Description
Object description
British stoker trained at HMS Vivid, Devonport and aboard HMS Devonshire in GB coastal waters, 1910; petty officer stoker served aboard HMS Gabriel, HMS Hood, and HMS Curlew in GB coastal waters and Mediterranean, 1916-1926; chief petty officer stoker served aboard HMS Hood, 1926 and HMS Renown in GB coastal waters, 1929-1931
Content description
REEL 1 Background in East End of London, GB, 1895-1910: father's occupation as greengrocer; reasons for fluctuation in family's income; social conditions in East End of London; obtaining job as draper's delivery boy; apprenticeship in Iron Foundry including pay and working hours.
REEL 2 Continues: difficulties of obtaining permanent employment and working conditions; soup kitchens. Aspects of enlistment and training as stoker with Royal Navy in GB, 1/1910-6/1910: reasons for joining Royal Navy; character of recruits; enlistment procedure.
REEL 3 Continues: reasons for enlisting as stoker; living conditions and discipline at HMS Vivid, Devonport; reasons for spread of epidemics and diseases; stokers's work during coaling and dangers of breathing dry coal dust. Aspects of period as Chief Stoker Petty Officer aboard HMS Hood, 1921-1923 and 1926 in Mediterranean: story of being responsible for keeping ship steady for officers' billiard games.
REEL 4 Continues: method of bunkering oil fuel; story of oil spillage on board HMS Hood, 1926; question of rivalry between Seaman and Stoker branches; cautioning by captain after oil spillage. Recollections of training as stoker aboard HMS Devonshire in GB coastal waters, 6/1910-12/1910: character of stoker training and scope of stokers' work aboard ships.
REEL 5 Continues: safety regulations connected with boiler work; maintenance and cleaning ship's double bottoms; stoker's routine duties in dockyard; trainee stokers' work aboard ship; initial duties in stokehold.
REEL 6 Continues: Recollections of period as stoker with Engineer Branch, Royal Navy on various ships, 1910-1931: reaction to swift promotion to Petty Officer; attitude towards use of Agnes Weston's Training School and Hostel in Devonport; problems facing naval marriages; relations of civilians in Devonport; work of stokers in stokeholds and engine room.
REEL 7 Continues: stokers' clothing and working conditions in stokeholds and engine rooms; maintenance and oiling duties in engine room; conditions in engine room of HMS Curlew, 1923-1926; relations with engineer officer aboard HMS Renown, 1929-1931; degree of knowledge officers had of lower deck.
REEL 8 Continues: importance of naval discipline; occasion for breaking leave in Torquay and punishment received; types of men who became naval policemen; opportunities for corruption and bribery in naval barracks; influence of freemasonry in Royal Navy.
REEL 9 Continues: power of regulating branch on board ship; relations between stokers and engine room artificers; reaction to working in engine room during mine laying activities aboard HMS Gabriel, 1916-1918.