WWI operations

Occasional Paper 59: Francis James Ranken

July 6, 2019

July 2019

Early Career

Francis James Ranken was born in 1864 at ‘Saltram’, Eglinton, near Bathurst. He was the eldest son of James Australian Ranken and was educated at All Saints’ College, Bathurst. His grandfather, George Ranken, was one of Bathurst’s earliest settlers, and was granted 2,000 acres at Eglinton in 1822. Francis went to sea at the young age of 14 in a clipper ship, and eventually became an officer in the Orient Line. He joined the Royal Navy Reserve (RNR) as a Sub-Lieutenant in August 1891 and after training resumed service with the Orient Line. He married Menina Blanche Paige (who was born in Maryborough, Queensland in 1863) in London in 1893.

He was serving as Chief Officer in RMS Orient when she sailed from Melbourne for Sydney on 9 January 1897, encountering very rough weather after passing Wilson’s Promontory. On the next afternoon the brig Phyllis was sighted flying distress signals and Orient learnt that the crew were starving. Although a huge sea was running, a boat with Ranken and a crew of six managed to row to the brig and transfer food. The return journey was even more perilous as the wind and sea heightened and the men were finally pulled from the boat onboard the Orient. The boat could not be recovered as the sea was too rough. Whilst in Sydney, Orient’s Captain and boats crew’s efforts were recognised by the National Shipwreck Society and Ranken received a gold medal and a pair of binoculars.

He was promoted to Lieutenant RNR in September 1897 and by 1899 had completed one year’s full-time service in the RN and also completed one of the short courses in Gunnery and Torpedoes available to reserve officers. In November 1899 he was appointed to the first-class cruiser HMS Galatea for his second period of 12 months training, completing this full-time service in the first-class cruiser HMS Royal Arthur, which he joined in February 1900. Royal Arthur was the flagship for the Imperial Squadron in Australia. In April 1900 Royal Arthur escorted the Royal Yacht Ophir carrying the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (the future King George V) to Australia to open the new Federal Parliament in 1901.

In July 1905 he was appointed to the third class protected cruiser HMS Mildura in the Australian Auxiliary Squadron, for a third period of FTS. In May 1906 he was appointed to HMS Torch, an Alert class sloop and tender to the cruiser HMS Pyramus to complete his 12 months training.

At his own request he was placed on the retired list in December 1907 and returned to Australia to undertake poultry farming at Castle Hill, NSW. He had completed three years full-time service in the RN and had completed both short courses available for Reserve officers in Gunnery and Torpedoes.

Ranken’s Contribution to the Introduction of a Minesweeping Capability

The Admiralty wrote to the Naval Board in late 1914 outlining the impact of mining in home waters and suggesting appropriate measures should be taken as it was likely the Germans could mine in bases abroad used by British and allied navies. Despite broad policy directives from Navy Office on establishing a minesweeping capability, little action resulted and discussions dragged on. What was needed was a champion to understand the issues and break the seemingly continuous dialogue between Navy Office and the local naval authorities. That was to come with the recruitment of a 52 year old Master Mariner, Francis Ranken. On 8 February 1916 Ranken joined the RANR (Seagoing) as a Lieutenant Commander (Temporary Service) and was posted to HMAS Penguin before assuming command of HMAS Gayundah in May. Given that he joined for temporary service around the time the Board decided they wanted a reserve minesweeping service, it is suggested he was recruited to oversee and manage the introduction of a minesweeping capability.

Ranken produced a report on minesweeping arrangements for Sydney and the report formed the basis for establishing a minesweeping service in the RAN. By early 1917, matters started to speed up as on 16 February advice had been received that a vessel had sunk off Colombo, believed to be due to mining. It was decided that because of the potential threat to Australian ports, a minesweeping organisation was to be introduced as soon as possible at Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle. Whilst the Director of Naval Auxiliary Services (DNAS) in Navy Office began staffing the administrative details for the minesweeping organisation, the RN advised the Naval Board by telegram a week later, on 27 February, that a mine had been found and exploded in a sweep off Colombo. At a Board meeting on 28 February 1917, it was formally agreed that minesweeping sections would be set up at Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle. Suitable vessels would be leased and converted for minesweeping.

On 1 March 1917, Navy Office advised the Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, that a Minesweeping Service was to be established immediately. That day, Ranken was posted to the staff of DNAS to manage the introduction of a minesweeping capability into the RAN. The next day, Cabinet approved the measures proposed. The Section would be a component of the Royal Australian Naval Brigade (RANB), which was administered by DNAS. The RANB was the RAN’s primarily non-seagoing reserve organisation during the First World War. The Brigade provided men for overseas service including the naval component of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force that occupied Germany’s Pacific territories, and the Naval Bridging Train that operated at Gallipoli and Egypt. The Brigade was also heavily employed at home guarding naval installations, operating harbour patrols, inspection services and boarding parties, and manning lookout and wireless stations.

The organisation for the RANB (Minesweeping Section) would enlist personnel from the trawler industry and other seagoing vessels into the Brigade for temporary service for training and then returned to their normal employment. Whilst DNAS remained responsible for personnel matters, the implementation of the organisation to undertake minesweeping activities in each State was under the supervision of the local Naval Commanders. However, the overall co-ordination of the introduction of this new capability across all States was managed by Ranken working from DNAS. He wasted no time and the recruiting of suitable personnel for the recently announced Minesweeping Section of the RANB commenced in late March 1917.

Minelaying by the German Raider Wolf

The German raider Wolf (formerlly the Hansa freighter Wachtfels) was 5,809 GRT, 135m long, had a speed of some 11kts and a range of over 32,000 nm. She carried seven 150 mm guns, many smaller weapons, four torpedo tubes and at least 497 mines, together with a two seater seaplane. Under the command of Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander) Karl August Nerger she sailed from Kiel on 30 November 1916, finally returning home on 24 February 1918 with 467 prisoners and substantial valuable seized cargo. She ‘lived off the land’ for a cruise of 64,000 miles, surviving on supplies and coal plundered from captured vessels. In 15 months at sea, Wolf captured 14 ships (sinking twelve) and also laid minefields that sank another 13 ships. Minefields were laid at Cape Town, Cape Agulahas (South Africa), Bombay, Colombo, Australia, New Zealand and the Anambas Islands (near Singapore).

Wolf’s voyage was the most successful undertaken by any German raider and no doubt reinforced the value of the merchant raider concept of operations, particularly the use of an embarked aircraft (this concept was again used by the Germans to great effect in World War II). The Wolf, without support of any kind, had made the longest voyage of a warship during World War I and had steamed almost 2.5 times around the globe. Her actions over a wide area between Cape Town and New Zealand caused confusion and the allocation of a large number of forces to try and locate her.

Wolf crossed the Tasman after mining off New Zealand to mine near Gabo Island (off Cape Howe) on the night of 3-4 July 1917. She laid 30 mines, and would have lain more but for the appearance of a vessel that she took to be an Australian cruiser.

Sinking of SS Cumberland

On 6 July 1917, just two days after Wolf had laid her minefields, the SS Cumberland was heading down the east coast for a voyage to the United Kingdom after picking up cargo in Townsville, Bowen and Sydney. The 9,660-ton steam ship reported at 0835 that she had struck a mine ten miles south of Gabo Island. The Department of Navy had given written route directions that would keep Cumberland outside mineable water (outside the 100 fathom line). The Master, Captain McGibbon, later admitted that he disobeyed these instructions, and the ship was several miles inside his prescribed course.

Cumberland reported that she was sinking and required assistance. The ship had a hole some 21 by 14 feet in No. 1 hold and was taking water but struggled towards Gabo Island and grounded for urgent repairs around1400. By evening the ship had about 38 feet of water in No. 1 hold and 17 feet in No. 2 hold. The crew decided to temporarily abandon Cumberland and landed on Gabo.

Vessels were dispatched from Sydney and Melbourne with dedicated salvage equipment, including pumps and mooring gear. By the time they arrived, Cumberland’s holds, boiler room and engine room were flooded. Salvage operations commenced under the supervision of Captain Christopher Spinks of Vine Hall and Spinks Marine Salvage Agents, from Sydney The ship’s agent, acting on behalf of the owners the Federal Steam Navigation Company, was responsible for implementing the salvage arrangements.

Naval and Harbour Trust divers were deployed patching the hole by removing jagged plating and attaching sturdy timber bracing and patches made from layers of canvas. In addition, the bulkhead was repaired and the ship pumped out. However the cargo of some 2,000 tons of metal ingots was not removed. Several vessels were involved in the salvage including the Illawarra & South Coast Steam Navigation Company’s steamers Merimbula and Bermagui, and the tugs Champion and James Paterson from Melbourne.

After five weeks of strenuous repair work by divers and a dedicated salvage team, on the morning of 11 August the ship was refloated and the tugs James Patterson and Champion commenced a tow to Twofold Bay for further repairs. A salvage crew under Captain Spinks was onboard and the boilers were lit to maintain pumping of the holds. However, by evening, the weather had worsened and as the swell developed it became impossible for the tugs to make headway and Cumberland started to take on water faster than the pumps could manage. By 2200 the stricken ship had settled down by the bow and waves were now crashing over the deck hatches. By now it was clear the vessel’s situation was hopeless and Spinks ordered the ship abandoned. The tugs slipped the tow and Merimbula and Bermagui stood by to offer help, the former rescuing Cumberland’s crew. Shortly after the last of the crew reached Merimbula, the Cumberland sank bow first. She had been towed twenty-three miles before being lost and sank 18 miles from Eden in an estimated depth of 50-60 fathoms.

