Part of the
Acorn Archive
Hearts of Oak
Charles Lewis
Royal Navy [1891-1905]
West Africa Station
1900-1904
Part 2
Written 1900-1904 on HMS BLANCHE
We landed one day at Bathurst,
for drill, but each of us had to take 60 rounds of ball ammunition, which set
us wondering, why the ammunition? We were not long kept in doubt. The order
went round that that precisely at 11am, we had to form up in front of the
Governor’s house and await orders. In front of us was drawn up a Regiment of West
African Rifles, who was petitioning the Governor for a rise of pay ( their pay
was 2 pence a day). As the Government refused their request, we were lined up
behind the Regiment, in case they should strike out. Happily, we were not
required to use our ammunition, for the Regiment took the refusal in good
heart. It was a mean thing to do, for that Regiment deserves better of our
Government. That Regiment, with the East Africa Regiment are a fine body of men
(we used to carry out manoeuvres with them), proper Jack Johnsons.
[The following was written
in 1944]
Another thing we did, we
evacuated whole families of Loyal Dutch to safer areas, to prevent the Boers
from molesting them. In addition to the men and their wives and families, we
took everything belonging to them – furniture and all. It all had to be done
from an open beach in small ship’s boats. No light task when it is rough. What
made it worse, we couldn’t coal there; That meant one ship would have to go
back to Simon’s Town, fill up with coal, and come back to Lambert’s Bay, then
we had to make what seemed endless journeys to and from the ship, carrying coal
in our ship’s boats. Oh the cleaning out the boats afterwards! One day it came
our turn to bring coal from Simon’s Town. Our Captain had orders to fill the
upper deck up with coal, so as to bring round as much as possible. On our way
round, just off the Cape of Good Hope, we got broadside on to the seas. As she
heeled over, the coal fell to leeward, by all the rules of the sea, she should
have foundered, but why, I don’t know. I never wish to be in a ship with such a
list again. It was like looking up the side of
house, all hands had to get a move on and jettison the whole of the
upper deck cargo, before we could get her on an even keel again. Our Captain
said afterwards that he would sooner be Court-Martialled than take in another
upper deck cargo.
Lambert’s Bay is situated
South West of Cape Colony, South Africa. When I was there, the village
comprised of a few wooden shacks. It became an important place for landing
troops and stores in bullock waggons to Clanwilliam. I used to like watching
the bullock drivers whipping up their teams, of sometimes 40 bullocks; he could
whip - with ease – the nearest one or the pair furthermost away. I have seen men
using a long whip at the circus; I have not seen anyone who could beat these
men.
The Bay is an open bay, if it
comes to blow, one may as well beat sea, as lay at anchor in that bay. We were
laying there one night, when the wind sprang up suddenly, reaching gale force
in no time. In the middle watch, the Captain decided to run for it, so all
hands on deck were called to get the ship under way. It’s generally the darkest
night when this happens, but in a very short time we had steam up, and was
heading seawards. But, it took our packet all her time to steam against such a
gale of wind as was blowing; although the engines were going full speed ahead,
not a movement did she make through the water; For an hour, my topmates and I
stood on the foc’sle, watching the feint outline of the high cliffs, it seemed
as if one could put one’s hand out and touch them, so close had we drifted
towards them. But, the old ship wasn’t to be beaten, gradually she forged
ahead, and a sigh of relief went up as we steamed out into the open sea. It was
an anxious time for us all, and great praise was due to our Captain for the
remarkable fine piece of seamanship in getting the ship clear of that dangerous
position. I shudder to think of what would have happened had anything gone wrong
with our engines.
[Back to the Diary written
in on HMS Blanche]
We arrived at Delagoa Bay
alright, and found the BARRACOUTA and MAGPIE awaiting us, we had a stay of a
few weeks here and then left for Durban with war correspondent and prisoners;
Arrived Durban and spending Christmas 1901 there. We had a decent time, in the
afternoon went on shore and had a walk around Durban; found it a pretty decent
place, much after the style of an English town. Left Durban on the 29th
for Simon’s Town; met BEAGLE outside and received mails. Arrived at Simon’s
Town and coaled and provisioned etc.,. Left for the South West Coast; met the
MONARCH at Saldhana Bay and left again the 9th for Lambert’s Bay,
where we found BARRACOUTA awaiting on arrival, also TRANSPORT NUMBER 61 and
ULSTERMORE, which had arrived with stores, munitions etc., for the Front. We
found everything quiet on the shore; the Blockhouses being held by the
Staffordshire Regt. On the arrival of TORPEDO BOAT 60, we left with an
Intelligence Officer which we landed with a small-arm party at Thorn Bay, the
latter bringing off some men, women and children, with their goods and
chattels, destroying anything they could not carry, to prevent it falling into
the Boer’s hands. We then left, landing the refugees at Lambert’s Bay. MONARCH
came into this place and gave us 30 tons of coal, which they brought us in
their own boats, reports coming that a special landing party had to be drawn,
to stop the Boers from their night attacks on the village. Also your “humble” was
told to keep burning search lights during the night, which was burned every
night during our stay at Lambert’s Bay.
