The Seven Seas Club€¦ · 2 The Seven Seas Club (1922) Limited A company limited by guarantee, Company Number 11812371. England & Wales. Registered office: 71-75 Shelton Street,

1

The Seven Seas Club “TO PROMOTE AND FOSTER THE COMRADESHIP OF THE SEA”

The Official Organ of the Seven Seas Club

Volume 95, No.2 WINTER 2019

2

The Seven Seas Club (1922) Limited A company limited by guarantee, Company Number 11812371. England & Wales.

Registered office: 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 8JQ

Directors: Mr. Derek G. Bevan, Mr. Tony Goodhead, Mr. Raymond Kay, Mr. Stephen King, Mr. Robert Jones, Mr. James O’Neill, Mr. Martyn Taylor.

--------------------------------------------------

MANAGING COMMITTEE

President – Mr. Bob Jones Immediate Past President – Mr. Stephen (Jan) King MBE Vice President – Mr. Tony Goodhead Hon. Secretary – Mr. Ray Kay Hon. Treasurer – Mr. Derek Bevan Hon. Dinner Secretary – Mr. Martyn Taylor Hon. Almoner – Mr. James O’Neill Hon. Magazine Editor – Mr. John Callcut Additional Committee Members – Mr. Martin Earp, Mr. Roger Beale, Mr. Ken Bushnell. Hon. Life Members – Mr. Paul Antrobus, Mr. Ray Williams, Capt. Richard Woodman LVO., FRHistFNI . Club Goods Custodian - Mr. David Ferrier Hon. Archivist – Mr. David Watson

Hon. Chaplains – Revd. Canon Paul Thomas OBE., & Revd. Peter Dennett Hon. Auditor – Mr. M.J. Buck

3

The committee meets on the first Tuesday of each month throughout the ‘dinner season’.

CONTENTS

Editorial President’s Address Hon. Secretary’s Corner Hon Almoner’s Report Hon. Dinner Secretary’s Report Dinner Photographs Club Dates Sister Clubs – Australia and South Africa Baxter & Grimshaw Trust – 2019 Laristan Fund Features Send me a Postcard by Glyn L. Evans The adequacy of the overall plan for the UK maritime sector by Roy Martin Annual National Service for Seafarers and Remembrance Day Service The International Festival of the Sea Sailor’s Tales for Sailors’ Tunes by Jim Killen More about the Herzogin Cecilie by John Callcut Kenneth D. Shoesmith RI and ‘Cargoes’ by Glyn L. Evans HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales Slop Chest Front Cover – ‘Conway’ and ‘Mauretania’ by Kenneth Shoesmith

4

EDITORIAL

Whilst on my travels I like to look out for ships that might be of interest to our readers. In Budapest I saw a ship moored on the Pest side of the Danube that took my eye.

She is a monitor river ship called the Lajta and is anchored on a pontoon in front of the Parliament building. She was launched in 1871 and in the Austro-Hungarian fleet she and her sister ship Maros were the first steam-propelled armoured warships built from metal and without sails or rigging. She saw active service in the First World War and is now a museum.

Glyn Evans has published a book entitled Cargoes. This will be of particular interest to our readers as the book features two former Seven Seas members -Kenneth D. Shoesmith and John Masefield. In the book Glyn looks at how a possible collaboration between the two might have flourished. Full details of how to purchase the book can be found in this magazine.

Two years ago Jim Killen sent me an article written by Roy Martin about the state of the British maritime industry. Jim says that little has changed, in fact the situation is actually worse. This is a real ‘cri-de-coeur’ from a mariner who sailed when Britain really did ‘rule the waves’. I must point out that the opinions in all articles are the authors’ and not necessarily those of the Seven Seas Club.

It is now no longer necessary to log into the club’s website. Just go to www.sevenseasclub.org.uk and you are in.

5

John Callcut – [email protected]

PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS

President’s Winter Report.

I would personally like to thank you all for the kindness and support that you have shown to me during the first six months of my tenure as your President.

It has been a great honour for me to take the helm of the club in its first year as a limited company. It has also been a very interesting learning curve. I am of course supported by a wonderfully dedicated committee who have offered me all their wisdom and given me their guidance during this period.

A very pleasant aspect of being your President is that of meeting people outside of the club. I have put in a few miles of travel since my election, firstly to Southampton to visit ASTO, the Association of Sail Training Organisations, to build upon our relationship with them, as we are the owners of the magnificent

“Seven Seas Trophy”. This has been for some time now awarded for line honours at the annual Small Ships Race every October. On the 5th October Vice-President Tony Goodhead and I proceeded to Cowes to meet the crews and for me to present our trophy to the youngest skipper in the race. A most pleasurable day concluded with the

presentation of the trophy to the very able Clare Buckingham, the twenty-year- old skipper of Alexander Fairey from the Discovery Sailing Project, (DSP) based at Hamble.

The above picture shows me presenting the trophy to Clare Buckingham. The next picture shows Clare and her crew cleverly gathering in some wind which helped her to line honours in the race.

6

Since the race I have visited DSP in Hamble with the Hon. Secretary Ray Kay to congratulate Andy Broadbent their organiser. I have invited Andy and two crew members to our February Dinner, where Andy will tell you all about the Discovery Sailing Project and some of its aims and challenges. For me this kind of liaison and contact with hard-working sailing organisations is what we are all about as a club, and it also keeps us connected to the sea. At the February dinner we intend to give DSP the proceeds from the evening’s collection, which will help them to buy some much needed equipment.

In October I attended the annual service of remembrance with a group of club members at Tower Hill to pay our respects at the Merchant Navy Memorial. It was a very bright and crisp day where I laid a wreath on behalf of the club, which for me was a great honour.

