At work as usual. Had another try at Willie Wanless’s song. Went down to the great Endeavour meeting. Played one game at ping pong afterwards and walked round by myself again.
The River mouth turned into a submarine base about this time.
All posts by Arthur Linfoot
11 November 1914; Wednesday
Busy at work. Went down to drill at night with Joe. Drilled in St Ignatius’ Institute hall. Had some old carbines. Went round by the chapel last thing but there was no-one there.
10 November 1914; Tuesday
Busy at work. Stayed at home until late trying to complete Willie Wanless’s song. Went to the practice late. Came round by myself. Read a bit at home.
Received news that the “Emden” had been destroyed near Cocos Islands by H.M.A.S.”Sydney”1. Also that the Koenigsberg2 had been entrapped on the East African Coast by the Chatham.
“Emden”, a light cruiser (4.1” guns; coal-fired, the last non-turbine German warship), had been a successful raider in Eastern waters, latterly with a dummy fourth funnel to masquerade as HMS Yarmouth; however she reached Direction Island without it, and was spotted by the Telegraph Superintendent; HMAS Sydney, with 6” guns, answered his call. ↩
“Koenigsberg”, similar to Emden but even older: successful Indian Ocean raider, traced by HMS Chatham through her collier in mid‐October, besieged and repeatedly attacked in Rujiji Delta (S. of Dar-es‐Salaam, then German E. Africa, now Tanzania) by RN cruisers, until scuttled under heavy attack in July 1915. ↩
9 November 1914; Monday
Got up about 7.40. Not much to do at work. Stayed in at night. Played a little. Had walk last thing. Joe said he heard that Mr Chadwick’s little girl was dead and buried1.
Mr Chadwick’s little girl had been taken ill a few days before as noted on 4th November. Nothing is known about the nature of her illness. ↩
8 November 1914; Sunday
At chapel and School as usual. Mr Kettle preaching and preached well in the morning. Had usual walks. Billy Marshall playing all day. A lot of excitement about recruiting.
7 November 1914; Saturday
Not much to do at work. Finished at Porteous with teeth. Walked round town in the afternoon. Walked to Whitburn with Willie Whittaker and Charlie at night. Got new pair of trousers from the Store. Received letter from New Zealand. First one for about 6 months1.
6 November 1914; Friday
Busy at work. Went up to St Gabriel’s with Joe and joined the Athletes’ Civilian Force. Marched from St Gabriel’s to the High Barnes School and drilled there until about 9.30. Joined Athletes’ Force.
5 November 1914; Thursday
Very busy at work. Received news of a naval engagement off Valparaiso in which the cruiser Monmouth was reported to have been sunk and the cruiser Good Hope badly damaged if not sunk1. German losses are reported small. The German Cruiser Yorck2 lost on a mission in the Coral Sea. Probably one of their own mines. Affairs on land progressing favourably. Had hair cut.
Russian Victory in Galicia.
“Naval engagement…”: The Battle of Coronel, which took place on 1 November and which ALL subsequently also noted in his diary entry for that day. Both vessels mentioned were in fact sunk; Good Hope was Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock‘s flagship. ↩
SMS Yorck was returning from the raid on Yarmouth of 3 November, made a navigational error in heavy fog and accidentally sailed into a German minefield. ↩
4 November 1914; Wednesday
Pretty busy at work. Went down to Mr Chadwick’s meeting at night. Mr Chadwick had been called away from home to his little daughter who is away and seriously ill. Mr Kettle spoke in his place. Pretty fair meeting. Played ping pong afterwards with Willie Peake, Joe and our Charlie.
The Allies progressing favourably. England declared War on Turkey1.
Many sources suggest that the formal declaration of war on Turkey (by both Britain and France) actually came on 5th November, not 4th. See for example The Great War Timeline at greatwar.co.uk and Timeline of World War I at Wikipedia. ↩
3 November 1914; Tuesday
Pretty busy at work. Went up to the Garrison Field at night with Joe to join the scouts†, but they were out so we went to Green Street Hall and watched the Athletes’ Force drilling. Went to the choir practice late. Played one ping pong game and lost. Came up late with Charlie and Joe Edwards†. Received news that some German ships have been off Lowestoft1 and dropped mines which sank a Submarine2 and fired on a steamer Halcyon3.
Dardanelles forts bombarded by French & British ships4.
“Lowestoft”: Wikipedia notes a Raid on Yarmouth, about 10 miles north of Lowestoft on the Norfolk coast. This raid took place on 3 November 1914. ↩
“Submarine”: The submarine was the HMS D5, sunk by a German mine laid by SMS Stralsund. ↩
“Halcyon”: Yarmouth coast was patrolled by the minesweeper HMS Halcyon and the old destroyers HMS Lively and Leopard. Halcyon had spotted two German cruisers, which she challenged. ↩
“Dardanelles forts bombarded…”: On 3 November 1914, Churchill ordered the first British attack on the Dardanelles following the opening of hostilities between Ottoman and Russian empires. This attack actually took place before a formal declaration of war had been made by Britain against the Ottoman Empire. ↩