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Book Review: A Hazardous Life

 

A Hazardous Life, by R. K. Forsyth and I. K. Forsyth, charts the stormy life and times of Western Australia’s first Harbour Master. Paperback, 270 pages with many illustrations including original artwork. Published by Maritime Heritage Association Inc., Fremantle, WA. Available from the publisher at $29.00 plus postage.

A new biography of George Forsyth, appointed in 1879 as the inaugural head of the Colony of Western Australia’s Department of Harbour and Light, reveals a man who tirelessly fought the colony’s ruling elite for safer harbours and better conditions for mariners.

Written by his great grandsons Ron and Ian Forsyth, A Hazardous Life is the culmination of years of research by the brothers. The book is published in partnership with the Maritime Heritage Association (MHA), an organisation dedicated to preserving and promoting the maritime heritage of Western Australia.

George Forsyth arrived in Western Australia from the United Kingdom in the early 1860s to find the port of Fremantle –  a critical maritime hub for the colony – woefully unfit to meet the demands of growing maritime activity.

In his position at the Department of Harbour and Light (a predecessor of the Fremantle Port Authority) he was responsible for all ports in the colony.

Forsyth was eventually dismissed under a cloud of controversy, but not before he had risked his life on many occasions and suffered injury and assault. Ultimately, he was instrumental in saving the lives of many people caught up in shipwrecks and other dangerous incidents at sea.

Resilient and defiant, he went on to become a sea captain, plying the treacherous waters along Western Australia’s coast.

Forsyth’s working life unfolded against a backdrop of dramatic change in Western Australia: the opening up of the colony, the end of the convict era, the quest for responsible government and the start of the Gold Rush.

This book provides many fresh insights into the colony’s colourful maritime heritage and its evolving political and social dynamics. It also contains 16 of Forsyth’s artworks, many of which have not been seen before in public.

The authors said that what began as a family history project has grown into something much greater, given the intersections of George Forsyth’s life and his often contentious relationship with early rulers and members of the so-called ‘six hungry families’ who were influential in political, judicial and commercial spheres of the colony.

‘It transpired from our research of original documents that George led a dramatic life in unique and interesting times,’ says Ian Forsyth.

‘We also discovered that little has been written of much of that history, particularly of the Harbour Master’s service, which was so critical in the development of the colony.

‘We are delighted that the MHA has supported us in publishing that story for posterity.’

To purchase or enquire about the book go to www. martimeheritage.org.au or https: //a-hazardous-life.com/.

Book Review: THE LAST CRUISE OF A GERMAN RAIDER   –  THE DESTRUCTION OF SMS EMDEN

THE LAST CRUISE OF A GERMAN RAIDER   –  THE DESTRUCTION OF SMS EMDEN by Wes Olson. Seaforth Publishing, Pen and Sword Books, Barnsley, United Kingdom, 2018. Hard Cover, 274 Pages, illustrated with photos and maps. Price $65.99.

Finally, after 104 years the definitive history of the action between HMAS Sydney and SMS Emden has been written.   The first known published account of the action, in a book, appeared in July 1918 as a chapter titled ‘How the Sydney met the Emden’ in Bennet Copplestone’s The Secret of the Navy.   Over the next one hundred years several books on the action have appeared regularly; ranging from the quite good (such as Mike Carlton’s First Victory 1914 – HMAS Sydney’s Hunt for the German Raider Emden published in 2014) through to the barely readable and often incorrectGuns in Paradise – The Saga of the cruiser Emdenby Fred McClement published in 1968.

Wes Olson has done an outstanding job is detailing Emden’s history from her construction during 1906-1908 to her final action with HMAS Sydney on 9 November 1914 off the Cocos Islands.  The final action is dealt with in great depth with several first hand recollections from both sides – but the story does not end there.  Wes details the extensive activity to recover Emdensurvivors and the subsequent medical work done by both RAN and German medical staff to keep the numerous badly wounded and dehydrated men alive.  Emden’s landing party under Kapitanleutnant Helmuth von Mucke and their epic journey in the schooner Ayeshato the neutral Dutch East Indies and then via steamer, to the Red Sea, and afterwards overland to Constantinople also receives a lengthy analysis.

