Fred's Story retold.

Fred's Grand-nephew, Graham Rogers is a professional storyteller & will be telling his version of Fred's story, 5,000 Cherry Stones on Friday at Allendale House, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 1AS at 2pm August 11


 - Catch it if you can. 

Sister ship to HMS Jessamine

Newham Recorder

Newham Recorder's report on Fred's book

The First World War German Attack on Scarborough & other east coast towns killed more than 150, and later was used as recruiting propaganda. The public blamed the Royal Navy for not stopping the raid. Hence, Fred's defence of his ships' actions.

BBC Local News:  "The time was eight o'clock, the day was Wednesday 16th December 1914, and far removed from the battlefields of the Western Front death had come calling on the defenceless seaside town of Scarborough! That fateful morning 18 people fell victim to the German attack."


From Smudge's Story: "At about 7.00 a.m. we went to ‘action stations’.  Seawards there had been spotted three German battle cruisers.  But then what could we have done against such odds?  Their twelve inch guns against our twelve pounders.  But as they neared the coast we were ordered by the commander in chief to retire from any action, no doubt our battle fleet were closing in on them, but we were between them and land.  The Germans went full speed and opened fire on the towns of Scarborough , Hartlepool and Whitby but they did not stay for long.  They were scared, I suppose, of what would happen once we knew of their presence.  One of my division’s destroyers was sprayed with shrapnel resulting in a couple of lads killed and several other casualties.  So, we were ordered to our base, while the big chase went on."

 Read more:  http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/features/history/articles/8908064.First_World_War_bombardment_of_Scarborough/

HMS Derwent

HMS Derwent firing a torpedo

"After inspection, I was taken forward to the crew's quarters in the narrow sleek bow and descended to the mess-deck, which accommodated about thirty men, the majority of whom were ‘old salts’.  I was informed, by my mess caterer that I must pull my weight, or else."  From  Smudge's Story p. 51.

At this time 100 years ago in 1914 Fred was in the North Sea aboard either Derwent or her sister ship, HMS Kale. Luckily for Fred, and for us, he left the ship before 1917...

"On 2 May 1917 HMS Derwent struck a contact mine laid by German submarine UC-26 off Le Havre, France. She sank two cables north of the Whistle Buoy with the loss of 58 officers and men." :UBoat.net

 HMS Derwent

Ordered:                       1901 – 1902

Laid down:                    12 June 1902

Launched:                     14 February 1903

Commissioned:             June 1904

Fate: Mined,                 2 May 1917 

Class & type: Hawthorn Leslie Type River Class destroyer

Displacement:              550 t

625 t full load

Length:                          226 ft 6 in

Beam:                             23 ft 9 in

Draught:                        7 ft 9 in

Installed power:           7,000 shp

Propulsion:  

4 × Yarrow type water tube boilers

2 × vertical triple-expansion steam engines driving 2 shafts

Speed:                           25.5 kn

Range:                            140 tons coal

1,870 nmi at 11 kn

Complement:                70 officers and men

Armament:   

1 × QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mark I, mounting P Mark I

3 × QF 12-pounder 8 cwt, mounting G Mark I (added in 1906)

5 × QF 6-pdr naval gun (removed in 1906)

2 × single tubes for 18-inch torpedoes 

California sailed on her last voyage from New York on 29 January 1917 with 184 crew and 31 passengers. On the morning of 7 February when homeward-bound and approaching Ireland under full steam, she was attacked by U-85 in a surprise attack. 

The German submarine, under the command of Kapitanleutenant Willy Petz, fired two torpedoes at California; one struck the ship squarely on the port quarter near the Number 4 hatch. Five people were killed instantly in the explosion; thirty-six people drowned either as the ship went down or when one filled lifeboat was swamped in the wake of the burning vessel, which plowed ahead losing little headway as she went down. She sank in nine minutes, 38 miles (61 km) W by S of Fastnet Rock, Ireland with a loss of 41 lives.

Though Captain John L Henderson stayed on the bridge through the entire incident, and subsequently went down with the ship, incredibly he made his way to the surface and was rescued.