Firing was heard one night, but did not come to anything. The same night a Soldier was shot through the arm by accident, next day our doctor landed and amputated the limb, but the man died a few days afterwards. Went out one day and did our firing, also ran torpedoes. The Flagship came to Lambert’s Bay and gave us some provisions; she stayed with us a little over an hour, the Admiral went for a cruise in TORPEDO BOAT 60 and visited HMS SYBILLE which was still up on the rocks. TERPSICHORE came around from Simon’s Town with coal for us which had to be brought from one ship to another in her own boats. Whilst at Lambert’s Bay we landed our Detachment of RMLIs. After being employed for a few months on a most arduous task, the BARRACOUTA was sent around to relieve us; we leaving for Simon’s Town, took in the usual amount of coal, provisions, store etc., and left for Capetown, to go in dry dock; In Capetown, we had a good time for a week, whilst there, five of our hands took it into their heads to go on shore and not return.
~~~~o0o~~~~
HMS
BLANCHE’s Tour of Duty 15th Dec 1900 to 17th Jan 1902
as
recorded by Charles Lewis, giving arrival, place and departure dates.
1900
Left Plymouth 15th Dec 1900
21 Dec, Las Palmas, 25 Dec
28 Dec, St Vincent, 30 Dec
1901
1 Jan, Bathurst, 2 Jan
4 Jan, Sierra Leone, 7 Jan
9 Jan, Gransess, 9 Jan
14 Jan, St Thomas, 15 Jan
18 Jan, St Pauls de Loanda, 23 Jan
28 Jan, Walfisch Bay, 29 Jan
31 Jan, Port Nolloth, 1 Feb
2 Feb, Lambert’s Bay, 2 Feb
3 Feb, Simons Town, 8 Feb
9 Feb, Lamberts Bay, 15 Mar
16 Mar, Simons Town, 21 Mar
23 Mar, Lamberts Bay, 21 Apr
22 Apr, Simons Town, 1 May
1 May, Capetown, 1 May
2 May, Lamberts Bay, 2 May
3 May, Port Nolloth, 3 May
6 May, Walfisch Bay, 8 May
9 May, Angru Pequena, 9 May
10 May, Port Nolloth, 13 May
14 May, Lamberts Bay, 16 May
17 May, Simons Town, 20 May
21 Jun, Lamberts Bay, 1 Jul
2 Jul, Saldhana Bay, 3 Jul
3 Jul, Simons Town, 10 Jul
12 Jul, East London, 12 Jul
16 Jul, Delago Bay, 19 Jul
23 Jul, Mozambique, 23 Jul
26 Jul, Zanzibar, 6 Aug
9 Aug, Mozambique, 9 Aug
9 Aug, Haliffe River, 10 Aug
10 Aug, Malindi, 11 Aug
11 Aug, Lamu, 13 Aug
14 Aug, Kyshmau, 15 Aug
16 Aug, Lamu, 20 Aug
20 Aug, Milindi, 22 Aug
23 Aug, Mombassa, 24 Aug
25 Aug, Melindi, 27 Aug
28 Aug, Mombassa, 8 Sep
9 Sep, Zanzibar, 20 Sep
21 Sep, Lamu, 24 Sep
25 Sep, Mombassa, 26 Sep
27 Sep, Zanzibar, 28 Oct
29 Oct, Mombassa, 2 Nov
4 Nov, Kyshmau, 5 Nov
6 Nov, Lamu, 8 Nov
10 Nov, Zanzibar, 25 Nov
1 Dec, Delago Bay, 21 Dec
22 Dec, Durban, 29 Dec
1902
2 Jan, Simon’s Town, 7 Jan
8 Jan, Saldhana Bay, 9 Jan
9 Jan, Lambert’s Bay, 17 Jan
[Totalling
up the Distances Charles Lewis has recorded for each journey,
so
far, they have covered 17, 976 nautical miles.]
~~~~o0o~~~~
Raymond Forward