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The Seven Seas Club “TO PROMOTE AND FOSTER THE COMRADESHIP OF THE SEA”

The Official Organ of the Seven Seas Club

Volume 95, No.1 SUMMER 2019

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The Seven Seas Club (1922) Limited A company limited by guarantee, Company Number 11812371. England & Wales.

Registered office: 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 8JQ

Directors: Mr. Derek G. Bevan, Mr. Tony Goodhead, Mr. Raymond Kay, Mr. Stephen King, Mr. Robert Jones, Mr. James O’Neill, Mr. Martyn Taylor.

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MANAGING COMMITTEE

President – Mr. Bob Jones Immediate Past President – Mr. Stephen (Jan) King MBE Vice President – Mr. Tony Goodhead Hon. Secretary – Mr. Ray Kay Hon. Treasurer – Mr. Derek Bevan Hon. Dinner Secretary – Mr. Martyn Taylor Hon. Almoner – Mr. James O’Neill Hon. Magazine Editor – Mr. John Callcut Additional Committee Members – Mr. Martin Earp, Mr. Roger Beale. Hon. Life Members – Mr. Paul Antrobus, Mr. Ray Williams, Capt. Richard Woodman LVO., FRHistFNI . Club Goods Custodian - Mr. Neil McAlpine Hon. Archivist – Mr. David Watson

Hon. Chaplains – Revd. Canon Paul Thomas OBE., & Revd. Peter Dennett Hon. Auditor – Mr. M.J. Buck

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The committee meets on the first Tuesday of each month throughout the ‘dinner season’.

CONTENTS

Editorial President’s Address Past President’s Farewell Address Secretary’s Corner Treasurer’s Report Almoner’s Report Dinner Secretary’s Report Dinner Photographs Club Dates Sister Clubs – Australia and South Africa Obituary Features Circumnavigating the UK Tony Goodhead Maritime Lectures on Board HQS Wellington Two Little Pigs Jim Killen The Sinking of HMT Aragon Glyn L. Evans Slop Chest Front Cover – ‘Conway’ and ‘Mauretania’ by Kenneth Shoesmith

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EDITORIAL

In the last magazine we featured Louis Roskell’s picture of the Pourquoi Pas and I wrote about her skipper Captain Jean-Baptiste Charcot who married Victor Hugo’s grand-daughter and was a polar explorer. I have heard that the French cruise line company Ponant is planning to build a hybrid electric polar exploration vessel which will be propelled by liquefied natural gas which they claim is a world’s first… and it is proposed that the vessel will be named in honour of Commandant Charcot.

In a recent issue of Sea Breezes magazine I noticed that the St. Helena has been in the news. Readers will recall Glyn Evans’s article about the ship. She became redundant once the new airport on St. Helena became fully operational. Since then she was renamed MNG Tahiti and based in the Middle East. She has now reverted to her former name and is currently at Portland in Dorset where it is thought that she will undergo a refit to become a private yacht.

Congratulations to Honorary Life Member Richard Woodman whose book ‘The Merchant Navy’ has been named as ‘Book of the Month’ by Sea Breezes magazine. I see that it is available on Amazon.

We were very sorry to hear that Honorary Life Member George Kingston slipped his cable on the 29th April 2019. We send our condolences to his family and friends.

I went to an interesting lecture on board HQS Wellington and learnt that only three bodies were repatriated after World War One. One, of course, was the Unknown Warrior, the second was Edith Cavell and the third was Capt. Charles Algernon Fryatt of the ss Brussels. You can learn all about the heroic Capt. Fryatt simply by googling his name. It is a fascinating story. Incidentally we saw Edith Cavell’s gravestone during a recent visit to Norwich Cathedral.

Thanks to Tony Goodhead, Jim Killen and Glyn Evans for their features. I’m sure that many other members have brilliant stories that they would like to share so please send them in.

John Callcut – john.callcut@btinternet.com

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PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS

As a member of just over ten years, it was a great pleasure to receive my ‘Ten Year Tie’ from the President Stephen King at the April Ladies Night this year. This milestone for me however does not compare with the honour and respect I have for being elected as your President for the coming year.

I am fully supported by a wonderful committee of very hard working and committed people who have done some amazing work recently to incorporate the club and keep the club moving forward whilst retaining the standards and quality we all enjoy. I also would like to give my sincere thanks and gratitude to the recent past presidents and committee members whom I have served with and from whom I have learnt so much. I have met many very inspiring members since joining this prestigious club and I can only say that your friendship, kindness and presence has given me a high standard to aspire to and a willingness to serve you to the best of my ability.

I have a full diary of speakers for the coming year which I hope you will find most enjoyable at our forthcoming dinners.

To inform you a little of my background, I was born in Nottinghamshire where I lived until I joined the Royal Navy in 1964. I retired as a Warrant Officer in 1992. My Grandfather had a career in the Royal Navy and fought at the Battle of Jutland. My father also had a full career in the RN and fought throughout WW2.

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In 1993 I became the Fleet Safety Officer for the Geest Line. This was a short career due to the company selling its ships and going over to chartered shipping. A sad demise for a once much respected shipping line.

From there I moved to Black Rod’s Department in the House of Lords as a Doorkeeper. I retired in 2011 as a Senior Doorkeeper. I still do some part-time work there in the Banqueting Department as a Banqueting Usher and Toastmaster, which I very much enjoy.

I live in Portsmouth with my wife Carol. We are members of the Camping and Caravanning Club and have owned a motorhome since 1989. My two other lifelong pursuits are motorcycling and fly fishing.

I look forward to your company at our dinners and other events over the next twelve months, and to sharing with you the pleasure and enjoyment that these gatherings provide in maintaining our club aims.

Bob Jones

PAST PRESIDENT’S FAREWELL ADDRESS

On reflection of my Presidency and the past twelve months one realises how quickly it has gone! The past year has been an honour and a great privilege to serve you, the Club members.

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My gratitude goes to the Committee for their hard work, support and encouragement throughout my year in office. I would like to use the opportunity to say a special thank-you to Louis Roskell – IPP, who has supported me and stepped in where there have been clashes due to my work commitments. To James O’Neill, who has guided the transfer of the Club to a limited company. And of course to Ray Kay – the Hon Sec, Derek Bevan – the Hon Treasurer, and Martyn Taylor – the Hon Dinner Sec, who make our enjoyable dinners a reality!

Mr Bob Jones, who has supported me and has been an excellent Vice over this last year, will succeed me. I am sure he will be a friendly, fair, yet resolute President who will serve you well during the coming year.

I would like to wish you and your family best wishes and I look forward to many dinners to come.

Stephen ‘Jan’ King MBE

SECRETARY’S CORNER

Secretary’s message from the chart table

I hope that, like me, you are already enjoying a good summer even though it doesn’t officially start for a few more days. My official summer starts the day

after our AGM which this year went smoothly and launched us on a new course in a new ship as a limited company. A stable and efficient vessel to carry us into the future whatever it may bring. Thank you for your support.

The AGM was a time to say thank you to our retiring president, Stephen (Jan) King MBE who has served us so well. Welcome to Bob Jones as our new president and Tony Goodhead as Mr Vice. I also want to say a big thank you to Louis Roskell who is stepping down

after three years of dedicated and skilled leadership as Mr Vice, President and IPP. My final thanks on your behalf are to James O’Neill who does an outstanding job as your Almoner and has put much valuable work into the incorporation.

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We have two vacancies on our committee and would especially welcome younger or newer members to bring new ideas and fresh thinking to keep us UpToDate in this fast-changing world. If you have even the least interest in helping to run your club, please let me know.