Sweeping the Gabo Island Minefield

At this stage there was no intelligence on Wolf’s activities, or the movement of any other suspicious ship off the Australian coast, however, given the depth of water where Cumberland was hit, it was agreed that mining was feasible. On learning Cumberland had suffered damage an inquiry was immediately ordered under Major George Steward CMG, Official Secretary to the Governor General (Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson). His report to the Prime Minister, completed 18 September, found convincing proof that Cumberland had struck a mine. Whilst the Naval Board suspected an internal explosion, it recommended minesweeping to the Minister of Navy in order to resolve the question of the cause of the explosion. The area to be swept was based on the datum provided by Cumberland hitting a mine in the Gabo Island minefield.

On 26 September 1917, two trawlers (Gunundaal and Koraaga) were leased to undertake minesweeping off Gabo Island. (The third trawler, Brolga, was leased on 8 November). The crews for the trawlers were engaged for temporary service in the RAN Brigade. Lieutenant Commander Ranken was posted from DNAS to Penguin on 19 September to command Gunundaal and as Senior Officer Mine Sweeping Unit. He reported to the Captain in Charge HMA Naval Establishments, Sydney, Captain John Glossop CB, RN (of Emden fame), who was in overall command of their subsequent operations. The minesweeping unit sailed from Garden Island, Sydney eight days later on 3 October 1917.

It was intended that sweeping near the Cumberland datum commence on 5 October, however a gale delayed danlaying and sweeping was delayed by three days. The first mine ever swept by the RAN was swept on 9 October 1917. At 1325 Gunundaal and Koraaga were sweeping in 100 m depth of water near the location reported by Cumberland, when the sweep wire veered off Gunundaal’s winch. At 1405 Ranken asked the Mate to feel the sweep wire, and it was decided that there was nothing hung up on the sweep wire. At 1415 an explosion occurred shaking both ships fore and aft, and the location of the detonation of the mine was buoyed. Fortunately the mine was deep when it detonated. After engaging the mine mooring the sweep wire probably dragged the mine down as it ran up the mooring, and then rode up the mine and bent a horn which exploded the mine. The mine detonation was 4.8 miles from Gabo Island Lighthouse, and Ranken reported that the stone buildings were shaken. There was no plume; however the water boiled up over an area of about 80 square metres.

The sweeping of this first mine was reported the same day by telegram (via the Gabo Island Lighthouse) to the Captain-in-Charge, Sydney. At 0930 on 10 October Ranken received orders from the Captain Glossop (presumably from a telegram collected that morning at the lighthouse) to provide a full written report of the discovery of this mine. At 1100 Gunundaal and Koraaga weighed anchor and proceeded to Eden to post the report. The letter on 10 October appears to have been written in haste by Ranken, keen to resume actual sweeping. Ranken’s writing was normally copperplate. The Minister for the Navy, Sir Joseph Cook, promptly released statements on this initial sweeping operation, and these were reported by the newspapers. The psychological warhead of mining would have generated public shock and concern commensurate with a weapon that was new to Australian waters.

There were five more sweeping deployments in October, November, December and January 1918. A further eight mines swept making a total of eleven mines were swept under Ranken (until 21 December) and one in January 1918. His final Report of Proceedings indicates the adverse weather conditions the minesweepers encountered on these deployments.

Ranken gave an interview which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 3 November on the minesweeping operations and the minefield. The article gave more detail on the mines than the earlier press release made by the Minister the Navy. The fact that Ranken had spoken to the press incurred the wrath of the Naval Board with the Second Naval Member (Captain Henry Cochrane RN) finding Ranken’s reasons, which indicated the information was cleared by the Censor, unsatisfactory, particularly as the Board has issued explicit instructions forbidding giving statements to the press.

The Naval Board proposed not to re-employ Ranken in the minesweeping service. Ranken requested on 1 December 1917 that the Naval Board reconsider this decision, but the decision to not re-employ him in minesweeping was confirmed on 15 December. Given Ranken’s extensive background in setting up and managing the minesweeping capability, the general paucity of RAN minesweeping expertise and the ‘good news’ style of article, it is surprising that the Naval Board acted so quickly and took such a hard line on what must be considered a minor indiscretion.

Ranken returned to Sydney on 22 December and did not participate in further minesweeping operations. However, he remained posted to Penguin and his minesweeping expertise continued to be used for minesweeping analysis in Brisbane and Townsville. He resigned in September 1918 and the Navy lost one of its most experienced minesweeping experts. He returned to poultry farming at Castle Hill.

In March 1919, the Admiralty wrote to the RAN calling for recommendations for awards in respect of minesweeping service. This was an unusual request as it was the only time the Admiralty had communicated with the RAN on the subject of honours and awards. Rankin’s old boss, Captain Tickell, the Director of Naval Auxiliary Services, drafted the response to the Admiralty, recommending four personnel, including Ranken. Captain Glossop had also recommended Ranken’s name be included. The wording was precise, stating Ranken: ‘Was Officer Commanding Minesweeping operations and successfully swept the enemy mine-field off Gabo Island, SE Australia when 10 enemy mines were destroyed. This Officer showed marked ability and devotion to duty during the minesweeping operations off this coast.’

In October 1919, Ranken received an OBE in recognition ‘for valuable services in minesweeping operations’ during the War. In July that year the RN had promoted him to Commander RNR (retd) ‘in recognition of services rendered during the War’ and in September 1920 he was awarded the Royal Navy Reserve Officers’ Decoration.

Conclusion

Frances Ranken died at Parramatta on 1 September 1929 and was cremated the next day at Rookwood Crematorium. They had no children and his wife, Menina Blanche Paige-Ranken, who was an accomplished pianist and well known in Sydney music circles, died in 1947.

Ranken had a remarkable life and made a significant contribution to the RAN’s minesweeping capability in World War I. His actions when as Chief Officer of RMS Orient taking charge of the boat delivering supplies to the brig Phyllis in ferocious sea conditions, indicates his courage and ability to succeed in arduous conditions. The rapid and successful implementation of the Minesweeping Service from a virtual vacuum no doubt reflected his considerable organising abilities and management skill. His command of the successful minesweeping campaign in adverse conditions was an impressive record. It is fitting that he was recognised for his service and achievements. It is interesting that the RN conferred a promotion to Commander RNR and a Reserve decoration on him which suggests that he had left a positive impression from his time in the RN and that his old service recognised what he had accomplished in sweeping the Gabo Island minefield.

Publication March 2014 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
By Hector Donohue

Occasional Paper 55: Reuben Mitchell DSM, RAN – Survivor of HMS E14

June 17, 2019

June 2019

The following story is of an Australian Able Seaman whom some military historians believe should have been awarded the Victoria Cross for his courage and compassion while under enemy fire from Turkish guns in the Dardanelles during World War I. The most senior survivor was Petty Officer Coxswain Robert Perkins, DSM who wrote in a report, ‘Reuben Mitchell acted most gallantly. He was on the conning tower with three officers, passing orders below to the helmsman. All the officers were swept off the bridge by shellfire and he was left all alone. Although the enemy had the exact range and he was clearly visible, he stuck to his post and took charge of the boat until it sank. When in the water, he then rescued the wireless operator who was unconscious from head wounds. There was no senior officer left to recommend him for his outstanding gallantry, and his only reward was the self-evident fact that he had done his duty.’

Reuben Joseph Edward Mitchell was born in Ballarat, Victoria on 28 July, 1894. Having joined the Royal Navy based on the Australian Station, he served on several ships before joining HMS Challenger and sailing to England on the ship’s return in 1913. It was while at Portsmouth that he volunteered for submarines and on completion of his training at HMS Dolphin based on Fort Blockhouse, and at HMS Vernon, which included training in HM Submarines A6, A13 and E4, he joined HMAS AE2 to return to Australia as an Able Seaman.

The complete crew of HMAS AE2, taken in the UK in 1914.
Mitchell is second from the right in the top row

When AE2 was deployed to the Mediterranean, Mitchell found himself transferred to spare crew on a submarine repair ship when AE2 undertook her sortie up the Dardanelles in April, 1915.

On 27 January 1918, Able Seaman Mitchell was included in the crew of HMS E14 under the command of Lt-Cdr G.S. White, RN, when they set out to torpedo the German battle cruiser Goeben, which had been damaged by a mine and run aground off Nagara Point in the Dardanelles.

The source for most of this story was written by Mitchell himself in a report which was recently found in a file located in the Sampson Collection on Spectacle Island. It is reproduced here verbatim.

