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Letter: SMS Kometat the Witu Islands

Dear Editor

I enjoyed the story The Witu Islands – Were they the Wolf’s Lair in the September 2015 edition of the ‘Review’. This led me to look up an old copy of The Dog Watch No 30 from 1973 containing another article The Tale of Komet by Harrow Morgan.

Morgan’s research confirms Komet was at the smaller of the Witu caldera of Peterhafen in late August 1914 where the crew was gainfully employed painting the ship grey subsequent to her commissioning into the Imperial German Navy. In her new colours Kometproceeded to the Pelew Islands helping coal the armed merchant cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich. Following discussions with AMC senior officers, and lacking any future purpose, Captain Möller apparently considered surrendering his ship believing Germany would win a quick war and this would overall help preserve German property in New Guinea.

In another twist to this tale Captain Genten of Norddeutscher-Lloyd shipping company had recently joined Komet. It was locally rumoured he was taking over from Möller, a naval reserve officer, who was being found another position in Prinz Eitel Friedrich. Genten was possibly also keeping watch on Möller, whose loyalty was considered questionable, as his English wife was the daughter of a high ranking military officer.

An artist illustration of the ‘Arrest of Captain Möller’.

After coaling the AMC Komet returned briefly to Peterhafen before seeking her favourite hiding spot at Komethafen where she was later surprised by Australian forces early on the morning of 11 October 1914. As Captain Möller put up no resistance to his arrest this may add further fuel to the above suspicions.

In the Review of December 2015 there is an article entitled Commander J.M. Jackson RN – Sixteen Years on the Australian Station in which the author seeks a photograph of Jackson. The Dog Watch article contains a poor quality illustration of the capture of Captain Möller by LCDR Jackson. A footnote reminds the reader that the arrest was actually carried out by LT COL Paton and not LCDR Jackson.

 

Richard Francis

 

 

Letter: The Hammerhead Lives

The following interesting letter has been received from our member Roy Kingston of Castle Hill.

 On 10 September I had the privilege of attending the ‘launch’ of the public display of saved ‘pieces’ and the Naval Historical Society’s DVD chronicling the history and demolition of the Hammerhead Crane at Garden Island that had proudly dominated the Sydney skyline for over 60 years.

It was billed as a ‘launching’ ceremony but to me it was a celebration of a complex project brought home safely, successfully, and with great historical sympathy.

Of special interest to me was that the rotating electrical machinery (read DC variable speed electric motor) had been saved and is now on public display for the first time since it was built. This DC motor was built by the English company British Thomson Houston (BTH) who, incidentally, continued to break new ground in marine engineering in supplying the P&O liner Canberrawith her turbine-driven AC alternators in the mid 1950s, another world first, but that is another piece of marine engineering history yet to be told.

The DC variable speed motor as fitted to the Sydney Hammerhead crane was on the cutting edge of electrical machinery development in the late 1940s/50s. It required complex control equipment, special windings, and brush positioning equipment, not to forget special skills in operating it. The variable speed motor in the 1950s was a very advanced and expensive technology, and not available on a more economic basis until the mid 1970s with the introduction of thyristors, an offshoot of the electronics era. The fact this motor was supplied to Australia as a crane component required a lot of specialist and new skills in fitting and wiring it up, which says a lot about the abilities of Australian engineers of the day, both mechanical and electrical.

It also should be remembered the local engineers would have been working, in the main, off General Assembly drawings (GAs) and complex circuits, a lot of which would have been new to them. They would have used their engineering ingenuity in getting all the components together, aligned, wired up and working. In the main the means of communication would have been by surface mail to the UK and back, meaning it could take all of two months to get a reply on a technical query, providing another layer of challenge. At the Garden Island launch I had the opportunity to speak to the son (Warwick Stuart) of the man who owned and ran the engineering shop at Marrickville, and did the work on the Hammerhead. This could be another story all on its own.

The best of my research indicates only five Hammerhead cranes were ever built using these special motors. One of the surviving examples of the Sydney Hammerhead-type design, albeit smaller, is found on Clydeside at Glasgow, UK, where it has been refurbished and is now a tourist attraction well worth visiting. It was my hope the Sydney Hammerhead crane would follow this example but for various and good reasons that could not be. The RAN Historical Society has done the next best thing in displaying the key components and documenting it with a DVD. The effort put in by Commander Jeffcoat, RAN giving us some of her valuable time made this a most memorable occasion.

 

Letter: Picket Boats

This letter was received from our ever helpful member Leyland Wilkinson who has recently moved from the Central Coast to Grafton.  

As always the recent issue (June 2015) of the NHS Review’s front cover was a colourful introduction to the magazine, on this occasion showing troops being towed ashore at Gallipoli, by a picket boat from HMS London in 1915.  London carried two picket boats, each 50 ft (15.24 m) long x 9 ft 6 in (2.89 m) beam, with a twin cylinder steam engine, powered by a coal fired boiler.  These versatile craft were armed, when required, with a Hotchkiss 3-pdr gun mounted on the forecastle, two torpedos – one each side carried in dropping gear, a Maxim machine gun on top of the after cabin, plus a rack of rifles.

