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Description: | British boy seaman trained at HMS Ganges, 1913-1914; served aboard HMS Undaunted, 1914-1918 including Battle of Jutland, 1916; served aboard HMS Matchless, 1918-1919 including Zeebrugge Raid
REEL 1: Reasons for joing navy as boy seaman, 1913; family background; education; employment. Aspects of training as boy seaman at HMS Ganges, 1913-1914: pay; nature of training; learning to swim; punishments for smoking; attitude to discipline; opinion of rations; attitude of officers; memory of climbing mast. Aspects of operations as boy seaman and seaman, 1914-1919: memory of outbreak of war; drafted to light cruiser HMS Undaunted; memory of speech by ship's captain; red lead used on decks to hide blood; attitiude to war; description of patrols at sea; story of sinking German trawler and captain's attitude to Germans; story of Germans firing on white flag; role as lookout on bridge; opinion of new ship's captain; question of pay; memory of Christmas Day 1914 in Heligoland and attack by Zeppelin; role of HMS Undaunted in Battle of Jutland, 1916; memory of picking up survivors from German ship Blucher and attitude of Germans; memory of being rammed by destroyer and casualities; question of fear including fear of drowning; role as part of Harwich Force and nature of operations in North Sea and Dover Straits; opiniion of officers; attitude to discipline and morale; description of daily routine; scrubbing decks; parades; opinion of rations; cleaning guns; question of education; duty on watch; evening quarters; recreational activities; mess arrangements; rum ration; description of uniform and kit.
REEL 2 Continues: further description of uniforms; sleeping arrangements including hammocks; items of kit including housewife; repair of clothing; kit bag; clothing allowance; issue of silk and tobacco; memory of visit by King George V and Queen Mary while in hospital; drafted to HMS Matchless, 4/1918; description of role in Zeebrugge Raid; story of escorting HMS Vindictive back to Dover and memory of dead bodies on ship; description of scuttling HMS Vindictive at Ostend; memory of Armistice, 11/1918; drafted to HMS Ibiscus and nature of operations as part of Allied occupation force in Turkey, 1919; role in rescuing refugees from Russia; memory of visiting Odessa. Various aspects of post-war life and employment: further service with Royal Navy in GB coastal waters; problem of hernia and reasons for leaving navy; demobilisation procedure and question of pension; employment as farm labourer; description of period of service with Home Guard during Second World War. Reflections on period of naval service during First World War including further comments on Zeebrugge Raid. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Child, Anthony | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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