Mitchell’s own account

‘HM Submarine E14, Lieutenant Commander White, RN, left a naval base on the evening of 27 January with an escort as far as the entrance to the Dardanelles. At 3 am 28 January, we forced our way through the first line of nets without resistance. All went well until about 6 am, when we ran aground and were caught in the nets, which we could not clear, so we surfaced, and the Captain went out and cleared the obstacle. We believed it to be the nets, but the Captain did not say. Before going out, the Captain left orders for the Lieutenant to dive at once should he whistle or sing out, and to ‘look after himself as there were 31 men inside; never to mind him.’ While the Captain was on the surface, he found the gates of the Narrows, and that we were at Chanak. He did not hear a shout or anything and came inside the boat and went astern into deep water, and got away without being seen. These were the last nets we felt.

Now the search for the Goeben started and I believe we went on for two miles past Nagara Point and found the Goeben had gone. We found out during our capture that she was taken away six hours before, this we got from a Turkish naval man, who helped get her off. When the Captain found that she had gone, he went back for home, but at Chanak, there was a large German liner which we believed had ammunition for the Goeben.

We fired one torpedo at her and a heavy explosion took place. Our boat came to the surface and a heavy fire came from all the forts. Many pieces of shrapnel hit the boat, then a large shell hit the conning tower and did a bit of damage. The captain was pleased at the moment with the behaviour of the crew, not a man moving from his station. Several shells were then heard to pass overhead, but luckily they did not drop a depth charge.

After a time, the boat got out of control, and as we had only three bottles of air left, the Captain thought it would be best to surface. At once we could hear heavy fire and we could hear pieces hit the hull of our boat. As a result of a hit in the centre of the boat, it could not dive again. We ran the gauntlet for half an hour under murderous fire from all round, only a few hitting the hull of the boat. Our wireless operator was badly wounded in the mouth and the left hand, and fell unconscious. The Captain, seeing it was hopeless ran the boat towards shore. His last words were, ‘We are in the hands of God, my men. Do your best to get ashore’.

Captain killed

A few seconds later, I saw his body mangled by shellfire, roll into the water and was taken under. The same shell killed the Navigator, and left me by myself, and other shells killed nearly all the hands.

Had the Turks stopped firing as soon as they saw us sinking, with a few wounded on deck, many more might have been saved. It must have been half an hour before they put out for us. Amid the cries of the wounded men in the water, several voices were heard saying ‘Goodbye, goodbye all’. Their hands went up and they disappeared for the last time.

Only nine survived

It was hell; when I look back at that fatal half hour, it haunts me. As no boat seemed to be coming out to pick us up, we made for Kum Kale, and were picked up only a few yards from the shore. Soon after the Turks got hold of us, all our clothing was taken from us, and we had to walk through Kum Kale naked. It broke our hearts when we saw only nine had been saved out of 32 officers and men. The three wounded were in a very bad state and unconscious when I saw them last.

On arrival at a small hut, a short pair of trousers, all patchwork, was given to us to put on, which we found to be full of lice. No underclothing was given to us. A small fire was made in a room, and we were very glad to get it as we were very cold; and shortly a filthy-looking Turk brought us some hot tea without milk or sugar. That is all he gave us to bring us round again.

In the evening, we were sent to Chanak and handed over the Germans, and here we remained for two days. Here we were sent to a small room for the night, feeling very tired and hungry, as the crew had nothing while submerged in the Dardanelles and it was midnight when a Turk came with some black barley and maize bread and a dish of beans boiled in olive oil which we could not manage to eat. This was our daily meal; two meals a day and one maize loaf and a bucket of water. During our time at Chanak many visits were paid by newspaper reporters and Germans of high rank.

Sleep was out of the question that night. Many questions were asked of us concerning England. They were under the impression that England was in a very bad state, as the submarine menace was hitting us hard. On the following day, we were sent to Constantinople, and when we arrived were taken on board a German liner, used as German Headquarters. Here we went before a court of German and Turkish officers, one at a time, and many jokes were passed.

At 5.30, we were taken over to the Turks and were taken through Istanbul thinking we were going to a British camp, but found ourselves behind prison bars, for what reason I do not know. We were housed in filthy compartments, among some of the biggest criminal prisoners in Turkey, sitting in a room with huge chains and handcuffs on.

The place was full of lice and bugs. We remained there for two days and then went to another room with 150 of the same kind of criminals, some dying of cholera and dysentery. When we arrived we asked for bread which was not brought to us until 36 hours after. A man named Firuze Hanzandian, an Armenian subject, bought four loaves of bread with one Turkish pound and then gave them to us. He got a flogging for it and was not allowed to talk to us. He said, ‘I am not a rich man, but I am a man.’

Time went on and we were getting very bad; no clothing to cover us up at night, and nothing to lie on but the cold bare floor. We complained of the filthy rooms in which we had to eat and sleep, suffering the same punishment as the criminal offenders who were guilty. After this, another room was allotted to us, which was quite as bad, the smell and stench being abominable. Owing to this, fever and dysentery broke out, which eventually became so bad that two men lay weak on the floor. A doctor was asked for; he came 24 hours after, and the two men were sent to hospital. During our time in prison, no bedding or any covering was given to us. Drinking water had to be obtained from the urinals.

British camp

We eventually saw two British officers and told them of the conditions we were living under as prisoners of war. Pressure having been brought to bear, we were sent to British camp at Samatyra and that consisted of a school room with 150 English (servicemen), some with arms and legs off, waiting to be exchanged. We had no fires unless we could buy our own fuel; no books or anything to read, and hardly any food, only two meals a day and one loaf of bread. I remained in the camp two days and was sent to hospital with typhus fever and dysentery. Weak as I was, I had five miles to walk, arriving almost dead and hungry. A Turk was turned out of one bed and I was told to get in it. I refused and was handled roughly, and given another bed, which was just as bad. The bed and clothing was covered in lice and not many hours after I was covered with vermin.

The following morning I was sent to the typhus ward, and there I found one of my comrades. I was put in the next bed but one, after turning a Turk out, and getting into his clothing. I was in this ward for about two weeks, and left it like a bag of bones and my body almost black with lice. On three occasions the Dutch Embassy gave two ½ lb tins of milk and a third one to go between three Englishmen. My meals were mostly baked wheat or spinach, and that was what I pulled around on.

At times the Embassy used to bring us a little food, about three parcels for all the English, and you got a little tea, sugar, butter, jam, just enough for one piece of bread. What food you received from the hospital was no good. At last we asked to be discharged and weak as we were, we were sent to a working camp.’

After the War

Mitchell returned to London after being liberated at the end of the war where he was able to recuperate from his time in prison. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal on 12 December, 1919. He returned to Australia where he married and raised three children. He passed away on 16 August 1954, aged 60.

Victoria Cross

In a footnote to the above, the Commander of the E14, Lt-Cdr Geoffrey White RN, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, gazetted on 24 May, 1919 for his part in the action in the Dardanelles, which had started the day before the boat set out.

He flew as a passenger in an aircraft during the aerial bombing of Goeben to see her position for himself and to plan his method of attack.

The award of the Victoria Cross to White created a record as HMS E14 is the only vessel in the history of the Royal Navy in which two different commanding officers had won the Victoria Cross, the other Commander being Lt-Cdr Edward Courtney Boyle, RN, who was presented his Victoria Cross on 1 March, 1916 for actions during the 1915 Gallipoli campaign. when the submarine went on a sortie through the straits and past minefields into the Sea of Marmara.

Wreck identified

The wreck of HMS E14 was identified in 2012 found lying at a depth of 65ft at an angle of almost 45 degrees with sand covering nearly all the 181ft vessel.

At least one shell hole was visible near the bows, but that appeared to be the only one.

Rear Admiral Claude Lionel Cumberiege and his influence on the RAN

June 24, 2018

The Naval Historical Society was recently favoured with copies of two volumes of an unpublished five volume set comprising the autobiography of Rear Admiral Cumberiege. The volumes came from his grandson Marcus Cumberiege and cover the period the Admiral served with the RAN. It appears likely that these volumes, written in the early 1930s, were the basis for an intended autobiographical work which never surfaced.

Claude Lionel Cumberiege was born in London on 9 June 1877, the son of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Cumberiege of the Madras Staff Corps²and his wife Emily. This was a time when Britain and its Empire were nearing their zenith and the world was tinged in pink, emphasising its extent. A time when the burgeoning Royal Navy could do no wrong and when it had to have a fleet at least twice the size of its largest opponents, which then meant France and Russia.

What an exciting moment, on 15 January 1891, when 13 year old Claude entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship HMS Britannia. The tailor who measured him for his first uniform was none other than Mr. James Gieve, who gave his name to the iconic naval outfitters known to generations of naval officers. Two years later he was posted as a midshipman to the corvette HMS Tourmalineon the North Atlantic and West Indian Station. He developed into a tall, well built and handsome young man, good at sport, popular and attractive to the fairer sex.

After progressing to lieutenant, at age 23 on 11 September 1902 he received his first command, to HMTB 90. In Gibraltar the following year he married Miss Sarah Laetitia Crossley Couldwell, not surprisingly from a naval family. In 1905 he was appointed in command of the destroyer HMS Banshee, followed by similar postings to the destroyers HM Ships Locustand Albatross. In 1908 as a Senior Lieutenant³he received the accolade of commanding the yacht of the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, HMS Hussar.

