MY GRANDFATHER'S LOG BOOK FROM 1921

I decided that I would Blip my Grandfather’s Log Book today to show the entry for 24th January 1921 - one hundred years ago - from when he was on HMS Southampton for the commissioning of HMS Dartmouth.  Apparently, HMS Southampton had an extremely active wartime career and I know that my Grandfather was on this ship when it fought in the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

On looking at this Log Book, I began to think about all my Grandfather had gone through during the time he was a Stoker in the Royal Navy.  He started his Log Book in December 1920 and the entries starting on 14th December state:

“9 p.m.     Left Devonport Barracks by train for Liverpool.
15th        Arrived at Liverpool embarked on board  SS Darro 
                (a twin-screw steamship) 
                en route for MontiVideo, South America.
19th        Arrived at ?  - left same night for Lisbon arrived 20th a.m.  
                Leave granted to the Naval men for 4 hours
                Left again the same night for South America.
Jan 4      Arrived at Rio de Janiero in Brazil - 
                leave given to Naval men for 8 hours
5th          Left Rio for Santos
6th          Arrived at Santos
7th          Left Santos for MontiVideo
10th       Arrived at MontiVideo - left SS Darro at 7 p.m. 
               joined HMS Dartmouth and started our Commission
14th      Coaled ship 1,000 tons
24th      Left MontiVideo for Maldonado (Uruguay) for fire-ing
              exercises until February 18th - 
              Leave given on Saturdays and Sundays only."

I looked up the distance from MontiVideo to Maldonado and it is about 70 miles, so not that far, but as boilers consume approximately 1 ton of coal in less than half an hour, one can only imagine the relays of stokers involved in shifting that amount of coal from bunkers to firebox and the amount of heat and coal dust that would have produced.  No wonder he was always coughing - and I don’t think it was because he smoked - his lungs must have been filled with coal dust!

Apparently, there were two classes of Stoker: Trimmers, who brought the coal from the bunkers to the boilers in wheelbarrows, and Firemen, who actually shovelled the coal into the fireboxes. The latter was considered the more skilled job: if you got it wrong, you could be incinerated by a blowback. The boiler rooms were at a temperature of 150 degrees, and in an atmosphere full of coal dust, with the furnaces roaring, in a rolling and pitching vessel, under the water line, knowing that a torpedo would obliterate the ship at any moment must have been hell. 

My Grandfather’s Log Book was written either using a fountain pen or a pen that he dipped in ink, and it still looks as good today - but I have wondered where he would have written this - on his bunk bed or a desk - with the sea making the ship roll, he would have had to be very careful with the ink!  And I wonder if he ever got sea-sick?  Did he miss his wife, my Grandmother and their two year old son, Alfie, who were back home in Portsmouth?  So many questions that I wish I had asked him while he was still alive, but of course, like many men who had served in the Wars, he never spoke of it.

But at least today, I have this precious Log Book in his own hand to remind me of the part he played in World War I - and the photograph of him on the right is when he served on HMS Durban during World War II.

“The Navy is much more than a job;
     much more than service to country.
It is a way of life,
     it gets in your blood.”
Albert F. Pratt

P.S.  Having been a Registrar of Marriages in two previous Churches, I realise the importance of preserving the written Registers - the ink we had to use was awful, but we could only use that - so the fact that my Grandfather's Log has lasted so well speaks volumes for the quality of the ink 100 years ago.  I'm not sure if the ink we use these days will be as good in 2121, but I doubt many people do that much writing - but I still enjoy it and have written to lots of people since the lockdown.