We are beginning to put some good plans in place for our 100th year but need your input. In particular we need to decide who will have the privilege and responsibility of being our President for this momentous year. Your suggestions are welcome.

As a committee we don’t work in isolation and we welcome your ideas, comments and suggestions by phone, email or text. I will be sailing the Adriatic for most of the summer but communications there are extremely good, and I have unlimited calls and data, so you can text, call, What’sApp, Instagram or email me anytime. If I happen to be tacking, pumping the bilges, bleeding the engine or whatever, I will get back to you as soon as I can.

I look forward to seeing you in September for the start of a really good season which Bob has lined up for us. Meanwhile, enjoy your summer.

Ray Kay - sschonsec@gmail.com

HON TREASURER’S REPORT For the Club’s finances, 2018 has been a difficult year. Income has remained static, while expenditure has risen beyond expectations. Such are the Club’s reserves however, that this has been managed without having a crisis on our hands.

In the first half of 2018 only one dinner turned in a surplus, a very small one at that. The trend of rising incidental expenses at dinners had caused the Committee to agree a 10 per cent increase in the charge made to members, to take effect from September 2018. The price of £25 per seat per dinner (excluding the individually priced occasions) had held for more than ten years. A price increase from the National Liberal Club had been anticipated for a number of years but had not materialised. Such an increase, whenever it came, would have triggered an increase pro rata in the Club’s charge to its members.

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During the summer of 2018 the National Liberal Club gave notice of a 58% increase in its cover charge, with a 110% increase on the original figure to follow at a later date. The Committee decided to stagger passing on these increases to members over a period, until such time as the tariff would provide sufficient income to cover all costs as before. The price of £27.50 would hold for the remainder of 2018; from January 2019 it would be £35. After that there would be £5 increase each half-year until that goal had been achieved.

Meanwhile the dinners would no longer be expected to provide surplus funds in order to pay for the President’s cocktail party.

Other items of expenditure for the year demonstrate the volatility to which we have become accustomed. That does not prevent the Committee looking carefully at levels of expenditure and seeking savings, within the context of maintaining the style and standards befitting the Club’s traditions.

The Treasury Reserve deposit now stands at the minimum figure available for a fixed-term contract. As opportunity arises, the sum deposited will be built up again. It is a consolidated deposit and it may be that the Laristan Fund can, in the future, provide a slightly larger share of it.

Accounting matters

As in previous years, for various reasons, costs for dinners etc are not always in strict proportion to the number of covers at a given event.

Being a club, we do not attempt to write off the cost of assets over periods of years; nor do we record, for accounting purposes, stock held in the slop chest or the state of an agreed and balanced postages book.

Hidden costs

For many years now I have brought attention to how fortunate the Club has been to benefit, in various ways, from the generosity of members and well-wishers. I have also warned that such protection from the impact of the full costs of goods and services provided, may not be expected to last for ever.

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However we do continue to enjoy the goodwill and generosity of a number of individuals, some still saving the Club considerable expense, and I wish again to thank those concerned without naming names or causing embarrassment.

Investments

In order to place the invested monies of the Club and the Laristan Fund with NatWest Treasury Reserve, their respective investments are consolidated and deposited as a single sum (currently £25,000). The ratio between the two funds is now 3 to 2. The current interest rate, for 2018-19, is 0.92%.

Laristan Fund

The Laristan Fund continued to enjoy very generous support from members at the dinners in 2018. The lower total of the collections at dinners, compared with 2017, reflects closely the change in average attendance.

Disbursements for 2018 again reflected the policy hitherto of not hoarding money but putting it to good work as soon as is appropriate and practicable.

Amongst the disbursements, donations were made to the following charities:

The Merchant Navy Association £ 500

Surfers Against Sewage £ 500

The Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society £ 500

£1,500

Widows of former members benefited to the extent of £1,725.

Thanks

My thanks are also due to Ray Kay and Martyn Taylor who, with your President, have admirably accommodated my attempts to control the Club’s finances and prepare the accounts for audit and examination, while lending their unfailing support generally.

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Thanks are also due to Michael Buck, whose duties as auditor have again been undertaken thoroughly and with every courtesy and consideration. Michael has kindly undertaken to allow his name to continue to go forward for election to act as examiner and auditor of the Club (as an unincorporated society) until its voluntary liquidation in due course. We are indebted to him for his service to the Club over many years and on behalf of the members, in extending our thanks, we send him our best wishes.

Adoption of the accounts

I have pleasure in presenting these accounts for adoption at the Annual General Meeting of the Seven Seas Club.

Derek G Bevan

Hon Treasurer

1 May 2018

HON. ALMONER’S REPORT Welcome to Summer everyone

Happy to meet again,

Most of you already know about the exciting changes recently made by the Management Committee, so we won’t dwell on these here except to say it certainly is the way forward to direct our beloved club for the future generations ahead.

You’re a generous lot of gentlemen: the “Laristan” wooden pot is one of the Almoner’s tools to help better the lives of our members, widows and maritime organisations. How does that work? We support those among us who have suffered illness, financial difficulties or mobility problems, plus those bereaved, or an organisation or individual who would benefit from a little help. We support by kindness, compassion, comradeship and - by no way last - your financial contribution.

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We are here waiting and wanting to help: please tell us about a member in distress - be it illness, financial difficulties or mobility - it’s all very confidential and we may be able to bring back some good cheer and humour into their lives,

Alternatively, have you thought about a small organisation or an individual, with an ambition or interest in the sea or promoting the marine environment, who would benefit from a donation which would make a difference? Again please tell us. Your Managing Committee needs new and fresh ideas.

As a club we actively “promote and foster the comradeship of the sea” a very encompassing and all-embracing statement which we believe in.

Since my last report, many of you are aware that a few of members have sadly slipped their cable and a number of members have suffered the misfortune of ill health, surgical operations, being confined to hospital or home. We send cards, flowers and make visits simply to show The Seven Seas Club is a caring community. We are there for them.

You are our eyes and ears; spare a thought and tell us. Thank you.

Enjoy your summer, family and friends and hopefully lots of sunshine to boot!!

Happy to meet and happy to meet again

James

James O’Neill – Hon. Almoner Email: jamesoneillssc@gmail.com Phone: 07970 467961

HON. DINNER SECRETARY’S REPORT

Well, where did that year go! It does not seem nine months ago that we were all being inspired by John Holt, Azat & Samuel from the Greig City Academy at the September dinner, and this was only the beginning of run of very interesting and enjoyable speakers and dinners. On Trafalgar Night we were privileged to have Capt Steve Prest RN propose ‘The Immortal Memory’ followed by our very own Tony Goodhead in November sharing his experiences of circumnavigating the UK in St Joan. Despite some snowy weather in January we had our highest attended dinner with

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82 members booked to attend, and in February we all enjoyed the ‘Antiques Roadshow celebrity’ Mark Smith who has promised to return! Our president’s final dinner, Ladies Night, was graced by Commodore Ellie Ablett who shared an overview of the Modern Royal Navy and the opportunities that females now enjoy equally with their male ‘shipmates’. I would like to remind members that they are responsible for paying for themselves and any guests, and that dinner payments need to be received by the rsvp date detailed in the dinner notice prior to the dinner. Also, making the payment does not book you in; please ensure you advise the Dinner Secretary by email or post to book in yourself and any guests. Despite some minor issues the NLC continues to deliver excellent dinners and value for money, even with the cost increases already advised by our Hon Treasurer, but the committee will continue to monitor this to ensure consistency at our dinners. Finally, I hope that you have enjoyed the dinners and speakers over the last year and are looking forward to the year ahead with more excellent speakers already being arranged. Martyn Taylor Honorary Dinner Secretary DINNERS - Photographs – John Callcut and Martyn Taylor

31st January 2019 – Attendees 80

Our President presents Bob Comlay with club cufflinks

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28th February 2019 – Attendees 72

The President with guest speaker Mark Smith

28th March 2019 – Attendees 58

Guest speaker Dr.Robert Bruce-Chwatt

26th April 2019 Ladies night – Attendees 59

Our President welcomes Commodore Ellie Ablett MBE, RN - Hon. Secretary Ray Kay and Vice President Bob Jones presents flowers to our honoured guest.

