' I r MBS 3> •LRU* UK ^§22 OlMAfJ Wy8m K INDISCRETIONS OF THE NAVAL CENSOR Photo: Histed REAR-ADMIRAL SIR DOUGLAS BROWNRIGG, BT. INDISCRETIONS OF THE NAVAL CENSOR BY REAR-ADMIRAL SIR DOUGLAS BROWNRIGG, Bt. WITH 'TWELVE PLATES GASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD I^ondon, New York, Toronto and Melbourne 1920 TO THE ROYAL NAVY WHICH I HAVE LOVED FOR THIRTY-NINE YEARS PREFACE I have been induced by some people for whom I have a high regard, and in some cases even affection, to attempt to set down some of my recollections of the four and a half strenuous years of my service as Chief Censor at the Admiralty during the late War. I am painfully aware that in the pages which follow there is to be found— trace of is (1) No literary merit ; that a gift which but few naval officers are so fortunate as to possess. (2) A deplorable lack of continuity, and hence no " " construction in the trivial narrative. That is due to the fact that I never kept a diary for two reasons. Firstly, it was too dangerous to do so, and, secondly, I was too dead tired to have any inclination to write when the day's work was done. To say that I now regret this omission is to put it very mildly. Now that it is all over, I realise how fortunate I was to have such an interesting job, and I gratefully acknowledge the consideration I received from all the high Admiralty officers under whom I served, from many members of the Press, from authors, artists and vu Preface photographers (both moving and still) in carrying out my duties. My reward is that I feel I have more friends among that section of the community than I had before the War, and if I may judge from the many letters I have received from them they appre- ciated my efforts to help them and realised that I never desired to hinder them. I do not feel disposed to apologise for the launch- ing of this record, as the public, unlike me, who, during my term of service, had to read any and every- thing that came before me in proof form, need NOT wade through the following pages. N.B.—I gratefully acknowledge valuable help kindly given me by Mr. Archibald Hurd in the final stages of preparing the book for press, and I need not assure his many admirers that he is in no way responsible for its literary style. vni CONTENTS CHATTER FAGE 1. The Establishment of the Naval Censorship 2. How the News came of the Battles of Coronel and the Falkland Islands 19 3. Problems of Publicity and Propaganda 32 4. The Battle of Jutland 48 5. The Death of Lord Kitchener . 60 C. Educating the People 64 7. Co-operation with Other Departments 79 8. Zeebrugge and the Censorship . 93 9. Authors, Publishers, and Some Others 103 10. Pressmen of Allied Countries . 121 11. Visitors to the Grand Fleet 139 12. Artists and the Naval War 155 13. Censoring Naval Letters . 182 14. Wireless and War News . 190 15. Odds and Ends ..... 197 " 16. A Censor's Holidays "... 223 17. Last Days of the Censorship OCR Index ....... 271 LIST OF PLATES Rear-Admiral Sir Douglas Brownrigg, Bt. Frontispiece Facing page II. M. The King with the Grand Fleet : The King Saluting (showing the Censor's Markings) ....... 1G H.M. The King Saluting ..... 16 With the British Navy in War-time : Evening in the North Sea ..... 48 With the Grand Fleet : Ships Astern, H.M.S. Agincouri and H.M.S. Bcnbow ... SO Nets and Mines to Strafe U-Boats . .112 II. M. The King Visiting the Grand Fleet . 144 II. M. The King on Board a Super-Dreadnought 17G The Naval Censor at Work .... 202 Motor Launches in IIarrour Awaiting their Hour to go on Patrol .... 224 H.M.S. Bcnbow in Tow 240 A Battleship's Band ..... 250 Indiscretions of the Naval Censor CHAPTER I THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NAVAL CENSORSHIP Acceptance of Appointment in the Spring of 1914 — Emergency Arrangements on the Outbreak of War — Organisation at the Admiralty—The Birth of the Press Bureau—Relations with the Sea Lords and Mr. Winston Churchill—Right of the Censor to be acquainted with Secret Messages—Communications between the Chief Cen- sors at the War Office and Admiralty—The Trade Division of the Admiralty War Staff—Captain Richard Webb and Commander Leverton Harris—Mr. Churchill in Bed— Mr. Churchill and the Dardanelles—The First Official Naval Photographer—Relations with Prince Louis of Batten- berg and Lord Fisher. When I retired from the Navy in January, 1913, I was invited to sign a paper stating whether I would volunteer for service in the event of mobilisation for war, and if so, whether