They were usually commanded by a midshipman, assisted by a senior sailor, two able seamen and a stoker who took great pride in their boats. The boats could be identified by brass rings around the top of the funnel. One ring indicated a boat stowed on the starboard side of the mother ship and two rings for a boat from the port side.

Boats could be made ready for duty whilst still stowed with a bucket of burning coals from the parent ship’s stokehold assisting in firing the boiler before the boat was hoisted out and made fast to the boom. Note the funnels were hinged and were laid down when the boats were inboard to prevent being fouled by the boat’s lifting strops.

The Navy List of 1914 shows 634 boats in service. HMAS Australia (I) carried two picket boats built by the Thames Ironworks, London in 1911. Existing plans show they were built for “The Colonial Cruiser Australia”.

An original picket boat, believed to have served with HMS Monarch at Jutland has survived the years, now known as Steam Pinnace No. 199. She is maintained by the National Museum of the Royal Navy and can be seen, in pristine condition during the summer months, regularly steaming around Portsmouth Harbour.

The attached photograph shows a picket boat being lowered from HMAS Australia with the funnel still folded in its storage position – AWM PO1715.012.

Best wishes – Leyland Wilkinson.

By Editor:Given his detailed knowledge Leyland has been asked if he might favour us with an article on Picket Boats.

Letter: Our First Fleet Commander (March 2015)

 Tony Nichols, our Canadian correspondence comments:

I always enjoy reading the NHR. What caught my eye in the article you wrote on Admiral Patey was the name Seydlitz which you describe as an auxiliary which was interned in Argentina. In fact as a well-armed battlecruiser, Seydlitz fought at Dogger Bank and Jutland and ultimately was among the High Seas Fleet that was interned at Scapa Flow in December 1918. My father, then a midshipman in the battleship Erin, happened to photograph Seydlitz amongst others in Scapa Flow.

 The following response was sent.

In respect of SMS Seydlitz you are correct, she was a modern battlecruiser which saw service during WWI. We are pleased to receive your sharp eyed commentary, especially given the family connection. However there was another ship of the same name, a passenger/cargo liner of Norddeutseher Lloyd, berthed in Sydney immediately prior to the commencement of war. On 03 August 1914 she managed to slip out of harbour and made her way to Valparaiso where she joined von Spee’s Squadron. In 1917 she was interned in Argentina before eventually making her way back to her homeland and continuing in service post war. We trust this clarifies the issue.

 

We also thank John Ellis for the following interesting commentary:

I did enjoy the account of Admiral Sir George Patey in the recent Review, having very little knowledge of his service previously. The section covering the ceremony of his knighthood compared the scene with the knighting of Sir Francis Drake by Queen Elizabeth I. According to Stephen Coote in his 2003 biography, Drake, this version arises from late Victorian England reinventing the formative years of the British Empire, the Empire then at its apogee. The adventurous and Protestant Drake was promoted as one of the founders of empire and in his Victorian persona he was depicted by Sir John Gilbert being knighted by the Queen.

Coote presents another version of events. Drake returned from his circumnavigation in 1581 to great public acclaim. He had replaced the ballast of the Golden Hind with silver bars and coins; surely his achievements in annoying the King of Spain warranted a knighthood. What better way to insult Spain, however the timing would be important. The Protestant Netherlands had recently declared their Spanish master deposed and had nominated the Duke of Alençon, brother of the heir presumptive to the French throne, as their prince and lord. So France was supportive of the Netherlands and Elizabeth wanted to move closer to the Duke, even though she personally found him repulsive. By knighting Drake before French delegates, she would show how serious was the support of Protestant England for Protestant Netherlands against the might of Roman Catholic Spain. The Queen invited representatives of the French to dine on board the Golden Hind at Deptford. The leader of the French was the Marquis de Marchaumont. A sword was produced and she ordered Drake to kneel then passed the sword to the Roman Catholic Marquis, bidding him to proceed with the dubbing.

 

 

Letter: Able Seaman Frank Boston: Covering the Gallipoli Landings (March 2015)

Errol Stevens from Woolgoolga, NSW offers a well founded correction.

Perhaps it may just be semantics, but I query the statement in the NHR March 2015 page 28 when discussing the sinking of HM Ships Aboukir, Cressy and Hogueon 22 September 1914 with the loss of 1,459 lives that ‘This was the worst single maritime disaster suffered by the Royal Navy during WWI.’

Dr David Stevens the noted Naval Historian in his recently published book on WWI naval matters In All Respects Readynotes that in the Battle of Coronel on 01 November 1914 the RN lost HM Ships Good Hopeand Monmouthwith over 1,600 men and that in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916 the RN lost 14 ships and 6,094 men.

 

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