In early November I visited the RNLI Tower Lifeboat Station with our Vice President Tony Goodhead to present a cheque for £250 which will go directly to the needs of the station. The other connection we have with this station is

7

that our club member, Past President Stephen Wheatley, is a volunteer there. It is also worth mentioning that the Tower Lifeboat station is the busiest RNLI station in the UK.

At our Christmas Dinner Party we introduced a new routine. As well as the usual carol singing, we also had a Christmas Poem and a Christmas Monologue. We hope you liked it and that you will let us know how you are enjoying the other dinners in our annual calendar. Please keep me and the committee informed of any constructive points you have, and we will do our best to give you the club you can enjoy.

The other major event coming along is our 2022 Centenary Celebrations. We already have a dedicated sub-committee working hard on this project. The Hon. Secretary will keep you up to date with all the progress on this, and the whole project is being coordinated by our Vice President Tony Goodhead.

I hope that you have had a very Happy Christmas and I wish you all the very best for 2020.

Bob Jones – Director & President.

8

SECRETARY’S CORNER

2019 has been a good year for our club. During our season so far we have enjoyed an unbroken series of comradely and enjoyable dinners complemented by speakers who have entertained and enlightened us. We look forward to more of the same. On the admin and management side we have successfully navigated incorporation, encountering no unforeseen difficulties so far. Bob Jones is serving us well as an efficient, entertaining and dignified president and the committee continues to work well as a team. We have even recruited a new member, Ken Bushnell, who is already making a positive contribution. David Watson has agreed to replace me as your honorary and company secretary at the 2020 AGM and I look forward to

enjoying my dinners with less responsibility. Our membership has remained more-or-less stable. Sadly we lost one of our most senior and well-loved members when George Kingston PP slipped his cable earlier in the year.

We do need to recruit new members - especially younger ones - so please do bring suitable guests and encourage them to join.

The price increases imposed by the NLC do not seem to have dented our numbers and so far their new team has produced much-improved food and service.

In a world that seems to be on course to be increasingly complicated, divided and acrimonious, I believe that a club like ours - which allows us to enjoy companionship in a sociable and non-political atmosphere - has a valuable role to play. I am sure we will continue to prosper as we enjoy our 2020/2021 season and head toward our centenary year of 2022. I hope to see many of you and your guests at our dinners and events.

Ray Kay - Hon. Secretary and Director - [email protected]

9

ALMONER’S CORNER

In this year’s Christmas & New Year message, I am asking for just a bit more of your help….

“ Almoner ” definition : noun: an official distributor of alms.

WE NOW NEED YOUR HELP please

Many of the Almoner functions would simply not happen without your input. We like to hear about our members - and particularly those who are unwell or in unforeseen financial misfortune – since we may be able to brighten their day or make life a little easier. Often we hear sad news, but we would love to hear and share the good news, such as new children or grandchildren, weddings, family celebrations and the like.

Our widows or partners each receive a personalised Invitation to attend the Christmas Party Shindig /Extravaganza, plus a “keep the date” reminder of future diary dates (2020) for the Ladies Evening Dinner and the Cocktail Party on the Terrace. These events are totally free to them and include help with transportation if needed. Christmas cards were sent separately on behalf of the whole membership, and we have received lovely letters of thanks and appreciation.

We do have “shipmates” who are suffering with long-term illnesses and infirmities. We remember them often, and send nautical cards with a jolly theme to remind them of us. They are in our thoughts and we will provide help should they need it.

A few members “slipped their cable” during the year. We remember them fondly and their families, to whom we offer support as appropriate. Cards of sympathy are sent together with either a floral tribute or a donation to a charity. We are guided by the family requests and we do try to attend the funeral service.

10

Well done chaps. Keep giving generously into the “Laristan” wooden pot. The Laristan Fund provides the funds to cover these costs. The Laristan fund is not a financial asset of the company, it’s your gift to the beneficiaries.

We are asking for help because the truth is you are a decent bunch of very kind chaps who give generously into the Laristan Pot. However, you are not always remembering to tell us when people may benefit from our help and support.

Think…. a New Year’s Resolution : Charity starts at home !

We are now looking forward to spring and hopefully those balmy summer days when final invites to attend club events are sent to members and “widows/partners” alike.

Some are suffering, or find it difficult to travel or simply make the effort to attend, although they would love to. Maybe just the fear of getting home from their destination station during the hours of darkness might put them off. If you suspect a possible problem, tell us; we will deal it with discretion, humanity and in complete confidence.

Are you in a position to offer help or assistance to those who are less able to travel? Contact us, Ray Kay or myself.

Happy to meet and happy to meet again

James

James O’Neill – Director & Hon. Almoner Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07970 467961

11

HON. DINNER SECRETARY’S REPORT

This year has seen a number of changes at the NLC with retirement of both David Ross-Watt and of course Sandra who have managed our dinners and looked after us for a number of years. They will both be missed. Whilst there have been some minor teething issues the new NLC structure and arrangements for our dinners are being well managed by Laura and her team. The autumn season has again provided the opportunity for club members to talk at our dinners. This started with Graham Capel’s interesting account of recovering the gold from HMS Edinburgh followed by Clive Carrington-Wood who proposed the ‘The Immortal Memory’ on Trafalgar Night.

The November dinner gave as the first part of Steve Foster’s account of his father’s audacious & daring escape from a POW camp in WW2 – a truly amazing and thought-provoking story with part two in the new year. Our Christmas dinner, with a new format, ended the 2019 season on a high and was attended by 75 members and guests. There would have been more of us but unfortunately last-minute winter illnesses prevented some members and guests from joining us.

