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You are here: Home / Archives for Article topics / Naval history / Biographies and personal histories

Biographies and personal histories

Occasional Paper 94: Lieutenant Commander Mackenzie (Mac) Jesse Gregory RAN (Ret): 9 February 1922-27 August 2014

November 18, 2020

By Rex Williams, President Victorian Chapter of the NHSA

 As President since 2003 and active member during the period Mackenzie (Mac) Gregory was at the helm, Rex grew to love and respect Mac who he considered the grandfather he never had. Similarly, coming from a civilian background Rex attributes his passion for and now deep knowledge of naval history to his friendship with Mac Gregory.

Mac Gregory was my close friend and colleague. Truly an Officer and a Gentleman, always anxious to help in any way he could. Generous to a fault, he happily spent hours researching families ’requests for information on a loved one’s Naval service. He was an excellent speaker and author, ever ready to promote our Navy and her people. Fiercely loyal to the concepts and objectives of our Naval Historical Society, he was a Past President of the Victoria Chapter, and at the time of his death was Vice President and Historian, offering advice and support when requested.

His’ Ahoy’ website is treasure trove featuring 28,323 articles on naval, maritime Australian historical subjects and more. My purpose in writing this treatise is to encourage you to explore his website: http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/. Mac also wrote the books; ‘WWII. The war at Sea’, ‘War in the Pacific 1941-1945 ‘and’ Fighting Sailors and Famous Sea Battles Down the Ages’.

My account of Mac’s Naval Career and some of the highlights of a life well lived cannot hope to cover the whole story and I urge you to visit his website. My sources are the website, Mac’s books and my memories of many conversations with him. Another great source is the transcript of an interview for the Australians at War Film Archive. This is available as Occasional Paper 14: on the NHSA website.

Mac was born in Geelong in February 1922. His Father was a Steward in the Navy based at Osborne House with the J class Submarines, having served previously in the British Army in WW1. His Dad generally worked for Admirals, mostly it was the first Naval Member, and Mac’s early childhood was spent in Toorak where he attended Christchurch Grammar. In later years the family moved to Coburg where he attended Coburg High.

Cadt Midshipman Mackenzie Gregory, aged 17, on board H.M.A.S. Australia 12th of October 1939

At age 13, Mac was successful in applying to be being accepted into RAN Naval College, then situated at Flinders’ Naval Depot, now known as HMAS Cerberus. Due to graduate in 1939, Mac’s year didn’t graduate but were instead sent to sea owing to the probability of war. An iconic photograph was published in the Sun News- pictorial in September 1939 of Cadet Midshipman Mackenzie Gregory on the foredeck of HMAS Australia looking at the guns preparing for war. Mac’s war turned out to be either at sea or on courses in England. And what a war it was! The first 9 months of the war in HMAS Australia were spent around the Australian coast and between May and July 1940 Australia was engaged in convoy duties and whilst base at Scapa Flow they were sent up to Bear Island, 900 miles from the North Pole. In September 1940 Australia was a unit of the Dakar Squadron, as part of Operation Menace to neutralise the French Fleet. She was engaged in the general bombardment of French ships and was subject to air attack by the French. In a further bombardment she sustained two hits aft and her Walrus aircraft was shot down. After that they spent time in the Mediterranean on convoy duty to Malta. Back in the UK they were based at Liverpool and in dry dock to repair damage received. It was December 1940 and Liverpool was badly bombed over three nights with a 500 lb bomb hitting the side of the dock. Part of a Middy’s job at the time was to rush around the upper deck and kick off the incendiaries that landed there over the side!

Back at sea the ship successfully rescued 9 crew members of 13 from a Sutherland Flying boat which having run out of fuel landed in the ocean in the face of an Atlantic gale! A dramatic story on its own.

Promoted Acting Sub-Lieutenant, his ship rounded the cape enroute to Aden and then into the Mediterranean. Then to Cape Town, Durban and Ceylon where he and his colleagues enjoyed 3 weeks leave. The midshipmen the returned to the UK by troop ship to undertake their Sub-Lieutenant’s courses, some of which was conducted in Brighton where they were subjected to heavy bombing. The threat of invasion was very real and at times they were called out to go and man the beaches overnight.

Back to Australia by troop ship via Halifax and the Panama Canal. Whilst home Mac got engaged to his childhood sweetheart Gladys.

Posted to HMAS Canberra and now in the war against Japan Canberra took the last troops into Singapore in February 1942, then undertook convoy work before returning to Sydney in May. Canberra was in Sydney harbour when the midget sub marines attacked on May 31st/ June 1. Mac. commented that “It was a mad night in Sydney.”

HMAS Canberra was later part of the bombardment force for Operation Watchtower, the attack on Guadalcanal. Mac mentions Major Martin Clements, the extremely courageous and able Coastwatcher on Guadalcanal who provided vital information to the Americans. Martin was a very active member of our Victoria Chapter, and he shared his experiences with us. Indeed, a very brave man.

The subsequent Battle of Savo Island commenced on August 9, 1942 and Mac has covered it in great detail on his website. It makes gripping reading!. Mac commented in his book, and I quote, “Serving as a Sub-Lieutenant RAN in HMAS Canberra, I was on her bridge as her Officer of the Watch when the Battle of Savo Island commenced on August 9,1942, we were subsequently sunk, losing eighty-four dead, with another one hundred and ten wounded.”

After survivor leave, Mac was posted to HMAS Adelaide. During this time whilst not far out of Fremantle on convoy duty they came across a merchant ship which turned out to be the German raider Ramses. In combination with a Dutch ship, the Heemscherk they sank her and whilst they were hauling in the German sailors, up paddled a dog and cat which got preferential treatment! They also rescued 10 allied merchant ship captains who had been captured by the Germans.

His next posting was to HMAS Shropshire and how he reached his ship, is a story on its own. It involved train to Brisbane and then finding a way to obtain priority on a flight to Manus Island in an American DC3. It took two days to fly there sitting on the floor amongst the mail in an unheated plane. When he reached Manus, no one knew where his ship was. He sat for 2 days in a hut in heavy rain, but when it cleared there was Shropshire about 600 yards away, anchored in the harbour. Mac was subsequently to write “I recall with affection the Officers and sailors who formed the crew of HMAS Shropshire at their peak 1280, the best ship, with the best ships company it was ever my privilege to serve in.”

In January 1945 Shropshire was in action firing full 8” gun broadsides in a softening up operation prior to landings by US Marines at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines. The ship had been subjected to several Kamikaze attacks from Japanese aircraft, and had some close calls, but shot down several of their attackers Their port pom pom was an 8 barrelled anti-aircraft gun, each barrel capable of firing 800 rounds a minute. Leading Seaman Roy Cazaly was Captain of the gun mounting, and an incredible marksman. On January 6, Mac was Officer of the Watch on Shropshire’s bridge and squinting into the sun when he saw an aircraft diving straight for the bridge. They cleared the bridge, and flattened out on the deck of the bridge wing. There was a tremendous explosion; liquid splashed all around them. Immediate thoughts were that it was petrol which would burst into flames at any moment! With great relief Mac found it was salt water. Roy Cazaly had swung his gun around and shot the enemy plane in two. His skill saved Mac’s life and he never forgot him. Roy received The Distinguished Service Medal for his efforts! Roy was the son of ‘Up there, Cazaly’ the hero of Mike Brady’s song!