The story of the wreck of Emden finalises the history of this famous ship.   Several of her guns were recovered and, along with other artefacts, brought to Australia for display with many still visible today in Sydney and Canberra.  In a little known event, in 1933, the Australian Government returned Emden’s name plate to Germany and it was formally presented to the German President Paul von Hindenburg in recognition of the bravery of Emden’s ships company and the chivalry of her commanding officer Karl von Muller.

The book is well illustrated and contains the complete nominal roll of both ships company including the often forgotten civilian canteen staff in Sydney.  The German nominal roll also details the 47 Emdenprisoners of war who were held captive in Australia during the war. If you want to read the complete history of the Sydney – Emden action then this is it!

Reviewed by Greg Swinden

Book Review: Cold War and Decolonisation: Australia’s policy towards Britain’s end of empire in Southeast Asia

Cold War and Decolonisation: Australia’s policy towards Britain’s end of empire in Southeast Asia, by Andrea Benvenuti, National University of Singapore Press, Singapore, 2017, paperback, 279 pp., available Asia Book Room, Canberra at $A 42 or NUS Press, Singapore at SGD $38.

The author is a lecturer in international relations at the School of Social Sciences and International Studies with the University of New South Wales. The book is earmarked for an academic niche but it services a higher realm. Many Australians, Malaysians and Singaporeans will be the beneficiaries of his research and analysis.

His account interests me for several reasons, both personal and professional. I served in the Far East Strategic Reserve (FESR) in the first half of 1967. He styles it the Commonwealth Strategic Reserve (CSR) which indubitably it was. As a teenage midshipman, serving in a RAN destroyer (HMAS Duchess), it left an indelible impression on me. Dr Benvenuti has reminded us that Australia, with its allies, contributed to the military success in countering the threat to the foundling states of Malaysia and Singapore.

The book is well presented with an agreeable division of chapters which attenuate the diplomatic manoeuvring between the major players; Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Indonesia, as the principal antagonist in ‘confronting’ the former British possessions, has to be studied during a tense period, under an errant leader, when Sukarno and his ill-governed people lost control of their proud history. The author is alive to their quest for self-development and how the then Malaya (1957) and Singapore (1959) had to arrive at their nationhood. Communism was a regional threat and these two nascent states had to be defended, lest they drift into an arc of instability, their existence being subverted by hostile foreign powers.

Cold War is an ambitious project and it largely succeeds. It remains a workable book so do try and understand that span of events, were you a Malaysian or Singaporean. Independence is not born overnight. In many cases, it is an unrelenting struggle replete with internal politics as local political elites jockey for power once a colonial power bequeaths them the wherewithal to do so, as they retreat from empire.

The author skilfully describes and explains Asian sensitivities in a post-colonial world. Singapore and Malaya/Malaysia (1963) sought security guarantees from its Commonwealth allies during its political evolution in their early years. Britain had its own problems, defence estimates being one. The UK could no longer afford to bank roll a sizeable military profile in the Far East. Savings had to be made but the question was timing. Australia recognised and responded to those regional insecurities, which matched our own, and we ably reinforced their security yearnings.

Reviewed by Michael Fogarty, a former naval officer and retired diplomat

Book Review: Australian Minesweepers at War by Mike Turner & Hector Donohue

Published by the Sea Power Centre, Canberra, 2018. Paperback of 328 pages with numerous black & white illustrations, portraits, tables and maps. The first edition of this publication was sold out and another run or online option is contemplated.

Mike Turner spent most of his working life with the RAN Experimental Laboratory, developing a vast knowledge of most aspects of mine warfare. He retired in 1990 as a Principal Research Scientist and became an industry consultant. Mike has published extensively on the theory behind MCM operations. After joining the RAN Hector Donohue sub-specialised in Clearance Diving and ASW. During his career he undertook an exchange posting with the RN as a Squadron MCM officer and commanded HMA Ships Yarra and Darwin, attaining the rank of Commodore before retiring in 1991. He joined Australian Defence Industries involved in the international sales of Australian designed minesweeping systems. These two men with a lifetime of MCM theoretical and practical experience have combined well in producing an excellent consolidation of mine warfare operations conducted by the RAN during two world wars.

We are reminded that mines laid by a German commerce raider off southeast Victoria in July 1917 fatally damaged a British steamship and, that the first casualties caused by enemy action on Australian soil during WWII were two sailors killed in July 1941 when attempting to render safe an enemy mine off the South Australian coast.