His memoirs start here, perhaps too frankly, when after two successful years in Hussarand five years overall on foreign-service, he takes three months home leave. There is no mention of his wife and their two children, as an enjoyable sojourn is taken visiting previously unexplored parts of his homeland in the company of another younger woman, who stayed until funds ran dry.

Although a proud ‘Salt Horse’ Claude saw the benefits of modern technology and while past the normal age for specialist training, volunteered for gunnery courses at Whale Island. He did well and found himself, with a number of other lieutenants, appointed to the elderly cruiser HMS Hogueon the staff of the Admiral Inspector of Target Practice. With his colleagues he was sent to various ships of the Home Fleet to supervise gunnery practice. Claude discovered the joys of riding powerful German motorcycles that could take him to partiesanywhereinthekingdominafew hours. He also developed a taste for London clubs which greatly increased his growing circle of influential friends.

Early in 1911 it was back to small ships with command of an old torpedo gunboat HMS Speedy, then being converted for minesweeping. But at the age of 34 came his promotion to Commander and he was moved to the destroyer HMS Kaleand then the delightful yacht-like HMS Fury.In October 1912 another opportunity came his way when he took command of HMS Lurcher.The latest offering to the Admiralty from the famous Yarrow shipbuilding yard, shewas the RN’s fastest ship, capable of 37 knots

HMAS Warrego

Here Claude was in his element when he became flotilla leader. On seeing an advertisement for an experienced destroyer captain to take command of the recently formed Royal Australian Navy destroyer flotilla, he successfully applied. Without family, he took passage to Australia in the liner SS Orontes.His fellow passengers were his first introduction to Australians and he found their accent grating, but after a while came to appreciate their lack of formality and genuine friendship, and once he got to know his men he very much appreciated their directness and general can-do attitude.

To welcome his new recruit the Australian Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Sir George Patey arranged for HMAS Warrego to be at Adelaide when Orontes arrived. Claude was able to get a feel of his new ship by a short passage to the Spencer Gulf. Later in Melbourne, on 13 December 1913 he took command of the destroyer.

HMAS Warrego shortly after commissioning. RAN

It did not take Commander Cumberiege long to cross swords with the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board (ACNB) then domiciled in the temporary federal capital of Melbourne. Cumberiege’s Admiralty appointment was to command Warregoand the Royal Australian torpedo boat destroyer flotilla. Locally the ACNB had provided a dual appointment to the captain of the cruiser HMAS Melbourne who was also nominated Captain (D) conducting administration of the small flotilla from his ship.

As Cumberiege had been leader of a destroyer flotilla of up to 20 ships he did not take kindly to having to report to another captain for control of his then two ship flotilla (HMAS Parramattawas in refit). The matter was sorted out, with administration for the flotilla being transferred to the flagship with operational control being left to Cumberiege.

This was a busy time with the new ‘Wallaby Navy’ being shown off to the Australian public with numerous port visits, interspersed with exercises and a hectic social program. In June 1913 the Admiral took the fleet to Queensland and later made Palm Island, then uninhabited, the local headquarters. At the end of July, with war clouds looming the fleet was ordered toSydney and a few days later came news of mobilization in Germany, France and Russia, finally leading to a state of war declared between Great Britain, Germany and Austria. The Empire, including Australia, was now at war.

Having reached Brisbane on her way south, Warrego’sorders were changed to make full speed for Thursday Island to intercept a British oil tanker. The fully laden tanker Physa, on passage from the Dutch East Indies to New Zealand, was stopped and commandeered for naval use. At the same time, on leaving Sydney Melbourne intercepted the collier Alconda,which was bound for the Philippines, and took her to coal the cruisers. The Fleet, together with their recently found supply ships, made for Rossel Island off the southeast of Papua where they rendezvoused on 9 August.

New Guinea Campaign

The first landing in enemy territory was on the morning of 11 September by naval parties from Warregoand HMAS Yarra. With minimum casualties to both Australian and German colonial forces, the objective was achieved in two days when the union flag flew over German New Guinea.Warrego, then on patrol in New Ireland, captured the German coastal vessel Nusa which was later armed and for a number of years formed part of the local colonial forces. For his part Commander Cumberiege was Mentioned in Dispatches.

Loss of AE1

In relation to the recent important discovery of wreckage of the submarine AE1a verbatim copy of the record made by Commander Cumberiege is shown below.

One day one of our two submarines was missing. Customarily the submarines used to go out in turns, partly for individual exercises. I don’t know what conclusions the enquiry into the loss brought forth, but it is probable that she over-dived herself and couldn’t recover. Shipwreck can be ruled out as the weather was absolutely perfect and the sea as flat as a board, but it is possible that she hit a rock while submerged or ran into a coral wall while under water.

Besides combing the seas for days in the hope of finding her possibly broken down and drifting with quite strong currents known to be prevalent in those parts, I had searches made of lee beaches and reefs where some evidence might be expected in the way of floatable objects. Not a sign.

I went to a group of islands near which we know she must have passed and anchored by three boats in a perfect little natural harbour half a cable from the shore. I ordered a search of the fringing reef of the main island, which by the way, was flat and covered with coconut palms, while I went away in the little German yacht (Nusa) to search the ramifications of reef strewn waters.

Warren, Captain of the Parramatta with a party had landed and were engaged searching the beach when Warren happened to turn his view landward, when to his astonishment what should he see but a big yellow funnel plainly showing through the ranks of palm trees on the other side of the island. Without a moment’s hesitation he made his way back to the ship, wirelessed me the news and immediately manned and armed the boats of the flotilla, hiding however, the rifles in the bottom of the boats and hoping to make it seem as if the boats were merely landing a bathing party.

Getting round a little point which formed a charming tree-fringed bay, he judged he must be near the hidden ship and without any more camouflage gave the order and the boats raced for the presumed spot. There she was, a German Lloyds steamer, completely hidden by foliage with palm trees lashed to her mainmasts. Instantly this ship was in his hands. Hurrying back in the Nusa yacht I got on board. The German skipper, a very pleasant fellow, seemed almost relieved at being caught.

‘Three times I ventured out in the hope of getting clear away and each time I have seen one of your infernal destroyers and have had to return and replace my decorations’, he said.

That his screen of foliage and trees was admirably designed may be judged by the fact that no sign of her was evident from the place we were anchored not five hundred miles (yards) away. In an hour or so she was steaming out in company with the flotilla to be added to the collection at Rabaul harbour. I would she had been the submarine.

Now that it had been determined that the German East Asia Squadron was not in these waters the fleet was moved to Fiji, the Admiral and his cruisers chasing von Spee further east and the destroyer flotilla convoying our single submarine for the long haul to Sydney and refit after an absence of four months, with Christmas at home.

Back to New Guinea and beyond

Not long after arrival in Sydney a report was received from a POW of a plan to base a German auxiliary cruiser in the Sepik River. In less than a week the refit was stopped, leave cancelled, and the flotilla was stored and on its way back to New Guinea. En route they picked up the handy little steamer Nusa.While locals were sceptical of naval vessels hiding in the Sepik they acknowledged that the armed auxiliary Ryjasanhad hidden on the coast while the flagship HMAS Australiahad steamed past less than five miles away. Ryjasanmade her escape after dark but, short of coal, was forced into then neutral American Guam where her crew latter scuttled her.

WithNusa sounding ahead the flotilla cautiously made its way up river dodging logs and shoals, proceeding above the last major settlement of Angorum. Not wishing to risk his destroyers Commander Cumberiege trans-ferred to Nusaand achieved the remarkable featof navigating 200 nm (370 km) from the river mouth until shallows forced them to return.

Sepik River tribesmen, from photo taken at the time of the Warrego expedition.

With no enemy sighted it was back to Sydney for a well-earned rest and a now long delayed refit. Another vague report was received of possible German commerce raiders operating out of the neutral Dutch East Indies. Having completed its refit, the flotilla was sailed to investigate. With its strength being increased by the addition of the captured German governor’s yacht which had been armed and renamed HMAS Una,and taking along their tanker Esturia,they called at Timor, the Dutch East Indies and Singapore with final calls intended in French Indo-China. As Cumberiege had been promoted Post Captain it was time for a career move and he was offered the old cruiser Encounter. As she was in the vicinity Encounter was diverted to Saigon where he took command on 16 January 1916.

In another suspicious incident, naval intelligence became aware of messages filtering through from aboriginal sources in northwest Australia of a submarine hiding in a remote bay. Naval Intelligence had by now worked out a well-rehearsed answer to all its problems of ‘Sending a Gun Boat’. Accordingly Encounter,being on the west coast, was dispatched with her collier Kanna. Could this be AE1? Needless to say nothing was found except a small unknown Portuguese mission that had picture books which they sometimes showed their flock. These books had pictures of ships including submarines! An unexpected discovery was two ancient cannons thought to be Spanish or Portuguese. These were found by a boat party on an unnamed island, now called Carronade Island. Endeavourbrought the cannons back to Sydney and they are now part of the Naval Heritage Collection.

HMAS Brisbane

His posting to Endeavour did not last long as on16 October that year he transferred to command the new ship HMAS Brisbane, then completing building at Cockatoo Island. Here go-slow tactics were being used by dockyard workers and there were suspected cases of sabotage. He had armed parties patrol the ship which helped deter some of these problems but there were further delays in the fitout of control systems, with insufficient expertise being locally available. As a result it was decided to sail the ship to Malta for completion.