As the allies pushed north towards Japan, Shropshire took part in many landings, was subjected to the horrors of the dreadful Kamikaze attacks, and yet had not lost one man to enemy action. She was a lucky and very efficient ship, extremely well equipped to repel aircraft. Just how well she was equipped and how it occurred to be so, is a delightful story on Mac’s website. It was, however with great trepidation that they faced that next and final operation, the invasion of Japan.

Shipmates cheered and were most thankful that Harry Truman made the decision to use ‘The bomb’. Following the capitulation of Japan, Shropshire set off from Subic Bay for Tokyo Bay arriving on 31 August. The surrender was signed on September 2 on board US Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Mac. spent the entire 1939-1945 conflict at sea or overseas, in HMA Cruisers Australia Canberra, Adelaide and Shropshire, and in the Royal Navy schools in the UK, carrying out his Sub-Lieutenant’s courses. Shropshire was chosen to take the victory contingent to England and Mac. stayed on in the UK to qualify, in Royal Navy schools as a Torpedo Anti-Submarine Officer, and upon return to Australia he was posted to the destroyer HMAS Warramunga. Some welcome shore time ensued from 1950 to 1953 when he served as Aide-de-Camp to the Governor General, Sir William Mc Kell at Government House Canberra.

In his final posting, Mac. served as Fleet Torpedo Anti-Submarine Officer on the staff of the Flag Officer Commanding the Australian Fleet, in the aircraft-carrier HMAS Vengeance. Vengeance was part of the escort which accompanied the Queen during her visit to Australia in 1954 and members of the crew formed the Queen’s guard of 120 sailors who accompanied her Majesty throughout her visit. Mac, in company with his friend LCDR (later CMDR) Hugh Jarrett and Lieutenant Stacey, were part of the guard and accompanied her Majesty all around Australia. Jarrett and Stacey were the named officers and Mac was the spare. When the Queen was visiting Canberra, Mac told Stacey to be sick and he and Hugh officiated!

In September 1954, after 20 years of service and at age 33, he resigned his commission.

When the USS Canberra visited Melbourne, in the 60’s, Mac arranged for his son, Raymond, to be christened in the ships bell, with the CO of Canberra proudly standing as God father. In 2001, as a result of extensive lobbying by Mac and his friends, the US Navy decided to present the USS Canberra Bell to Australia as an act of friendship and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the ANZUS treaty. It was to take place on 10 September 2001 whilst our Prime Minister, John Howard was visiting Washington DC. Both Mac and his second wife, Denise were invited to attend. Both President Bush and John Howard mentioned Mac in their speeches, and chatted to them both later. Mac and Denise were due to fly back home the next day, however this was cancelled owing to a request from John Howard to go with him to Arlington cemetery the next day in order to pay homage to the only Australian buried there. This request from the PM actually saved the lives of Mac and Denise. The flight they had been booked on was American Airlines Flight 77, the flight that was crashed into the Pentagon without any survivors on 11 September 2001.

Mac and Gladys raised four children in total and had a happy life together, until, sadly Gladys died. Mac found happiness again some years later when he met Denise on a cruise. He died on 27 August 2014, aged 92. His family scattered his ashes from the end of Station Pier, Port Melbourne, in accordance with his wishes.

A dream held by both Mac and his friend Don Boyle for a Naval Memorial at Port Melbourne came to fruition on 27 November 2015, when the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Tim Barrett AO CSC RAN unveiled and dedicated a bronze statue of the lone sailor, ‘Answering the Call’. The statue is situated on the foreshore at Port Melbourne, opposite Dow Street, and is across the road from the former HMAS Lonsdale. The statue commemorates the men and women of all rates and ranks of the RAN who have served from colonial times, through war and peace, and serve today and into the future. He is looking out to sea, towards the entry to Port Phillip Bay at the Rip, no doubt dreaming of adventures to come.

Occasional Paper 92: First Royal Australian Navy Victoria Cross: Ordinary Seaman Edward “Teddy” Sheean.

October 6, 2020

By Dr John K Haken

The Victoria Cross for Australia continues the traditions of the Imperial Victoria Cross as our highest award for bravery. Like several other Commonwealth countries, Australia adopted a local honour system but retained the Victoria Cross as the principal bravery award. 96 Victoria Crosses were awarded to Australians under the Imperial system since the Boer War and subsequently 4 Victoria Crosses for Australia. However, none of these awards were made to naval personnel. A procedure sometimes followed in the past was to approve a lesser Award including the recent posthumous naval award to ordinary seaman Teddy Sheean.

Victoria Crosses Awarded

A total of 1358 Victoria Crosses have been awarded to 1355 recipients to date. Of these 96 have been awarded to Australian servicemen. The following table provides the numbers awarded to Commonwealth naval personnel.

 

Award System Navy Number Awarded

 

Notes
 

 

Victoria Cross, Imperial

 

Royal Navy 117  

 

I.

Royal Australian Navy 0
Royal Canadian Navy 3
Royal New Zealand Navy 0
Victoria Cross for Australia Royal Australian Navy 1 of 5 to RAN personnel II.
Victoria Cross for Canada Royal Canadian Navy 0 III.
Victoria Cross for New Zealand Royal New Zealand Navy 0 of 1 to RNZN personnel IV.

Notes

  1. 68 to ship-based Royal Navy personnel, 49 to other Royal Navy Services. The majority of awards employed the dark blue for the navy which was replaced on 22 May 1920 by the crimson ribbon previously specified for the army. The first Victoria Cross recipient was a sailor.
  2. Victoria Cross for Australia was instituted in 1991
  • Victoria Cross for Canada was instituted in 1993
  1. Victoria Cross for New Zealand was instituted in 1999

The recent much belated posthumous award of the Victoria Cross for Australia[i] [ii]and replacement of the Mention in Despatches[iii] follows years of agitation and several enquiries.

As Sheean’s Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander D. Richards did not provide a recommendation the Honours and Awards Tribunal denied the award of a Victoria Cross because “his actions did not reach the particularly high standards required for recommendation of a Victoria Cross” However Sheeans heroism and sacrifice, has been remembered and commemorated by many others. Eight of these commemorations are now described.

Sheean Walk off Remembrance

The Sheean Memorial consisting of a bass relief sculpture of Sheean in uniform is located in the main street of Latrobe, Northern Tasmania. It is at the entrance to the Sheean Walk of Remembrance. The Sheean Walk is 1.2 kilometres in length and features plaques relevant to conflicts of Word War 2 and later in Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam campaigns in which Australia was involved.  During 2001 a plaque was unveiled following the commissioning of HMAS Sheean. Both the memorial and Walk projects were initiatives of the Latrobe Council financed by public subscription. The memorial was officially opened on 12 December 1992.

