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Page
25 Page 2 of WW1
RAN Pop's
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P219
- 1915-16)
Examination was not, of course, the
Psyche’s
main task: that was left to smaller craft.
(When plots against
India collapsed the bay patrols were over.)
-------The Fantome was
shifted to Sandakan in British Borneo. The
Psyche, however having demobilized her “Burma coast patrol” was left in
the bay with Port Blair in the Andamans as her base, to be in perpetual
readiness to visit any part of the bay, whether under direct orders or on her
commander’s own initiative, if he had reason to believe her services were
required. Further, periodical patrols of the Sumatran coast must be maintained.
This arrangement,
however, did not come immediately into effect, because the
Psyche had to be recalled to Singapore
for inquiry into a certain lack of discipline which had made itself manifest,
and was detailed to escort some Russian transports towards Columbo. On April 4th
she handed this convoy over to H.M.S. Venus, and began her task of guarding the
bay from Port Blair. This meant, of course, constant cruising over large areas;
she was at Penang on the 18th, at Rangoon on May 13th, at
Columbo on the 21st. Then for some reason her sphere of operations
was changed, and between the middle of June and the middle of October she
cruised along the coasts of Annan and southern China, visiting Saigon, and then
basing herself on Hong Kong. *At this time sickness was more rife than ever
among her crew; at the end of July she had 77 in hospital ashore and 41 more on
sick list aboard.
This following data via the Internet in 2005 "My grandfather
also served on the ship HMAS Psyche. He was a gun captain onboard and was court
martialled for his part in the mutinies. My understanding is that one of
the reasons for the mutinies is because of the ships instability. apparently the
ship could not manoeuvre easily and was prone to heel over when turning at high
speed, this at one point almost caused the ship to sink, or come close to it."
In October, she resumed
her bay patrols, showing the flag at Penang, Port Blair, Rangoon, Calcutta,
Madras and Columbo; and so the perpetual weary round went on in what are almost
the hottest waters of the world.
Sickness had reduced
the number of stokers available for work just when the weather was at its worst
and the need of high efficiency in the stokehold most urgent. The consequent
discontent led to foolish and regrettable displays of indiscipline. At one time
the shortage of stokers was so great that – following a custom of the China
station – 15 natives had to be temporarily enrolled as an “ash and coal trimming
party”. They were kept quite apart from the rest of the ship’s company, and
discharged as soon as other ratings became available.
If my grandfather was a
stoker (as affirmed by my uncle) he had to endure some dreadful working
conditions but I do not remember him complaining about it. He did however say
that he had many bouts of seasickness, some of them quite severe. This
complaint was no excuse for not reporting to their posts if ‘Action Stations’
was sounded.
(Page
220 - 1916-17) Lists
duties from the Psyche’s diary from 15
Feb. – 2 May 1917.
The insertion of this
bald statement from the Psyche’s official diary has its purpose. It is typical
and therefore instructive. This was the war from the navy’s side. One set
battle in 5 years: perhaps half-a-dozen minor engagements, involving from one to
half-a-dozen ships on each side: and this cruising, cruising, conveying,
patrolling from one year’s end in all Seven Seas, as wearisome as persistent and
as essential in the bitterest North Sea winter as in the steam-heat of the Bay
of Bengal and the Persian Gulf. Years of it, and nothing to show for it: but on
its persistent efficiency the whole fabric of the war in France rested.
Early in 1917 the Naval
Board – which was responsible for providing relief, but had at this time no
other control over her- suggested to the Commander-in Chief, China Squadron,
that for many reasons it might be well to send her back to Australia. But he
was reluctant to do so.
H.M.A.S.
Psyche is most useful to meet raider or
submarine threats in the Bay of Bengal. Consider bay should not be left without
such safeguard, and have no other ship to spare for the duty.
