The Dead Sea Flotilla

[michaeldr]

In the Great War, Palestine was a semi-desert country and, particularly after the locust plague which began in February 1915 (the first for 40 years there), it was desperately short of food. In addition to the natural population it also had to support an Ottoman army which demanded feeding. Part of the answer to this problem was found by importing grain from the Ottoman regions on the other side of the River Jordan. This was done by grain barges across the Dead Sea, and then camel or donkey transport from there up to Jerusalem.

[michaeldr]

The Germans built a small base at the Dead Sea for the barges and the motor boats, but appear to have left the operation of the Dead Sea Flotilla to the Turkish navy.

Eventually this trade attracted the attention of the allies, who sought to disrupt it, and thus weaken the army which they were facing in Palestine.

Allenby to Wigram (for the King) 22 Dec 1917

"Lately we have been bombing Turkish depots on the Dead Sea shore; and their trading boats. Our aeroplanes, so engaged, have flown as low as 500 ft. below sea level – the Dead Sea surface being some1300 ft. below the level of the Mediterranean."

From 'Aces & Kings' by L W Sutherland

"Mimi was born at Mejdel. When No.67 Squadron was stationed there in 1917, the enemy was depending on obtaining most of his grain stores from El Lissan and El Safiel, districts just east of the Dead Sea. The grain was shipped by motor boat some sixty miles across the water to El Bahr and the northern end of the Dead Sea.

To cut off these supplies, numerous bomb raids were made on El Bahr, with little or no effect. We had more success when our aircraft flew low over the Dead Sea and machine-gunned the boats, but the skippers learned to zigzag and they often escaped, with the result that Johnny Turk continued to get his grain.

Dickie (Major R. Williams DSO. – later Air Vice-Marshal R. Williams CB., CBE., DSO., etc., Chief of the Air Staff, RAAF) was requested to give the matter thought. He conceived the idea of stripping a Martinsyde bomber of its wings and tail unit, substituting floats for wheels and giving its pilot-gunner an open commission on the Dead Sea. At first she proved a cantankerous beast. Her 160-hp Beardmore engine was far too powerful. She used to capsize at speed, and altogether she was most difficult to handle. Gunnery was another problem – it was impossible to fire over her nose. It was certainly a strange craft with a strange mission – the Swiss Navy could have shown nothing stranger. Mimi had to patrol an area of 800 square miles of water, 1200 feet below sea-level. Incidentally, the salt content of the Dead Sea [It is 8.6 times as salty as the ocean] is such that huge masses of salty foam were always in evidence on her hull.

[michaeldr]

(continued from 'Aces & Kings')

Anyhow, all the troubles were eventually solved, and Mimi went out to clean up the grain boats. She must surely have been the weirdest craft ever seen on those age-old waters. The quarry was easily overhauled; then the pilot would stand up on his seat and open fire with his Lewis gun over Mimi's tail – or stern. Probably her most effective weapons were her noise and her awe-inspiring appearance as, riding on a feet-high, swirling mass of salt foam, she bore down upon the enemy. Fanatical superstition did the rest – the 'peaceful' Arabs and Bedouins never ceasing to call upon Allah when they saw Mimi at work.

Very soon the grain fleet was in such a sore straits that reinforcements were sent to it from the far-away Bosphoros. Bigger, faster and better-armed motor boats were transported to Jerusalem by rail and then carried by road to Jericho and the Dead Sea.

[michaeldr]

And then, just when Mimi was proving too good even for these reinforcements, Allenby settled the whole Turkish grain problem. He captured Jerusalem."

From 'The Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force ...' - 21 February 1918: '…the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade occupied Rujm el Bahr (Dead Sea Post) with a squadron thus seizing the Turkish base upon the Dead Sea with its workshops. The acquisition of this landing place was afterwards of great importance in opening communications with the Northern Operations of the Sherifian Army when in the Kerak area."

The allies were not content to let that be the end of the matter however, and they proceeded to begin operate their own Dead Sea Flotilla made up of repaired Turkish boats and others specially imported for the purpose.

As well as allied soldiers from several nations, members of the ELC can be seen here, together with the odd prisoner (note the chap in a white [German?] uniform sitting top centre). This craft has been named 'Adela' after the wife of the Commander-in-Chief (Lady Adelaide Mabel Allenby)

[michaeldr]

It is not clear to me how many motor boats Allenby had on the Dead Sea; in May 1918 he alludes to only one - Allenby to Wigram (for the King) 05 May 1918 - "I have control, now, of the Dead Sea; and on it I keep a motor boat and three naval whalers. I want to get 2 or 3 more motor boats, as the whalers have too short a radius of action."

