CONTENTS –NO. 96 – August 2014 Edited by Jonathan Seagrave
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96 The Newsletter of the SOUTH WEST MARITIME HISTORY SOCIETY ` ISSN 1360-6980 CONTENTS –NO. 96 – August 2014 Edited by Jonathan Seagrave EDITORIAL 3 REPORTS OF MEETINGS AGM Mike Bender 5 Mt. Edgcumbe Jonathan Seagrave 9 Launch of Maritime History of Somerset A Webb 12 ARTICLES HMS Mantua and the Spanish Flu Su Startin 14 Pilgrims Progress Roger Hare 17 Exotic plants Joan Price 20 REVIEWS South Devon’s Shipwreck Trail Jessica Berry rev.Tony Pawlyn 22 Maritime History of Somerset ed. A Webb rev. David Clement 23 LETTERS NOTES AND NEWS 25 OFFICERS and COMMITTEE back cover WEBSITE. http://www.swmaritime.org.uk/ FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/SWMarHistSoc 1 Individual contributions © Individual contributors. Entire journal © South West Maritime History Society 2014. Views expressed are the authors’ and not necessarily those of the Society or editor. Please note the Society cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information on websites and that references in older editions may not be accurate. Annual Subscriptions Due 1st April. £20.00 or £15 if paid by Standing Order. Students can take advantage of our special annual subscription of £10. A reminder/invoice is included with the April edition. If you pay by SO please ignore, but ensure your SO setup includes a reference that identifies who you are, and send to membership secretary (see back page) David Clement presents an award cheque to Joan Price at the AGM 2 FUTURE MEETINGS AND OTHER EVENTS 6th September Daysail Pilgrim from Brixham FULL (contact David Clement for a reserve) 27th September Swansea Waterfront. PLEASE CONSIDER BOOKING David Clement organising. Calling notice enclosed. 18 April 2015, SW Ship Show Portishead (Italics indicate an event of interest but not organised directly by the Society) Confirmation of events will be published either in the next edition or in calling notices for bookings, which will be sent to members at the appropriate time. Next copy date: October 10th 2014 EDITORIAL AND MEMBERSHIP At the formal AGM, Derek Tyrrell, our new Treasurer, introduced himself, and other officers were returned en bloc. This belies issues arising from poor health among the usual suspects. We need one or two new and active members to either join the Committee and/or to reliably assist. In particular, a new Secretary is needed, and a non technical web editor. 3 The latest Maritime South West was distributed, and those of you who have paid £15 or committed a standing order will have received your copy then or in the post. Those who have yet to do so will have received a final reminder with their copy. It is final, and “Twelve Pounders”, still around 80, will in future only receive Soundings (Thanks to those who have settled up). If you haven’t heard from us, please contact Gill, contact details are on the back cover. Total membership appears to be holding up reasonably well, but there is no room for complacency. An insert sheet shows the accounts, which are reasonably healthy, but it can also be seem that on a continuing basis, printing & postage broadly equates with the subs, and this leaves gift aid as the source of any donation, prizes and other expenditure. We continue advocacy work. Martin responded to the National Historic Ships consultation, and we are currently making representations on the low sulphur fuel issue, which affects all historic steam vessels. There will be more on this next time. We face a major problem with the website. Unfortunately Dave Hills, who has built up our excellent and extensive website over the years, and done a huge amount of work quietly behind the scenes, is seriously ill, and can no longer manage it. The Committee are considering ways forward, it is far too significant to simply freeze, but for the moment there will be few if any updates, and we need to act swiftly. Unlike many Society sites, it is hand crafted and big (4GB), so a paid input will be necessary to make it sustainable. We have a proposal we are progressing. We will need a non technical volunteer web editor to prepare “Webery” and upload the various articles, news etc. after SWS comes out. Contact me or Martin if you are interested. There is no Webery in this edition, and the changeover may mean a brief period when the site is frozen. Please note we will be away till mid October We all wish Dave all the very, very best in his battle with illness. Jonathan and Gill Seagrave 4 REPORTS OF MEETINGS Topsham - the AGM, 6 June Going to the AGM concentrates my mind. As a yachting historian, I really would like to see two volumes published ; firstly, Ivy Carus- Watson’s diary: