ljS» .- i-.r.w.' ,.;... .^. Ay - -c---^".: . ." -'^;r'^>yj^^-^'~y.~y'?-j^: '' < IVffiRCHANT^ DAVID WBONE ULUSTRATED^BY-MOIRHEAD -BONE Merchantmen-at-Arms THE BRITISH MERCHANTS' SERVICE IN THE WAR BY DAVI D W. BONE DRAWINGS BY MUIRHEAD BONE LONDON: CHATTO ^ WINDUS 1919 CONTENTS PART I PAGE I THE MERCHANTS' SERVICE Our Foundation 3 The Structure 14 II OUR RELATIONS WITH THE NAVY Joining Forces 21 At Sea 26 Our War Staff 30 III THE LONGSHORE VIEW 44 IV CONNECTION WITH THE STATE Trinity House, our Alma Mater 53 The Board of Trade 61 V MANNING 67 PARI II \I THF, COASTAL SERVICES The Home Trade 77 Pilots 87 Lightships 91 ' VII ' THE PRICE 0' FISH 97 Mil THE RATE OF EXCHANGE 103 IX INDEPENDENT SAILINGS no vii Contents PAGE X BATTLEDORE AND SHUTTLECOCK ii6 XI ON SIGNALS AND WIRELESS 120 XII TR-\NSPORT SERVICES Interlude 132 ' ' The Man-o'-War 's 'er 'usband 134 XIII THE SALVAGE SECTION The Tidemasters on A Day the Shoals 147 The Dry Dock 156 XIV ON CAMOUFLAGE—AND SHIPS' NAMES 163 XV FLAGS AND BROTHERHOOD OF THE SEA 169 PART III XVI THE CONVOY SYSTEM ^n XVII OUTWARD BOUND 184 XVIII RENDEZVOUS igo XIX CONFERENCE 1^8 XX THE SAILING Fog, and the Turn of the Tide 20c ' ' In Execution of Previous Orders 212 XXI THE NORTH RIVER 217 XXII HOMEWARDS The Argonauts 2 24 On Ocean Passage 2^0 ' ' One Light on all Faces 236 XXIII ' DELIVERING THE GOODS ' 44 ' XXIV CONCLUSION : ' M N APPENDIX -33 INDEX 257 viii ILLl STRATIONS PAGE Merchantmen at Gun Practice Frontispiece The Clyde from the Tower of the Clyde Trust Buildings xi Gravesend : A Merchantman Outward Bound 3 The Bridge of a Merchantman 7 The Old and the New : The Margaret of Dublin and R.M.S. Tuscania 15 In a Merchantman—Bomb-Thrower Practice 21 A British Submarine detailed for Instruction of Merchant Officers 31 The D.A.M.S. Gunwharf at Glasgow 33 Instructional Anti-Submarine Course for Merchant Officers at Glasgow 39 The Loss of a Liner 44 The Mersey from the Liver Buildings, Liverpool 49 The Master of the Gull Lightship writing the Log 53 At Gravesend : Pilots awaiting an Inward-Bound Convoy 59 Transports leaving Southampton on the Night Passage to France 67 Liverpool : Merchantmen signing on for Oversea Voyages 69 Tin; Rui.ER of Pilots at Deal 77 A Heavily Armed Coasting Barge 83 Tin: Lampman of the Gull Lightship 93 Minesweepers going out 97 Southampton Water 103 ' Out-Boats ' jn a Merchantman 105 Firemen standing by to relieve the Watch hi Queen's Dock, Glasgow 116 The Bridge-Boy repairing Flags 121 A Transport Embarking Troops for France 125 Transports in Southampton Docks 129 The Leviathan docking at Liverpool 135 ix Illustrations PAGE Salvage Vessels off Yarmouth, Isle of Wight 141 In a Salvage Vessel : Overhauling the Insulation of the Power Leads 14c A Torpedoed Merchantman on the Shoals : Salvage Officers making a Survey 151 A Torpedoed Ship in Dry Dock 157 Dazzle 163 An Apprentice in the Merchants' Service 171 A Standard Ship at Sea 177 Building a Standard Ship 179 The Thames Estuary in War-Time 184 Dropping the Pilot 187 Examination Service Patrol boarding an Incoming Steamer 190 Dawn : Convoy preparing to put to Sea 193 Evening : Plymouth Hoe 198 A Convoy Conference 201 The Old Harbour, Plymouth 205 Convoy sailing from Plymouth Sound 207 Inward Bound 217 A Transport Loading 219 A Convoy in the Atlantic 224 The Bows of the Kashmir damaged by Collision 227 The Mayflower Quay, the Barbican, Plymouth 233 Evening : The Mersey from the Landing-Stage 241 The Steersman 243 The Work of a Torpedo 244 Transports Discharging in Liverpool Docks 245 Troop Transports disembarking at the Landing-Stage, Liverpool 249 ' ' M N 252 THE CLYDIi FROM THE TOWER OF THE CLYDE TRUST BUILDINGS INTRODUCE ION WRITTEN largel\- between the shipping crisis of 1917 and the surrender i)t (lernian imdcrsea arms at Harwich on November 20, 1918. this book is an effort to record a seaman's impressions of the trial tlirough which the Merchants' Service has come in the war. It is necessarily halting and incomplete. The extent of the subject is perhaps beyond the safe traverse of a mariner's dead reckoning. Policies of govern- mental control and of the economics of our management do not come wiiliin the xi JWerchantmen-at-Arms scope of the book except as text to the diary of seafaring. Out at sea it is not easv to keep the right proportions in forming an opinion of measures devised on a grand scale, and of the operation of which we see only a small part. Our slender thread of communication with longshore happenings is often broken, and understanding is warped by conjecture. In pride of his ancient trade, the seaman may perceive an importance and vital instrumentalitv in the