Description
Object description
British seaman trained at HMS Pembroke, Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham, GB, 1937-1938; served aboard HMS Ivanhoe, 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in Mediterranean and North Atlantic, 2/1939-10/1939; served aboard HMS Ivanhoe, 20th Destroyer Flotilla in GB, North Sea, Norway and Dunkirk Evacuation, 11/1939-9/1940 including sinking by mine in North Sea, 1/9/1940; attended torpedo courses at Torpedo School, HMS Vernon, Portsmouth, GB, 1940; served aboard HMS Franklin in GB coastal waters, English Channel and North Sea, 1941-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in New Eltham, London, GB, 1921-1937: family; education; living in New Eltham; recreational activities; employment as panel beater; early interest in the sea; lack of willingness of father to talk of First World War experiences; degree of anticipation of Second World War. Recollections of enlistment and training as seaman with HMS Pembroke, Royal Navy Barracks, Chatham, GB, 1937-1938: reasons for enlistment in Royal Navy; selection interview; medical; call-up to HMS Pembroke; inspection of teeth; swimming tests; haircut; accommodation and messing; rations; keeping mess clean; sleeping in hammocks.
REEL 2 Continues: technique for getting into hammock and use of stretcher bar; issue of uniform; adapting uniform; issue of knife; use of ditty box; personal items; drilling and doubling on parade ground; recruits who could not take to drill; rifle training; character of instructors; treatment received from Royal Navy; training on knots; learning splicing; familiarisation with torpedoes and depth charges; degree of signals training.
REEL 3 Continues: education; familiarisation with naval ranks; question of whom to salute; issue of seamanship manual; training with whalers; explanation of term 'catching a crab'; selection for naval branches; restricted areas at HMS Pembroke; daily routine in barracks including waking up, stowing hammocks, breakfast, timetable and lunch; provision of cigarettes; evening activities; provisions available in Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI); recreational activities; evening meal; inspections; lights out and reading material; heating in barracks; night-time barrack patrols.
REEL 4 Continues: pay and leave; use of Agnes Weston Rest Home; character of Chatham town; drafting to HMS Ivanhoe. Recollections of period as seaman aboard HMS Ivanhoe, 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in Mediterranean, 2/1939-9/1939: troopship voyage from GB to Malta, 2/1939; reception on arrival on destroyer; character of destroyer; description of mess; introduction to mess mates; allocation of action station in shell room; role of leading hand in running mess; messing arrangements; move to Haifa, Palestine; anti-immigration duties on Palestine Patrol.
REEL 5 Continues: joining bosun's mates' side party as buoy jumper; uniform worn in Mediterranean; officer supplying messdeck with cushions; ship's hierarchy; role of captain; numbers of officers on board ship; relations between ratings and officers; role of petty officers; importance of cleanliness; rivalry between ships; nature of roll on larger ships; atmosphere on destroyers; naval branches on board ship; ship's armament; engine room staff; division of naval branch messes; atmosphere aboard ship; exercises in Mediterranean; time taken to get to action station in shell room; role of destroyers; continuing education in Haifa, Palestine; impressions of Haifa, Palestine.
REEL 6 Continues: recreational activities aboard ship; how older seamen helped younger members of crew; character of lookouts; watch system; 'make and mend'; role as lookout; eye fatigue during watch; staff on bridge; submarine detection exercises; role of torpedomen; hearing declaration of Second World War on route from Mediterranean to GB, 3/9/1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1945. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Ivanhoe, 3rd and 20th Destroyer Flotillas in North Atlantic, North Sea and Norway, 9/1939-5/1940: escorting aircraft carrier HMS Courageous in Western Apporaches, 9/1939; sight of explosions aboard HMS Courageous, 17/9/1939; internal explosion aboard HMS Courageous, 17/9/1939; sight of men abandoning HMS Courageous and her sinking, 17/9/1939; problems logging time of sinking, 17/9/1939; purpose of HMS Courageous' patrol; reaction to sinking.
REEL 7 Continues: reasons for fitting of mine rails to ship on joining 20th Destroyer Flotilla, 11/1939; removal of two guns and torpedo tubes from ship; loading of mines at Immingham, GB; character of minelaying operations; method of laying mines; threat from German E-boats; searching for Altmark off Norway, 2/1940; reasons for mining in Norwegian waters, 4/1940; role of ship during First Battle of Narvik, Norway, 10/4/1940; effects of being knocked off buoy in fjord; return to Immingham, GB; mining routine off Norway.
REEL 8 Continues: Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Ivanhoe, 20th Destroyer Flotilla during Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940: arrival off French coast; use of ship's boats to pick up troops from beaches; ordering in of destroyers to East Mole at Dunkirk, France; damage to ship from German dive-bombing, 1/6/1940; being taken in tow by tug; German Air Force attacks on troops on beaches; casualties caused by bombing of ship, 1/6/1940; cheering of the ship by naval and merchant seamen at Sheerness, GB; mustering after action; further details of damage to ship; standing by ship during repairs at Sheerness, GB, 6/1940-7/1940; reaction to being in shell room during bombing; attitude towards Germans; replacement of lost crewmen.
REEL 9 Continues: Recollections of sinking of HMS Ivanhoe, 20th Destroyer Flotilla in North Sea, 1/9/1940: ammunitioning ship and loading with mines at Immingham, 31/8/1940; loss of HMS Implusive to mine; hitting mine followed by HMS Intrepid hitting mine; orders to abandon ship in whaler; sight of aircraft; picking up by motor torpedo boat; treatment as survivor; reception from family on arrival home; effects of sinking on naval career; story of wartime marriage, 1941; details of mining of ship; terms of survivors leave; conditions at HMS Pembroke, Royal Navy Barracks, Chatham on draft. Aspects of period on torpedoman courses at Torpedo School, HMS Vernon, Portsmouth, GB, 1940: priming depth charges.
REEL 10 Continues: firing torpedoes from torpedo tubes; second course for leading torpedo operator; dealing with the ship's electrics. Recollections of period as seaman aboard HMS Franklin in GB coastal waters, English Channel and North Sea, 1941-1945: drafting to ship as leading torpedo operator; role of ship as survey vessel; echo sounding equipment; surveying Scapa Flow and channel into King's Lynn; watching Medway Forts settling on seabed in Thames Estuary; role aiding diver on board ship; character of diver's suit; reasons for remaining on board ship; surveying Cherbourg Docks, France, 1944.
REEL 11 Continues: surveying channels into German ports, 1945; ship's defensive armament; messes on board; crew compliment; changes in relations between ship's company and officers during Second World War; dealing with ship's batteries; leaving ship and demobilisation, 1945; attitude to having served with Royal Navy in Second World War.