Teddy Sheean Memorial Relief at Latrobe Tasmania

Another memorial also in Northern Tasmania was erected by the RAN Corvettes Association of Australia and dedicated on 1 October 1987. The memorial is located in Shropshire Naval Memorial Park, Dial Street Ulverstone.

The Teddy Sheean Memorial Grants Program established by the Tasmanian Government through the Department of Communities in 2014 initially for 3 years provides grants for the maintenance of war memorials. The program was continued in 2018-2019 for another 3 years. The budget being $100,000 per year, distributed in 2 rounds of grants, each of $50,000.

The Royal Australian Navy honoured Teddy Sheean, by naming a Collins Class submarine HMAS Sheean. Sheeancommissioned on 23 February 2001. This was the first occasion a vessel of the RAN was named after a rating. The submarine was launched on 1 May 1999 by Mrs Ivy Hayes, a sister of Teddy Sheean. In addition the Sheean Award was established in the Seamanship School at HMAS Cerberus for the best trainee and the Ordinary Seaman Sheean Award for Gunnery was presented between 1986 and mid 1990’s for the Quartermaster/Boatswains Mate course.

The Australian Navy Cadets named a training unit NTS Sheean at Tewantin Queensland in his honour in 2003. The Veterans Affairs Minister announced in parliament that a full-size statue of Teddy Sheean will be erected in Latrobe. A painting of Teddy Sheean by Dale Marsh in 1978 firing his Oerlikon Gun on the deck of HMAS Armidale hangs in the Australian War Memorial. The bar at the Latrobe RSL Club is named The Sheean Bar as a lasting tribute.

Disquiet about the initial decision not to award a Victoria Cross continued over the decades and the matter was the subject of several enquires. The enquiry of 2013 (Valour Enquiry) recommended that The Victoria Cross for Australia not be awarded, a recommendation accepted by the Government. A second enquiry in 2019 by the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal recommended that the award be made but the Government was not convinced and the award was not supported. As the matter was becoming a political issue, particularly in Tasmania, the Government appointed a third and independent enquiry. The enquiry was chaired by Dr Brendan Nelson, the former Director of the Australian War Memorial. The recommendation of this enquiry[iv] to make the award was immediately accepted and acted upon by the Government of Australia.

The youngest of a large family of 14 children, Edward Sheean[v] was born in northern Tasmania at Lower Barrington near Devonport on 28 December 1923. Soon after the family moved to Latrobe also adjacent to Devonport. Young Teddy worked as a farm labourer before enlisting in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve on 21 April 1941. After training in Hobart and Victoria he was posted to Sydney on 11 May 1942 and destined to form part of the crew of the newly constructed Bathurst Class minesweeper HMAS Armidale.

War service for HMAS Armidale commenced on 29 November 1942 when the vessel sailed for Timor in company of sister ship HMAS Castlemaine to evacuate troops and civilians. The ships escaped attack by Japanese aircraft after missing a rendezvous with the auxiliary patrol boat HMAS Kuru. Subsequently a decision was made that HMAS Kuru and HMAS Armidale would proceed independently to Timor. Unfortunately, enroute to Timor, HMAS Armidale[vi] was torpedoed and bombed by Japanese aircraft.

After the order to abandon ship, Teddy Sheean although seriously wounded assisted in launching life rafts before manning his gun thus protecting the survivors. One aircraft was hit before Teddy Sheean sank with the ship on 1 December 1942 still firing. Of the 149 on board HMAS Armidale, there were 49 survivors.

 

 

[i] 1.            Joint Media Release Prime Minister, Minister for Defence 10 August 2012

[ii] 2.           R. Harris Sydney Morning Herald 12 August 2012

[iii] 3.          London Gazette Supplement No 36072 2947 29 June 1943

 

[iv] 4.           Historic Victoria Cross Report of Expert Panel 10 August 2012

[v] 5.            N. Watson Edward Sheean Australian Dictionary of Biography Volume 16 Australian National University Australia 2002

[vi] 6.           Kevin Smith, The sinking of HMAS Armidale on 1 December 1942, Occasional Paper No 9, Naval Historical Society of Australia published 1 July 2017

Occasional Paper 65: Sailors, Soldiers and Two Wars. From HMCS protector to South Africa

October 30, 2019

October 2019

The following story was written by Dr Anthony Stimson BA Hons B Ed PhD, who has extensively researched the history of the Boer War including the South Australian men that volunteered.  He is a frequent visitor to Australian battlefields in South Africa and President of the South Australian Boer War Association, an association for descendants of men who served and anyone interested in the war in South Africa.

Dr Stimson was a co-founder and principal of Eynesbury Senior College, Institutes of Business and Technology and international English language academies in Adelaide until stepping down in 2007.  He then consulted to schools and chaired the academic boards of tertiary education providers, but is now preoccupied with two books on South Australia’s involvement in the Anglo-Boer War.

This paper was first published in “The SA Boer War Association” Journal – “Dispatches” Issue 14 in June 2018.

For a short time in 1900 South Australians were involved in wars on different sides of the globe.  Remarkably, six men served in both wars and both services, navy and army.  Five seamen enlisted in the 5th South Australian Imperial Bushmen (5SAIB) for service in South Africa two days after they returned from duty on the China Station on the gunboat HMCS Her Majesty’s Colonial Ship Protector.  The sixth enlisted a few weeks later in 6SAIB.

When the anti-European protest known as the Boxer Rebellion erupted in Beijing the South Australian Government promptly offered the gunboat for service.  A heavily armed vessel of 920 tons, she had been ordered after the Russian war scare of 1882 and had served uneventfully in South Australian waters since 1884. Her shallow draught persuaded the Admiralty that she might be useful for operations in coastal waters and the offer was gratefully accepted.

There were two sticking points.  The Admiralty wanted the gunboat to be commanded and crewed by Royal Navy personnel as she was to be commissioned as a ship of the RN for the term of her deployment.  The Holder Government conceded on command; Capt. James Clare stepped down and Capt. James Creswell RN took command.  But Holder would not bend on crewing. When Protector sailed on 6 August 1900 she was crewed by South Australian Naval Reservists.

Her service was uneventful and she returned to Port Adelaide on 6 January 1901. Among the reservists on board were Harry Beare, Jacob Davis, Louis Deers,  Charles De Longville, George Luckett and Thomas Malloney. We will never know why each man immediately put his hand up to serve in South Africa but it probably came down to adventure and the frustration of not having seen real action on the Protector’s deployment.

Harry Beare was the youngest of the six. A keen member of the Naval Reserve’s fife and drum band, and the son of a senior constable, he sailed as Boy 1st Class, presumably after badgering his parents for permission.  He returned home an Able Bodied Seaman.  While the others enlisted in 5SAIB two days after docking at Port Adelaide he did not. Most likely it took him a few weeks to persuade his parents to let him enlist.  At any rate, he was proudly wearing his naval uniform when he enlisted in 6SAIB in March.  He came from a family of crack shots.

If his parents had forebodings they were well placed.  As far as we know, Harry Beare is the youngest South Australian to die in South Africa.  He was 16 when he died of enteric fever in Kroonstad in April 1902, only weeks before the end of the war. He is buried somewhere in the sprawling ruins of the Kroonstad cemetery.