I would like to remind members that following the formation of the new company - The Seven Seas Club (1922) Limited - all payments must be made to our new bank account. The account details are on the dinner notices, but anyone who is unsure or requires help should contact the Hon. Dinner Secretary or Hon. Treasurer. In addition, making a payment does not book you in; please ensure you advise the Hon. Dinner Secretary by email or post to ensure that you and any guests are booked in. Finally, I hope that you have enjoyed the dinners and speakers over the last year and are looking forward to further enjoyable and interesting speakers for the dinners already being planned in 2020. Martyn Taylor – Director & Honorary Dinner Secretary

12

DINNERS

Photographs – John Callcut and Martyn Taylor.

26th September 2019 – 54 attendees

Member Graham Capel spoke to us about the recovery of gold from the wreck of HMS Edinburgh, and Commander Lester May RN recited the prayer which was read at the launching of the Queen Mary on the 26th September 1934 – exactly 85 year ago to the day.

24th October 2019, Trafalgar Dinner – 63 attendees

Clive Carrington-Wood proposed ‘The Immortal Memory’ at our Trafalgar Dinner

13

21st November 2019 – 57 attendees

Our President gives our speaker, Stephen Foster, a copy of Glyn Evans’s book ‘Cargoes’.

Christmas Dinner, 19th December 2019 – 75 attendees

Ray Kay presents the President’s wife, Carol Jones, with a gift ---- Lester May and Clive Carrington-Wood entertain us.

For more details about our past speakers and to see more dinner pictures please visit our website.

14

CLUB DATES FOR 2020

30th January 2020 – Steve Foster returns to conclude his fascinating talk about ‘The Soldier who came Back’. 27th February – Andy Broadbent will tell us about the Discovery Sailing Project. 26th March – Peter Ward. CEO of the United Kingdom Warehousing Association. (UKWA) 24th April – Ladies Night. Hon. Alexandra Shackleton. 28th May – AGM and May Dinner. For further information see our website at www.sevenseasclub.org.uk

SISTER CLUBS – To find out what is happening at our sister clubs in Australia and South Africa, visit

Australia - http://sevenseasaustralia.com.au

South Africa – http:/simonstown.com/clubs/sevenseas/com

AN APPEAL FROM THE EDITOR

The Seven Seas Club magazine has been published for nearly a hundred years and a common thread has been the number of members who have contributed their stories and yarns. In the early days it was ‘Taffrail’, ‘Benbow’ and ‘Sinbad’ in later years it has been Capt. Richard Woodman, Jim Killen and Glyn Evans.

Another common thread has been plaintive cries from successive editors for more material. Your current editor is no exception – so please, please start sending them in to me. Many thanks in anticipation,

John Callcut – Hon. Magazine Editor

15

BAXTER AND GRIMSHAW TRUST - 2019

The Baxter and Grimshaw Trust has had a very successful year. During 2019 the trust assisted some 86 young people with grants which totalled £17,500. The main beneficiaries were Sea Cadets, Ocean Youth Trust crew, and individuals and groups sponsored by the Cirdan Trust. We also made a cash grant to the Greig Academy based in Haringey.

Our new Grants Secretary has taken the opportunity in his first year in office to contact the whole spectrum of sail training providers. He sought their views on whether the Trust’s remit was meeting needs related to the current social and economic climate. It was comforting to find their views were universally positive.

The Trust Directors are fortunate to be a stable group. Sadly, however we lost George Kingston in May 2019. He was a founding Trustee, a duty he diligently carried out for some 29 years, right up to the end of his life, meantime serving the Club as PP 1983/4 and as treasurer for many years. (A fuller appreciation for George appeared in the Summer 2019 Club magazine).

Chris Esplin-Jones - Chairman, The Baxter and Grimshaw Trust

THE LARISTAN FUND

The following letters have been received in response to our donations.

Commander B.P. Boxall-Hunt OBE FNI from the Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society – ‘We very much appreciate the Club’s continued support of our work and shall be obliged if you will convey our warm and grateful thanks to your President and all concerned for their kind consideration and very generous gift’.

Karen Read director of Wetwheels Solent – ‘Thank you so much for the incredibly generous donation of £1000. This will enable us to provide on the water experiences for 40 passengers’.

Ellen Przybylska finance controller of Turntostarboard – ‘We are very grateful to the Seven Seas Club for this very generous donation. Please thank your members and be assured that that every penny will be wisely spent in support of our veterans.

16

Send me a Postcard by Glyn L Evans

They were in a shoebox marked “Gents Brown Brogues Size 8.” but it is not the shoes that concern me, it is the contents of that shoebox, my prized collection of ships postcards. Between the age of 16 and 18 I had built up a magnificent collection of ships postcards by writing to the Publicity Department of every shipping company I knew, explaining that I was an avid collector and wondering if they would be so kind etc. Most of them were so kind, and responded generously with at least half a dozen assorted cards, and so my collection grew. Some were photographs, either black and white or sepia; others were colour paintings by such artists as Brown, Walters, Gribble, Rosenvinge, Wilkinson or - to my mind, the best of them all - Kenneth D Shoesmith with his paintings for Royal Mail Lines.

My source of addresses for the shipping companies was the Liverpool Journal of Commerce, “The Brightest and Best Morning Shipping Paper” - according to its front page. I had access to this publication free of charge on a daily basis as, in September 1961, I had begun my employment with The Thames & Mersey Marine Insurance Company at their offices in the Liverpool, London & Globe building, No 1 Dale Street, Liverpool, next to the Town Hall and backing onto Exchange Flags. I had been for an interview which elicited the information that Geography was my favourite subject at school and that I was Assistant Scout Master with the 64th Birkenhead Sea Scout Group (and a Queen’s Scout to boot.) When my GCE “O” level results were confirmed, I had the necessary half-dozen passes, including Maths and English Language, and was invited to commence work for a salary of £290 per annum.

