Description
Object description
British seaman trained as stoker at Keyham Barracks, Devonport, GB, 9/1913-2/1914; stoker served aboard HMS Rinaldo at Devonport, GB, 2/1914-8/1914; served with C Coy, 8th (Anson) Bn, 2nd (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div at Antwerp, Belgium, 10/1914; served with 8th (Anson) Bn, 2nd (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div in GB and Gallipoli, Turkey, Ottoman Empire, 11/1914-5/1915; served with 4th (Collingwood) Bn, 1st (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div at Gallipoli, Turkey, Ottoman Empire, 6/1915-1/1916; served aboard HMS Arab, 7th Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 7/1916-12/1916; served aboard HMS Wolf, Northern Division, Coast of Ireland Station in Irish Sea, 7/1917-12/1918
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment in Royal Navy in GB, 9/1913: civilian employment as engineer in Salford and Manchester, 1912-1913; recruitment as stoker at Deansgate Recruiting Office, Manchester, 9/1913: reasons for enlistment and proceedure. Recollections of training as stoker at Keyham Barracks, Devonport, GB, 9/1913-2/1914: reception; barrack messroom accommodation; hammock storage.
REEL 2 Continues: use of hammocks; mess fittings; ditty box; question of prevalence of theft in barracks and aboard ship; issue of uniform; personalisation of uniform; Aggie Weston's Sailors' Rest facilities.
REEL 3 Continues: uniform alterations; education classes; training sections; reveille; hammock storage; washing; morning parade.
REEL 4 Continues: fatigues; role of naval pensioners and question of their stealing from ration stores; effect of fluctuating numbers on mess arrangements; weekend pass system; story highlighting possibility of bribery to secure passes; breakfast and general food messing system; mess cleaning.
REEL 5 Continues: drill; exercise runs; training in proscribed method of washing; swimming lessons; dinner; canteen; tea; watch system.
REEL 6 Continues: watch duties; washing, drying and marking clothing; kit inspections and replacement of missing kit; breaking leave and punishment recieved for doing so; story of being inadvertently late back from leave.
REEL 7 Continues: naval police patrol duties; role of Master at Arms; punishments; Crown and Anchor games; question of drunkenness; recreational activities; pay.
REEL 8 Continues: recreational activities; theoretical and practical training aboard HMS Amphitrite; qualification as Stoker 2nd Class; dockyard working parties and cleaning boilers.
REEL 9 Continues: dockyard working parties and greasing engine rooms; drafting proceedure. Recollections of period as stoker aboard HMS Rinaldo at Devonport, GB, 2/1914-8/1914: role towing gunnery targets; morale; duties trimming coal bunkers; coaling ship; stokers' mess; ship's role as target during torpedo exercise.
REEL 10 Continues: Aspects of period as stoker with C Coy, 8th (Anson) Bn, 2nd (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div, GB, 8/1914-10/1914: crowded conditions on recall to Devonport Barracks, 8/1914; volunteering to join division, 8/1914; drafting to battalion and movements in GB, 8/1914-10/1914. Recollections of operations as stoker with C Coy, 8th (Anson) Bn, 2nd (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div in Belgium, 10/1914: arrival and move up into trenches near Antwerp; uniform and equipment; appointment as cook; false alarms; use of abandoned farm house; withdrawal into Antwerp; effect of air raids; disorganisation and scattering of unit during march into Antwerp.
REEL 11 Continues: train journey via Brussels to Ostend; return to GB; cooking and rations issued in trenches; nature of trenches; issue of khaki uniform on return to GB, 10/1914. Recollections of operations as stoker with 8th (Anson) Bn, 2nd (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div at Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, Ottoman Empire, 4/1915-5/1915: clearing and burial of corpses whilst acting as beach party at W Beach, 25/4/1915-26/4/1915; shellfire from Turkish gun 'Asiatic Annie'; front line positions in Achi Baba Nullah sector; presence of French Senagalese troops; nature of trenches; failure of Turkish attack, 5/1915.
REEL 12 Continues: sniping plates; making tea and sniper problem when carrying it up to front line; story of being wounded in leg and wrist, 19/5/1915; rations; water supply. Aspects of operations as stoker with 4th (Collingwood) Bn, 1st (Royal Naval) Bde, Royal Naval Div at Gallipoli, Turkey, Ottoman Empire, 6/1915-1/1916: return to Gallipoli and posting to battalion, 6/1915; relations with Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel; situation; automatic rifle ruse used during evacuation, 1/1916.
REEL 13 Continues: Recollections of period as stoker aboard HMS Arab, 7th Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 7/1916-12/1916: role of torpedo boat destroyer; patrols in North Sea; duties in boiler room; methods of changing speed; use of evaporator to boost water supply; problems in bad weather; absence of ventialtion; operation of evaporators and engine room duties; air pressure in boiler room.
REEL 14 Continues: conditions in boiler room; working clothes; stokers' mess; coal dust and washing; messing and accounting systems; use of fish to supplement rations carried on patrols; rum ration.
REEL 15 Continues: stokers' mess; recreational activities; absence of shore leave; boiler cleaning; coaling; absence of recreational facilities at Scapa Flow; paying off ship, 12/1916. Aspects of period as stoker aboard HMS Wolf, Northern Division, Coast of Ireland Station in Irish Sea, 7/1917-12/1918: role escorting mailboat across Irish Sea; relaxed discipline on board.
REEL 16 Continues: coaling ship; storm damage and period in dry dock at Glasgow; Armistice, 11/11/1918; voyage to Devonport and paying off, 12/1918. Reflections on service with Royal Navy, 1914-1918: relations with seaman branch ratings; question of accidents and prevalence of tuberculosis; comparison of conditions of service on destroyers and battleships.
REEL 17 Continues: attitude to different kinds of war service; tobacco ration; discipline and relations with officers and petty officers; sundown ceremony; church parades; reaction to outbreak of First World War, 4/8/1914; Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Royal Naval Reserve personnel drafted into Royal Naval Div, 1914; question of use of Royal Naval Reserve personnel in older ships.
REEL 18 Continues: reaction to news of Battle of Jutland, 6/1916; submarine and mine warfare; question of promotional prospects; religious arrangements for Roman Catholics; accelerated demobilisation and securing employment with timber sawmill, 1919.