Jacob Davis, 24, a baker, had the unusual distinction of being profiled in The Jewish Herald, London, as the only Australian Jew serving in the Royal Navy.  The shortest man in 5SAIB at 5’3”, he had two main claims to fame in South Africa: he had a lucky escape when accidentally shot in the thumb by one of his mates (the bullet went on to kill Tpr. Bruce May); and he stole Col. De Lisle’s horse, dying its coat overnight with coffee and Condy’s crystals, and docking its tail. To no avail – De Lisle’s servant recognized the horse. It was an open secret that Davis was responsible but there was no evidence to contradict his claim that the horse had strayed into the Australian lines. He was let off.  ‘Give an Australian half an hour with a horse and tails are changed, manes are hogged and brands disappear as if by magic,’ a Tasmanian said wryly.

Baker, horsebreaker and amateur boxer, Davis lived life on the wild side.  ‘He is the most reckless man God ever put breath into,’ a witness told a coronial inquest into the death of a mutual friend in 1899.  The coroner was taken aback. After the war there were convictions for breaching the peace and – in 1927 – brandishing a revolver in Grote Street and threatening to kill one Frank White.  Davis claimed the gun was simply a souvenir he had brought back from South Africa.  He said he carried it for protection against rival West End pushes or gangs. It is not inconceivable. Born in Grote Street, he lived his life in the West End and when he died in 1939, bankrupt, was living on West Terrace. It was a tough area.

To the end, Jacob Davis was proud of his naval and military service, and served briefly on the committee of the South African War Veterans Association. Two years before his death he could still fit comfortably into both wartime uniforms.  He had thrown nothing out – bandolier, bayonet, medicine kit, brush were still there.  There was even a pigtail from China.  Asked how he came by it, Davis was unusually coy: ‘I usually get what I want.’

Louis Deers enlisted in 5SAIB with Davis and if anything his background was even tougher. He was six years old when in 1882 his widowed mother surrendered him to the care of the Destitute Board.  He was admitted to the Industrial School at Magill and became a labourer. But his life took a turn for the better, perhaps because of his time in the Naval Reserve.  When Capt. Clare, Naval Commandant, farewelled Deers, Luckett, Malloney and De Longville on the eve of their departure for South Africa, he said they had been ‘the flower of the crew of the Protector on her visit to China.’

Deers met a tragic end but not from a Boer bullet or fever.  A certificated diver employed by the Fremantle Harbors Authority, he was diving to retrieve an anchor in March 1910 when he suffocated.  An inquest found that his diving gear was operating perfectly and that no blame attached to anyone.  The most likely explanation was that he had stumbled over a rock, his feet ending above his head. Deers left a wife and three children.

Charles De Longville was lucky to survive South Africa.  The 22 year old carpenter from Port MacDonnell served as an Able Bodied Seaman on the Protector but on 11 October 1901, in close fighting outside Harrismith, took two bullets in the leg and one in the arm. Invalided home, he was hailed as a hero and presented with an inscribed medal by friends ‘as a token of their admiration of his pluck.’  The family still has the medal. He was granted a lifetime pension of 1/6 per day.

At 30, George Luckett was the oldest of the six men.  Birmingham born and a mariner, he had been awarded the Bronze Medal of the Royal Humane Society for saving his captain’s life when the steamer You Yangs was wrecked off Cape Willoughby in 1890. Luckett served as an Able Bodied Seaman on the Protector and bizarrely found himself a sergeant in 5SAIB only days after the gunboat docked at the Port in January.  He was promoted to sergeant-major in South Africa.  In 1914, 43 years old, he went off to another war.

Thomas Malloney, 28, had served in the Naval Reserve for 12 years when he volunteered for the 3rd South Australian Bushmen in January 1900.  He claimed to be a good horseman and a good shot but did not make the final cut. In August he sailed for China as a petty officer but did make it to South Africa with 5SAIB on return.  His service there seems to have been uneventful.

Further Reading:

Australia and the Boer War, 1899–1902, AWM, available at https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/atwar/boer/

The Australian Boer War Memorial, Anzac Parade, Canberra, NHSA image

The Admiral, the Ironmaster, the Timber Merchant and the Property Developer

September 29, 2019

This is a story of three men drawn together by the magnetism of a beautiful young artists’ model. Emma Hart, a country girl very much in the image of a latter day Eliza Doolittle portrayed in the musical My Fair Lady, became the mistress of the Honourable Charles Greville, a young rake who amused himself educating her. Emma then became the wife of his much older uncle Sir William Hamilton and ultimately the mistress of Admiral Lord Nelson.

Tria juncta in uno

The Treaty of Amiens had brought temporary peace to the traditional enemies Britain and France. Nelson, weary after his 1801 defeat of the Danes at Copenhagen, sought permission to haul down his flag and come ashore for some badly needed rest after many years at sea. Earlier in the year he had made the final break with his long suffering wife Frances, and his mistress Emma had enriched their lives with the birth of a daughter, Horatia. The Admiral, now well endowed with honours, looked forward to the peaceful pleasures of a county squire at Merton Place, the house he had recently acquired outside London, close to the village of Wimbledon. Here lived the ménage a trois of Lord Horiato Nelson, Lady Emma and Sir William Hamilton, famously known as the ‘Tria Juncta in Uno’ or ‘Three United in One,’ a whimsical reference to the motto of the Order of the Bath, worn by both male members of the trio.

By the spring of 1802 the aging Sir William, in his 73rd year, was complaining of Merton’s lifestyle with his young wife’s raucous parties, the constant stream of visitors and, of course, the expense, which Sir William shared with Lord Nelson. On the death of his first wife, a wealthy Pembrokeshire heiress, Sir William had inherited extensive estates in Wales. These were managed by his nephew and Emma’s former lover, the Hon. Charles Greville1, a younger son of the Earl of Warwick. As Sir William’s heir, Greville was instrumental in the proposed development of their lands at Milford Haven in ‘A Vision of Greatness’ as a naval dockyard to rival Plymouth. The persona of Nelson influencing the project could be a powerful factor affecting Government investment.

The Grand Tour

While Nelson had a personal dislike for young Greville for his alleged ill-treatment of Emma, he was persuaded to take a Grand Tour of the countryside which included Sir William’s Welsh estates. In the summer months it was not unusual for those with means to avoid the odours of big cities and escape to the country but the considerablejourney was not entirely for pleasure. The Admiral was also more than able to earn his keep on another far more important issue concerning the state of the fleet.

Route of Grand Tour undertaken by Admiral Lord Nelson and party in 1802

On Wednesday 21 July 1802 two heavily laden carriages departed Merton bound across the centre of England to the far west coast of Wales. They contained Sir William and Lady Hamilton, Lord Nelson, his brother, the Reverend William Nelson, Mrs Nelson and their son Horatio who was on holiday from school at Eton. Sir William’s manservant and Lord Nelson’s valet also accompanied the party and although not stated, it would be unusual for Lady Hamilton to have travelled without a maid. We are told of the need for endless changes of clothes as both Horiato and Emma were now the country’s greatest celebrities and ‘Dedicated Followers of Fashion’. Two coachmen were also required for the two pairs of four horses which required frequent changes throughout the journey. During the stage from Oxford to Gloucester the party was joined by the Admiral’s sister Kitty and her husband George Matcham.