Being in the Sea Scouts had given me access to rowing dinghies on the West Float Docks at Birkenhead, where I was able to see at first hand the comings and goings of cargo liners belonging to Bibby, Clan, Alfred Holt, Anchor, Ellerman and Harrison to name but a few. Now my daily commute by ferry boat (tuppence each way) from Birkenhead Woodside to Liverpool Pier Head gave me a grandstand view of other ships on the River Mersey. Some would be heading for Manchester or the oil terminals of Stanlow up the Ship Canal, some were at anchor awaiting the top of the tide to lock into the dock system, others were moored alongside Princes landing stage, including perhaps Cunard’s Media and

17

Parthia, Elder Dempster’s Accra and Apapa or British India’s school ship Uganda. Added to this would be the daily arrival and sailing of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s vessel, the busy Liverpool Pilot boats Puffin and Petrel, and dancing attendance on the larger vessels would be the tugs of Rea, Liverpool Screw, Lamey and Alexandra Towing.

Highlands generic postcard Royal May ‘Atlantis’ in Carlisle Bay, Barbados

Even before joining the Sea Scouts I was no stranger to the dock scene as my grandfather and uncle had a smithy and wheel-wrights yard adjacent to the Birkenhead dock entrance to the Mersey Tunnel. On Saturdays I would walk there to give them the benefit of a ten-year-old’s expertise as tea boy, sweeper-up of wood shavings, and lad with watering can dousing the red hot metal tyre as it was fitted around the wooden rim of a cartwheel, contracting and pushing the spokes into the hub. There seemed to be plenty of work for Grandfather and Uncle as the smithy was next door to the Co-op stables, home to the many carthorses employed to pull the bread vans and milk floats.

My chores finished there and with my wages (two shillings and sixpence) in a brown envelope safely tucked into the pocket of my shorts, I would wander across Birkenhead Docks’ Four Bridges, perhaps having to wait as one of them was raised to allow a vessel and tugs in or out. There would be a line of horse-drawn carts awaiting their turn to unload at the dock warehouses, the horses stamping their iron-shod hooves impatiently on the cobblestones or tossing their heads in the air to catch the last mouthful of oats from their nosebags.

And so my collection of ships postcards grew until the shoebox was bursting at the seams. It included not only British ships but also those of U.S. Lines, Holland-America and East Asiatic. It was a joy to sort them into lines or

18

countries of registry or tonnage, colour or black and white, photos or paintings, and to dream of the destinations to which they carried their freight and passengers. However, other things began to take my attention away from all this.

One was the pleasure of playing rugby on Saturday afternoons for Old Parkonians, while the other was the pain of studying for the Chartered Insurance Institute examinations which involved attending night school at various venues in Liverpool. These included the College of Commerce (more commonly known as the College of Knowledge) on Tithebarn Street, at the Liver Buildings on the Pier Head or at the Queen Insurance Buildings on Dale Street.

Studying was dry work and I, with my colleagues, would seek refreshment in the Nelson Rooms at the back of Rigby’s Tavern before the dash down Water Street to catch the last ferry. If this had already sailed it would be another dash up to James Street Underground station for the last train or - if all else failed - a walk up Victoria Street to the Mersey Tunnel entrance, to thumb a lift through or take the hourly night service bus.

In 1966 came the time to leave home and move into a place of my own. This brought on the need to de-clutter my bedroom and meant that certain things had to go. The first item was my Meccano collection, a not inconsiderable piece of kit filling two drawers full of girders, plates, angles, rods and cogs, odds and sods, nuts and bolts. I reckon there were sufficient pieces there to build a full-scale model of the Four Bridges and enough left over for a model of Mersey Docks and Harbour Company’s floating crane.

It is at this stage my memory dims because the person to whom I thought I gave my

shoebox collection of ships postcards, denies all knowledge of this. So whom did I give it to? If you are out there, please, send me a postcard!

19

The adequacy of the overall plan for the UK maritime sector by Roy Martin Jim Killen sent this for inclusion in the magazine and says that although it was written two years ago nothing much has change – in fact the situation is worse! This paper is submitted in response to the UK Transport Select Committee’s open invitation to contribute to the Committee’s Maritime Growth Study. The writer submits this as an individual who is keenly interested in the vital part that our merchant fleet can play in our prosperity following ‘Brexit’ and in aiding the country’s survival in the event of another war. He is a Master Mariner. After thirteen years at sea he joined the management team of his company, later becoming General Manager. In 1979 the parent company transferred him to Singapore to be Managing Director of their Asian operation. He remained until 1986, returning to the UK at his own request. He built Smit International SEA Ltd into the most successful marine salvor in the region, operating an average of ten ships/salvage units, registered under the British, Singaporean and Bahamas flags. He has written three books on Merchant Service subjects, two more are in preparation. Executive Summary • At the outbreak of the Second World War the British Merchant Fleet was the largest in the World. Since the 1960s it has been in serious decline. • Now even the UK Ship Register only ranks nineteenth. While it might provide an income for the Treasury it is no substitute for a British fleet. • Without an adequate merchant fleet we are unable to feed ourselves, or meet the Prime Minister’s wish for us to become ‘a great global trading nation’ again. • Most of the fleets which have some of their ships flying the UK flag are private companies; in an emergency they would have no loyalty to Britain. • The Merchant Navy enabled us to survive the Second World War. By bringing in at least one-third of our food and much of the raw materials; also by supporting evacuations, landings, troop, and materiel movements. • The decline of marine insurance, legal, and shipping banking will inevitably follow the reduction in our fleet. Already the number of salvage contracts arbitrated in London has declined by about 70% since 1990. • The shipping industry is in recession; this provides an opportunity to re-equip our fleet. We still have a core of skilled mariners. They are ageing and have good reason to be dispirited; but the writer believes that they would answer a call, as they did in 1939, and we could rebuild the fleet. 1. Fortunately for Britain it entered the Second World War with the largest merchant fleet in the World. After the war the Labour Government of Clement Attlee recognised the importance of regaining the country’s pre-eminent position