she was an early female dinghy racer, and a good one, much to the men’s disgust; it’s her racing journal and it stops when she marries Morgan Giles, as is only right and proper; and Janet Cusack’s thesis, or the important bits of it, with two or three intros explaining her importance and innovativeness. The problem, with both her and her sister, Bridget, having passed away, will be to get copyright consent. Anyway, to Topsham for the presentations by Exeter Uni. History Dept. students, organised by Mike Duffy. Javier Albini talked of the planning and strategy involved in William the Orange’s invasion and landing at Dartmouth and Brixham. We talk of spin and advertising hype, but the rewriting of history in this case is breath-taking. It is only in the last two years I have come to realise that he was invited by a few traitors and rather than being the figurehead of an English ‘spontaneous’ uprising, as Javier pointed out, landed with 50,000 troops! The nonsense of saying William the Conqueror was the last invader…. I suppose that’s what makes history so interesting. The powerful control record taking and making, and it is the job of the historian to get more basic facts and check out the narrative. Mike Wilson gave a short talk on the importance of the re-taking of the Scheldt in 1944, and how his father was part of the force; and how it shortened the war by allowing Antwerp to be used as an ordnance depot. Incidentally, the Nobel prize winning novelist, William Golding commanded a landing craft on what was nearly a suicide mission to retake Walcheren on November 1, 1944 (see John Carey’s detailed biography of Golding). I often think that his inversion of plucky- English-boys-on-desert-island (Ballantyne’s Coral Island for example) into the dystopian Lord of the Flies was, in part, due to his war-time experiences. 5 Joan Price is the wife of consultant psychiatrist, Mike Price I worked with for many years in Plymouth, then realized she was doing a Ph.D at Exeter. Small world. She gave a wide-ranging, well illustrated talk on the various types of specimens – botanical, zoological, shells etc. that the explorers (and Falmouth packet captains bought back) and how they preserved them, or tried to, on passage. I had heard about how the Packet skippers brought back specimens for the rich ship owners around the Fal and created those amazing gardens (Trebah, Glendurgan, Trellisick) in a talk by Megan Westley at the one day conference in Falmouth Maritime last November, so this area seems to be topical (or if not tropical!) Sarah Parsons, assistant curator, Falmouth Maritime, is doing sterling service setting up and encouraging the Facebook and Twitter accounts for the society, which she explained to us. I’m sure, with Dave Hills’ superb webpage, that our future depends on the success of their efforts. Up stepped Adrian Webb, to promote the just published second volume of The Maritime History of Somerset. It was a very nicely presented plug, with the title of each chapter, a relevant picture, and a mug shot of the author for each section. And since it was going for £15 instead of £20, and since I had Vol.l, naturally I was in the queue and got him to sign my copy…. There was good enthusiasm in the room, with members saying we should contribute or co-publish Vol. 3. (Which seemed to me to depend on maintaining our membership and not being crippled by postage costs). The only lack I can see so far is a chapter on yachting, and I think I know someone who might help… The formal AGM passed off peaceably and the morning session ended with Dave Clement giving out this year’s Journal, with its full colour cover. The amount of work that goes into each year’s production and the ever-improving production standards is belied by his modesty, but I trust is not irreplaceable. I am finding the Journal in second-hand bookshops, which always gives me a good feeling. Lunch at the Globe is always pleasant, partly because the sandwiches are good and partly because they provide tables seating about eight, which is just the right number for chatting… After lunch, Dr. Mike Wilson explained to use how to make a decent mast for a warship; the difference between curly and pointy trees; the 6 supremacy of the Scotch pine and importing them from the Baltic states and America. In short, all you ever wanted to know about making a mast for your warship… Doug Brodie is the chairman of the Save S/S Shieldhall campaign. His talk was a fascinating example of how to play and win in the muddy waters of a major ship restoration, culminating in a grant from the lottery of £1.4 pounds to prevent the need for any major structural work for twenty-five years ! (what chutzpah – who thinks in 25 year cycles nowadays?).