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30th May 2019 – Attendees 77

Our new President says farewell to a tearful Sandra and Shep Woolley and Gary Blakeley entertain the diners.

Paul Antrobus receives his 25 year tie. Vice President, Tony Goodhead

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FUTURE DATES

26th September 2019 – Speaker: Peter Ward, CEO UK Warehousing Association. 24th October 2019 – Speaker: Clive Carrington-Wood. 21st November 2019 – Speaker: Steve Foster ‘The Soldier who Came Back’ Part 1. 19th December 2019 – Christmas Dinner 30th January 2020 – Speaker: Steve Foster ‘In Search of a Hero’ Part 2. For further information see our website at www.sevenseasclub.org.uk

SISTER CLUBS – To find out what is happening at our sister clubs in Australia and South Africa, visit

Australia - http://sevenseasaustralia.com.au

South Africa – http:/simonstown.com/clubs/sevenseas/com

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OBITUARY

George Kingston, Past President 1983/4. RIP

George – and the Seven Seas Club

George Kingston, Seven Seas Club member since 1968, Past President 1983/4 and Honorary Life Member, slipped his cable 25 April 2019 at his home in Ingatestone, Essex, aged 77 years.

He leaves behind his wife Pat, daughter Joanne, son Antony and three grandchildren.

The funeral and celebration of his life was held at Bentley Crematorium, Brentwood, Essex, on 23 May 2019. with a reception afterwards at Thorndon Park Golf Club, Ingrave, Brentwood.

The attendance was estimated at over 150 with all the standing-room-only area completely full, a mark of the huge impact George had on his local community and beyond.

A dozen Seven Seas Club members attended (see box 1).

Tributes were made by Paul Antrobus (PP 1989/90), daughter Jo and son Antony (Seven Seas member), who also read a meaningful poetic work ‘Sailing the Sea’ by Hilaire Belloc (see box 2) which George himself had specifically requested be read at his funeral..

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Box1: Seven Seas Club members attending (with apologies to anyone I have missed):

Paul Antrobus, Antony Kingston, Mike Fleming, Jeremy (PP), Justin and Tristan Miller, Peter Clements, Tim (PP) and Paul Sanders-Hewitt, Ray Kay (PP and Club Secretary), Bill Gibbon (PP) and Duncan Matthews with his mother Bonnie Matthews, wife of David PP). Unable to attend, Jim Ellard (PP) sent a signal.

George joined the Seven Seas Club in 1968. He was one of the new intake of so called ‘Yachting’ members (a term intended to ease the transition from strictly Naval qualifications for membership, long since phased out) from the East Coast sailing scene who were a vital part of the rescue and resurgence of the Seven Seas Club.

He was a committee member, then Treasurer, for many years, and President in 1983/84 when the Club dinners were held at John Grundy’s Cornhill restaurant.

He was awarded honorary Life Membership and was a founding Trustee of the Baxter & Grimshaw Trust, which became active in 1990, a duty he continuously performed right up to his death. There could not be a better supporter of the Club in the spirit of the Chip Leonard Anchor.

Jim Ellard (PP 1997/8) wrote: “I thought George was one of the finest men I ever met and one who helped the world be a better place. Best Wishes for a Great send off for wonderful man.”

George – the friend and mentor

My own friendship with George began 70 years ago and matured with our passage through life, potholes and all, not fully in sync but always coming back together for one reason or another.

Young George and his five sisters lived at Roundwood on Hutton Mount, Essex. His prep school was in Devon and he came to Brentwood School at 13+ where I was already a pupil. We left in 1959. After a stint at college George joined the family butcher’s shop business, mainly in Essex but Jim Ellard particularly remembers their shop in Orpington.

Sailing for us began in our early teens, messing about with boats at Brightlingsea.

In 1957 George and I began racing in the 18ft Brightlingsea One Design fleet, a classic East Coast clinker-built centre-boarder designed in 1928. At that time the fleet included brothers Robin and Bill Gibbon who were our elder mentors and

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later both became members of the Seven Seas Club, Bill serving as President in 1995/96.

George met his wife-to-be, Pat, who lived locally in Shenfield, and she joined our three-person BOD crew. They married in 1963. I was his best man – and a few years later he was mine.

In 1959 Brightlingsea boy Bob Fisher, now a veteran yachting journalist, then a top dinghy racer, introduced Paul to Lt Cdr Bernard Baxter. He was skipper of Evenlode, a 50ft classic canoe stern sloop, narrow ‘plank on edge’ elegant vessel with a distinctly raked mast. She was based on the river Crouch and a regular participant in the East Coast Offshore Racing programme, racing under the burgee of Burnham’s Royal Corinthian YC.

We had seen the boat racing at Burnham Weeks, where the BODs used to race as a visiting class, and were willing recruits to the Evenlode crew.

Bernard Baxter, as we know, became a long-serving Seven Seas member (PP 1973/74) and Bob was a member for a few years. too. They are both in the photo of the 50th Anniversary Club Dinner in 1972 held at the Naval Club, Mayfair.

With Evenlode we gained our offshore experience, out of sight of land and watch-keeping, which we so often reference as a gateway to understanding the comradeship of the sea when making Baxter & Grimshaw Trust grants to young disadvantaged people.

The Evenlode years ended in 1965 when the owner sold her. Bernard Baxter switched to cruising with Ernest Silverman (PP 1978/9) on his sloop Nora and Tony Grimshaw joined them. I went off to join the RORC

offshore racing circuit in the UK and international series in the USA and

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Australia, propelled there by the sound grounding four years on Evenlode with Bernard had provided.

George took a more domestic route. As children Jo and Antony grew up, he bought a Trapper 26 Little Stroller which they sailed as a family in the Crouch YC programme. George became a successful skipper and one year won the prestigious Burnham Week Town Cup sailing Bright Spark, standing in for an absent owner.

Jo and Antony became fully competent sailors to offshore standards, including Transatlantic crossings.

George and Pat took to skiing and became very competent. He encouraged others to join in, organising group trips for Old Brentwoods and joining in with the Crouch YC ski group.

He and Pat took up golf and, although his handicap didn’t get into single figures, such was his drive and enthusiasm he became Captain of the Thorndon Park Golf Club.

For several years he was secretary of the Old Brentwoods Golf society. As one member put it, “He organised everything for us, with gusto, as we had all come to expect from George”.

In 1999 he embarked on a dream trip, sailing Panacea his Bavaria 38 footer across the Atlantic to do a full Caribbean cruising season.

He took my son Charlie, his godson, on the first leg to Lisbon, me on the leg to the Canary Islands, and then completed the Transatlantic crossing with just two of his Burnham friends.

Once arrived in the BVI, other friends went out to share the Panacea experience, the sunshine and the rum that characterise Caribbean sailing.

Sadly, this voyage turned out to be his last great sailing odyssey.

Our lives took another unexpected synchronisation when we both became diagnosed with Parkinson’s at roughly the same time, his a more debilitating type than mine. We had many conversations about the reality of the condition and the effect on family, particularly Pat.

All George’s friends owe enormous thanks to Pat for the dedicated and unswerving support and care she gave George as his condition inexorably worsened.

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Altogether a busy and absorbing life full of commitment to others.

