Description
Object description
British boy seaman trained aboard HMS Mercury and HMS Impregnable in GB, 1909-1912: boy seaman and seaman served aboard HMS Hercules and HMS Victor in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 1912-1918; chief petty officer served aboard HMS Winchelsea in Baltic, 1918 and on China station, 1933-1934. Civilian worked with rocket defence unit on Kent coast, 1940-1944
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Grateley, Hampshire, 1895-1909: memory of death of Queen Victoria, 1/1901; family; memory of troops entraining at Grateley station during Boer War; question of patriotism during Boer War; education in Hampshire and London; father's employment at Hampton and Romsey stations; reason for wanting to join Navy. Aspects of training aboard HMS Mercury, 1909-1911: first impressions and attitude to naval discipline; uniform and kit; sleeping on tea clipper.
REEL 2 Continues: description of training; daily routine; washing facilities; use of stopwatch for regulating routine; pay; attitude to naval life and discipline; selected for special class and training in engineering; question of refusing to be apprentice artificer; drafted to HMS Impregnable, 1911. Aspects of training as boy seaman aboard HMS Impregnable, 1911-1912: issued with kit; seamanship training; appointed first class boy and home leave; naval traditions and songs; opinion of instructors; description of punishments; use of rum ration for bartering. Aspects of period as boy seaman and seaman aboard HMS Hercules, 1912-1914: role as flagship of 3rd Battle Squadron; opinion of ship.
REEL 3 Continues: story of visit to Hercules by Winston Churchill and improvement in pay and conditions; description of coaling ship; memory of naval regattas; reaction to outbreak of war, 4/Aug/1914. Aspects of operations aboard HMS Hercules and HMS Victor, 1914-1918: dispersal of ships and preparations for war; sailed to Scapa Flow, 2/Aug/1914; problem of dense fog; harbour defences; opinion of German Fleet; daily routine and duties; description of cleaning boilers aboard Victor; question of not being involved in Battle of Jutland and attitude to outcome; memory of wounded returning from Jutland; opinion of German armour and tactics.
REEL 4 Continues: opinion of Jellicoe and Beatty; problem of German U-boats; story of counter-mine operation in Heligoland; role as seaman gunner; description of Victor's role in escorting HMS Hampshire on secret mission, Jun/1916; problem of bad weather conditions; description of recovering bodies from sea following sinking of Hampshire; training as gunnery instructor. Aspects of period aboard HMS Winchelsea in Baltic, 1918: political situation in Russia; role of ship in bombarding Baltic coastline; further movements of ship; question of widow's pension; reaction to Invergordon Mutiny.
REEL 5 Continues: Aspects of period as chief petty officer on China station, 1933-1934: reason for being sent to China station; duties on Yangste patrol boat station from Hankow to Chungking; living conditions; washing and sanitary facilities; water supplies; opinion of rations; role in combating piracy on Yangste; story of Chinese pilot; political situation in China; climate and clothing; problem of bodies in Yangste; story of witnessing start of Long March at Hankow, 1934.
REEL 6 Continues: further comments on Long March; attitude to Japanese; description of living conditions for Chinese civilians; relations with Chinese civilians; recreational facilities for gunboat crews in Shanghai. Aspects of period in GB, 1940-1944: role in Operation Tonsil to combat German V1 and V2 rockets; development of 'pillar box' device; lines of defence along Kent coast; methods of intercepting rockets and opinion of effectiveness.