Three months later,
however, when the United states had entered the war and the need of small
British cruisers in the Atlantic had lessened, the Admiralty decided to send
H.M.S. Suffolk to China Station. The ship reached Singapore on 11th
of August, and at the end of the month the Australian warship was at last headed
home. Slowly – for her bottom was so foul that she could only maintain 75% of
her normal speed – she made her way to Timor, and Thursday Island, and
Townsville; and on the 28th of (P221-
1915-16) September – two years and forty-three days after she left Sydney
for her patrol within the tropics – she dropped anchor in Part Jackson and went
out of service.
(P226
- 1916) ……A
memorandum laid out before the board early February 1916 pointed out that :-
……the attack on
shipping in the neighbourhood of the Canary Islands shows that the Germans have
again taken to attacks on trade routes in Australian waters might well decide
the Germans to attempt an attack in these waters
……. The principal
danger now appears to be from craft, either minelayers or armed merchant
vessels, escaping from Germany, or being fitted out on the coast of North or
South America. It might therefore be wise, the memorandum went on, to ask that
the Australian warships in Malaysia and off East Africa should be sent back to
Australia,
…….and that we should
put in force for a time a trade route protection scheme. If this were done at
once we should probably be ready by the time the attack took place. If no
attack came, our preparedness would be known and have good effect, and we should
have gained very useful experience.
These extracts suffice
to show that the Board’s advisers were wide-awake and far-sighted; they were a
year ahead of German plans, but it is a virtue to have foreseen the Wolf even so
far ahead.”
The Board adopted the
Memorandum and, through the Prime Minister, asked the Admiralty to let them have
back the Encounter, Pioneer, Psyche,
Fantome, and destroyers and (Page 227 - 1916) to lend them to the Otranto, which
was at the moment in Port Jackson. On the 8th February the Admiralty
gave what on the whole was a favourable reply;-
……Encounter will be
returned to Australia. Pioneer will be sent to Australia to pay off and turn
her crew over to Brisbane, which will for the present remain in Australian
waters; and Otranto will also be allowed to do so
…... Admiralty do not
consider Pioneer, Psyche
and Fantome suitable to operate against German raider
now at large, as their guns would, it is believed, be much outranged. As for
the destroyers, it was hoped that Japan would take over the control of the
Malacca Straits, and so set the Australian ships free.
At the bottom of that
page is the following notation :-
“At the end of April,
1916 the Commander-in-chief China Station asked the Australian Naval Board for
assistance in manning river gunboats on his station. The Commonwealth
Government agreed, offering the crews of Psyche and
Fantome and 400 trainees of
the Royal Australian Naval Brigade……”
(Page
231 - 1916-17)
Nevertheless it is hardly surprising that that the Fantome’s official message at
the commencement of the third year of the war ran:-
We would all wish for
a more active share in operations, and are keeping fit in the hope that such may
be the case.
From RAN Appendices (Page 351)
Feb. 15. Malay Archipelago and
Indian Ocean. Psyche cruised Mergui Archipelago
Feb. 19. Malay Archipelago and
Indian Ocean. Psyche patrolling north entrance to Malacca Straits.
Feb. 26. Malay Archipelago and
Indian Ocean. Psyche proceeded on a cruise in search of raiders or enemy bases
in Nicobar and Andamas Islands. Mar. 20. Malay Archipelago and Indian Ocean.
Psyche from Rangoon proceeded to Penang. Escorted military transport to
Calcutta.
April 8. Malay Archipelago and Bay
of Bengal. Psyche escorted military transport from India to Burma.
April 16. Malay Archipelago and Bay
of Bengal. Psyche conducted cruise of examination in Andoman and Nicobar
Islands.
May 2. Malay Archipelago and Bay
of Bengal. Psyche resumed escort of military transports between Rangoon and
Calcutta.
The arrival of
Huon and
Torrens at Sandakan allowed the Fantome to proceed to Hong Kong for a refit in
October; but she remained in Sandakan base patrol till the end of Aug. 1917 and
did not reach Port Jackson till 27th of Sept. just ahead of the
Psyche.