Fred's ship, HMS Jessamine, was nearby and went to the rescue. Although, not a good swimmer, Fred jumped into the sea and rescued a woman desperately clinging onto two children.

According to the Royal Navy, on 12 March 1917 the Q-ship HMS Privet avenged the sinking of California. Posing as an unarmed merchant vessel, the crew of Privet lured U-85 to the surface after sustaining heavy damage in an unprovoked attack by the submarine. As Privet’s highly trained crew feigned abandoning ship, they uncovered the ship’s hidden guns and opened fire on the submarine at close range. U-85 was sunk by gunfire, and Kapitanleutenant Petz and his crew of 37 men were killed.

Smudge's Story is now available at Amazon.

How to make tea, in mid-Atlantic 1916.

As the night neared its end and dawn broke, two of us volunteered to brew some tea, as a refresher.  It took two men.  With the daylight, we left our mess, went on deck, and dodged the seas that were coming inboard.  Some of the waves seemed thirty feet above our bows as Jessie plunged and lifted her nose high and then, with an almighty “swish”, the sea would surge along her main deck.  Out of breath, we arrived in the galley and brewed up.  Then, lashing the teapot lid on tight, we now had to return to the lads, whilst hoping the salt water did not get in and mix with the tea.  We arrived back at the hatchway, soaked but safe.  While I held the teapot, the second man held me as we descended the companion ladder, which was quite a feat.  We hung the teapot from a swinging hook and poured our tea into basins.  You need an acquired skill to drink from a basin in these conditions without upsetting it down your chest.  But the tea helped to relieve our tension.  I was on watch at eight bells, or 8.00 a.m., so I had some biscuits and corned beef, and went on duty.

1918

"The whole fleet was ordered to sea and we all proceeded to Scapa Flow to join the Northern Fleet. This armada put to sea in battle array, a really impressive sight to see, over forty battleships together with an American squadron of thirty fast, light cruisers and flotillas of destroyers and submarines. We were on a large scale manoeuvre in the direction of the German coast. Each flagship had an observation balloon with lookouts. I was wondering why we were all out, was there a big battle imminent?" 

Smudge's Story

Odessa in the Ukraine 7th February 1921

Today, in 2014, there is a crises in the Ukraine as there was 93 years ago:

Fred wrote:

"Unfortunately, the bombardment did not stop the Red Army which was now advancing into Odessa in force.  News of this now started off a real panic on shore, where mass hysteria was only too evident as the poor devils hoped against hope for rescue.

Our captain (H.M.S. Ceres) was in a real dilemma - knowing full well we could not take any more.  Fighting took place on the jetty. We had to pull up the gangways and threaten to fire.  Some women got on the ice pleading for help – oh - it’s awful to feel so powerless and I know our captain was overcome with emotion."

---

Captain V H Haggard of H.M.S. Ajax wrote that, “On the 7th Feb, things began to look so bad that I ordered the transports to leave at once and requested Colonel Walshe to come aboard the Ceres with the Mission. They eventually arrived in good order with no casualties except for Captain Macpherson, who was dangerously wounded. Ajax fired high shrapnel over the suburbs, which contained the more Bolshevik element of the city... The Mission and cadet forces, which had held the approaches to the city, were embarked aboard the Ceres which I then ordered to leave the city". : ADM 137/1756

Smudge on the Web

From the poverty of London’s East End to the Royal Navy, “Smudge’s Story” tells of the early life of Fred Smith. In his own words, Fred tells of his part in the battle against First World War U-boats, of life as a stoker in a tiny ship tossed by huge Atlantic waves, and of the terrified faces of those he rescued from icy seas.  Fred describes his fears, his joys and his growing love for his sweetheart back home.

He tells of Sinn Fein riots, the freezing Baltic, the sweltering Mediterranean, the Black Sea and of war and revolution. Fred and his shipmates encounter snipers, wild dogs and desperate women; and witness thousands fleeing the advancing Red Army in Odessa, where their ship is helplessly locked in ice. 

How does a ship’s stoker, an ordinary man, cope in such epic times of death and suffering? 

Unread for many years in the attic, this story is now brought to life. Edited and published by his family, it presents a unique and fascinating account of the worst of times in our country’s history.