The first stop was at Oxford where Lord Nelson was granted the freedom of the ‘city of dreaming spires’, and both he and his brother were awarded honorary doctorates by the famous university. On Saturday 24 July they arrived unheralded at nearby Blenheim Palace and, although his standard was flying, the Duke of Marlborough was pointedly not at home – more likely, His Grace felt unable to receive Lady Hamilton! After this setback spirits were again raised by the excellence of their reception with cheering crowds at all other venues during their sojourn.

After stopping at the cathedral city of Gloucester the party made for Ross-on-Wye. The course of the picturesque River Wye is heavily timbered on its eastern bank which abuts the Forest of Dean. The forest provided timber for ship-building and other industrial purposes. Here Nelson surveyed the deplorable state of the forest, much as Admiral John Byng2 had done when he had passed this way some years earlier. The Forest of Dean had a long history of iron making which in earlier times required a ready supply of timber for the production of charcoal to fuel furnaces. From the 1750s coking coal, which was in abundance in the nearby Welsh valleys, supplemented charcoal as furnace fuel.

From Ross-on-Wye the party preceded by boat down river to the ancient border market town of Monmouth and birthplace of Henry Tudor, Prince of Wales, later immortalised as Shakespeare’s Henry V. While well received, their stay was short having next to take the mountain road to Brecon and then to Merthyr Tydfil. At this time, in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, Merthyr had grown rapidly from a mere village to the largest town in Wales with a population in excess of 10,000, mostly employed by the iron works. Here they were entertained by Richard Crawshay, a new style of self-made industrialist with his Cyfarthfa Iron Works, by far the largest in the kingdom and possibly the world. Nelson wanted to see the mighty furnaces, which lit the night sky, and from whence came iron milled into cannons for HMS Victory and other great ships.

By 30 July the party had reached the county town of Carmarthen, staying at the Ivy Bush Hotel where the mayor and corporation held a civic reception in their honour. Later the visitors were entertained by a play performed at the local theatre.

Promoting Dockyard Development

The pace slackened as they reached Milford Haven in time for the celebrations on the first of August, commemorating the fourth anniversary of Nelson’s great triumph at the Battle of the Nile. In promoting the new town of Milford Haven the tourists were entertained at the ‘New Inn’, an establishment overlooking the waterway, which provided accommodation for passengers arriving and departing from the regular Irish packet, with a linking coach to major centres. The Admiral was introduced to all the local notables and spoke with enthusiasm at on the potential of this site as a future major dockyard, comparing Milford Haven with Trincomalee (Sri Lanka) as ‘the finest harbours he had ever seen3’.

‘Dedicated Followers of Fashion’ – from lyrics by the Kinks 1966.
Admiral Lord Nelson from a portrait by Leonard Guzzardi, and Emma Hamilton at the height of her beauty from a portrait by George Romney.

The Hamilton estates bordered the southern shores of Milford Haven, an extensive sheltered deep waterway leading to the Channel approaches. In 1757 the Admiralty conducted a survey of the Haven and recommended construction of a naval dockyard. This gave the green light to Sir William and his nephew to begin building a shipyard which they leased to Joseph Jacob. In an unusual arrangement the Admiralty contracted Jacob to build a frigate and later a 74 gun ship-of-the-line. When Jacob became insolvent in 1797 the Admiralty took over the lease and a total of seven naval ships was built here.

Charles Greville had also been busy and in 1792 persuaded seven leading American Quaker whaling families including those of Roth, Floger and Starbuck to relocate from Nantucket to Milford. These important families from the centre of the American whaling industry relocated to Wales to avoid punitive taxes placed on imported American goods following the War of Independence. Britain was at this time a major market for whale oil, mainly used to fuel street lighting in new urban and industrial areas.

Despite Nelson’s fulsome praise, negotiations between the Hamilton/Greville estates and the Admiralty dragged on over a number of years. In the end the Admiralty walked away and established a rival facility on land it had purchased on the opposite shore of the Haven. The new Royal Dockyard at Pembroke Dock launched its first ships in 1816. The ‘New Inn’ was renamed the ‘Lord Nelson Hotel’ and this still exists but little else eventuated to the benefit of the Hamilton/Greville dream of great developments and further riches.

They were also entertained by another great local landowner, Lord Cawdor at Stackpole Court. His lordship would have been able to regale Nelson with tales from the 1797 invasion of nearby Fishguard by a French force of 800 men seeking to inflame revolution amongst the Welsh. They were repulsed by the local militia, supported by 150 sailors with nine cannon taken from their ships, all under the command of Lord Cawdor.

On 7 August the return journey started, this time taking the easier coastal route and calling at picturesque Tenby, the bustling seaport of Swansea with its population of 7,000 making it the Principality’s second town. Swansea was then the copper capital of the world. All Nelson’s ships were copper sheathed to prevent teredo worms from boring into the wooden hulls. This also increased ship speed and manoeuvrability. During his visit he thanked the copper workers of Swansea for their skill. It was then onwards to Cardiff, the present day capital city of Wales, then a small town of 2,000 inhabitants. After crossing the muddy banks of the River Usk at Newport on 17 August they arrived at the old border town of Chepstow, guarded by its great Norman castle.

The Timber Industry

By the early 1800s first-rate ships such as Victory and Dreadnought which were refitting could not be completed for lack of specialist ‘compass oak4’ timber. This led the Admiralty to seek alternative sources of supplies from as far afield as New South Wales and New Zealand. Nelson visited the major dockyards where the emerging crisis was brought to his attention and he became concerned at the parlous state of the fleet through a great reduction in the availability of first rate ships5. It is not known if Nelson brought this matter up directly with the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord St Vincent,as at this time their relationship was strained, owing to a disagreement over prize money, which was being litigated in the High Court.

Naval Temple Monmouth – Author

 

Because of limited supplies, economy measures implemented by St Vincent, and strict inspection procedures of the Admiralty Timber Masters, stocks of home grown timber were nearing exhaustion. A cartel of major timber merchants, led by Bowsher, Hodges and Watkins of Chepstow, had written to the Admiralty on 20 January 1802 seeking improved commercial terms. Although the timber merchants were offered higher prices they failed to respond. At issue was the rigid method of receiving timber at the Dockyards. The merchants would rather sell into another market at a lower price than have every piece of timber cut and bored in search of defects and often rejected, resulting in considerable waste. While the reforming zeal of St Vincent was correct in principle, insisting that contract conditions and specifications were met, the uncompromising position led to a boycott by the cartel.