ships and their voyages that ma\- not be so evident to the landsman. By this is the mariner constantly impressed : that, without the merchant's enterprise on the sea—the adventure of his finance, his ships, his gear, his men—the armed and enlisted resources of the State could not have prevailed in averting disaster and defeat. The unique experiences of individual seamen—the trials of seafaring under less favourable circumstances than was the writer's good fortune—the plaints and grievances of our internal affairs—are but lightly sketched. I\Iany brother seamen ma\- feel that the harassing and often despairing case of the average " tramp steamer has not adequateh' been dealt with ; that—in Outward Bound," as an instance—the writer presents a tranquil and idvllic picture w hich cannot be accepted as t\'pical. The bitter hardship of proceeding on a voyage under w'ar conditions, with the same small crew that was found inadequate in peace-time, is hardh- suggested ; the extent of the work to be overtaken is perhaps camouflaged in that description of setting out. Reality would more frequently show a vessel being hurried out of dock on the top of the tide, putting to sea into heavy weather, with the hatchways open over hasty stowage, and all the litter of a week's harbour disroutine standing to be cleared by a raw and semi-mutinous crew. Criticism on these grounds is just : but it was ever the seaman's custom to dismiss heavy weather—when it was past and gone —and recall only the fine days of smooth sailing. If the hard times of our strain and labouring are not wholly over, at least we have fallen in with a more favouring wind from the land. Conditions in the Merchants' Service are vastly improved since Germany challenged our right to pass freely on our lawful occasions. Relations between the owner and the seamen are less strained. Remuneration for sea-service is now more adequate. The sullen atmosphere of harsh treatment on the one hand, and grudging service on the other, has been cleared away by the hurricane threat to our common interests. xii Introduction Throughout the book there are some few extracts— all indicated by quotation marks—from the works of modern authors. The writer wishes to acknowledge " their use and to mention the following : Trinity House," by Walter H. Mayo ; " " The Sea," by F. \\'hympcr ; The Merchant Seamen in War," by L. Cope " " Cornford ; Fleets behind the Fleet," by W. Macneile Dixon ; North Sea " " Fishers and Fighters and Fishermen in Wartime," both by Walter Wood ; the pages of the Nautical Magazine. The grateful thanks of writer and artist are tendered to Rear-Admiral Sir Douglas Brownrigg, Chief Naval Censor, and to Lord Beaverbrook and Mr. Arnold Bennett, of the Ministry of Information, for facilities and kindly assistance in preparation of the work. The writer's indebtedness to his Owners for encou- ragement and for generous leave of absence (without which the book could not have been written) is especially acknowledged. Mr. Muirhead Bone's drawings reproduced in this book were executed during the war for the Ministry of Information with the co-operation of the Admiralty. They are now in the possession of the Imperial War Museum. With the exception of the illustrations on pages 44, 224, and 2^2, these drawings were made on the spot. DAVID W. BONE Xlll PART I :^- .^i^-J^ OKAVESEND : A MERCHANTMAN OUTWARD BOUND I THE MERCHANTS' SERVICE OUR FOUNDATION ALTHOUGH sea-interest of to-dav finds an expression somewhat trite and familiar, the spell of the ships and the romance of voyaging drew an instant and wondering recognition from the older chroniclers. With a sure sense of right emphasis, yet observing an austere simplicity, they preserved for us an eloquent and adequate impression of the vital power of the ships. One outstanding fact remains constantly impressed in their records—that our island gates are set fast on the limits of tide-mark, leaving no way out but by passage of the misty sea-line ; there is no gangway to a foreign field other than the planking of our vessels. Grandeur of the fleets, the might of sea-ordnance, the intense dramatic decision of a landing, stand out in the great pieces the early writers and painters 3 JVIerchantmen-at-Arms designed. Brave kingh^ figures wind in and out against the predominant back- ground of rude hulls and rigging and weathered sails. The outline of the ships and the ungainly figures of the mariners are definiteh" placed to impel our thoughts to the distant sea-marches. Happih' for us, the passengers of early days included clerks and learned men on their pilgrimages, else we had known but little of bygone ship life.