George was an outstanding Seven Seas Club member who will be in our minds during the Club dinners’ last toast.

Paul Antrobus

Sailing the Sea

by Hilaire Belloc

I love to consider a place which I have never yet seen, but which I shall reach at last, full of repose and marking the end of those voyages, and security from the

tumble of the sea.

This place will be a cove set round with high hills on which there will be no house or sign of men, and it shall be enfolded by the quite deserted land, but the westering sun will shine pleasantly upon it under a warm air. It will be a proper

place for sleep.

The fair-way into that haven shall be behind a pleasant sandy beach, which shall run out aslant into the sea, and shall be a breakwater made by God. The tide shall run up behind it smoothly, and in a silent way, filling the quiet of the sand dunes brimming it all up like a cup – a cup of refreshment and quiet, a cup of ending.

Then with what pleasure shall I put my small boat round, just round the point of that sandy beach, noting the shoal water by the eddies and the deeps by the blue colour of them where the channel runs from the main into the fair-way. Up that

fair-way shall I go, up into the cove, and the gates of it shall shut behind me, headland against headland, so that I shall not see the open sea any more, though I shall still hear its distant noise. But all around me, save for that distant echo of

the surf, will be silence, and the evening will be gathering already.

Under the falling light, all alone in such a place I shall let go the anchor chain, and let it rattle for the last time. My anchor will go down into the clear salt water with a run, and when it touches I shall pay out four lengths, or more, so that she may swing easily and not drag, and then I shall tie up my canvas and fasten all

for the night and get me ready for sleep. And that will be the end of my sailing.

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Circumnavigating the UK by Tony Goodhead

Brief history of St Joan

St Joan is a 52ft Express Coastal Cruiser built in 1929 for Nigel Guinness by J W Brooke & Co of Lowestoft. She was requisitioned in June 1940 and allocated to RAF Valley, Anglesey, on Air-Sea Rescue duties, finally returning to private ownership in 1948.

Extensive interior work was undertaken between 1990 and 1995 which restored her layout and finishes to the original build specification, with minor improvements for functionality. The original compass, clock, searchlight and custom-made saloon wall light fittings are still in service today. She was re-engined with two 115hp Cummins diesels.

She took part in the Thames Nelson Flotilla in 2005 and Queen Elizabeth’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in 2012.

St Joan has been honoured by the award of ‘2018 Flagship’ for the National Historic Ships (UK).

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Key places that we visited:

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the RAF, the 70th anniversary of St Joan returning to private ownership and the 15th anniversary of her purchase, we decided to circumnavigate the UK in the summer of 2018 and whilst doing so raise funds for the RAF100 and RNLI Charities, to symbolically re-unite the Air and Sea Rescue Services. “JustGiving accounts” have been set-up for each charity to enable donations to be made directly to them:-

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RNLI - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tony-goodhead OR Text SJLB70 £xx to 70070

RAF100 - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/raf100-stjoan OR Text SJRF70 £xx to 70070

There is also a Facebook page St Joans Returns to Valley – just scroll down to have a look at the updates and comments.

We have visited RNLI HQ Poole, and planned to visit Holyhead on Anglesey to invite the officers of RAF Valley onboard to commemorate St Joan’s WWII service was a special event of the cruise. We then crossed the Irish Sea to Douglas, Isle of Man, where the RNLI was founded by Sir William Hillary in 1824; the Lifeboat named after him is moored in the Harbour.

The Passage Plan started on Monday 11th June from Teddington on the River Thames and the planned return was on Tuesday 4th September, to St Katharine Docks for their Classic Boat Festival; covering an estimated distance of 1900nM. We actually arrived one hour early on the 4th and had a short wait before entering the lock into St Katharine’s.

Main ‘Ports of Call’ have been:-

Ramsgate, Cowes, Poole, Weymouth, Plymouth, Fowey, Newlyn, Milford Sound, Holyhead (RAF Valley), Douglas (IoM), Portpatrick, Port Ellen, Tobermory, Dunstaffnage, Caledonian Canal, Inverness, Peterhead, Granton Harbour, Amble, Hartlepool, Grimsby, Lowestoft, Harwich (Shotley), London (St Katharine Docks). The Final leg will be to Teddington on the 10th September.

At each ‘Port of Call’, when time allowed, we welcomed members of the public to come on board and share the vessel’s history and our experiences, and hopefully they made a donation.

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Sail Bridge – Poole Fowey Harbour

Holyhead Marina Flags flying at Inverness

Hartlepool Marina Safely moored at St. Katharine’s Dock

Beside Gloriana

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Maritime Lectures on board HQS Wellington.

Each month from September through to March, the Wellington Trust hosts a Heritage Evening lecture on board HQS Wellington, the headquarters ship of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners. Attendance is free although the Trust asks for a donation towards the ship’s upkeep; a modest £5 is suggested. The Wardroom bar is open from 1800 hours and the talks, which normally last for around one hour, begin at 1830 hours. The programme for the season 2019 – 2020 is shown below and members of the Seven Seas Club may recognise the names of several of the speakers. If you require any further information please contact Glyn L Evans, Co-ordinator of Lectures for the Wellington Trust. Evans19191@btinternet.com

9th September 2019. Robert G Lloyd Maritime Artist’s demonstration 14th October 2019. Charles Miller Specialist Maritime Auctioneer (lots to talk about) 11th November 2019. Nick Hewett Head of Exhibitions NMRN Portsmouth - German Commerce Raiders of WWI 9th December 2019. Rear Admiral J Lang. The Nation Saved - The Mercantile Marine in WW1 13th January 2020. Captain G Brocklebank & Captain J Freestone The History of Rowing on the Thames 10th February 2020. Glyn L Evans Sir Robert Burton-Chadwick Bart., Founder, the Honourable Co of Master Mariners 9th March 2020. Graham Capel Recovery of Gold from HMS Edinburgh

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Two Little Pigs by Jim Killen

The phone rings: it is De Nijs, the Smit personnel manager. “Are you available?” asks he. De Nijs was never one to use two words when one would do.

Of course I was available – I’d used up all my leave-days and a few extra besides - he knew that well.

“Orinoco.” says he, “In Santander, the day after tomorrow.”

Orinoco

(Now for some technical stuff from Jim: Just had another wee shufti at the photo of the Orinoco. Now for some detective work! She’s obviously been at sea for some time – probably just completed a longish tow for her bunker tanks must be low otherwise she’d have full tanks and lie a lot deeper in the water. Then the rubber tyre fenders hanging outboard – maybe she’s just left from alongside the tow – otherwise the fenders would not be hanging outboard. Then the towing signal still aloft. This would have been lowered pretty soon after getting rid of the tow. I do not recognise the harbour though…. back to the story)

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There was then the usual flurry of activities to get ready for the flight down to Northern Spain and the packing of the gear needed for a number of months at sea. Then an afternoon at the Smit Office to have a medical examination, get formalities in order and receive instructions on the what, the where and the how of the forthcoming voyage.

“Orinoco” belonged to what had, only a few years ago, been an intermediate class of Smit’s ocean-salvage tugs. Then, as the years passed, with larger and larger tugs being brought into service, the tugs of that class - the “Hudson”, “Thames” “Mississippi” and “Orinoco” - were gradually phased out and taken over by Smit South East Asia, still owned by Smit but manned by Asiatic crews, sailing under the flag of Singapore.

So, two days later, fond farewells are exchanged with wife and children at Schipol and, later that evening, I’m booked into this very old-fashioned hotel in Santander.A few days are then spent commuting from the hotel to the tug in the morning and returning late in the evening.

In order to paint and conduct a survey of the underwater area of the vessel, renew sacrificial anodes and check the rudder, propeller and stern shaft, the “Orinoco” had been secured to a cradle and hauled up a slipway.