During this passage Claude telegraphed his wife, who he had not seen for over three years, suggesting she might join him in Malta. For some unknown reason the message was not received and the family reunion did not occur. With the ship now fully fitted out they were ordered to backtrack through the Canal to Colombo as they were the only 6-inch cruiser available to help find a raider called Wolf.

Before departure a Sopwith Pup was embarked to help increase their radius of action. After days of searching very large areas and finding nothing of note, suddenly news was received that Wolf was a clear 5000 miles away. They were recalled to Fremantle where a convoy of great ships had been assembled awaiting clearance, despite the presence of two Japanese cruisers.

With little further activity they were more than happy to make for the Solomon Islands where there had been some unrest. Their faithful collier Kanna came along but luckily further stocks of coal were found at Ocean Island. They then visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Kiribati and Tuvalu); Cumberiege really enjoyed the simplicity of life in his time here and made the point that he hoped tourist steamers never discover them.

It was back to Sydney for refit and then at long last they were on their way to England via Suez. We were on passage through the Red Sea on 11 November 1918 when news was received that the war was over. New orders were received to proceed to Mudros and after a few days to join the fleet at Constantinople. Then to Sebastopol where we were potted at by a few Bolshies, and the remains of the Russian fleet with ships half sunk was visible.

Next it was full speed down the Dardanelles and through a mined channel to Smyrna where a number of nations were trying to help, or confuse, the French who were asserting authority over this part of the old Turkish Empire. When this frustrating time came to an end they made for England.

Suddenly through a dense blanket of fog there loomed Portsmouth where our Australian ship was cheered alongside. For the first time in over five years I set foot on my native soil and saw my wife, children and mother. As a new Captain had been appointed to take Brisbane back to Australia I was on the beach.

It was then I met one of the most loveable and one of the most extraordinary characters, John Saumarez Dumaresq, who had recently been appointed in command of the Australian Squadron flying his broad pennant in the battlecruiser Australia. He was looking for a Flag Captain and told me his first choice had turned down the job, but that because of my experience he would be delighted to have me on board.

John Dumaresq was born in Rose Bay, Sydney on 26 October 1873. From a landed family in New South Wales, he was taken to England as an infant to be raised by his mother’s family. He entered the Royal Navy in 1886, later specialised in both torpedoes and gunnery and was instrumental in a number of important improvements to weapon control systems. In February 1917 he transferred on loan to the RAN as Captain of HMAS Sydney, then serving with the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron. On 22 March 1919 he was appointed Commodore commanding the Australian Squadron, being charged with bringing Australian ships back to their homeland. It was to be another two years before we had a fleet commanded by a flag officer when Dumaresq was promoted to this rank in June 1921.

The Commodore was of small stature, but intense and one of the hardest workers. His pace was frantic and he was forever making and implementing policies which resulted in mountains of paper being showered on his staff. But those close to him realised he was a sick man with a hacking cough, and he could not forever hide blood-stained handkerchiefs which wiped away blood from his lungs. While Cumberiege tried to make him take some rest for a few hours every day he knew time was limited and was impatient to achieve as much as possible. While it could be easy to think some of the pain was self-inflicted the Commodore did not have a mean streak and neither smoked nor touched alcohol.

Portsmouth at this time was full of Australian ships being readied for their return, including the light cruisers Brisbane and Sydney and the battlecruiser Australia. In addition there was the submarine depot ship HMAS Platypus and her six J-class boats gifted to the Australian people by a grateful British Government.

HMAS Australia

In Australia, as with most of the RAN’s capital ships, the senior officers and NCOs were predominantly from the RN while the junior rates were mostly Australian. There was an air of grievance within the lower ranks who had mainly signed on for the duration of the war, or for five years, and now wanted to go home as quickly as possible. Many had had a boring war with not much happening when patrolling the North Sea and morale suffered. Disciplinary problems were increasing, with the greatest number of malcontents in the largest ship, Australia.

On 9 April 1919 Platypus and her brood were first to leave, escorted by Sydney. A week later on 17 April the flagship Australia sailed, accompanied by Brisbane. The two contingents caught up at Aden where Brisbanetook over the escort of submarine J5 which she towed most of the way home. At Aden, where only officers and petty officers were granted leave, departure of the flagship was delayed by one day to entertain a local dignitary. After making Colombo, the intended next port of call for Australia was Melbourne, where time-expired men would be discharged. However the program was changed to first visit Fremantle, giving the West Australians a chance to see their flagship.

They arrived at Fremantle on 25 May, which was the first homecoming for most of her ship’s company in more than four years. Because of scheduling changes the ship’s stay was shortened to three days. The Australian waterfront was notorious for poor industrial relations, and unfortunately this visit coincided with a dock workers strike, with the workers winning even more concessions. As a result the ship could not go alongside and was moored offshore.

After arrival, representatives of the ship’s company requested to see their Captain asking if sailing could be delayed one day so that as many as possible could have leave to visit friendsand families. The Captain replied that the request could not be considered owing to a very strict timetable of port visits.

As expected there was a huge party with thousands queuing to visit the great ship. Two days later many were reluctant to leave when there was a delay as the car bringing the Commodore back aboard had broken down. About a hundred sailors again requested their departure be delayed one further day so they could have one final run ashore to thank their hosts. Captain Cumberiege, now with his Commodore embarked, rejected the request. There was now a temporary stand-off as stokers refused to man the boiler rooms. With a couple of hours delay temporary staff was found to man the stokeholds and the ship sailed.

At the next port of call, Adelaide, the flagship anchored off Glenelg instead of the outer harbour because of a supposed influenza outbreak. The real reason was mutinous behaviour, however this and the subsequent visit to Melbourne passed without incident.

Following an investigation 32 men who had refused orders to man the engine-rooms were placed under arrest and the majority were summarily sentenced to naval imprisonment of 90 days cells. The five alleged ringleaders were court-martialled, not for mutinybutwiththelesserchargeof ‘joining in a mutiny, not accompanied by violence’.

A rare photograph of a rather tired HMAS Australiain Fremantle May 1919.

n 20 June 1919 under the presidency of Commodore John Glossop (formerly captain of Sydney). The five accused pleaded guilty and asked for leniency. Four of the five were represented by a civil lawyer and Commonwealth Parliamentarian, Richard Orchard. The fifth man was represented by another civilian lawyer and a naval officer acting as his friend. All received prison sentences varying from one to two years to be served at Goulburn Goal.

Dumaresq regarded the matter as one purely involving naval discipline and when the alleged ringleaders were released from prison through political pressure, in an unprecedented move both he and Rear Admiral Edmund Grant, the First Naval Member of the Australian Naval Board, tendered their resignations. After intense political intrigue their resignations were later withdrawn. It may be a moot point but at the time of the mutiny Australia was under Admiralty control as the ship did not revert to Commonwealth control until 1 August 1919.

Of this incident Captain Cumberiege wrote: The law, at any rate, had been upheld. Our yardarm had been cleared, though I shall always regard the whole episode as being no more than sort of schoolboy escapade and I, for one, was quite unconcerned, when a year later a Labor government released the prisoners.

Shortly after these occurrences I happened to be walking along Elizabeth Street, Sydney, when a decently dressed man, looking across the road at me, raised his hat. Not being able to place him I returned the salute and stepped across. He held out his hand, which I took, and he said: ‘You don’t remember me, sir, my name is Rudd.’ It was the ex-hero of Zeebrugge, Dalmorton Rudd,⁴one of the five charged. We stepped inside for a couple (a pub for drinks).

The End is Nigh

The post-war Navy was not a happy place with cuts and more cuts and little money for fuel to take ships on exercise. The highlight of Australia’s service on return to home waters occurred in May 1920 when she led the fleet for review in Port Phillip Bay by the Prince of Wales embarked in HMS Renown.In September 1920 the Admiral transferred his flag to the more economical cruiser Melbourne and Cumberiege went across with him as Flag Captain. Australia’s days were now numbered, she decommissioned on 12 December 1921 and was placed into reserve.

In October 1921 the Admiral called me for a not unexpected interview when I was asked to make way for a younger Australian officer. The parting was swift and shortly passage was booked upon a liner which landed us at Tilbury in time for a Christmas homecoming. Here I commenced six months paid leave, a generous parting gift, after spending seven years representing Australian naval interests. A charming letter was received from the Secretary of the Admiralty offering a couple of hundred a year extra pension if I quit at once, or stay on half-pay and be automatically retired at the end of a couple of years. With restrictions being made everywhere I quickly accepted the former offer.

Rear Admiral Dumaresq was caught in conflict with the Australian Government as he sought to protect naval interests from stringent financial cuts. With his return to the Royal Navy on 29 April 1922 the RAN lost a very competent officer who had brought the fleet to a high standard of efficiency despite severe restrictions. During his return home with his invalid wife in the Japanese liner Tango Maru he fell ill with pneumonia and died in the American Military Hospital, Manila on 22 July 1922. He was buried with full military honours provided by American forces in that foreign land.