At Chepstow the Nelson party, heralded by a cheering crowd, stayed at the Three Cranes Inn, not far from the residence of John Bowsher. Bowsher, also a major in the local militia, met Nelson at the Three Cranes on the evening of 17 August. The conversation between the Admiral and merchant would have been interesting and while we have no knowledge of this they must have had a meaningful rapport and quickly came to an understanding that was acceptable to both parties. The outcome was certain with the immediate release of stocks. Less than a week later on 22 August a fleet of timber trows (barges) with attendant vessels sailed from Chepstow with cargoes of the best oak timber the Forest of Dean could supply. The voyage resulted in 781 loads of ‘compass oak’ being sent to Plymouth Dockyard and 490 loads to Portsmouth Dockyard. The cargoes were gratefully received and payment was promptly made. The commercial impasse had been broken and the dockyards could once again carry out building and repair work.

Monmouth Again

On 18 August 1802 the small market town of Monmouth was again aroused by the returning tourists. Here the party was feted by the local gentry at a beauty spot high above the town which has some of the finest vistas in Britain. Mysteriously this area known as ‘The Kymin’, situated many miles from the sea, has a naval temple devoted to Britain’s finest fighting admirals. The temple was dedicated by the Duchess of Beaufort, a daughter of Admiral (Old Dreadnought) Boscawen. Nelson was much impressed that such a tribute should be made by a small Welsh town which had no real seafaring connections, noting that this was the only monument (at that time) of its kind erected to the Royal Navy within the Kingdom. Here again Nelson continued showing interest and asking questions about the state of the nearby forest.

The evening entertainment was at the Beaufort Arms where they feasted on venison supplied by the estate of His Grace the Duke of Beaufort. The ‘Hero of the Nile’ gave a patriotic speech and in festive mood Emma led the singing of popular airs. A descriptive account of the visit was recorded by Charles Heath, a local bookseller, who gained permission from the Admiral to publish his speech.

Homeward Bound

Continuing on their homeward journey, the company was guests of Thomas Westfalings at Rudhall Manor, Ross-on-Wye from 20 to 22 August. From here Nelson completed an eleven page draft report of his findings on the poor state of the forest. The document was written with his left hand and only contains one full stop but there is a plentiful supply of commas. A grammatical fair copy was produced for the Admiralty by a secretary after return to Merton. In part this report reads: I am informed if in a state of high cultivation oak would produce 9,200 loads of timber fit for ships of the line every year. This is further qualified, stating: Nothing in it can grow self-sown, for the deer bark all the young trees. Vast droves of hogs are allowed to go into the woods in the autumn, and if any fortunate acorns escapes their search, and take root, then flocks of sheep are allows into the forest, and they bite off the tender shoot.’ He also speaks of miners having the right to dig for coal and many more problems leading to mismanagement of this valuable timber resource. It appears the Admiral’s report was well received and was instrumental to the Admiralty seeking improvements in later forestry management regimes.

During the final leg of the journey visits were made to two more cathedral cities, Hereford and Worcester, the former known for cider and perry, of which supplies were purchased to be loaded on the by now groaning carriages and at the latter, known for its fine chinaware, settings were commissioned with the Nelson coat of arms. At Birmingham more visits were made to new manufacturing centres. A further call was made to Warwick Castle where Sir William’s sister Elizabeth was Countess. The final stop was at Althorp, home of Earl Spencer, a former First Lord of the Admiralty who helped guide Nelson’s early career. Of more recent times this was also the home of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. The party returned to Merton Place on Sunday 5 September 1802 after a journey of 45 days. Nelson’s valet must have been a promising accountant as we have precise details of the cost of the Grand Tour at £481/3/10; using wage indexing, about $AU1,000,000 at today’s (2018) prices, with the costs shared equally between the Admiral and Sir William.

Sir William Hamilton died in April 1803 and his body was to make one more lonely journey back to Pembrokeshire to be buried next to his first wife Katherine. The following month war again broke out with France. Nelson was once again called upon, this time as Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, a position he would hold until his untimely death a little more than two years later.

Finale

Through copious volumes we know much of the life of this brilliant fighting admiral. His health has been minutely examined, we know possibly far too much of an unfortunate family life, and even details of his financial difficulties. This story however shows another important dimension to this most complex individual. Here he again turns a blind eye to bureaucracy and seeks opportunities to resolve vital issues outside his remit that seriously impacted future operational capabilities. If Nelson had not been so committed during a seemingly pleasant sojourn to the countryside the fleet would have not been in a fit state to win him his ultimate great victory at Trafalgar.

As for the ‘Vision of Greatness’ at Milford Haven, this did partially come to fruition many years later thanks to Gamal Nasser’s 1956 nationalisation of the Suez Canal which curtailed Britain’s vital Middle East oil supplies requiring them to be shipped over much greater distances around the Cape of Good Hope. The economics called for super tankers and deep-water harbours for discharge. This resulted in Milford Haven for a number of years becoming, in tonnage, Britain’s largest port linked to adjacent oil refineries.

Notes:

1 The Hon. Charles Francis Greville was Member of Parliament for Warwick and held a number of government appointments. He was well educated and had a keen interest in antiquities and horticulture. In the latter endeavour he was a close friend of Sir Joseph Banks and the Australian plant genus Grevillea is named in his honour.

2  Admiral John Byng was tried by court-martial for failing to relieve a garrison being besieged by a French Fleet during the Battle of Minorca. He was sentenced to death and shot by a firing squad in HMS Monarch on 14 March 1757.

3  Nelson visited Ceylon in 1770 when serving as a Midshipman in HMS Seahorse – he referred to Trincomalee as ‘the finest harbour in the world’.

4  Compass timbers (Smyth 1867) – ‘such as were curved, crooked, or arched for ship building’.

5  It has been estimated that the construction of a three deck ship-of-the-line called for 3,500 fully grown oak trees requiring 900 acres of forest. It took about 100 years for a tree to reach maturity.

 

Bibliography

Baker, Mike, Lord Nelson and John Bowsher, South West Soundings No 46, October 1991, The South West Maritime History Society. – see also Mariners Mirror Vol 86, Issue 3, 2000.

Downer, Martyn, Nelson’s Purse, London: Bantam Press, 2004.

Gill, Edward, Nelson and the Hamiltons on Tour, Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1987.

Hando, Fred J., Journeys in Gwent, Newport, Mon: R.H. Johns Limited, 1951.

Heath, Charles, Proud Days for Monmouth, Monmouth: Charles Heath, 1802 – facsimile edition with additions published by the Nelson Museum & Local History Centre, Monmouth, 2002.

Pool, Bernard, Naval Board Contracts 1660-1832, London: Longmans, 1966.

Nicholls, H.G., The Forest of Dean, An Historical & Descriptive Account, etc., London: John Murray, 1858.

McKay, K.D., A Vision of Greatness – the History of Milford 1790-1990. Haverfordwest, Wales: Brace Harvatt Associates, 1989.

Mercier, Hugo, The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievements of Horatio Nelson, London: Penguin, 2006.

Smyth, Admiral W. H., Sailor’s Word Book – An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, London: Blackie & Sons, 1867.