afloat or ashore. I said that I would volunteer for service afloat, and thought no more about it. 1 had entered the Navy in 1881 and had seen some fighting in the Soudan, had served in the Naval Intelligence Department at the Admiralty, as well as at Tolrio as Naval Attache, and had had a good deal of sea experience of one kind and another. But for family reasons I decided to retire, and I came ashore, B I Indiscretions of the Naval Censor thinking never again to have anything to do with the Navy. Who in 1913 had any idea of what was going so soon to happen ? I will be honest. I hadn't. I was not among the prophets, and am content to belong to the small minority who had not foretold the war and all its wonders and horrors. In the spring of 1914 I was asked, in the event of mobilisation, if I would accept the appointment of Chief Censor of Radio-Telegraphy. I answered that I was entirely at their Lordships' disposal, and in a week's time I received the appointment of Chief Censor of Radio-Telegraphy, with instructions to go to the Admiralty from time to time to make and keep myself acquainted with the progress of radio- telegraphy in the United Kingdom. I went during June and July and read the various handbooks on the subject ; and when, during the middle and towards the end of July, it became increasingly evident that war might break out, I reviewed the situation in so far as it concerned my own appointment and came to the conclusion that I could not possibly do the work single-handed. On the Friday before the outbreak of war, there- fore, I telegraphed to two officers (Commander Thomas Crease and Lieutenant Cyprian Bridge), who were indirectly connected with me in the business world, and asked them to lunch with me the next day at the Naval and Military Club. They came, and I put the situation before them, after which, having looked at the books and office and considered various Establishment of the Naval Censorship details, they agreed to act as my assistants. Then I sent them both away for the week-end and remained on duty myself. On that memorable Saturday, August 1, all our radio stations were placed under control, and messages for censorship thereafter came pouring in night and day. There was no staff, so we assembled a body of clerks, all experts at shorthand and typewriting, drawn from the associated firms of which we had special knowledge, Messrs. Cammell Laird and the Fairfield Shipbuilding Company ; and these men immediately sorted themselves out into four shifts, covering the twenty-four hours, and arranged their meal-relief and so on between themselves. They saved the situation for me, and their single-minded- ness and devotion to their arduous duties fully justified me in forwarding to their two firms on August 25, 1914, the following message circulated by the First Lord of the Admiralty five days previously, to the Admiralty Staff : Admiralty, S.W. The First Lord has directed me to express to the Admiralty Staff his great satisfaction at the excellent work done by them during the period of strain involved in the mobilisation of the Fleet for War. The First Lord considers that the manner in which all Departments have responded to the caJl made upon them has been admirable. This expression of appreciation is thoroughly concurred in by all the members of the Board. It j.'ivcs me much pleasure to circulate this message of commendation. W. Graham Greene. 20//j August, 191 I. 3 Indiscretions of the Naval Censor I am anticipating events, however. When Sunday dawned it was upon a day of unforgettable excite- ment. It was still uncertain on the following day whether we should go to war or not, though the die, as we now know, had already been cast by Germany, and, throughout the country, the great mass of the people were enjoying the beautiful August Bank Holiday. At the Admiralty the tension was such, however, that nobody who was there .will ever forget it. I was now trying to organise the proper distribu- tion of the hundreds of messages that were flooding in from all the radio stations, at each of which I had a staff of censors, ten in all, I think. The Trade Division of the Admiralty War Staff, though still small, was in a state of rapid expansion, and it must be remembered that it was upon this division that the safety of our immense merchant service largely depended, since it was the recipient of intelligence from all parts of the world of the doings of our own shipping and the whereabouts and movements of hostile vessels.