Claude Cumberieige had two marriages: the first in 1903 to Sarah Couldwell ending after 25 years with her death. This marriage produced two children, a son Claude (1905-1945) and daughter Diana. His first wife saw little of her husband but she did come to live in Sydney during the latter stage of his career. He later married Nora Kirby by whom he had a further four children. His son from the first marriage, Claude Michael Bulstrode Cumberiege was never known by his first name but always as Michael or Mike. Michael joined the merchant service and later the RNR where he served with great distinction as an agent with the Special Operations Executive. LCDR Claude Cumberiege, RD, DSO and Bar was captured behind enemy lines after the fall of Greece where he was tortured and executed. He was in charge of a small fleet of caiques used to infiltrate enemy lines and was caught when attemptingto lay mines to deny the enemy use of the Corinth Canal. Michael had married a Canadian, Nancy Wooler, and a son Marcus was born in 1938.

Retirement

On 11 July 1922, at age 45, Claude Cumberiege was placed on the Retired List, ostensibly at his own request. He was advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral on the Retired List, dated 7 August 1926. In retirement Claude became a recreational sailor and, gaining a Foreign Going Masters Certificate, he sometimes skippered chartered yachts around the continent. He acquired a former Ostend pilot boat and renamed her L’Insoumise (The Rebel) which he used in the Mediterranean. In 1931 he exchanged her for a smaller schooner, Westward, which was renamed Fleur de Lys (an emblem depicted on the Cumberiege family crest). One of his children was born in Fleur de Lys when she was storm bound.

In 1936 Cumberiege published a book, Master Mariner, a story said to be based on the life of a seafaring uncle who sailed around much of the world in a small trading brig Josephine. The following quote provides a flavour:

Knocking about the world as he did, he met all sorts and conditions of men and women. From divas to derelicts, and emperors to inebriates, maybe I have learned a bit from all of them, but most I have learned from sea captains who have told me things no shore-going loafer could ever hope to know, like the way of a ship at sea.

Was the Admiral really talking of his uncle or of life as he saw it? In Master Mariner there is possibly the first reference to the expression ‘…running around like a blue-arsed fly’, favoured by another carefree seafaring man, the Duke of Edinburgh.

On the Mediterranean coast the family entered into an active social life and went into various holiday business ventures. Cumberiege again offered his services in 1939 when aged 62 but with a surplus of retired admirals no suitable appointment was available; he then joined the Home Guard. On 22 November 1963 Claude Cumberiege died in the Balearic Islands, Spain aged 86

A Final Word

Claude Lionel Cumberiege was one of the most capable naval officers to have paced upon the quarterdeck of a warship on the Australian Station. A century has passed and he is now largely forgotten, but during his prime, covering a period of more than seven years, he commanded just about every ship in the Australian Fleet. His influence on the officers and men who followed him was immense but surprisingly there is little mention of Cumberiege, the man, and his achievements. In history he is best known with Dumaresq for involvement in the unfortunate mutiny onboard Australia. Was his lack of recognition the fault of too many commands (overall he commanded 13 ships, ranging from torpedo boats to a battlecruiser), providing an unshakeable aura of self-confidence, and possible lack of respect for others of lesser capabilities? Or was he, an upper class Englishman from the Victorian era, possibly out of touch with a new nation finding its way in a world experiencing rapid social change? According to his grandson, the Admiral would have liked to have moved to Australia in his retirement, but things didn’t work out that way when his second family appeared.

It has been a pleasure to interpret this work into a reduced format that a current generation may find of benefit. Original copies of the Cumberiege manuscript, encompassing more than two hundred pages, are held in the archives of the Naval Historical Society.

Notes:

The family history spells the name Cumberlege but in the Official War History of Australia (1914-1918) and the RAN Navy List it is spelt Cumberiege. The latter spelling has been used throughout this paper.
In the 1870s the Madras Presidency covered most of southern India with its own extensive army.
A Senior Lieutenant with eight or more years seniority wore two stripes with a thinner stripe in between. In March 1914 the distinction disappeared when the rank of Lieutenant Commander was introduced.
In February 1918 volunteers were called for a dangerous venture and Rudd, then a Leading Seaman in HMAS Australia, was one of those selected. The mission was a raid on the German U-Boat base at Zeebrugge in occupied Belgium, which resulted in heavy casualties amongst the raiding party. For his bravery during the operation Rudd was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. Afterwards he returned to Australia.

Occasional Paper 20: Surgeon LCDR Jack Rupert Law Willis, RAN

December 1, 2017

December 2017

Surgeon LCDR Jack Rupert Law Willis, RAN

1888-1971

MB BS Melb

These biographical notes on LCDR Jack Willis who served in HMS Prince of Wales during World War 1 were provided by Surgeon LCDR Tony Swain RAN Rtd.

Jack Willis was born in Daylesford, Victoria on the 17^th October 1888, the eldest of 3 sons of T. Rupert H. Willis, a general practitioner, and Mary Willis. He attended school at Wesley College in Melbourne and studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, graduating in January 1912. This was followed by a further 12 months of what is now called a rotating internship at the Alfred Hospital and the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Melbourne. A short period at Bendigo Hospital followed and he then commenced practice with his father at Glenferrie Rd, Malvern. Victoria.

He enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) as a Medical Officer, initially with the rank of Surgeon Lieutenant, and Seniority of 3rd August 1914. He served for a period of 6 years in the RAN and the Royal Navy (RN). His first posting was to The Union Steamship Company vessel SS Aorangi that was chartered by the RAN in August 1914 to act as a supply ship for the fleet, which was part of the AN&MEF. This Force was successful in eliminating the growing German influences in the near Pacific and it became the Occupying Force until 1921.

During his 6 years of service he served over 3 years with the RN onboard HMS Prince of Wales, which was transferred to the Adriatic Sea to form the 2nd Detached Squadron, organized to reinforce the Italian Navy against the Austro-Hungarian Navy after Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, based at Taranto, becoming flagship of the squadron in March 1916. In 1919, he retired from active service with the rank of Surgeon Lieutenant Commander, and Seniority of 22^nd August 1920. He was appointed to the Emergency list in 1921.

He did not serve during WW2 despite his enthusiasm to do so. In March 1942, Dr. J. R. L. Willis was appointed Surgeon Lieutenant Commander RAN from the Retired List to the Emergency List in the Permanent Naval Forces of the Commonwealth (Sea-Going Forces). This appointment meant that in the event of emergency the Navy could call upon his services. He was moved to the Retired list in 1948.

During Dr Willis’s active service with the RN, he met and subsequently married in Rome, Thea Anuilli in 1919, a young girl of Italian and French heritage. They both returned to Australia in 1921/22 to live in Learmonth in country Victoria where Jack established a general practice. There were 2 sons from this marriage, Guido James and Alan Anthony Willis. Both subsequently became senior Admirals in the RAN with James becoming Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) with the rank of Vice-Admiral, and the last in that position to be appointed KBE (1981) also an AO (1976).

In 1927, the family moved from Learmonth to Mt Gambier in South Australia where Jack continued in General Practice for a period of about 30 years. Jack was a well known and respected physician who was also a good sportsman, excelling at cricket and tennis up till his mid 60s. After a long struggle with cancer, Thea died in Mt Gambier in 1939 at the age of 40.

Jack re-married Zelma Mackie who was a nurse at the Mt Gambier Hospital. Their only child, Richard John, was born in 1944. Like his father, Richard graduated in medicine, however in Adelaide, and was a Surgeon Lieutenant Commander HMAS Sydney, Vietnam in the RAN; anesthetist at the RAH and past President of the ANZCA. Jack retired in the late 50s from active practice and remained in Mt Gambier until his death on the 22^nd April 1971.

Author: Tony Swain
Surg LCDR RAN Rtd
Adelaide

Sources:

Photo and family history, Dr Richard Willis, Adelaide
NAA Navy Service Card
NLA Trove examination of the Border Watch, Mt Gambier, 6^th October 1914,19^th November 1940, Daylesford Advocate, 31st March 1942
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/78105374?searchTerm=DR%20WILLIS&searchLimits=l-state=South+Australia|||l-title=276

The Sailors of Fromelles

September 5, 2017

By Commander Tony Vine, RANR

In the eyes of the Australian public the Royal Australian Navy’s role in the Great War is generally limited to the capture of New Guinea, the HMAS Sydney– SMSEmden battle and the exploits of HMAS AE2 in the Dardanelles. What is not known to many Australians is that a large number of naval personnel who were called up in 1914 fought in other theatres, some wearing blue, others khaki. This is the story of one such group.

On Wednesday 28 August 1915 the normal buzz of activity at Sydney’s Liverpool Army Camp was broken when a contingent of sailors, all wearing the uniform of the Royal Australian Naval Brigade (RANB), marched proudly into the camp. The sailors, clad in their blue uniforms and marching with that peculiar rolling gait which marks the seaman, they made a picturesque entry into the camp between long lines of cheering onlookers, the band meanwhile playing Sons of the Sea.

Who were these blue clad interlopers, and why were they at Liverpool and not at sea?

