARLY IF YOU CAN ATTEND AT SHORT NOTICE

Curry Lunch

Curry Lunch

Court (Liveries) Lunch

Curry Lunch

Curry Lunch

Installation Dinner

Friday 31 January 2020 – 1230Dress: Lounge Suit + Tie

Cost: £35 members/ £40 non-members

The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 29 January 2020

Wednesday 4 March 2020 – 1230Dress: Lounge Suit + Tie or Morning Dress

Cost: £65

The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 28 February 2020

Friday 28 February 2020 – 1230Dress: Lounge Suit + Tie


The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 26 February 2020

Friday 24 April 2020 – 1230Dress: Lounge Suit + Tie


The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 22 April 2020

Friday 27 March 2020 – 1230Dress: Lounge Suit + Tie


The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 25 March 2020

Friday 1 May 2020 - 1830Cost: £75

Dress: Black TieThe closing date for reservations is 1200 on 28 April 2020


A selection of our merchandise products. Please contact the Business Manager if you wish to purchase.

There are additional items available not displayed here. Please contact the Business Manager for more information

Anchor Cufflinks£ 12.00

Whistle & Compass Keyring£ 8.50

Engraved Compass/PaperweightSize: 56mm Diameter£ 6.50

Engraved Mirror CompactSize: 76mm x 63mm x 6mm£ 7.50

Polo ShirtColour: White/Navy, Various Sizes£ 15.00 each

CummerbundsVarious sizes and designs£ 28.00

HCMM PlaqueSize: 140mmW x 185mmH£ 25.00

Ship-Shaped Memory StickUSB 4GB£ 10.00

Engraved GlassesWhisky Glass or Tumbler£ 14.50 each

HCMM Label Champagne£ 25.00

Crest Cufflinks£ 20.00

Ladies Brooch£ 5.00

Merchandise

The Journal of the Honourable Company of Master...

Documents

Transcript of The Journal of the Honourable Company of Master...