The vast scope of mine warfare on a world-wide scale is addressed with an estimated 700,000 mines laid in WWII which sank about 2,000 ships. Closer to home the coastal ship Bungareewas requisitioned into the RAN in October 1940 for conversion into a minelayer. She laid her first defensive mine field off the coast of New Guinea in August 1941 and continued in these operations around the Australian coastline and into the Pacific until December 1943. HMAS Bungareecould carry up to 467 mines and during her career laid over 9,000 mines. The authors also acknowledge the contribution made by the RAAF in Allied operations in laying mines throughout the Pacific theatre. After sowing these vast quantities of mines, comes the armistice, and another enormous task arose in sweeping them and making the sea lanes once more secure for safe navigation.

The role played by a great number of small ships and the men involved in mine warfare is covered in detail. This includes ships built for minesweeping duties and the large number of small ships requisitioned for similar duties. It took a long time to establish a mine warfare branch during WWI with a small number of vessels involved. However, in WWII the reaction was more positive with the early acquisition of the minelayer Bungaree, plus Bathurst-class minesweepers/corvettes built quickly in eight shipyards, and auxiliary mine warfare vessels, mostly requisitioned fishing vessels. Of these 92 ships, seven vessels were sunk, with extensive loss of life but only one was directly related to mine warfare operations, when HMAS Warrnambool,swept a mine which exploded under her hull and sank the vessel, with a number of injuries and four fatalities.

A number of RAN personnel served in the European theatre during WWII of which ten volunteered for the hazardous Bomb and Mine Disposal operations. This cohort performed truly remarkable tasks in rendering enemy mines safe. Some became the most highly decorated Australian naval personnel of the war. All four George Crosses and eight of the nine George Medals awarded to the RAN during WWII concerned those involved in these BMD operations.

Australian Minesweepers at War is possibly the most comprehensive volume of its type now available. While this volume mostly covers the period of two world wars, the post war clearance of explosive ordnance continues, especially in the Pacific Islands, to this day. Its detailed descriptions and technical knowledge is a great credit to the authors and it is both interesting, covering a critical aspect of naval history, and an important book of reference.

Reviewed by Trebor

 

 

Book Review: Tobruk and Beyond: War Notes from the Mediterranean Station 1941–1943.

 By Albert Lawrence Poland, Published by Halstead Press, Canberra, 2018. Hard cover, 176 pp with b&w illustrations, maps and portraits. Available from booksellers at about $33.00.

Peter Poland, the editor of this intriguing story, relies upon the notebooks and naval messages kept by his father, Albert Lawrence Poland, during his service in WWII between April 1941 and January 1943 when serving as the Senior Naval Officer Inshore Squadron (SNOIS) and subsequently as Captain (D) of the 14th Destroyer Flotilla. Given the war-torn nature of the operation to which this information refers, it is miraculous that it has survived.

Captain Albert Poland had travelled around the Cape to take command of the cruiser HMS Liverpool, but it was extensively damaged before he could join her and he had to be found another job. The C-in-C Mediterranean Fleet, the formidable Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, knew Poland from destroyer service in the 1930s, and found him a new appointment as SNOIS in charge of an assortment of ships and small craft keeping the Army supplied at its bases along the northeast African coast, most notably Tobruk. Somethingtokeep his hand inuntil a real job turned up.

Captain Poland had no staff, no office and very little in the way of instruction, just a title, and he was on his own. Poland demonstrated his ability to quickly get to know people, assess their needs, and where he could, provide invaluable assistance. He developed and maintained good contacts across the three branches of the armed services and was well respected. Starting with nothing he achieved much with the aid of such resources as the Aussie ‘Scrap Iron Flotilla’ that helped the ‘Rats of Tobruk’ in getting the job done.

This is not a volume for the faint-hearted. Reading through notes with excessive amounts of abbreviations calls for a wide understanding of military and naval terminology, although the author provides an excellent glossary. The book is divided into two parts, with the second part being easier to digest. In reading through Poland’s notes they demonstrate a disciplined mind providing a well ordered supply of facts and figures. Here is someone who, perhaps sub-consciously, knows he was part of an history-making epic.

The continuation of Captain Poland’s important wartime service is recognised by awards and elevation which is worthy of another story. He retires as Vice Admiral Sir Albert Poland, KBE, CB, DSO, DSC. The editor and his brother Patrick both served in the Royal Navy from where they retired as Commanders.

Reviewed by Arcturus

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