20

in shipping. The Conservative administrations that followed continued to encourage re-equipping the fleet; but from the mid-1960s it seemed that successive governments lost interest. The Wilson Government of that time began with the wholesale removal of the incentives that had been put in place to take some of the considerable risk out of ship-owning. Escalating fuel and labour costs coincided with the arrival of accountants on boards and quarterly reporting. Everything combined to convince owners that there was a better return to be made in other industries – though many have found that this was not so. At the same time British owners failed to see the benefits of containerisation. The Thatcher Government completed the hatchet job. 2. The UK Ship Register gives an illusion that we have an adequate merchant fleet. Overseas owners use the Red Ensign as a flag of convenience; as soon as a better (i.e. cheaper) alternative becomes available they move. Almost all of the ships on the register have foreign crews, many from Russia and its former satellites. Some carry two British cadets to meet the flag requirements; these young people probably don’t get suitable training and we should also be concerned for their welfare. Even with this virtual fleet we now only rank nineteenth in the World. All that can be said for this registry is that it provides the Treasury with an income, which goes some way to replace the invisible earnings that the industry hitherto provided. 3. The Prime Minister says that she wants Britain to be ‘a great global trading nation’ following Brexit; to do this we need to rebuild our merchant fleet to carry the exports and to bring in raw materials. We also need to bring in food, for this country has not been able to feed itself since Victorian times. 4. There are a number of container ships that fly the Red Ensign: among them Atlantic Container Lines; the beneficial owners of this company are Grimaldi. Another organisation that has had ships under the British flag is the Mediterranean Shipping Corporation, privately owned by the Aponte family from Naples – it does not publish accounts. One of their UK flag ships, the MSC Napoli, was beached in Lyme Bay in 2007, having suffered structural failure. A recent search of half of their 471 fleet failed to find one British-registered ship: though they are in the process of putting three former Hanjin Line vessels under the Isle of Man flag. A third group that is flying the Red Ensign on one or more of their vessels is the French CMA-CGM Line, again with foreign crews. It would be folly indeed to expect that entities such as these would have any interest in our prosperity post-Brexit, or our survival in a war. It is difficult to get meaningful figures for the number of British-owned merchant vessels that are suitable for deep sea voyages and even more difficult to separate out the many

21

specialist oil industry ships. What can be said is that the fleet is a shadow of what it was. 5. During the Second World War Britain lost about four thousand merchant ships. The exact number is not clear as the official total of 4,786 ‘British Merchant Vessels Lost’ includes Allied and Neutral ships. Even in the darkest days of 1941 our merchant fleet delivered at least a third of the food that the country desperately needed. They did so much more. Merchant ships took part in every evacuation; particularly noteworthy, and largely unknown to this day, was the evacuation of 139,000 British and 46,000 Allied troops in the three weeks after Dunkirk. At the same time they carried many thousands of civilians to safety, often in basic tramp ships. Most of the service personnel and civilians who got away from Singapore were saved by merchantmen. They also backed up every landing, culminating in D-Day when half of the Infantry Landing Ships (as opposed to the smaller Landing Craft) were provided by the Merchant Navy; they served both British and American beaches. The first coaster convoy reached Normandy later that day; their larger cousins, in this case twelve British Liberty ships, arrived on schedule on the following morning. Each carried about 350 troops, their vehicles, fuel and stores – plus thousands of tons of war material. In all over 850 merchant ships were involved in the operation, crewed by almost 50,000 men and at least one woman. The merchant fleet ferried many hundreds of thousands of troops across the Atlantic and even manned Merchant Aircraft Carriers. The Falklands crisis was their last hurrah. The ships that went ranged from the Queen Elizabeth 2, the Canberra, and the Atlantic Conveyor, to many small cargo ships and tugs. All were British manned. We could no longer send such a fleet. 6. Some draw comfort from the continuing strength of the support services, such as marine insurance, maritime lawyers, and banking firms; but these will wither with time. This is already noticeable in at least one sector: marine salvage work is often carried out under what is known as Lloyds Salvage Form. Operations under this form of contract are settled by arbitration. A recent Roose and Partners newsletter shows that an average of forty-seven such contracts were carried out in the years 2013/2015 compared to sixty-seven in previous three years. Going further back, the figures on the Lloyd’s website show an even more pronounced drop. The earliest totals quoted are for 1990; in the three years from then the average number of new contracts were 173. 7. At the time of writing the international shipping business is in recession. Panamax container vessels as young as ten years old are being sold for demolition, and a similar situation exists with bulk carriers. This could present an opportunity to rebuild our national fleet but, by the time this paper is read, the

22

chance may well have passed. As has been mentioned before, the shipping industry is cyclical and one needs to take a long-term view. 8. After Brexit, Britain will need a national fleet and that fleet should be manned by British officers and ratings. While no one would expect the numbers to equal the 180,000 or so who were at sea during the Second World War; there is surely an opportunity to provide employment for, say, a quarter of that number. In the war, the Merchant Service also provided manpower for the Royal Navy, both those who were temporarily or full-time members of the then Royal Naval Reserve and many others who kept their civilian status but joined under what was known as the T124 scheme. 9. We do still have a number of British mariners, but their average age is high. Their moral is probably low as they have often been replaced, frequently without notice, by crew from other countries who are prepared to work for lower wages and tolerate poor conditions. Our merchant seamen are a resilient and stoic group, as was shown when so many returned in 1939 despite the way they had been treated in the Depression. Given the right encouragement they would again answer the call. 10. The writer was only a humble Apprentice at sea during the early 1950s, so he has no idea of the financial arrangements that were put in place by the governments of the time. They were obviously successful as the fleet was rapidly re-equipped, so similar arrangements should again be arranged.