Precariously balanced, thinks I!

Comes the day when everyone, including myself, is satisfied with what has been carried out, documents are signed and the tug is slid down the ways, re-floated and secured alongside the dock.

Next morning and there is a pilot on board – we move to the bunkering jetty to fill our fuel tanks to the mandatory 98% capacity. The tug being secured at the jetty, this left me free and I was not on board during the bunkering operation nor at the topping-up of our water tanks.

No sir! The yard owner had invited myself and the Chief Engineer to a meal at a very up-market restaurant, out in the Spanish countryside - the “El Mola”.

An exceptional, even a bit boozy all-afternoon-well-into-the-evening feast that, on re-boarding the tug, demanded an early retirement.

Being in command does have the occasional perk!

Breakfast time next morning saw us heading, at economical, towards El Ferrol. This was later changed to La Corunna just a few miles further on. The opportunity to assess the officers and crew on board was not neglected.

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My opinion:- yea, OK. but none seemed to have an in-depth knowledge of tugs and the art of ocean-towing.

When I spoke of the finer aspects of handling awkward tows and what to do in various salvage scenarios, there would often be a glaze of incomprehension in their eyes and a blank look on their faces.

“Christ!” I’m thinking, “Let’s not get a really awkward tow or nasty salvage job before this lot are in shape.”

I had a Dutch chief engineer – a fellow from Friesland that I’d sailed with once before, also on the same class of tug. With the exception of an electrician from Sri Lanka, all the rest were from the Philippines.

Moored in La Corunna, on salvage station, it soon became obvious that the officers and crew had little understanding of the use of about half the gear on board.

Nor where they aware where each item was stowed.

So the routine became, after breakfast, go check some aspect of the tug and gear.

Being a salvage-tug I first had the towing gear hauled out, and inspected every inch of hundreds and hundreds of metres of wires, ropes and chains. The main towing wires remained undisturbed on their winch. Towing shackles were counted and identified with different painted colours. Pumps were hauled out on deck and sea-water pumped from the harbour on one side of the vessel to overboard on the other. Almost daily short lectures were given about what does what and how it is to be cared for.

For myself, a not too gruelling exercise – awakening enthusiasm slightly compensated for ignorance and inexperience.

Then, mid-afternoon, myself and the chief engineer would clean ourselves up and amble to the agents – nothing new again - then to the main drag. There to a little eating place, the “El Rey de Gamon” where paper-thin slices of Spanish ham and crusty bread would be helped down with a few sips of dry sherry or a quaff or two of beer.

Then, after a few hours, back to the tug – a relaxed existence.

After a week or two – with neither word of any casualty nor of any tow on the agenda - time to check the victuals and such. I’d had a quick shufti at the provision stores, fridges and suchlike but, after thinking about it for a while, I

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came to question why the cook seemed to be requesting stuff in very small quantities.

An ocean tug MUST have enough provisions to last at least as long as the fuel will.

It would be more than embarrassing to run out of groceries when engaged with a heavy tow in the middle of an ocean.

So, one morning I collars the cook and we go check what is available in the store-rooms, fridges and freezer.

I’m shocked!

What had been happening, and had been the custom for a long time prior to my joining the tug, was that the cook would put in a requisition for victuals – then he’d use up that lot prior to requesting more. The vast quantity of provisions given over with the vessel a few years previously had remained almost untouched! Rice, fresh vegetables and fish, along with some pork, were seemingly the prime requirement for the Filipino crew. The mate and sailors were summoned and, tin by tin, the canned food was examined – suspect stuff being set aside to be later dumped. Sacks of dried pulses, flour, packets of pasta and other dried goods were examined for weevils and other such beasties – a lot was condemned.

With the assistance of the cook and the 1st Mate, a re-provision list was made up, the ship-chandler called and the order placed. This new provisions list was adapted to suit the Oriental palate, emphasis being given to ordering stuff able to be kept consumable for an extended period.

Next afternoon and there is a freight lorry alongside the tug.

Stores are checked, manhandled on board and stowed in the store-rooms, fridges and freezer..

I felt relieved that a potentially serious problem had been circumvented.

Now we could go to sea and, if necessary, remain there for a few months. There was fuel, water and victuals enough to last. Now all we needed was a casualty or two to help the poor tax-man out of his quandary.

But there was no casualty yelling for assistance – at least not on the Mighty Western Ocean there wasn’t.

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So we lay in Corunna waiting – occasionally in the early morning I’d visit the fish-market there. Well worth getting out of bed a few hours early to go see the wonders of the deep that the Spanish fishermen had landed.

Well worth it indeed!

Now, one way to assess the competency of a tug’s cook is to have a regular peek at the contents of the gash-bucket. An almost empty bucket will indicate that the cook has it all under control – what he is cooking is well cooked and is being eaten - that he neither cooks too much nor not enough. Should the cook not cook enough, the howls of anguish from the crew will reverberate and you will soon be made aware of their discontent. So, apart from keeping an eye on the store-rooms, the contents of the galley gash-bucket is quietly sighted on a regular basis.

I have the distinct feeling that the cook hasn’t quite got to grips with the idea. Further investigation indicates that the Filipino were treating the seemingly unlimited food supply as they would at harvest-time at home. A cooked chicken leg would be dumped in the gash-bucket after one bite had been removed. Half-full plates of rice and vegetables would be scraped into the bucket and another plate-full served.

The cook and I have words!

His English isn’t 100% and he does not seem to grasp the need that he must cook only what is to be eaten – while there should not be any severe restrictions imposed, food must not be wasted! For a day or so my instructions are followed, then, slowly things revert to over-indulgence.

“Christ” I’m thinking. After ordering the initial massive amount of foodstuffs there would be questions if a repeat order was issued within an unreasonable time…

I pondered the situation for a day or so then came up with the – to me -BRILLIANT SOLUTION!

I’d get a couple of piglets – they could guts themselves full on the excess dumped food, wax fat, and then - sometime in the future, when we were three weeks from the nearest port and had run out of food - we’d devour the things!

The ship-chandler was taken aback when I called him and said “Get me two little pigs!”

“NO – not suckling pigs for the barbeque! I want ‘em alive and kicking”

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The following afternoon sees me in the ship-chandler’s van, heading at speed along narrow country lanes through Spanish hills. We haul in to a pig farm and I’m introduced to an enormous Spaniard - a pig-farmer who looks and smells uncannily like some of the larger of his beasts. Over a wooden table the chandler and farmer discuss what I want, prices and such, all in Some Spanish dialect that I cannot follow a word of. Meanwhile I’m plied with raw red wine, lumps of bread and rock-hard cheese.

Eventually they stand up and I follow into the largest shed. There, amid a few dozen piglets in a large pen, are the two that I’m to have. I’m unable to tell which one is which for they all look the same to me – small, pink and squealy!

The piglets have impressive acceleration and an admirable turn of speed.

I’m not involved and just watch the races – piglets usually winning!

Eventually the farmer, assisted by the chandler, corral two little grunters behind a sheet of corrugated steel and the farmer hoicks ‘em by the back leg into the chandler’s van. A quarter sack of dried pig-food follows and the van doors are slammed shut!

I have my charges.

I’m instructed that they’ll go off their food for a day or so but to offer ‘em some of the dried stuff and unlimited drinking water.

Back on board, and the galley-boy and the bosun seem to know exactly what I want when I instruct that a pig-pen be constructed beneath the large towing bitts just aft of the main winches. It only takes an hour or two to fashion a substantial pen out of a few lengths of timber from the salvage-gear hold.