 

An Essay on the Royal Australian Navy’s Involvement in Support of the Compromised SRD Operations in Timor 1943-1945

September 29, 2019

By Sub Lieutenant Nicholas Seton RAN

…I feel so sad. What a waste – what a stuff up. It makes one feel a little bitter about the poor intelligence andcommunications surrounding each operation.  Frank Nolan, 10 May 1998 (Evans 2002 p.197)

With this essay SBLT Nicholas Seton, RAN won the Naval Historical Society History Prize awarded at the recent NEOC graduation ceremony. Nicholas was born and raised in country South Australia in the small town of Morgan. He lived here until commencing academic studies at Flinders University in 2014 and subsequently the Australian Maritime College at Launceston, Tasmania in 2016. From there he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering, Naval Architecture (Hons).

On joining the RAN Nicholas entered the New Entry Officers Course at HMAS Creswell which he completed in June 2019 and has since been posted to HMAS Cerberus for an Engineering Officers Application Course. Following this he expects to be posted to sea as an Assistant Marine Engineering Officer.

Background

Throughout the Second World War the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) operated a series of little warships, notably theFairmile B type, in operations above Australia’s northern shoreline deep into enemy territory. One of the most noteworthyand contentious of the operations conducted by these ships was the support and continued resupply of the captured Lagarto Party in Japanese occupied Timor, under direction from the Australian Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD).

Aim

This paper will illustrate how the SRD operations repeatedly placed the crews of these vessels in danger unnecessarilydue to their inability to realise the compromised state of the Lagarto Party. We also examine the Australian naval Fairmile B and operations in Timor from February 1943 through to April 1945, encompassing Operation Mosquito, the failure of the Lagarto party, Operation Bulldozer, Operation Adder, and the discovery of the compromised states of the parties.

The Vessels

At only 112 ft the Fairmile B was one of the smallest warships operated by the RAN during the Second World War.Although small, they had significant capabilities with both anti-air and anti-submarine weaponry, and soon became avaluable asset in the RAN’s arsenal. Much of the work conducted by the Australian Fairmiles, in addition to the regular convoy escort and anti-submarine duties, were based out of tropical areas of northern Australia and throughout NewGuinea and Timor.

Fairmile Motor Launches (MLs) 814 and 815 were both operating out of the Port of Darwin at the time of theoperations, conducting rudimentary escort and anti-submarine duties within the harbour. At the time, Darwin was astrategic operational outpost for military forces operating throughout the occupied island nations to the north of Australia(Evans 2002 p.130).

These vessels, however, although the best designed vessel in the RAN’s arsenal, were not particularly well suited to the high humidity and open ocean transits which they were forced to endure during operations throughout Australia’snorthern waters. Originally designed for operations in the Northern Hemisphere, undertaking short transits around the UKand across to occupied France, they were never designed for the work which they were used for by the RAN. High humidity caused these wooden vessels to begin rotting, and with limited airflow through the internal spaces, they werenotoriously hot, damp, and uncomfortable.

The Lagarto Party

Operation Lagarto began on 10 February 1943 with the insertion, via submarine, of a three-man team led by Portuguesepilot, Lieutenant Pires, a civilian radio operator, Patricio Luz, and two Portuguese NCOs. The purpose of the operation was to act as informants on the Japanese operations and report back to SRD headquarters in Melbourne, as well as facilitate the evacuation of approximately 70 refugees caught up in the conflict (Central Intelligence Agency 2008). In order to undertake such a bold evacuation from well within enemy lines the only viable option was by sea, using smallshallow draught vessels that would be capable of getting close to shore and escaping at high speed.

The Evacuation – Operation Mosquito

Operation Mosquito was the code name for the first of two resupply and evacuation missions undertaken by RANFairmiles in support of the Lagarto operation. Australian MLs 814 and 815 were chosen and modified for the trip, which included the construction of a large temporary stern ramp for the purpose of the launch of a canvas and wood landing craft which was to be used to transport personnel and supplies from ship to shore. Along with the operation brief, ML 814 was supplied with a fake Japanese naval ensign for use when operating close to the Timor coast. It was upon the mutualagreement of the officers onboard ML 814 that they would morally refuse to fly such a flag on an Australian ship and thus they stowed the ensign in the potato locker for the remainder of the trip. That ensign is now on display at the AustralianWar Memorial in Canberra (Hordern 1994).

An Australian sergeant of the 2/4 Australian Independent Company, A.J. Ellwood, was to be inserted into the LagartoParty to act as a communications link back to the Melbourne headquarters of SRD. Ellwood joined the ship’s company on1 August 1943 along with two other SRD members and a specialist navigator. All members other than Ellwood would return to Australia with the Fairmiles. Both MLs 814 and 815 departed Darwin bound for Melville Island in order to refuel the vessels prior to the long transit up to Timor. The amphibious operation was a success, with the evacuation of anumber of refugees and the safe insertion of Ellwood and the required rations. As the vessels cruised away at top speed there was a feeling of a job well done (Evans 2002 p.142-149).

This extended transit from Melville Island to the Timor coast, an approximate distance of 1200 km, is well beyond what was originally designed for such a small vessel. In order to achieve the transit distance, and a fast evacuation, all the depth charge armament was removed from the vessels, thus leaving them vulnerable in the event of enemy submarinecontact. This operation can be seen as a success; although the vessels and their crews were pushed beyond normal operational conditions, the outcome was exactly what was asked of them. Operation Mosquito was seen as necessary in order to continue operational effectiveness in occupied Timor, even though it was highlighted in January 1943 that recapture of Timor had been ruled out (Evans 2002 p.195).

In order to escape enemy territory as quickly as possible these vessels were to leave their operation location at their maximum speed. Due to the remote location that they were operating in, however, they were required to conserve fuel on the journey to their rendezvous point. The brief for all supply operations was for a slow, 10 knots transit to the rendezvous point where they were to be shadowed by RAAF Beaufighters (Hordern 1994). This slow transit not only endangered these small boats but also the aircraft protecting them from above. When transiting across the open ocean attack from the air by prowling Japanese patrol aircraft was increasingly likely, thus revealing their position and potentially their mission.

Failure of the Lagarto Party

It was just under two months later, following the successful evacuation and resupply, that the Lagarto party, along with Ellwood, was surrounded and captured by the Japanese. When captured, Ellwood was unable to burn his ciphers and papers and therefore buried them in the sand nearby. This inability to burn classified material, which would have been the protocol in that situation, evidently led to the compromised position held by the SRD. Following the discovery of theburied papers and cipher, the Japanese tortured Ellwood until he unwillingly began to operate his cipher, re-establishingcontact with the SRD. With the SRD unaware that the entire Lagarto Party had fallen into enemy hands, the SRD continued to undertake aerial resupply drops and share intelligence. Consequently, Ellwood was forced to update the SRD with party movements and operations, this time faked by the Japanese (Central Intelligence Agency 2008).

Insertion of Cobra – Operation Bulldozer

This is the point in the operations at which the ignorance of the SRD can be highlighted. Followingon from the re-establishment of communications between the compromised Lagarto Party and the SRD in Melbourne, it was the SRD’sdecision to make a second insertion of intelligence gathering operatives into occupied Timor to assist the Lagarto party in their operation. This new party, named Cobra, was to be put ashore using a similar method to the evacuation of civilians during Operation Mosquito, this time using only ML 814. Details of this operation were passed on to the compromisedLagarto party prior to the amphibious landing. As a result, the party was met on the beach by a group of Japanese sympathizers posing as local villagers. Shortly afterwards, the entire Cobra party had been captured by the Japanese, withmany members of the party ending up in prisoner of war camps on the island where they were beaten and tortured, as wellas the capture and compromised use of their radio communications with Melbourne. This decision by the SRD to not onlyland the Cobra party, but to inform the Lagarto party of their intentions ultimately led to the capture and torture of thesemen (Evans 2002 p.159-162).