Subsidies should be avoided. There are still a few British companies in shipping; they include Bibby, Clarkson, Denholm, Fisher, Houlder, Mann and Weir. Some of the other families who were involved still have members with current or recent experience. Crews should be given security of employment and know that they are valued. If the government wishes to continue the present UK Ship Register, it could be reformed as an International Register along the same lines as the Norwegian International Register. A new National Register should then be set up for bona-fide British ships. As the Red Ensign has lost much of its value now it is flown on foreign ships and every yacht one sees, perhaps we should consider putting a new National Fleet under the Blue Ensign!

23

Annual National Service for Seafarers & Remembrance Day Service As per tradition the Seven Seas Club was represented at the Annual National Service for Seafarers at St. Paul’s Cathedral on the 9th October. As already mentioned in the President’s address the club was also present at the Remembrance Day Service at the Merchant Navy Memorial at Tower Hill on the 10th November.

Our President, Bob Jones, with the Seven Seas Club wreath.

A group of members at the Merchant Navy Memorial

24

The International Festival of the Sea by John Callcut

In 2005 I took my somewhat reluctant wife Tina to the International Festival of the Sea. We took a small boat and viewed the ships moored in the Solent and then we went to see the ships in Portsmouth Harbour.

She found it fascinating going on board the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious and even more interesting talking to the scientists on board the Endurance especially as the day before the Queen had been on board reviewing the fleet.

But we hit the jackpot when we boarded the Brazilian sail training ship Cisne Branco.

As we walked up the gang plank this ridiculously handsome officer, tanned and in full tropical uniform, took my wife by the hand. He said ‘Madam, welcome to my ship – allow me to show you around.’

I was left standing as Tina was swiftly whisked away. Next time I saw her she was at the wheel looking down upon me and waving like the Queen. She eventually returned looking very flushed with dreams of tropical islands and palm trees and sailing away to paradise into the setting sun. The farewell kiss on her hand from the officer sealed her love for ships and the sea – or perhaps a certain Brazilian sailor!

On leaving the ship my enthusiastic suggestion that she might like to look at the preserved MTB 102 really didn’t cut any ice.

25

Sailor’s Tales to Sailors’ Tunes...... by Jim Killen

After one long and wearisome day I’m relieved at the end of my watch and go below for a few hours’ sleep. When I next show up on the bridge we are steaming at a very moderate speed in an easterly direction. At the end of that watch “Orders” are changed again and we are to return to pick up a tow at Dunlaoghaire.

We are within sight of the lights of Dunlaoghaire when we hear of a casualty a hundred miles or so south-west from Brest.

Off we go again, again at full power.

We are abeam of Brest and are informed that a Bugsier tug has her in tow. Dunlaoghaire seems to have been forgotten We are then instructed to proceed north-westward at maximum power to where a Russian fish-factory ship is in difficulties and may require assistance.

That day the wind increases and veers to fine on our port bow, by midnight it’s up to severe gale force.

Not much sleep is had by anyone and a very bumpy night is spent heading at full power, into the teeth of a severe gale, towards the south-west corner of Ireland. By daylight the gale had mainly blown itself out and only moderate seas and the residual heavy swell remained, to remind us of just how hard the wind can blow off the south-west corner of Ireland. The very bumpy night had dawned into a beautiful, clear - if a bit windy - day and we were, once again, belting along at full speed towards a ship that needed assistance. Once again, shipping heavy spray and occasionally scooping some green water for’d.

This time we were after a Russian fish-factory ship. It seems that she had wrapped some fishing gear around her propeller and had been drifting in the high wind and seas towards the Irish coast. They had piled a lot of fishing gear overboard, on the end of a long wire, and had used that as a make-shift anchor to reduce their rate of drift. After they had accepted our assistance by radio and, as far as we were concerned, the job was ours, maximum power is reduced to normal full ahead.

Morning smoko time and I’m on the bridge with Leggate, slurping coffee and yakking when the sparky shows up with a slip of paper in his hand. It seems that there has been some misunderstanding – maybe a language problem or something,

26

but we are informed that one of Wijsmuller’s tugs is behind us and she also has a salvage contract.

It will probably turn out to be a case of first come, first served - again!

Leggate winds the handle to the engine-room telephone vigorously. It is too noisy in the engine-room and they cannot make out what he is saying. Pretty soon the chief is on the bridge and he is told to whip up the horses – give it all that she’s got, for the bloody Dutchman is hot on our tail and she is nearly a knot faster than us.

The chief scuttles off below and pretty soon the needle of the tachometer on the wheelhouse bulkhead has twitched up another few revs. Another few moments later and it twitches upwards again!

The phone rings and I answer. “That’s all there is!” comes a yell from the engine-room control consul.

“Chief says, that is all there is” I relay to Leggate.

