Yearly Archives: 2014

22 September 1914; Tuesday

September 1914, ,

Got up late. Had to hurry to work. Very little to do. Finished early. At choir practice at night. Mr Kettle at meeting at the chapel. Received news at night of the loss of the Aboukir, Hogue & Cressy, by German submarines. Supposed† to be attacked by 5 or 6 submarines. The Aboukir was sunk first and when the others were taking off the crew they were sunk. About 1200 lives lost. British capture armed liner “Spreewald” & two coalers (H.M.S.Berwick) and also news of the capture of the Professor Woermann at Sierra Leone.1

  1. Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy were old cruisers patrolling in the Broad Fourteens area of the North Sea. They were supposed to sail at 13 knots (which they were too old to do) and to zigzag (an order widely disregarded as submarines had not been seen in the area); however the submarine U9 was indeed there, and sank all three. Spreewald: armed cruiser/ex-liner,3,900 tons, supplying raiders in W. Indies; Professor Woermann: 6,000 tons, apparently merchantman; became SS Professor after War. ↩

21 September 1914; Monday

September 1914, , , ,

Very slack at work. Finished early. Got hair cut. Had bath. Read a good lot of Everyman1 and wrote up old diaries about the time I was commencing to go with Mildred†.

News to hand of the damage of the cruiser Pegasus by the German cruiser Konigsberg while she was at anchor and not under steam2. Also the sinking of 5 merchant ships by the Emden3 and the sinking of the Cap Trafalgar by the Carmania4.

The big battle in France still going on. Read Lloyd George’s speech.

  1. Everyman: see Everyman and Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩

  2. Pegasus, a Tyne-built cruiser of 1897, was sunk by the Königsberg off Zanzibar. ↩

  3. SMS cruiser Emden was used as a raider in the Indian Ocean, and in September 1914 alone took over 20 British merchant ships, as well as raiding Madras. See also 29 Sept., 10 Nov., and note on 9 December. ↩

  4. Cap Trafalgar was a large modern German liner (1913, 23,640 tons) converted as an auxiliary cruiser, in service in the South Atlantic; she was found and sunk at a secret base in the Brazilian islands of Trindade, 500 miles E. of Brazil, on 14 September by the Carmania, another ex-­liner (1905, 19,500 tons) fitted out as an armed merchant cruiser; the Cap Trafalgar was thus the first ex-­liner to be sunk by another ex-­liner. ↩

20 September 1914; Sunday

September 1914,

Harvest Festival. Mr Chadwick unwell and the new deacon preached, George Quadiss†. Rather wild day. We sang anthem “While the Earth Remaineth” at night. Had usual walks. Nothing fresh from the front. Heard of the loss of an Australian submarine boat. AE11.

  1. AE1: See note on 14 September. This is a further example of ALL noting events both on the day he heard of them and retrospectively, on the day they actually happened. ↩

14 September 1914; Monday

September 1914,

Frank back from his holidays. Not much to do. Read and played a bit.

Australian submarine lost AE1. 34 lives lost12.

  1. The AE1 took part with other Australian vessels in the capture of German New Guinea on 13 September. Patrolling in the area afterwards, she disappeared on the afternoon of 14 September, and despite searches, no trace of her (not even surface oil) was ever found. This diary entry was made subsequently – see 20 September for the news reaching ALL. ↩

  2. The wreck of AE1 was found in late 2017. ↩

13 September 1914; Sunday

September 1914, ,

Chapel and class as usual. A stranger preaching in the morning and Mr Roope at night. Mr Roope preached very well and Fred Waggott asked Joe to write out the sermon for him1. Managed pretty well at Sunday School and my turn for the children’s service. Got on pretty well.

Invasion of British East Africa announced. Light cruiser Hela sunk by British submarine2.

  1. Joe Wiseman used to practice his already excellent shorthand by recording speeches etc. verbatim; apparently he did sermons too. ↩

  2. Hela was used as a supply tender for submarines in the Heligoland Bight (though classed as a light cruiser, she had only four 8.8cm guns.) She was torpedoed by the British submarine E9; see also 6 October 1914. ↩