The biggest wrongdoing by the SRD in this whole affair that can be highlighted was the use of authenticators, which when included in a signal are words indicating that the sender has not being compromised. The first Lagarto party had not been issued such an authenticator when originally landing in Timor. Worse still, the Cobra party, once captured andforced to establish communication lines with Melbourne in a similar way to the Lagarto party, began to omit theirauthenticator from their transmissions, as per protocol if captured. This should have been an obvious sign to the SRD that something had gone very wrong in Timor. The SRD, however, oblivious to the omission of the authenticator, continued to communicate with the Cobra party, reminding them in one transmission to start use their authenticator. This inexcusableerror ultimately led to the continuation of supply and insertion missions across Timor.

Operation Adder

This negligence in regard to the authenticator ultimately cost the lives of the entire third party to be landed on Timoreseshores, the Adder Party. They too were landed using another RAN Fairmile, ML 429, which took four attempts to successfully land the party, finally landing on 21 August 1943 (Evans 2002 p.169-171). This operation involved placing the Fairmile crews in danger behind enemy lines a total of four times, only to have the embarked SRD captured and killed within hours of landing, indicating a clear waste of personnel and resources.

Discovery of Compromise

It was not until April 1945, 19 months after the capture of the Lagarto party, that intelligence reports began to realise that both the Lagarto and Cobra parties were in fact in enemy hands. This came after the realisation that the documents, air dropped to both teams, had found their way into the hands of the Japanese. The gravity of the situation was immediately realised and all future planned support operations for the Lagarto or Cobra parties was immediately ceased. The war ended only five months later (Central Intelligence Agency 2008).

Conclusion

These resupply operations, although successful in their own right, can be seen as failures considering the lack of impactand cost of human life, in both death and detention. The success of the naval operations can thus clear the RAN of anyinvolvement in the failed operations which occurred ashore, although the operations can be seen as an unnecessary risk to the lives of all the crew aboard the multiple vessels and aircraft involved in the operations. These missions pushed theoperational limits of both the vessels and crews, given that the vessels were not designed to undertake long rangemissions across open ocean. The original design for the Fairmile was for inshore and littoral operations with occasional sprints across the English Channel, and were not designed for open ocean multi-day transits. Although all small boats and aircraft involved in these resupply operations were not compromised, the risk taken by sending these vessels on theseoperations was immense. It can be argued that the potential risk which the crews of these vessels, for all operations following the initial evacuation, were exposed to during their voyage was unnecessary due entirely to the neglect of theSRD to detect the comprised state of the Lagarto Party.

Bibliography

Evans, P. (2002). Fairmile Ships of the Royal Australian Navy, Loftus, Australia: Australian Military History Publications.

Central Intelligence Agency. (2008). A Small South Pole. Retrieved 6 April 2019, from https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent- csi/vol4no4/html/v04i4a08p_0001.htm.

Hordern, M. C. (1994). Contact! HMAS Rushcutter and Australia’s Submarine Hunters. Australia, The Anti-Submarine Officers’ Association. Royal Australian Navy. ‘ML 814.’ Retrieved March 2019, from http://www.navy.gov.au/ml-814

 

By Editor

Knowing two senior members of our community who served in ML 814 retain clear memories of their war service, the opportunity was taken to ask if they would care to comment upon the essay. The following response was received from the (former) SBLT John Dowey, RANVR.

RAN Involvement in SRD Operation Timor 1943-1945

Dear Editor,

I am a long-time friend of Marsden Hordern – in war and peace. We served together on ML 814 in Darwin in 1943 – with the passage of time Marsden is almost certainly my oldest colleague. We both have a close link with those dangerous and tragic SRD operations in Timor; Marsden with ‘Mosquito’ and me with the somewhat ludicrously named ‘Bulldozer’.

Marsden has sent me a copy of your email 7 June and SBLT Seton’s essay. I was delighted to see a younger generation’s interest in the history of those traumatic years, which was kept secret for so long. It helps to deepen society’s understanding of those perilous times and appreciation of the brave men, who risked – and, in some cases gave – their lives in compromised and fruitless intelligence operations. Seton is a talented writer.

I still retain strong memories of the time I spent on that enemy beach that night quite oblivious of the situation that would emerge later for the ‘Cobra’ party. I was a raw 20-year-old sub-lieutenant with no training or experience in such an operation. It was only after the landing party returned to the ship, the landing craft hoisted aboard and ML 814 was speeding away from Timor that the reality of that night set in for me. I am sure there was a great collective sigh of relief by all aboard 814.

John Dowey, Jim Ellwood and Marsden Hordern. Dowey Collection c 2010.

In the ensuing years I have become a very good friend of Jim Ellwood. I have a deep appreciation of his bravery in volunteering to return to Timor as the sole signaller to the Portuguese Commandos and how he was let down by his command back in Australia. I know he has made his peace with present Japanese society after his trip there in 2011 (when he accompanied another POW, Sister Johnston of Rabaul Hospital). Whether he could ever forgive his SRD senior officers is arguable. I enclose a copy of my message to him last January on the 75th anniversary of that fateful night. I did not meet up with him.

I am not a great believer in oral history written many years later, unless supported by documentary evidence of about the time of the event. I try to remember Mark Twain’s aphorism – ‘I find that the further back I go, the better I remember things whether they happened or not’. Unfortunately, Fairmile ship logs do not appear to have been lodged in the Australian Archives to any extent – the ML 814 book(s) seem to be an exception. I accessed the log for Jan/Feb 1944 in 1998 and still have some handwritten notes. Of course, some oral history is more compelling than others. The narrative of the tragic ‘Adder’ operation written by my Darwin colleague and peacetime workmate, Trevor Vear, for Contact! The History of HMAS Rushcutter, provides a detailed account (page 433) of how ML 429 was nearly lost on a Timor reef that night. I also discussed ‘Adder’ with Harry Wadds, ML 429’s CO during our meeting.

I enclose copies of –

ML 814’s Sailing Orders for Operation ‘Bulldozer’

Report on Operation ‘Bulldozer’ 27-31 January 1944 (I wrote the Report for the CO LEUT R. Lewis, who added the final para.).

Additionally, in case you may find it of interest, I enclose a copy of an article Jim Ellwood sent me last year. It is an article on the SRD ‘failings’ (1943-45) by a W.A. University Law Lecturer and Military Law Research Fellow, Narelle Morris. It underlines for me the unnecessary risks the Darwin Fairmiles and their crews faced on SRD operations 1943-45.

Finally, may I take the opportunity to congratulate you on the June issue of the Review. Bravo Zulu.

Best regards,

John Dowey

Note: copies of the enclosures mentioned in the above letter are available on request to the Editor.

 

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