Our speed, according to the Decca positions we plot, has hardly increased at all. By about half, maybe three-quarters of a knot at most – a knot faster would be plenty, it could make all the difference, but it just wasn’t there! Normally, even at full power, there would only be a grey haze from the funnel. I look up and we are belching out black smoke - like a coal-fired coaster. The chief has really pulled out all the stops. It is just before lunchtime and our anxious scanning astern reveals a dark smudge on the horizon!

Then the unmistakable masts and funnel of another deep-sea tug heave into binocular view. The damned Dutchman is very close on our heels!

All that afternoon we watch as she gradually creeps closer, a white bone in her teeth, spray flying over her foredeck and bridge. Radio contact with the casualty confirms that we have the salvage contract.

Eavesdropped communications indicated that the Russians were also confirming the same thing with the Dutchman!

27

That evening, Sheep Head is way abaft the starboard beam, we have altered course to the north-west, the swell has lengthened and lowered, we are no longer shipping water for’d, and the damned Dutchman is even closer on our port quarter!

Our ETA at the casualty’s position is just after daylight the following day. A simple calculation indicates the bloody Dutchman is going to get there first! Keep going, maximum power, are Leggate’s instructions, and we do so – the engines are at their maximum, black smoke stretching from our funnel to the horizon as the sun sets, blood-red, in the west. Then, at daylight, the Russian is on the horizon and the Dutch tug is stood by her.

We arrive and close in, then, cheekily, ease into the space between the casualty and the Dutchman.

There is, however, no one on the foredeck of the Russian fish-factory ship. She is anchored to her gear, the trawl wire streaming ahead over her foc’sle. The wind is freshening again – I’m wondering what sort of game is being played. We are blocking any approach that the Dutch tug may try to make but there is no activity on board the Russian’s deck. After ensuring our gear on the aft deck is ready for a rapid connection, I amble onto the bridge and hear Leggate, on the VHF, trying to explain to Ivan how we would connect up our wire.

The Dutchman is having none of this and keeps the transmit switch on his VHF radio depressed. Communicating with Ivan is all but impossible. Then Leggate wriggles the tug closer and gets out the megaphone, trying to get some contact with the Russian. We are close enough and I’m alarmed to see that the Gelderland is easing her stern between our bows and the wire that is anchoring the Russian.

There are but inches to spare - there is still a heavy swell running - this is getting too close for comfort!

I take over the helm and Leggate’s hand is on the telegraph.

Then the Russian, over his deck Tannoy system, instructs, “Tugboat!, Tugboat make distance, standby!”

I suppose he may have been concerned that he’d be bumped into and maybe holed! As far as we were concerned, his instructions to do something could be seen as an order. We might even get paid for it, if we took orders from a casualty.

28

The confrontational situation that was developing between the Brits and the Hollanders – which had been taking on the ancient, confrontational, pride of the likes of De Ruiter and Nelson - was soon diffused and, gradually, the tugs eased away from Ivan and held their distance from each other.

Waiting.

Waiting - waiting - waiting. The wind gets up to gale force, then dies away again. Two more days come and go and still we wait, main engine stopped, tug rolling in the swell. only starting the engine to close up again after we had drifted some way off the casualty. Ivan, still, seems not to want to take a wire from either or maybe both of us and isn’t saying a word. Then, in the middle of the night, there are more lights around. Another massive Russian trawler has showed up, and the fish factory ship transfers her wires to her stern. Then she hauls up and retrieves the gear she had used to hold herself anchored to the bottom. Dawn is hardly breaking and the new Russian has her stern under the bows of our friend Ivan. This new fella knew what he was doing for there wasn’t more than a couple of feet clearance between the two as they passed some steel wire warps over, made fast and started easing away. By breakfast time they are both heading, at a fair towing speed, almost due north. Murmansk or maybe one of the numerous White Sea ports near Archangelski is their most probable destination, we surmise. We wish the Russians and the bloody Dutchman “Bon voyage and good fishing!” then turn tail towards Dunlaoghaire and the three-legged work platform which is to be our next tow.

29

Herzogin Cecilie By John Callcut In our magazine Volume 92, No. 2, I wrote about the wreck of the Herzogin Cecilie. I have just found this interesting piece written by Isabella Kiernander in the club’s magazine dated June 1936. She was born on the Isle of Wight in 1904 and died at Worthing in 1942. Her father was a mariner and she never married. In the late 1930s she regularly had her poems published in the Seven Seas magazine as she had a real passion for ships and the sea. ‘Got to Salcombe about 6.30, fixed up for the night, and were on our way to see the barque at 9.30. First a three-mile bus drive to the village of Marlborough, then some 3½ miles to walk up country lanes and fields in the fading light. We arrived at a farm, crossed a stream by stepping-stones, went on for about a mile climbing up on to the cliffs, and at last there beneath them in the twilight lay the Herzogin Cecilie – lonely and pathetic.

Next day we went round to her by motor boat and took some parcels for the crew. There were six people besides ourselves – three men and three women. It is a lovely looking coast, all rocks and caves, to say nothing of the currents, also, you are more or less broadside on to the sea continually! We arrived alongside her and the boatman left the engine running and abandoned

us to our own devices; there was quite a swell on, and the boat was not made fast, so two or three of us clutched desperately at the rope ladder that swung about over the barque’s side! The boatman returned, and asked if anyone wanted to go aboard? So we went aboard for a few minutes and talked to Captain Erikson. He said the barque could be got off, but – “no money!” It’s more tragic than if it had been impossible to salve her, isn’t it? Oh, for a few thousands! I suppose if the thousands that have flocked to see her would give 2/- each, she might be saved. I’ve been doing a bit of letter writing on her behalf, but I’m afraid it won’t do much good. I enclose the photo you requested for the magazine. I took it on the 30th April, the last of her sails having been removed, I imagine, upon the previous day’. The wreck must have had a profound effect upon Miss Kiernander as she later wrote this poem:

30

“The Figurehead” (Dedicated to the Finnish four-masted barque, Herzogin Cecilie, ashore April 1936, near Salcombe, Devon)

Proudly her eyes look out to where the days Die swiftly, in the softly looming haze,

She loves the sea, the ships that understand; Oh! Not for her the landsmen and the land.