Within a week or so a routine has been set: – The galley boy would scrape all the uneaten food into their buckets in the morning. Then, mid-afternoon, they’d be free to run around the aft deck while their pen was hosed clean – they’d also get a prolonged spray from the fire-hose and a scrub with a deck broom before retiring back to be secured in their pen. These pigs had a life like no other pigs in history. They dined on omelettes, fish heads and fried rice, all scraps from the galley.

Surprisingly, the food consumption actually decreased!

Gone was the habit of over filling the food plates and dumping the uneaten half of the meal. There was, every mid-morning morning, when I checked, just enough uneaten food in the galley gash-bucket to feed the two little pigs.

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Pinky and Perky, as they were named, waxed fat!

Spaniards would stop on the quayside and discuss at length the two pigs visible under the towing bitts. We became a favourite with some of the children who would throw dried bread and stuff down to be guzzled! Life went on, easy but boring, neither tow nor casualty in sight.

Then, one breezy afternoon, activity on the radio – a casualty and not too far away.

Off we zoom, full power, to the rescue! Only he doesn’t want to be rescued!

A smallish ore-carrier up from Casablanca with phosphates has engine problems and is drifting at a few knots in the seas and swells towards the rocks of the North Spanish coast. Even though the assistance we have offered has been declined on numerous occasions, we keep close.

“He’s going to leave it too late and end up wrecked on the rocks”, are my thoughts.

All that night and the following day the wind freshens – his rate of drift increases and he still refuses assistance. Two days we stick within a few miles of the wallowing casualty. Eaves-dropped radio communications between the casualty and his owners confirm he is absolutely forbidden to accept our offer of Lloyds Standard Form of Salvage Agreement.

Meanwhile, Smit in Rotterdam are trying to wrangle a contract with is owners – no luck there either.

Then, closer to the coast the casualty drops his two anchors. Drift is reduced to minimal but his anchors are not holding well! Then, another eaves-dropped conversation indicates he can sign LSF but only at the extreme last minute.

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“Well”, I’m thinking, “It is good that his draft is more than mine for there is a limit where I will not go and risk the tug herself grounding on rocks”

If he goes beyond that limit the offer of assistance will be revoked and we will be off.

It will be a rescue job after that!

According to my reckoning he has but an hour and a bit to go before I call it a day! Then he’s seen to be hauling in his anchors and shortly thereafter is steaming away! He did it, he made it, but to my mind he was an absolute idiot for - had another job cropped up - I’d have been away like a flash and he may never have made it at all! Hardly have we turned for Corunna and there is word of another casualty in mid-Atlantic; away we go again. Later the next day, we hear that another salvage-tug has left the Azores and is contracted to assist that casualty!

We are then instructed to take up station in the English Channel. It is no great distance to Mounts Bay and we are just about to drop anchor when there is word of a Greek tanker having difficulty not too far away.

So, we shoot off, hoping to make the job.

Then, again, he declines our assistance and we turn back towards Mounts Bay. Again we are informed that he really needs a tug. Three separate times we head towards that tanker – three separate times we about-turn when it seems he has fixed his problem. The tanker had been sailing under a Scandinavian flag and had been recently purchased by Greek interests. This was her first voyage under the Greek flag.

Having done a bit of a soft-shoe-shuffle up and down the Western Approaches we stop and drift. Awaiting developments.

Then....Yes!

He agrees to accept our assistance under Lloyds Standard Form of Salvage Agreement. He wants us to take him to Brest but I persuade him that Falmouth is the place to go. Falmouth, where he will get the best repair service, in the shortest time, at the best price.

He communicates with his owners in Greece and it is agreed – Falmouth is where we are to take him.

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Even though there is a fresh breeze blowing and a short, steep sea is running, he has power on deck so connecting up is completed shortly after the stern of the Orinoco is positioned close under his fo’c’s’le. A day and a bit towing and late on a Friday afternoon we are off Falmouth Roads. There are harbour tugs connecting to the casualty, a pilot boards us, another one boards the tow, our towing gear is slipped from the tow and recovered.

Half an hour later sees us moored alongside the bunker jetty in Falmouth.

Our agent and various officials board.

The usual documents are filled in and presented: - crew lists, provisions list, lists of all the cigarettes, wines, beers and spirits on board are all completed, signed and stamped.

In the list of provisions I include “Two pigs”….

The agent’s runner, a very amicable sort, is amused and says he’s never seen ”Two pigs” on a ship’s manifest before. I remark that a hundred years or so ago it would have been commonplace to have live provisions on board a foreign-going vessel. I board the casualty and get a release from the Salvage Agreement signed.

Daybreak Sunday morning and we are long gone, this time to a vessel yelling for assistance – seemingly somewhere south of Kinsale. We had initially been alerted by the two-tone warble on 2182Kcs after which communications were relayed through to us via Landsend Radio. We are well west from the Scilly Isles, in close communication with Landsend Radio and the Irish coastal station - Valencia Radio. We’ve been under way for quite a few hours and it transpires that some joker has been playing games and has set off the 2182Kcs radio-alarm and been giving garbled messages to Valencia Radio.

A HOAX!

I’m informed that the Irish police, the Guarda, are on the case! I’m not amused, the engines are stopped and we drift.

Then a message from the Singapore office – we are to choose an anchorage in the Scilly Isles and wait for instructions – there is to be a double-tow from South England to the East soon.

The anchorage, close-in to one of the Scilly Isles, isn’t very comfortable – too exposed to the Western Ocean swells that roll round the headland. I don’t trust the holding ground either. The mates are instructed to be extra vigilant and check

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the anchor bearings very regularly. A sharp wee gale makes the anchorage untenable and I move to anchor off St. Ives.

We wait there for about a week.

Then, an early morning a call comes through – a French trawler on fire to the south - other Frenchmen are close by - they are abandoning her!

Off we go – to see if there is anything that can be done.

Dawn and there were a lot of fishing vessels in the direction we were steaming, however there was no doubt about which one was on fire. A pencil-straight plume of black smoke rose vertically from beyond the horizon as the sun rose.

We close in.

The crew of the burning trawler have been taken off by another French trawler .

Radio contact and the French say that the case is hopeless - there is nothing that can be done. I disagree and bring the tug close alongside the casualty. The fire is, seemingly, confined to the accommodation and bridge. I relay that we are able to handle the situation but need a salvage contract to be agreed before we can start fire-fighting.

All the French can say is “Non!” and that it is a hopeless case.

Via Landsend Radio the French Consul is contacted – there is little he can do, only wish us luck. I then instruct the big pumps to be started and the water monitor is used to blast some of the flames into submission and cool the hot surroundings. I will not let any of our fellows board the casualty – not without a Salvage Contract I won’t. We are rigged and ready to do the job but all the French will say is, “Non!”

Frustrating!

I move the tug away and instruct that the boat be launched. I’m ferried to the French trawler and I get into a deep, three-sided discussion with the Captain of that trawler and the Captain of the casualty. They are very hospitable but refuse any external assistance – even the offer to recover their trawl-net is declined.

I’m probably not the most quick-witted mariner afloat and it takes a while before it dawns on me that they do not want the burning vessel salved! It is, most probably, the insurance pay-out that is far preferable to the lost time and costs of having the vessel salvaged then brought back into service.

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NO! A hefty ‘Total Loss’ insurance pay-out is, for them, the preferred option.

The burning French casualty is anchored by his trawl and tug has drifted a mile or so off.

Defeated I turn tail.

It takes a fair while to attract the attention of the Second Mate in the boat and to call him back. The attitude of the French and the doziness of the Second Mate leave me in a foul humour and I give him an overly severe blasting as soon as I board. The Orinoco is re-boarded and I’m surprised, when I use my binoculars, to see that the French trawler has manoeuvred alongside the casualty. There are people boarding but no fire-fighting operations taking place.