In August 1915 Australia had been at war for a year. The lists of casualties in the national and local papers were growing daily and dreadfully wounded men from the early stages of the Gallipoli campaign were arriving back to their families. Other families were not so lucky; their lives had been devastated by a simple telegram from the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) informing them that a father, son, husband or brother had been killed. Despite the increasing carnage, recruiting centres were inundated with men wanting to join the great adventure. The AIF was desperately trying to replace losses, whilst the same time raising the 2nd Division in Egypt. It was clear that the war would not be over by Christmas and Australia’s contribution needed to be greater than what had been envisaged just a year ago.

Meanwhile the Royal Australian Navy had the opposite problem. The bulk of the fleet was serving in the North Sea, leaving only the three torpedo boat destroyers, HMA Ships Yarra, Parramatta and Warrego as the only modern ships in Australian waters. The successes of Sydney against Emden and the submarine AE2 at Gallipoli had resulted in a flood of applicants to join the navy and there were also 1,646 members of the Royal Australian Naval Brigade, essentially naval reservists, who had been called up at the outbreak of war.

In August 1914 the RANB had been recently formed from the Royal Australian Naval Reserve (RANR) and became part of the Australian Naval and Military Expedition Force (ANMEF) which had captured New Guinea from its colonial masters Germany. At the same time its members manned signal and examination stations at ports, conducted harbour patrols in small craft and provided guards at naval facilities and wharves.

By 1915, the RANB had thousands of men ashore with little chance of employment at sea. The Royal Navy (RN) had experienced a similar problem in 1914 and used its surplus men to raise the Royal Navy Division (RND). The RND fought at Antwerp in 1914 and Gallipoli in 1915, suffering heavy casualties before finally being absorbed into the British Army in 1916.

The Australian Naval Board considered and then rejected the idea of raising a naval division or brigade, although in February 1915 it offered the British Government the services of two ‘Bridging Teams’ to serve as engineers in a shore based capacity. This was later amended to one team. The RANBT was raised and served with great distinction in the Middle East and at Gallipoli.

In May 1915, volunteers were sought from RANB personnel at Flinders Naval Depot to serve overseas and the successful applicants were immediately sent to the Seymour Army Camp in Victoria. On arrival they were drafted into what was loosely termed ‘The Victorian Naval Unit’ where some were advised that they were to proceed overseas to man minesweepers. This was far from the truth and within weeks they were transferred to the Broadmeadows Camp in Melbourne where it became apparent that their future lay with the AIF and not at sea. They were a mixture of young adventurers, professional merchant navy seamen, ex-naval members of the Royal Navy, the RAN, the RANR and the RANB, as well as older men who had served in the pre-federation colonial naval forces.

1st RANBT at Domain Camp Melbourne 1915 prior to embrakation for overseas service – AWM

Meanwhile at Liverpool, NSW, the 30th Battalion AIF was forming under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel James Clark. Clark, a shipping merchant from Newcastle, had served in the militia since 1897 and before resigning to take a commission in the AIF he had been in charge of Newcastle’s coastal defences.

At Liverpool, the naval men were allocated to the 30th Battalion’s A Company commanded by Major Thomas Beardsmore. Beardsmore had commanded a company of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF) in New Guinea alongside members of the RANB. Amongst his officers were four RANB officers, all veterans of the ANMEF. They were: Sub-Lieutenants Avenal Hext, Henry Orpen, and Charles Webber who had served with the RANB, and Sub-Lieutenant Cecil Walker who had been the navigator in HMAS Fantome in New Guinea. At least 162 of the 222 men who were foundation members of A Company were former members of the RANB/RANR.

The availability of a pool of trained men to form his company was a godsend to Beardsmore. He recognised the advantages of keeping the men together rather than distributing them amongst the battalion.

The men were kitted out with army uniforms, and although now holding army ranks, they still considered themselves very much ‘navy’. This culture would exist right through to the armistice by which time only 38 of the Victorian Naval Unit remained with the battalion.

This hanging on to their origins was no more apparent than one morning in Liverpool when Corporal Ernest ‘Tosh’ Ridley, the duty orderly sergeant, reported the state of the battalion to Major Beardsmore as being; 220 men aboard, Sir, 5 ashore, 4 adrift, and 2 in the bay.Tosh had served ten years in the RN as well as in New Guinea as a Petty Officer with the ANMEF. He was one of the battalion’s ‘characters’.

The camp was a dusty, dirty and cold establishment of bare huts and tents. Leave was rarely granted and the only entertainment was at the YMCA tent where occasionally there would be an impromptu concert. A dry canteen had been established on the base, but other than to satisfy the cravings of the smokers and those with a sweet tooth, it provided few comforts. The men were allowed to roam the camp after work but they had to be in their tents by 21.30 for roll call. At 22.00 the lights were out. The meals were simple – dinner consisting of bread and marmalade and a pannikin of sweet tea.

It was with great relief that they moved to Moore Park in Sydney in early September. The men found very quickly they could take unofficial leave by going to the adjoining roller skating rink which conveniently had a second entrance from the street. As long as they were back by roll call they were safe from the battalion police.

In late October they were inspected by the Governor General, Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson and in the early hours of 9 November they marched from Moore Park to Woolloomooloo and embarked on HMAT Beltana (A72). The battalion history dryly notes that they were all safely onboard before the hotels opened.

Once onboard the Beltana the men were informed they were destined for the Middle East and they quickly settled into shipboard life. The sailors were at home when it came to slinging their hammocks and quickly bagged all the best spots, before assisting the less fortunate in the secrets of a hammock! They stopped briefly in King George’s Sound off Albany WA, where shortly after sailing they passed the hospital ship Kyarra (HMAT A55). The sight of the wounded men being returned from Gallipoli was a sobering reminder of what was ahead of them. The Beltana arrived at anchor at Suez on 8 December where the ship’s master refused to provide Lieutenant Colonel Clark with a boat so that news of the war could be obtained from the Port Authority. The impasse was broken when a boat was manned by members of A Company under the command of the Adjutant, Captain Sloan. The men skilfully rowed Sloan ashore, where on arrival he gave them a one pound note to have a few drinks whilst he completed his business. A few hours later the party, including Sloan, returned to the Beltana, each man carrying a box of fruit disguising bottles of alcohol.

The men were landed at Suez the next day and immediately embarked on periods of training, interspersed by guard duty in the Canal Zone. Meanwhile the AIF continued to expand. Gallipoli had been evacuated and the AIF was now to increase in size from two divisions of infantry to five, as well as raising units of artillerymen, engineers, signallers and pioneers to support the newly formed AIF divisions.

The extra divisions were formed by splitting the sixteen battalions which had served on Gallipoli to form sixteen new battalions and then building all 32 battalions up to strength using reinforcements. The 8th Brigade’s battalions were not split, but became part of the new 5th Division. The 30thhad embarked from Sydney on the same ship as its first group of 100 reinforcements and became a pool of talent from which newly formed units could draw. Many of the ex-RANB men had talents better suited to units other than infantry or were of an age that they would not be able to cope with the rigors of close quarters combat as infantrymen. Many were trained in gunnery or in signals whilst others were tradesmen and engineers. In March 1916 there was a massive re-allocation of men across the various units spread around the desert camps. Over fifty of the A Company’s ex-sailors would bid farewell to their mates and transfer to newly formed units; with most joining the 5th Division’s signals, artillery, engineer, machine gun and pioneer units.

The battalion embarked for Europe in mid-June on the Hororata (HMAT A20) and by the end of the month they were billeted just outside of Hazebrouck in Northern France. There was little time for the men to adapt to trench warfare. The Battle of the Somme commenced on the first of July and on the 10th the 30th battalion moved to the front line at Bois Grenier south of Armentières where the men were under intermittent bombardment. On the 13th a shell dropped on A Company personnel, wounding Lieutenant Avenal Hext and two others, one of whom later died of his wounds. The men remained in the line at Bois Grenier for four days and then were marched to nearby Fleurbaix.

At Fleurbaix, Clarke was advised that the 5th Division AIF and the British 61st Division would participate in an attack on the German forces near the village of Fromelles. The operation was under the command of Lieutenant General Richard Haking and the mismanagement of Haking and senior command at Fromelles has been well documented elsewhere. What is pertinent to this story is that the Germans knew an attack was imminent, held a tactical advantage and were well prepared.

The 8th Brigade’s role was for the 31st and 32nd Battalions to attack, whilst the 29th and 30th were to be held in reserve. In the lead-up to the action the 30th’s men were used to move ammunition and supplies forward to the front lines and reserve trenches in support of their sister battalions. Visible to German artillery spotters, they immediately came under heavy shell fire, killing one man and wounding eight others.

On the 19th of July the battle commenced at 11.00 with a bombardment. The bombardment stopped and started a number of times hoping to trick the German defenders into thinking that the attack had commenced and draw them out of their dugouts. It was not successful. At 17.45 the 31st and 32nd Battalions attacked in four waves with many men being cut down within metres of leaving the safety of the trenches.

As the fourth wave crossed the parapet, the 30th entered the field of battle. A Company and the 8th Field Company Engineers began digging a communications trench across No Man’s Land towards what was expected to become the new front line. The remainder of the battalion was used to carry ammunition forward to the 31st and 32nd battalions but many immediately took the places of fallen men. The trench digging party spread out across the killing field, along the proposed route of the trench, and literally dug for their lives. As a man would fall, another would take his place. As sections of the trench began to deepen, the engineers positioned sandbags to partly protect the diggers from the machine gun and sniper fire. It did little to protect the men from the shellfire. Across the battlefield the cries for ‘stretcher bearers’ from dreadfully wounded men could be heard.

