Tag Archives: Naval warfare

Diary entries which mention naval engagements during the war.

28 March 1915; Sunday

March 1915, , , ,

Went to the Royalty Church in the morning. Nice church, good music and pretty good sermon. At Sunday School in the afternoon and had 3 classes. At North Bridge Street at night to hear Penitence, P[ardon] & Peace1. Miss Brackwill took the soprano and Tom Leyden the baritone solos. Billy Marshall and Billy Whittaker with me and Charlie in the choir. Had usual walks. Rather wild weather and some snow. The Falaba2 torpedoed and over 100 lives lost.

  1. “Penitence, Pardon & Peace”: oratorio by John Henry Maunder (1858-­1920), organist in Sydenham and Forest Hill; better known for oratorio “Olivet to Calvary.” ↩

  2. RMS Falaba was the first passenger ship torpedoed in WW1, and an American engineer L C Thrasher was among the 104 lives lost, causing an international incident as the Kaiser had declared British waters a war zone as recently as 18 February; but Falaba was carrying explosives, which duly exploded. The submarine was U28. Location probably S. of Ireland, as Thrasher’s body is said to have been found after the Lusitania sinking. ↩

18 March 1915; Thursday

March 1915, ,

At work as usual. Got work well up to date.

Bombardment of Narrows in Dardanelles. “Ocean” & Irresistible and Bouvet1 sunk. Bouvet lost about 500 men.

Out of sorts a bit, trouble with liver.

  1. During this incident Bouvet was hit approximately eight times by shellfire, although she did not suffer fatal damage. She struck a mine at around 3:15, and sank within two minutes; only some 50 men were rescued from a complement of 710. Two British battleships were also sunk by mines that day, and the disaster convinced the Allies to abandon the naval campaign in favour of an amphibious assault on Gallipoli. ↩

15 March 1915; Monday

March 1915, , , ,

At work as usual. Called at George’s at dinner time to mend tyre. Rode up home. Did summary. George received a reply to a job and went away soon to see about it. Went down to teachers’ meeting. Mr Chadwick made a proposal about a procession on Anniversary Sunday and I squeezed it with the assistance of Joe. Anniversary business done. Fine day. Received news of the sinking of the Dresden1.

  1. Dresden: See footnote yesterday. ↩

14 March 1915; Sunday

March 1915, ,

At chapel and School as usual. Very late in morning and afternoon. Had my class and Henman’s and managed all right. Had decent walk at night. Fine day. Mr Chadwick preaching. Miss Smith sang at night. Fine day. Dresden1 sunk off Robinson Crusoe’s Ireland [sic] by Glasgow, Kent & Orania. Crew taken off.

  1. Dresden had been at both Coronel and the Falkland Islands, as noted on diary entries 1 November and 9 December 1914; Robinson Crusoe Island, formerly known as Más a Tierra after which this battle came to be named, was neutral territory. The RN ships found Dresden at anchor; Dresden sent Lieut. Wilhelm Canaris (head of Abwehr Intelligence in WWII, and part of the opposition to Hitler) with a white flag while they scuttled her. 300 men were interned in Chile. ↩

5 March 1915; Friday

March 1915, , ,

At work as usual. Fairly busy in the office. Received news that the U81 had been sunk by destroyers and the crew taken off. About 5/-­ short of * in the shop. Paper hanger busy up stairs. Called in and saw Willie Wanless and went on afterwards to Grandmother. Grandmother very ill and may die at any time. Met Joe there. Called at Gordon’s on the way up and got some chocolates. Saw more wounded soldiers being taken into the infirmary.

  1. The U8; sunk 4 March 1915, all crew rescued as ALL says. ↩

3 March 1915; Wednesday

March 1915,

At work as usual. Fairly busy all day. Received intimation that Olive<r> had to go on to the boss’s letters and John on to the consignments and Rowley to stay where he is. Official Reports of Sturdee1 & Beatty2 in the papers. A German Submarine rammed by a Newcastle steamer. Stayed in at night and played and had a bath. Mrs Rowe and Annie3to tea.

  1. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1st Baronet, GCB, KCMG, CVO (9 June 1859 – 7 May 1925). ↩

  2. Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO, PC (17 January 1871 – 11 March 1936). ↩

  3. Annie: Not positively identified but probably not Sister Annie from church. Annie with no other qualification is mentioned in one later entry on 27 November 1918, also in conjunction with Mrs Rowe. This may suggest that this Annie was a relative of Mrs Rowe (a daughter?). ↩

1 March 1915; Monday

March 1915, , , ,

At work as usual. Tom Faichen commenced in the mill. Father recommenced work at 9 oclock, first turn out since his accident. I had to do Mr Aitken’s letters, the summary, and the forecasts. Received news that the Queen Elizabeth 15 inch gun ship1 has been engaged at the Dardanelles. Wrote for two boys to call.

  1. HMS Queen Elizabeth was launched on 16 October 1913 and entered service in January 1915. She was the only modern battleship to participate in naval operations in the Dardanelles. ↩

1 February 1915; Monday

February 1915, , , ,

At work as usual. Busy all day. Received letter from Ernie and one from Isaac1. Stayed in at night and read and looked up Pelman2. Walked out last thing. Another big British ship sunk by a German submarine in the English Channel3. Meeting in the Thornhill Hall of the athletes. Joe went but didn’t stay to the finish.

  1. Isaac: see footnote to entry on 12 October 1914. ↩

  2. Pelman: See 6 January 1914. ↩

  3. It is not clear to which “big British ship” ALL may have been referring here. Three merchant ships (SS Ikaria, SS Tokomaru and SS Oriole) had been sunk by U-20 in the English channel (near Le Havre) on 30 January 1915 and U-20 also fired a torpedo at the hospital ship Asturias on 1 February. The latter attack failed when the torpedo missed its mark. Wikipedia notes these events briefly at this page. U-20 was later better known as the submarine which sunk Lusitania. ↩