While earlier, in March 1918 the history (The Advance of the EEF...etc...) implies more - 21 March 1918 (during the trans-Jordan raid) '…At 0915 a landing party which had crossed the Dead Sea in motor boats and landed on the Turkish side of the Jordan joined up with the 180th Brigade at a point three miles north of the Dead Sea'

[edit] from the OH, Military Operations Egypt & Palestine (June 1917 to end of war) Part I, page 332 – "…a party of 3 officers and 42 men was to cross the north end of the Dead Sea in three motor-boats and assist the 180th Brigade in clearing the left bank of the Jordan at Hijla... … … … … During the morning [23rd March 1918] the little motor-boat party (of the 2/24th London), of which nothing had been heard, had reported to the 2/19th London. It had successfully crossed the Dead Sea, but had been forced to lie in hiding all through the 22nd, and was not at first aware that the right of the 180th Brigade had moved up to within a mile of its position."

At some point Allenby got his wish and at least one other motor boat made the strange journey across land to the Dead Sea

If anyone can add to (or correct) the story of the Dead Sea Flotilla, then I would be pleased to learn more

Thanks for your interest

Michael

[a credit is due to the Library of Congress (USA) and to the AWM for the photographs which appear above]

Edited 14 November , 2009 by michaeldr

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Michael

Mate, I have placed a pic of the steasm tug found abandoned by the Turks at Rujm el Bahr, Dead Sea:

http://alh-research.tripod.com/Light_Horse...t-the-dead-sea/

This just adds a smidgeon to your story.

Cheers

Bill

[michaeldr]

Bill,

Many thanks for the picture and for the read

I've sent you a PM on this

best regards

Michael

[michaeldr]

The Turks may have employed their Navy to operate their boats on the Dead Sea, but under Allenby's EEF, this role fell to the A.S.C.

from The Royal Army Service Corps , Vol.II, p.222, by Colonel R H Beadon CBE., psc.

"...the motor boat company which had been transferred from Lemnos to Ismailia on the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula. This unit, which comprised some one hundred and forty all ranks, operated thirty-six boats of various descriptions and was used for the Embarkation Staff and other port officers on the canal and for the carriage of supplies and for patrol work, until later it was sent to Palestine where it provided detachments on the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee and at Haifa and at Tripoli in Syria."

[AlanCurragh]

I've deleted some off-topic comments about the modern state of the Dead Sea - please can we keep to the topic under discussion

Thanks

Alan

[KONDOA]

A very interesting topic Michael, thanks for posting it.

Roop

[Guest Wrinkly]

We were very interested to read your Dead Sea Flotilla Forum Item as we have been researching my Father, Frederick William Mead M2/135894, and recently found his WW1 Service Record, which detailed his time with the 52^nd Field Ambulance & Workshop Unit in Kantara and then with the ASC Motorboat Company on the Dead Sea in the capacity of motorboat engineer & coxswain.

Our research was helped considerably by RLC Museum Archivist Gareth Mears who provided access to books and files covering the ASC part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Egypt & Palestine. This was followed up with a visit to the National Records Office to view ASC files that Gareth had identified for us and although there was no mention of the Ordinary Ranks names it did detail the transfer of boats to and from the Dead Sea and all the dates tied up with my father’s Service Record.

Unfortunately, the records we found to date do not give any details of the Dead Sea Flotilla’s operation so would appreciate any guidance or suggestions on any reading material where we could learn more.

[michaeldr]

Apart from the meagre references already given in the posts above, there is very little literature on the Motor Boat Company ASC. One you should see however can be accessed here https://archive.org/stream/briefrecordofadv00grearich#page/96/mode/1up

At the armistice on 31^st October 1918 the EEF had a “fleet” of 37 motor boats and in the third paragraph are given some further brief details.

If you have already been to the National Archives and seen file WO95/4721, then I very much regret that there is nothing further that I can add.

Good luck

Michael

[Guest Wrinkly]

Michael, many thanks for your help. So far we have read the relevant sections of “Allenby’s War” and “A History of the Transport Services of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force 1916 – 1918” at the RLC Museum and viewed the War Office Files WO95 /4414 & 4721, which covered the ASC Motorboat Company and we copied all the Dead Sea sections, which all tied up with my Father’s Service Record date, so we have made considerable progress.