Along the length of the Fromelles battlefield, ex-sailors, who had transferred to other units the previous March, were running out signal lines and building defences in support of the valiant 5th Division.

The communications trench would reach almost 200 metres in length and at its deepest was almost two metres deep, but they paid a toll. The navy men began to fall. Former Able Seaman Richard Ward, a sapper in the 8th Field Company of the Engineers was one of the first, closely followed by A Company’s Doug Rich from Williamstown, Victoria. Richard Ward is buried in Fleurbiax but Doug Rich’s body was lost and he has no known grave. Peter Anderson noticed that fellow matelot David King’s webbing had caught fire. He immediately went to his aid only to be struck in the groin and he died within fifteen minutes. David King would also fall; both men’s bodies were lost in the maelstrom and they have no known graves.

As day passed into night the work on building the trench continued. The danger from sniper fire diminished, but German machine guns continued to sweep the battlefield and the hail of deadly bullets and artillery shells continued to cause destruction. The wounds inflicted by shrapnel were dreadful. If he was lucky a man would be killed instantly, but for many it was an agonising, slow and lonely death in No Man’s Land as they bled to death from their wounds. Those who managed to reach a dressing station would now face another battle, one against infection in an era where antibiotics didn’t exist.

David Irvine, a 20 year old naval reservist from Rozelle, Sydney, was cut down by shrapnel, his left knee shattered so severely that he was repatriated to Australia the following year. Bill Scott, who had served in the RANB for four years, had his left arm blown off by shellfire. He was treated at the Australian 1st Casualty Clearing Station and the 8th Stationary Hospital at Wimereux, before being evacuated to England on the 23rd of July. Bill would lose his fight for life a week later, but not before he made a statement to the Red Cross that he had been with Lieutenant Jack Lees when the latter was shot through the heart just before dusk on the 19th. Lees, who had joined A Company in the Middle East, had served with the ANMEF in New Guinea and was a much respected officer.

The irrepressible Acting Sergeant Ernest (Tosh) Ridley was placed in charge of a section of eight men to carry stores to the front line during the night. They inched forward, until with only five men, the sun began to rise and they dug in surrounded by Germans. Soon after Tosh was knocked out by shellfire and came to, covered in blood, in a shell hole where he remained all day. Fellow ex matelots Edward Dunn and Vernon Drake later told the Red Cross that they had to abandon Tosh when they withdrew and they thought that both his legs had been broken. In fact Tosh had been badly wounded in the right arm and remained in No Man’s Land until he was spotted by a German officer who gave him water and a cigarette. Tosh spent the remainder of the war as a POW, eventually being repatriated in 1918, having lost over 30 kilograms. On arrival in England he discovered that his promotion to sergeant had never been substantiated and that he was back where he started his AIF career, as a corporal.

Tosh would have company as a POW, with fellow sailors Hilton Law, Horace Holmesby and David Storey all being taken prisoner at Fromelles. David, a member of the Williamstown Port Division, had enlisted with his reservist brother James. David and James were both wounded at Fromelles. James was evacuated to England with severe facial injuries, including losing his right eye; he would survive to be repatriated home in early 1918.

German shells and bullets did not discriminate between officers and sailors. Major Beardsmore was felled with wounds to his neck, head and arm. Former Sub-Lieutenant Richard Orpen, a Platoon Commander in A Company, abandoned his men early on the first day after a shell landed nearby. Orpen took himself to a Casualty Clearing Station with ‘shell shock’ and was evacuated to England where he served in a training unit. It would be sixteen months before he returned to the battalion and be posted to C Company. Within weeks of his arrival he had again abandoned his men in the front line, this time claiming he had ‘sore feet’. An investigation found that Orpen had neglected his men, many of whom had severe ‘trench feet’ and should have been evacuated themselves. It also concluded that Orpen had nothing wrong with his own feet. He was immediately removed from the battalion and returned to Australia ‘services no longer required’.

The 30th remained at their posts until withdrawn to Fleurbaix on the 26th of July. The battalion had suffered over 350 casualties of whom 118 were killed or missing in just two weeks in the lines. In all, Australia suffered over 5,500 casualties in 24 hours at Fromelles, with almost two thousand killed.

Haking, in his post battle analysis, blamed everybody but himself for the catastrophe and then cynically argued that:

I think the attack, although it failed, has done both Divisions a great deal of good, and I am quite sure as a result of the attack that the Germans are not likely to move troops away from the front for some time.

Haking’s reckless behaviour resulted in it taking almost a year to rebuild the badly mauled battalions.

At least seven former members of the RANB lost their lives at Fromelles with many more maimed, physically and mentally. Some would be repatriated home immediately, others after months in hospital, but the majority would ultimately return to their units. They, and those who had come through Fromelles unscathed, would fight on as the dreadful attrition of trench warfare slowly eroded their numbers.

Some men, like Able Seaman Donald Stuart, a boilermaker from Auburn, NSW, would return home in 1919 as officers and gentlemen. A number would be decorated, whilst many were content to keep their heads down and simply survive through to 1919 as private soldiers. The 30th would go on to to fight at the battles for Bullecourt, Polygon Wood, Amiens and St Quentin Canal.

In mid 1917 Sergeant Fred Batten, a former RANB sailor from Albert Park in Victoria was serving with the 5th Division Field Artillery when German shelling set the battery’s ammunition dump alight. Three times Fred and his men attacked the fire only for it to reignite. The men, knowing full well that the entire dump could explode, continued fighting the fires until they were finally extinguished. Fred would be awarded the Military Medal for his courage that night.

At Polygon Wood another ex-Able Seaman, now Sergeant, Arthur Burns took charge of a fatigue party carrying ammunition from Hooge Crater to the front line. The men were caught in a very heavy German barrage and; Sergt. Burns shewed (sic) exceptional Leadership and bravery in delivering the ammunition without delay at the correct spot. Arthur and his men made two trips that night, having to pass through the barrage four times. He was recommended for the award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) by his Commanding Officer. At that time the DCM ranked second only to the VC for other ranks, but the recommendation would eventually be downgraded at brigade level to a Military Medal. Whilst Arthur would survive the war, his RANB colleague Sergeant H. J. (George) Eccleston would lose both legs to a shell at Polygon Wood and, although he was rushed to a Casualty Clearing Station by fellow sailor George Gilderthorpe, he would succumb to his dreadful wounds.

The last major action the men fought in was the Battle for St Quentin Canal, where the last of the naval men to die in battle would fall. He was Private Hugh Auld from Williamstown in Victoria. Hugh, a labourer who had served in the RANB for five years, had been severely wounded in the left arm at Fromelles. He returned to the front in early 1917, however later in the year he was evacuated to England with severe jaundice. He rejoined the battalion again in June 1918. On 28 August 1918 Hugh Auld and nine other men were sheltering in a dugout near Peronne when it was struck by a large shell. He was killed instantly – the other men all survived.

In the same action another ex-sailor would distinguish himself. Sergeant Robert Case from Williamstown was in charge of an advanced post which was heavily shelled and machine gunned. Eventually it was struck by a shell burying Case’s men. He worked untiringly digging out his men and then establishing another post further forward under heavy fire.Later that day; he led his platoon forward under heaving machine gun fire showing an utter disregard for personal danger and setting a fine example for his men. Robert Case would be awarded the Military Medal for his actions at Peronne.

Other ex-RANB men who had transferred to other units would also be honoured. Corporal Reg Power, serving with the signals as a motor cycle despatch rider, received a Meritorious Service Medal in 1918 for his bravery carrying essential despatches under fire, whilst Andrew Nelson’s service with the Pioneers would be recognised with a Belgian Croix de Guerre.

In 26 months the 30th would lose 458 men killed in action, dying of wounds or illness, with a further 1,207 men wounded. Of the 162 ex-naval officers and men who had formed A Company in 1915, thirty one would lose their lives in the Great War with many more wounded, some multiple times.

The Battle of Fromelles gained prominence in Australia with the exhumation of 250 soldiers from a mass grave at Pheasant Wood in 2009. Whilst no ex-sailors were amongst the men identified, the role that the men of the Victorian Naval Unit played in the battle has never truly been recognised by the RAN.

Bibliography;

Bean, Charles E.W. The Official History of Australia in the war of 1914-18 Vol 3 – The AIF in France 1916, AWM 1929.

Frame, T.R. and Swindon, G.J. First in last out – the Navy at Gallipoli, Kangaroo Press 1990.

Jose, Arthur W. The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 Vol 9, The Royal Australian Navy 1914-1918, AWM 1929.

Lindsay, Patrick. Fromelles. Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne 2008

Lording, Rowland (Pseudonym ‘A Tiveychoc’), There and Back, RSSLA 1935.

Sloan, Hannibal. The Purple and Gold, 30th Battalion Association, 1938.

Other References:

Australian War Memorial – AWM 4 – 30th Battalion War Diaries

Australian War Memorial – WWI Red Cross Files

Australian War Memorial – WWI Honours and Awards files.

National Archive Australia – Service Record Files – various.