From R.A.N. Appendices (Page 353)
Sept. 28. Psyche returned to Port
Jackson after Malaysian and Bombay patrols and sent out of service.
That was the end of my
grandfather’s service on the Psyche.
From R.A.N. Appendices (Page 353).
Nov. 20: Patrol Queensland coast.
Psyche re-commissioned
At this time,
we
do not know if he was on 'Psyche'
at then but it must have been about this date when he left Australia for Great
Britain. We also have been unable to find out what ship
transported him from
Australia to Italy, although we
had always understood it was on the 'Psyche' but have not been able to verify
this fact. He said
he was very ill while in the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea because of the food on
board and lack of refrigeration. We do not remember him speaking of bad
conditions or food whilst on the
Psyche
but it was evidently not good, while he was in the tropics, according to Bean.
He travelled from some port in Italy (possibly Brindisi) in open cattle trucks
in winter to France and then by ship or ferry to the Depot in London.
My uncles remembers him talking about
having quite a long wait in Bologna (Italy) during this trip.
During this period,
he was shown as a posting to the
'Tingira'
– possibly what is called a ‘paper posting’.
EUROPEAN WATERS
(His next ship was the
H.M.A.S.
Melbourne (12 Apl. 1918) which
was then part of the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron – of the Grand Fleet
north of Scotland (mentioned briefly on P181). This ship had previously been in
the Caribbean. Their work was protecting east and westbound Scandinavian
convoys and with other ships covering/supporting minelayers. They tried without
success to lure the Germans into the open.
(Page
304 – 1917-18)
……..incidents from this
period the diary already quoted ( H.M.A.S. Sydney) notes of several attempts of
the Grand Fleet to lure the Germans into the open. We are off to Heligoland.
(Noted in entry for 1 February)
……letting rip with a
6-inch gun to let Fritz know we were there. The Grand Fleet was only about 12
miles off. Fritz was not having any.”
My grandfather
speaking of the bitter cold winds off the Skagarack, Scarpa Flow and Jutland.) He
was not posted to 'Melbourne until 12 April 1918)
From R.A.N. Appendices (Page 354)
April 14: North Sea. Melbourne took
aboard her flying officer Flight-Lieutenant Gibson.
April 29:North Sea. 2nd Light cruiser
Squadron (Sydney and Melbourne) helped. 1st Battle Squadron (Revenge,
Resolution, Royal Oak, Royal Sovereign, Ramilles and Canada) to escort to Norway
a convoy of 9 vessels.
May 10 : North Sea. Melbourne's 1st
Flying Experiment
The next mention of the
Melbourne (Page
304 – 1917-18) gives details of taking on board a Flight Lieutenant and
experiments with an aeroplane on board the ship. There are further details of
what would happen if the German battleships could be tempted out of hiding.
(Page
305 - 1 June 1918) Some German aeroplanes flew direct for the British
fleet dropping 5 bombs in the neighbourhood and planes from the Sydney and
Melbourne were put in the air. (Ed.)
From R.A.N. Appendices (Page 354)
June 1: North Sea. Sydney and
Melbourne took part in a raid in force into the Heliogoland bight on German
mine-sweeping force and with 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron and four destroyers,
aeroplane carriers Courageous and
Glorious and their destroyers the 1st battle
Cruiser Squadron led by Lion with HM.A.S. Champion and 9 destroyers. Aeroplanes
from Australia and Sydney drove off German air scouts before these were able to
achieve their object - and to discover whether the Grand fleet was out.
(Page
307 June-Sept. 1918)
Lists some daily work carried out by the
Melbourne. The last entry (mentioned previously) reads”
September 30th
Left with Squadron, but had only gone a short way outside when recalled.”