Not as far as I can make out there isn’t.

I move the tug a bit closer. The half-dozen or so who had boarded the casualty are then seen to re-board the trawler - I’m puzzled!

The accommodation was still, mainly, on fire and they seemingly had done nothing about it!

I’m wondering what games are being played as the Frenchmen drift apart.

About half-an-hour later and there is a flare-up! Rapidly, she’s ablaze fore and aft, there are flames from the engine-room skylights as well! Resigned we drift and watch as the burning casualty slowly lists and settles deeper in the water. It would take a hard heart not to have some twinge of emotion as a fine vessel is witnessed taking her final dive into the deep. Our talkative, noisy, often boisterous crew are notably subdued and there is little chatter as our hoses, B.A. sets and other fire-fighting gear is restowed. Landsend Radio is informed of the position of the wreck and we ease back to anchor again, on salvage station, in Mounts Bay.

Late evening a week or so later and there is news of another Greek in trouble in a position just about half-way between Ouesant and Finisterre.

Off we go again.

Within a few hours we are informed that the Greeks have accepted Smitug Rotterdam’s offer of assistance under the Lloyds Standard Form of Salvage Agreement.

The job is ours!

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Next evening and we were somewhere close to where he thought he might be. There are dozens of echoes on the radar screen – standard traffic in a busy shipping route mixed with a myriad of French and Spanish fishing vessels – the tuna are running!

Lights are everywhere - which one was our casualty? He wasn’t quite certain of his exact position!

O.K. “Can you send up a red distress rocket?” I question.

They comply! The flare is sighted – the echo identified – we set off in his direction. The decision is made – due to the prevailing boisterous conditions there is no need to make fast in the dark. We will wait until daylight before connecting up.

Now, the interesting part of it all was that there were dozens of vessels within sight of that flare.

A distress flare reaches a height of about 1000 feet and burns with about 40000 candlepower, and is visible within a radius of quite a few miles. There simply must have been a few watchkeepers on vessels who actually saw that rocket-parachute flare but not one responded or took any action.

Neither on VHF ch.16 nor on 2182Kcs was the slightest murmur heard! Not one vessel deviated towards the distress signal – not one!

I found this a bit disconcerting.

Next morning, before breakfast, it is blowing half a gale and I have the stern of the tug under the bows of the Greek. There are but three persons on the fo’c;sle head! She’s a dead ship – no way could three people haul our heavy gear on board by hand.

I haul off and request that more of the casualty’s complement get for’d to assist with the hauling of our wire and chafe-chain aboard and making fast. Otherwise I’d have to have the gear on the aft deck re-rigged. Our tow-deck was awash with seas breaking aboard, and re-rigging the towing gear would take some time.

Eventually the Greek is ready; even her cook, I think, is on the fo’c’sle, the stern of the Orinoco is as close as I could dare position her under the bows of the casualty, the towing gear is hauled up by hand and secured. We ease our tow-wire out to the usual sea-towing length and increase power, then swing round putting the wind and swells broad abeam to port, destination Falmouth.

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I’m not certain of the stability condition of that fully loaded vessel but, Oh Lord! did she roll!

Our aft deck was regularly washed by the tops of passing seas but the casualty rolled her rails under with almost each passing swell! The weather could only be described as fresh to strong winds, say Bft 7, occasionally Bft 8 with a moderately rough sea and a bit of a heavy westerly swell.

Still she rolled in a very quick, whipping roll.

My opinion was that they had far too much heavy stuff stowed far too low in the vessel.

That all was, however, their discomfort and not really anything for me to get excited about.

It is mid-afternoon, there are other ship movements in Falmouth and we are off St Antony’s Head awaiting clearance to enter, harbour tugs and pilots. I get word from the Agents enquiring if the two unusual guests are still on board and if they are well and alive.

I reply in the affirmative.

Then I’m informed that if I wish to avoid “difficulties” and “awkwardness” I’d better do something, as “Ministry Men” from London and Southampton have travelled down to make the acquaintance of the guests and myself!

No direct instructions are given but the vibes are quite distinct – time for action.

First-things-first, I “flog the Log” and note a fictitious position and time of Pinky and Perky’s demise.

The Mate and cook are then called to the bridge and given the order “Slaughter the pigs!”

“Do it now!”

The pilot passes them as they return to do the deed. Then there are harbour tugs approaching and I ease the tow towards the entrance to Falmouth harbour.

Soon enough the casualty is taken away and is anchored in the harbour. I moor the tug alongside her to get the LSF release signed before taking the tug to the bunkering berth.

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Now the authorities, Port Health, Customs and such in Falmouth are an amicable bunch. They have worked with ocean-going salvage-tugs for many years. There is always an air of mutual co-operation and honesty with the Falmouth Authorities.

However, the bunch that stormed aboard as soon as the gang-plank had been secured were anything but amicable. The ‘suits’ and their assistants with briefcases were everywhere – all were out for blood and prisoners were not being taken!

So, it transpires that I was to be charged with importing live swine from a country where African Swine Fever was endemic. Then, a second accusation was that I had exported live swine from the U.K, and all this without the required licences. Forms and documents by the ream were scattered across my table, pale faces and glaring eyes had positioned themselves on all available seating in my day room – others, in stony silence, stood leaning against the bulkheads.

One of the “Ministry Men” seemed to be senior to most and was acting differently from the rest. To begin with, he had a chubby red complexion and - although he didn’t say a word - he seemed to find the whole procedure amusing. There was the glint of humour in his eyes and the occasional grin would flicker across his chops.

So, proceedings developed and forms were filled in. Then came the demand that they were to be shown the pigs, where and how they were penned.

Silence ensued when I replied that I didn’t have any swine on board!

To my inner delight they seem flummoxed.

“Got some fresh pork though.” I remark.

A few are sent to verify my assertion. On the bridge-wing there is a muted discussion between others. This all seemed to infuriate a few while the chubby-faced one could hardly contain his mirth. The gang from the bridge-wing return and the next accusation is that the vessel has been operated as an unlicensed slaughter-house.

I politely enquire as to how far out to sea their jurisdiction extended.

This again seems to send ‘em into a flurry and further discussions ensue before the reply of “twelve miles” is given.

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“Ha!” say I, and produce the ship’s Log Book – pointing to the line where I’d noted the imaginary time and position of the dirty deed – well distanced from their stated “twelve miles offshore”.

The red-chopped fella, an ex-Naval something I’m later informed, guffaws, slides his papers into a brief-case and stands up to leave.

Without a word the rest follow – charges are not pursued.

That evening there is the most magnificent pork-barbeque held on our aft deck.

So ends the tale of the Two Little Pigs.

The sinking of HMT “ARAGON” by Glyn L. Evans

The fresh footprints of the OOW, seen here on the newly-scrubbed quarterdeck of HMS Hero, help to explain this naval rating’s lugubrious expression. The original watercolour, painted for me by the highly-regarded artist, Sean Bolan, contrasts with his usual depictions of officers and men of the various Guards Divisions. It is Sean I have to thank for a collection of old press cuttings that came into his possession, leading me to research the sinking of HMT Aragon on 30th December, 1917.

Launched in 1905 at Harland & Wolff’s Belfast shipyard for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, Aragon set off on her maiden voyage on 14th July of that year from Southampton for Brazilian ports with 306 First, 66 Second and 632 Third class passengers.

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Taken up as a troopship, she saw service in 1915 during the Dardanelles campaign and was used as a base for this by General Sir Charles Monro and his staff, with Lord Kitchener being a frequent visitor. In December 1917 Aragon embarked troops, mainly engineers, plus 150 nurses, at Marseilles and sailed on the 20th of that month for Alexandria with the destroyer HMS Attack as escort during the later stage of the voyage.