“Ah! Give to me the dancing long jib-boom; The singing of the bow-wash in the gloom;

The gleam of winking side-lights in the dark; The stately beauty of a speeding barque,

“The moon a-gleam upon her four tall spas,

Her straining royals that seem to kiss the stars; The sea, the wind’s low moaning; bound away

To where the long horizon finds the day.

“Oh! Give to me the lash of open seas: The salty tang that’s hidden in the breeze; The lovely, lonely ways of questing ships;

The blood red waters, where the great ship dips,

“As the swift barque makes southing to the Horn, Sails, lonely, down the wind into dawn

To fight the rising gale, the snow’s cold breath, And maybe, ‘ere she’s round, to look on death!”

But these are dreams, for that was long ago;

She does not dream on things she used to know; Of glories that were hers in other days,

When sailors loved her, and the great sea-ways.

Called to her, would not ever let her be, Where she looked out, so hopeful, to the sea, And all the winds of Heaven softly press’d

Against the heart that beat within her breast.

She thinks upon that night of fog-swept dark That saw the lonely dying of a barque:

And when at last men came to set her free, She turned, and cried aloud unto the sea:

But no one heeded, no one saw her die

Beneath the cold, spread splendour of the sky, When came the men who did not understand,

And gave her, broken hearted, to the land.

31

Kenneth D Shoesmith RI by Glyn L. Evans

It is now eighty years since the following Obituary appeared in the March 1939 edition of the Seven Seas Club Magazine. “As we go to press we have received the terribly sad news of the death of Kenneth D Shoesmith RI. It is a great shock to all old members of the Club to whom “K.D.” was so well known. After he left the Conway in’07 he went to the R.S.M.P. and left them shortly after the War to pursue his natural bent as an Artist. Being a sailorman, his marine pictures were always true and, although much of his work was used in the commercial world, his art was never “commercialized.” He has several fine paintings in the Queen Mary, notably the screen over the fireplace in the first-class smoke room. His name will always be with the Seven Seas Club as his picture, “Old Ships and Shipmates” has been the cover picture of our magazine for many years. One of the most genial and happiest souls it has been our fortune to meet, it seems so hard that he should pass on at the comparatively early age of 48. His name will be perpetuated for all time within his old ship Conway, for he painted the truly wonderful War Memorial Screen which has been the admiration of everyone who has been privileged to visit the lower deck of that famous ship. To Mrs. Shoesmith we convey our deepest sympathy in her irreparable loss and, whenever the “old hands” of the Club are gathered together, the name of Kenneth Shoesmith cannot fail to be remembered but with the deepest affection.” Obviously held in great affection by his fellow Club members, K.D. reciprocated his affection for the Club through his art-work. “Old Ships and Shipmates” will be familiar to current members as will K.D.’s painting of “Conway and Mauretania in the River Mersey” (see front cover). The Club Shanty Book, with its Foreword by fellow member and Poet Laureate, John Masefield OM, features a K.D. drawing of sailor men at the capstan. The Obituary mentions K.D.’s paintings in the Queen Mary, and the particular one referred to is shown here. The accompanying photograph, with that painting in the background, shows Winston Churchill enjoying the ambience of the First-Class Smoke Room in 1943, on one of several transatlantic crossings he made aboard the ship for talks with the US President. Other K.D. drawings appeared on the programme/menu for the first Annual Dinner of the Seven Seas Club, 1923 and on the front of the Club magazine for 1926. My book, CARGOES, published in November this year, showcases the sea poems and prose of John Masefield together with paintings by Kenneth D Shoesmith. Naturally, one of K.D.’s paintings features on the front!

32

‘Old Ships and Shipmates’ Seven Seas Magazine 1926

Sir Winston Churchill on board the Queen Mary ……… The Flower Market

Seven Seas Club Menu – 1923

33

34

HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales

On the 4th December 2019 the Royal Navy’s two giant aircraft carriers docked together at Portsmouth for the first time. They each cost £3.1 bn and at 65,000 tonnes each, they are the Navy’s biggest ever warships. A far cry from World War 1’s HMS Argus. She was converted from an ocean liner during the construction phase and weighed less than a quarter of the newest ships.

35

SLOP CHEST

Club Tie Multi-motive £20.00 If posted £22.00 Ten Year Silk Tie Multi-motive Roman Numeral X £20.00 If posted £22.00 Twenty Five Year Silk Tie Single-motive Roman Numeral XXV £20.00 If posted £22.00 Shield The Club Crest in enamel, mounted on a wooden shield £20.00 If posted At cost

Club Burgee 18 inches, 12 inches on truck £25.00 If posted £27.00

Cufflinks Bearing Club Crest, per pair £17.50 If posted £19.50 Seven Seas Sweatshirts Members are reminded that Sweatshirts in Navy. Grey & Red are available in standard Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large & Double Extra Large sizes. £25.00 If posted At cost For any of the above please contact David Ferrier on 0208 330 725 or [email protected] or order direct via our website. Please note the prices are ‘while stocks last’ and will be altered to reflect any increase to the club on re-ordering.