The Sydney took part in the last-mentioned operation, and the diary notes it
thus:
The Fleet got a
sudden spasm; we coaled ship
……and proceeded to
sea with coal on our decks……
We fully expected to
meet something but after about two hours’ run we were recalled. *
See
TALL TALES
(Page
318 - 1917-18)
Mentioned at the bottom of the page are notes of a seaman newly joined from the
Tingira (the training ship in Australia) and his coolness in the face of
action.
(P330
– Nov. 1918) Covers
the end of the Germans High Seas Fleet, which because of mutiny was incapable of
the final effort for which their masters had been saving them and surrendered to
the Grand Fleet.
(The German Navy
capitulated on 21 November l918, ten days after the army stopped fighting in
France and that was a great relief to both sides.)
From R.A.N. Appendices (Page 355)
Nov. 21: North Sea. German High
Fleet steamed into the Firth of Forth and passed into the custody of the Grand
Fleet. The Grand fleet - 33 battleships, 9 battle-cruisers, 32 light cruisers,
more than 100 destroyers went to meet them. Australia at the head of her
squadron led the capital ships of the port line. Australia was given charge of
the Hindenberg, Melbourne, the Nurnberg and the Sydney the Emden (built during
the war). The captured German vessels were escorted to Scarpa Flow on 22nd.
:
The
Melbourne and Sydney were in their normal
place in the Light Cruiser Squadron and (P331 –
1918-19) the
Melbourne was given
charge of the Courageous and Glorious. After searches by the guarding ships, the fleet was
escorted into the Firth of Forth. In December the question of the return of
Australian ships to their home waters was seriously considered. (The
Melbourne taking some destroyers with her
was to leave England in February but they did not leave March 6th, (P332
– Jan. –June 1919) arriving in Malta on the 13th (March)_. Other
ships joined them there and 17 left for Port Said (arriving 20th),
Aden (25th), Columbo (2nd to 10th April),
Malacca, Singapore (15th April) and Port Darwin (26th)
From R.A.N. Appendices (Page 356)
April 26: Swan, Yarra, Parramatta,
Huon, Torrens, Warrego, Melbourne reached Darwin.
There was some delay at
Darwin and pop and some of his friends were very homesick. He wanted to get
home and deserted on 20 June 1919. Until recently I had always believed that the
this had occurred at Darwin. We had wondered how he had travelled from there to
Sydney in those times and that was a mystery, as we do not remember him
discussing it. He always thought that he would have been listed as a deserter
but there is
no evidence of it,
on his papers. From information
recently received
from my younger brother and some writing on the back of a card recently found,
We understand that he got himself into some sort of trouble in Darwin and we can now
assume that he came south on the HMAS Huon that was based in Geelong for some
time (this needs to be verified). It may have been from here that he
deserted.
AUSTRALIAN COASTAL PATROL
(P337
– Dec. 1916 – Mch. 1918)
The Psyche is mentioned with other ships
as being continuously employed, chiefly in the Dutch East Indies under the
Commander-in-Chief, China Station.
(Page
350 – Sept. 1917)
Bean writes of the raider Wolf and their sighting of a ship (possibly
Psyche) . ……
Now I catch sight of
her (writes Captain Witschetzky, gunner officer of the Wolf). She too had
darkened ship – a low smooth hull, two smooth thin funnels, two masts – an
English cruiser of the Juno class. She is unmistakable.
The Wolf altered course,
as the ship was ordered not to take action (unless signalled to stop)..……the
Germans were itching to fire, but the vessel passed without a sign that she saw
them – the Germans suspected that her attention was concentrated upon a brightly
lighted passenger steamer which was for some time visible on the horizon astern
of the Wolf.
That night the
Australian Cruiser Psyche was emerging
form the Karimata Strait on her way home to pay off. She passed many craft in
these waters, but none that aroused her suspicion. Her position was somewhat
too southerly to fit in easily with Nerger’s (the German Captain) account but no
other British cruiser was in that area. If she was the ship seen, the
Australians escaped a most formidable fight, for the Wolf’s armament was much
heavier.