The following account is extracted from “The Royal Mail War Book – being an account of the operations of the Ships of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., 1914 - 1919” by H W Leslie. “At ten past ten on the morning of 30th December, during her final approach to Alexandria, Aragon received a message from Attack, “Channel not swept yet. Shall have to stay outside until 1pm. I propose zig-zagging up and down at high speed.” Fifteen minutes later HM Trawler Points Castle came into sight blowing her steam whistle and flying “N G S,” the international code signal for “Follow me.” Evidently the channel was now clear; Captain Bateman of Aragon altered course and, at half speed, followed Points Castle towards Alexandria with two other trawlers sweeping ahead. Very quickly, Attack was back on the scene and signalled to Aragon, “You have no right to take orders from a trawler. I am Senior Naval Officer, follow my instructions.” She then hoisted flag “W” with a ball underneath, the convoy order “Follow me.” Attack and Aragon then headed back out to sea. That mines were a real threat is evidenced by the fact that the Fleet Auxiliary Osmanieh was sunk the next day, after striking a mine laid off the port.

No sooner had Aragon left the swept channel and reached the open sea than she was hit by a torpedo from the German minelaying submarine UC – 34 (Oberleutenant zur See H Obermuller) and rapidly began to sink. An account in the Birmingham Post, February 1918, under the heading NURSE’S VIVID STORY reports. “About 10.30 in the morning we could see land.” she writes. “At 10.55 there was a terrible crash. The steward got me outside and gave me my lifebelt. I ran up two flights of stairs to our boat stations. In a minute we had orders to get into the boats, which we promptly did without any confusion. We were lowered – which was a shaky business – a doctor and a colonel accompanying us, and we got away from the ship as soon as we could. By that time we could see the stern of Aragon down in the water and her bows in the air. The troops on board were singing. By Jove, it took some doing.”

From another cutting, Miss Agnes Mitchell, a VAD nurse wrote, “The tommies, of whom we had many on board, were perfect “bricks.” They stood at their various posts and cheered us when our boats left the sinking ship – cheered us although many of them were never to see land again. We got off safely from the fated vessel and, as we were luckily very near shore (twelve miles off) there were

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several trawlers quite close to us. They steamed up to us and we were hoisted safely into them. We then turned our attention to the boys struggling in the water. Our ship had by this time disappeared stern first, so that for a few seconds she seemed to stand perpendicular in the water. We were delighted to see the boys being safely taken to the torpedo-destroyer which had remained with us as escort.”

This was a fine example of the “Birkenhead” Boat Drill – women and children first.

Staff Nurse Grace Findlay gave The Daily Sketch of 16th February “a thrilling account” of her experiences. “I shall never forget the sensation when the ship was torpedoed. The noise was dreadful, and everyone had to get ready for their lifeboats. The sisters were the first to be put into these boats, along with several boys who were wounded by the torpedo. Neither shall I ever forget the bravery of the soldiers as they stood on deck and called on them to cheer up while the great boat was fast sinking underneath them. At last the lifeboats got clear away, and the words rang out, “Are we downhearted?” and the ringing reply came “No!” It was then the destroyer came alongside and rescued a large number of men.” Nurse Findlay and others in her boat were picked up by minesweepers. The Aragon sank in twenty minutes, and the destroyer was alive with men when the submarine torpedoed her also.”

HMS Attack broke in half and sank in five minutes.

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Another contemporary newspaper cutting reports, “TRANSPORTS SUNK IN THE MEDITERRANEAN ------ 809 Lives Lost. The Secretary of the Admiralty made the following announcement on Wednesday; The transport Aragon (Captain Francis Bateman in command) was torpedoed and sunk in the Eastern Mediterranean on December 30. One of HM destroyers, while picking up the survivors, was herself torpedoed and sunk. The mercantile fleet auxiliary Osmanieh (Lieutenant-Commander D R Mason RNR in command) stuck a mine and sank in approximately the same locality on December 31.

The casualties were as follows:- Aragon Osmanieh Total

Officers, incl. the Captains 4 3 7

Crew 15 21 36

Military Officers 10 1 11

Soldiers 581 166 747

Female Nurses 0 8 8

Total 610 199 809

These newspaper clippings prompted me to re-read a report of the sinking of Aragon as described by Stuart Nicol in his book, “Macqueen’s Legacy - Ships of the Royal Mail Line.” In that report, recalling the fine discipline on board Aragon, the ship’s senior surviving officer said “It is a proud tribute to be able to pay to the soldiers and ship’s company that not one of the nurses even got wet. All were landed safely and intact.” This recollection prompted a response, also in Nicol’s book, from Alex M Hamilton who, as an officer in the Royal Engineers, was on board Aragon. He says, “When the torpedo struck I reported to my boat station and assisted in filling the boats with nurses. Sliding down the ship’s side, I was holding on to the outside of a porthole when I heard a second explosion. I have a hazy recollection of being crushed by wreckage and some six hours later was picked up unconscious by a trawler, and landed at Alexandria where I spent six and a half months at Ras-el-Tin Military Officers Hospital… I recovered and am today (November 1962) supervising the business which I commenced after being invalided out in the year 1919.” That business was Alex M Hamilton & Co., the Pacific Steam Navigation Co.’s agents at Belfast. There the story might have ended but for the fact that, from my career as a marine insurance underwriter in Liverpool in the 1960s, I remember dealing with

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a company of shipping and forwarding agents in Belfast by the name of Alex M Hamilton. With the help of my friend and retired master mariner, Andrew Jaggers of Bangor, Co. Down, I was able to establish that the Company is still in business (now as Hamilton Shipping) and, further, I was put in touch with its Group Managing Director, Gordon Hamilton. Promptly responding to my enquiries, Gordon told me Alex M Hamilton was his great uncle who subsequently left the firm in the hands of Gordon’s late father, James.

Gordon was too modest to mention his prowess on the rugby field, but I can report he gained ten caps at International level for Ireland and scored a fantastic try against Australia in the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Gordon kindly sent me copies of two letters from 1919, when great uncle Alex had returned to his native Belfast. On 5th May he wrote to a former business acquaintance, Captain P F Donnelly, Marine Superintendent, Isthmian Steamship Lines, 11 Broadway, New York, seeking support for his new business venture. In that letter he says, “Since I saw you last I have been through Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Italy, France and Belgium, holding a commission in the Royal Engineers. I had the misfortune to be on board H.M.T. Aragon when that steamer was torpedoed in the Eastern Mediterranean. I was four hours in the water before being picked up and then spent five months in Ras-el-Tin Military Officers’ Hospital, Alexandria, having been crushed and developing Pneumonia and Pleurisy following the immersion. I am now at home on Medical leave and may be released from the Army any day now.” Captain Donnelly, who must have had some Irish blood in him, replied on 20th June “I hope that you have regained, by this time, your usual good health and that your spirit is as buoyant as the zephyr that blows over the hilltops of Erin.” The Captain went on to list a selection of personal contacts which, history proves, gave Alex the start to his business he was hoping for. A final, sad reminder of those who did not survive the sinking of Aragon comes from an account in the Birmingham Post of 11th February 1918, under the heading

THE LAST OF THE ARAGON’S CAPTAIN.

The crew of the torpedoed transport Aragon reached home on Saturday. They spoke enthusiastically of the conduct of the troops and nurses. When the vessel was struck the troops lined up and sang “Keep the home fires burning.” The captain (Frances Ames Bateman aged 37) when all the available boats were lowered, cried out, “Every man for himself, and God be with you.” Shortly afterwards he went down with his ship.

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