Interview with Edward English

British boy seaman served aboard HMS Nelson with Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, 1934-1937, seaman served aboard HMS Faulknor, HMS Keith and HMS Vortigern in GB coastal waters and Mediterranean, 1937-1938; served aboard HMS Egret in Indian Ocean, Red Sea and North Sea, 1938-1940; served aboard HMS Wolfe in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 1940-1941

REEL 1 Background in Southsea and Portsmouth, GB, 1918-1931: social circumstances; education; swimming activities; father's service with Royal Navy. Recollections of education at Greenwich Hospital School, Greenwich, London and Holbrook, Ipswich, GB, 1931-1933: naval role of school; uniform; swimming lessons; dormitories; morning routine; food; educational classes; drill; knots and splices; recreational activities including canteen, dancing lessons, boxing and dancing hornpipe; relations with fellow pupils and masters; Methodist Church services; question of discipline and smoking; school move to Holbrook, Ipswich, 1932; drill; educational test. Recollections of period as boy seaman at HMS St Vincent, Gosport, GB, 1933-1934: boxing compass and supersession of points by degrees; anchors. REEL 2 Continues: anchors and cables; rowing and sailing whalers and cutters; rope climbing; climbing masthead; route marches through Gosport; relations with petty officer instructors; drill. Recollections of period as boy seaman aboard HMS Nelson, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and Mediterranean, GB, 1934-1937: initial impressions of battleship and armament; uniform; ditty box and hat box; boys' mess and hammocks; physical training; washing; latrines; cocoa; scrubbing decks; sanding and holystoning decks before full power trial. REEL 3 Continues: seamanship classes; swimming round bow of ship in duck suits; acting as recorder during firing of 16 Inch Naval Guns of X Turret; acting as coxswain in whalers; cleaning paintwork and polishing brasswork; role of cook of mess in preparing vegetables; general messing system; rations; prior recollection of bread and cheese supper at Greenwich Hospital School; recreational activities and repair of uniforms; relation with fellow boy seamen and question of bullying; relations with petty officers and their use of 'stonachies'; question of swearing; divisions. REEL 4 Continues: divisions; church services; 'make and mend' sessions; visits ashore overseas; status as flagship of Home Fleet; visits ashore in Portsmouth, GB; nature of combined exercises with Mediterranean Fleet; firing exercises using radar controlled target ship HMS Centurion; visits ashore and presence of German Navy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee at Gibraltar; cruises and exercises; relationship with officers including role as messenger boy, stowing midshipmen's hammocks, and divisional officer; story of ship's Supermarine Walrus aircraft ditching; naval regattas. REEL 5 Continues: crew morale. Recollections of period as seaman aboard HMS Faulknor in GB coastal water, 1937: initial impressions of destroyer and armament; canteen messing system including origins of stores, role of 'cook of mess', nature of meals prepared and role of mess leading hand in controlling expenditure; operation of watch system; action station as ammunition supply number on 'A' QF 4 Inch Naval Gun; cruising station as bridge lookout; cleaning and polishing ship; inspecting and oiling guard rails; cleaning steel decks with shale oil; lifebuoy sentry duty; story of collision in fog with SS Clan Macfayden and consequent return to Portsmouth. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Keith in Mediterranean and North Atlantic, 1937: preparations. REEL 5 Continues: carrying Spanish refugees from Barcelona to Bilbao, Spain; character of destroyer. Aspect of period in Royal Naval Barracks, HMS Victory, Portsmouth, GB, 11/1937-12/1937: conditions of service; promotion to able seaman. Aspects of period as seaman at Royal Naval Gunnery School, HMS Excellent, Whale Island, GB, 12/1937-6/1938: gun drill; mixed guns trained on at West Battery; laying, training and loading guns; discipline and punishments; stripping small arms; testing butts; qualification as seaman gunner; period after qualifying as seaman gunner in Royal Naval Barracks, HMS Victory, Portsmouth, GB, 6/1938-9/1938. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Vortigern in GB coastal waters, 9/1938-11/1938: mobilisation during Munich Crisis, 9/1938; character of destroyer; sea trials. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Egret in Indian Ocean and Red Sea and 1938-1940: nature and role of ship as sloop; voyage from GB to Aden, Aden Protectorate; effects of hot climate; pith helmets. REEL 7 Continues: anti-slavery patrols in Red Sea; role 'showing the flag'; effects of heat on psychological state; visits ashore to Aden; activities of coaling station; murder of crash landed Royal Air Force crew and reprisal bombings in Aden Protectorate; declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; patrols looking for German Merchant Marine shipping and tracking SS Wartenfels travelling in neutral waters; capture of Italian submarine; voyage back to GB, 11/1939-1/1940. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Egret, Rosyth Escort Force in North Sea, 1940: duties escorting convoys in North Sea based at Sheerness; night attack by E Boats and story of taking up action station as trainer of 'B' QF 4 Inch Naval Gun on twin mounting; method of securing QF 4 Inch Naval Gun; story of sinking drifting mines by rifle fire; period of hospitalisation with varicose veins and subsequent convalescence; later receiving news of bomb damage and subsequent sinking of ship in Bay of Biscay, 27/8/1943. Recollections of period aboard HMS Wolfe in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 1940-1941: nature of armed merchant cruiser and armament. REEL 8 Continues: role as escort to convoys in North Atlantic convoys and patrolling Denmark Strait; absence of sporting activities during wartime; action station of bridge Hotchkiss Machine Gun; skirting pack ice during voyage from GB to Halifax, Canada; distrust of Free French crew of Free French Naval Forces submarine Surcouf; return voyage across North Atlantic in convoy from Canada to GB; escorting convoy to Sierra Leone; story of narrow escape on being hit be unexploded bomb dropped by German Air Force Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor; voyage to Bermuda and leaving ship; period ashore at Bermuda, 1941. Aspects of voyage aboard oil tanker MV Tahima from Bermuda to GB, 1941: assisting on QF 3 Inch Naval Gun crew; checking life raft stores; explosion of ammunition ship hit by torpedo. Aspects of period as seaman on gunnery course at Royal Naval Gunnery School, HMS Excellent, Whale Island, GB, 1941: status of 2nd Class quarter gunner course; operation of breech mechanism.