(P354
– Aug. 1917) At the
end of a long paragraph is the following sentence
…………………..In Torres
Straits the patrol work was intensified, in case the enemy should attempt to
escape that route, and the Fantome and
Psyche
–which were due to return to Australia were dispatched from Singapore on
31st to reach Thursday Island via the Arafura Sea.
P369
– 1915-16)
…….. the
Psyche, re-commissioned on 20 November,
took up patrol on the coast of Queensland; and thus, with very inadequate means,
Australia guarded her own Pacific trade-routes with her own ships.
POST
WAR
My grandfather had wonderful
stamina and endurance, was physically
very
strong and that helped him
through his Navy Service and the extremely hard work on his Soldiers’ Settlers
Farm at Rankin’s Springs in New South Wales
after the war. My
grandparents gave me the only happiest memories of my childhood in Ramsgate.
He had to build
accommodation, chop down trees, dig out many very stubborn mallee roots, lift
wheat bags on to drays to be taken to the silos, plant crops and put up miles of fencing.
He
lost this property because of
his
inexperience in farming,
three years
of
drought and then the
depression. Many returned
servicemen were given the opportunity to ballot for farms by the Repatriation
Department in that area. However, no consideration appears to have been given
as to their suitability for farming.
We
truly believe that Pop would have 'made a go of it', in spite of his lack of
knowledge because of his hard work but he had lent a friend (who was in
financial trouble before he was) some money and he was unable to pay it back in
time to save Pop. Many soldier settlers in the Rankin's Springs area lost
their farms during this difficult period.
From that time on, until
we came to Sydney in 1938 - 39, he worked on farms at Rankin’s Springs,
Erigolia, Shell Harbour & Camden and sometimes on the roads for the dole in the
winter and at the wheat silos in the summer time.
This often entailed leaving home very
early and travelling long distances. When he was camping away during the week,
working on the dole, he often hiked 40 miles home on the Friday night or
Saturday, to see us and carry out some chores my grandmother. Then it was a hike back to
the site on Sundays.
All of these were
back-breaking jobs but if he complained.
When he was home, he carted water to
the house, did the heavy washing, most of the shopping and other jobs, as
grandmother
was rather frail. He was also quite a good cook of soups and stews.
He tried for a position
at Garden Island Naval Dockyard
at Garden Island
some time before W.W. 2 because ex-sailors were given preference
and
he was sure he would be rejected because of his desertion but that did not
happen. His Service Documents showed on all reports that he was of Very Good
Character and his ability was Satisfactory
and no mentioning of his desertion at Darwin.
He was at Garden Island
throughout the war and had tried to enlist in the three services but was
rejected because of ill health. He worked long hours with lot of overtime, as a
painter and docker - (a proud union member) our first wharfie, like my husband) that took a great toll on his medical problems. He was
working below decks on a ship, the night that the Japanese midget submarine sank
the ferry Kuttabul on which a few sailors were killed or drowned (alongside) in
Sydney Harbour.
There was no way of
knowing whether the ship he was working on had been hit. He felt there had been
a broadside movement and if his ship had been damaged, he could have drowned in
that tank in the darkness. We do not know if he was alone but he knew he was
unable to do anything to help himself. The lights went out and he had to just
sit there, until they came on again. His previous Navy training
stopped him panicking.
He remained at Garden Island until he
retired because of ill health. He was a good, loving father and grandfather and
we never saw any indication that his war experiences made him bitter or angry.
He was very patriotic and always marched on Anzac Day in Sydney, until he was no
longer able to participate.
My grandfather was always very particular
about cleanliness and tidiness. He liked his children to have polished shoes,
clean nails and his great love for me his eldest grandchild was one of the best
things about my childhood, in fact my happiest memories are the time I spent
with them.
A Tribute
And In Loving Memory Of My Grandfather my dear Pop.
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