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Description: | British petty officer served with Royal Yacht Patrol on motor launches in North Sea and English Channel, 1917-1918
REEL 1: Background in Cardiff, Wales, 1899-1914: description of employment making ambulances for army; memory of outbreak of war; question of reserved occupation and reason for volunteering for Royal Yacht Patrol, 1918; story of interview and medical examination; reaction of mother to enlistment; reason for preferring to join navy. Aspects of training with Royal Navy in Southampton and Dover, 1918: description of American built Motor Launch No 1; description and role of Motor Torpedo boats, 'Q' ships and Drifters; function of motor launches; description of training on motor launches and composition of crew; accommodation; cooking facilities; question of extra pay for Petty Officers; description of engines and engine room; description of officers' accommodation; question of relations between officers and men; description of role as petty officer and responsibilities; role of motor launches in naval activity; posted to Dunkirk and amusing story of cat and air raid.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as petty officer aboard motor launches in North Sea and English Channel, 1917-1918: strategic importance of Dunkirk; description of rescue work; patrol duties and submarine detection; use of hydrophones; role laying smokes screens for bombardment of Zeebrugge; story of being ordered to abandon ship; description of operations patrolling English Channel with submarines; story of crews of Monitors taking rum ration to troops at Ypres and casualties, 1917; description of bombing of Dunkirk; story of French conscientious objectors working in canteens; description of submarine exercises off Isle of Wight; question of co-operation of motor launches with Royal Navy; memory of Zeppelins; description of bombardment of Dover and question of defences; description of role of Dover Patrol; question of seriousness of German threat to British shipping and bombardment of Zeebrugge; description of concrete German U-boat pens at Zeebrugge; story of Motor Torpedo boats attacking German destroyers in Zeebrugge harbour; role of 'Q' ships; opinion of German seamen; story of motor launches ramming German U-boats on surface; question of award of prize money; description of living conditions aboard motor launches; state of health. Aspects of post-war life and employment: story of returning to engineering firm; reflections on period of service and question of comradeship and discipline. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Picton, Robert | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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