The Battle of Heligoland Bight, 1914

[janecavell]

This letter, dated 29 August 1914, was written by Alf Bishop to his parents in Burford, Oxfordshire. It was published in the following week's Witney Gazette:

Dear Mother and Dad, – Just a line to let you know that I am still alive and kicking, and in good health. How are you all at home? I trust you are all merry and bright. Have you seen the papers yet, Dad? I expect you have before you get this letter. Well! dear Mum and Dad, I must tell you we were in the thick of the battle just off Heligoland yesterday, and though we were under fire from 6-45 a.m. to 12-30 we did’nt [

sic

] get even a scratch, not this ship. I’ll tell you as much about it as I dare, though all the evening papers are full of it. At about 6 o’clock yesterday morning we saw a flotilla of German destroyers a long way off. We went after them. Then we started the battle, and in a short time we had sunk two of them. Immediately afterwards, the sun came on lovely, and showed us three great German cruisers after us. After an hour’s terrible fighting, a light Cruiser Squadron joined us and helped us fight them. Thank God they came, too. They saved our lives. Well, they kept shelling us like anything. You could hear nothing but the roar of the great guns, and the screaming of shells going just over our heads and exploding, in some cases within a dozen yards of this ship. About 11 o’clock two were left, the other had sunk. Then both of them shelled our little boats mercilessly and of course we were doing our very best to sink or disable them, when our cruisers attacked them again, sunk one, then after a long time the one remaining one gave us a terrific broadside with all her guns, and how we escaped that God only knows. We seemed to be charmed. But she paid dearly for that. My God, Mother and Dad, if ever I thought of my past it was then. We all said “Good bye.” We turned and went full speed at her, and blew her to pieces with a torpedo, and after burning a little while she sank with all her crew, poor devils. I’ll never forget that terrible sight. It was properly “Hell upon earth.” Well to talk of us chaps, I never thought such bravery was possible, Dad. Before we started we were all very nervous, but after we joined in we were all happy, and most of us laughing till it was finished; then we all sobbed and cried. But we are all the same as ever again now, and all the other ships have congratulated us on our wonderful escape from what was apparently certain death for us. Now I must close, trusting you will not worry over me. Trust in God to bring me back safely. Even if I never come back, don’t think I’ve died a painful death. Everything yesterday was as quick as lightning. So God bless you all at home and keep you safe from the enemy. With love and kisses.

Always to you,

Alf

P.S. – Our dear little black lucky kitten sat under our foremost gun during the whole of the battle, and was’nt [

sic

] frightened a bit, only when we first started firing, but afterwards she sat and licked herself. We all kissed her afterwards.

As yet I know nothing else of Alf Bishop's war service. He survived the war, but died on 29 August 1921 aged 29. He is included in the CWGC database, and described there as Petty Officer (Stoker) of HMS Pembroke. However, it looks like he died at home, for his death was registered in the Witney district and he is buried at home in Burford.

I hope to check the local newspaper for 1921 for details about the circumstances of Alf's death, but in the meantime can anyone give me any pointers as to where to look for more about his war service? Is it possible to find out which ship he was on at the Battle of Heligoland Bight? (From his comments that his ship came through the battle unscathed, I guess we can rule out HMS Arethusa, Liberty and Laurel which are shown as having casualties.)

Thanks!

Jane / poppy3

Edit: I've just found this account of the battle, from which the destroyer Goshawk emerges as a possible candidate for the ship on which Alf Bishop served.

[simonharley]

His record of service is available for download at a small price here: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=7139026&queryType=1&resultcount=40

Simon

[janecavell]

Thanks, Simon. I should have thought of looking on Documents Online. I'm hoping to go up to Kew soon, so shall add that to my list of things to do there.

Jane

[janecavell]

I've now found a useful report of the battle on the World War I Naval Combat site. The 'Order of battle' section shows which vessels were present. Three German cruisers were lost (the Mainz, Ariadne and Cöln). Perhaps the third is the one whose sinking is reported by Alf Bishop, since there were survivors from the other two. However, the Cöln was sunk some time after 13.25, whereas the action reported by Alf seems to have been happening in the morning.

I think I'll have to wait until I see Alf's service records before I can unravel this one.

[lynda123]

This letter, dated 29 August 1914, was written by Alf Bishop to his parents in Burford, Oxfordshire. It was published in the following week's Witney Gazette:

Dear Mother and Dad, – Just a line to let you know that I am still alive and kicking, and in good health. How are you all at home? I trust you are all merry and bright. Have you seen the papers yet, Dad? I expect you have before you get this letter. Well! dear Mum and Dad, I must tell you we were in the thick of the battle just off Heligoland yesterday, and though we were under fire from 6-45 a.m. to 12-30 we did’nt [

sic

] get even a scratch, not this ship. I’ll tell you as much about it as I dare, though all the evening papers are full of it. At about 6 o’clock yesterday morning we saw a flotilla of German destroyers a long way off. We went after them. Then we started the battle, and in a short time we had sunk two of them. Immediately afterwards, the sun came on lovely, and showed us three great German cruisers after us. After an hour’s terrible fighting, a light Cruiser Squadron joined us and helped us fight them. Thank God they came, too. They saved our lives. Well, they kept shelling us like anything. You could hear nothing but the roar of the great guns, and the screaming of shells going just over our heads and exploding, in some cases within a dozen yards of this ship. About 11 o’clock two were left, the other had sunk. Then both of them shelled our little boats mercilessly and of course we were doing our very best to sink or disable them, when our cruisers attacked them again, sunk one, then after a long time the one remaining one gave us a terrific broadside with all her guns, and how we escaped that God only knows. We seemed to be charmed. But she paid dearly for that. My God, Mother and Dad, if ever I thought of my past it was then. We all said “Good bye.” We turned and went full speed at her, and blew her to pieces with a torpedo, and after burning a little while she sank with all her crew, poor devils. I’ll never forget that terrible sight. It was properly “Hell upon earth.” Well to talk of us chaps, I never thought such bravery was possible, Dad. Before we started we were all very nervous, but after we joined in we were all happy, and most of us laughing till it was finished; then we all sobbed and cried. But we are all the same as ever again now, and all the other ships have congratulated us on our wonderful escape from what was apparently certain death for us. Now I must close, trusting you will not worry over me. Trust in God to bring me back safely. Even if I never come back, don’t think I’ve died a painful death. Everything yesterday was as quick as lightning. So God bless you all at home and keep you safe from the enemy. With love and kisses.

Always to you,

Alf

P.S. – Our dear little black lucky kitten sat under our foremost gun during the whole of the battle, and was’nt [

sic

] frightened a bit, only when we first started firing, but afterwards she sat and licked herself. We all kissed her afterwards.

As yet I know nothing else of Alf Bishop's war service. He survived the war, but died on 29 August 1921 aged 29. He is included in the CWGC database, and described there as Petty Officer (Stoker) of HMS Pembroke. However, it looks like he died at home, for his death was registered in the Witney district and he is buried at home in Burford.

I hope to check the local newspaper for 1921 for details about the circumstances of Alf's death, but in the meantime can anyone give me any pointers as to where to look for more about his war service? Is it possible to find out which ship he was on at the Battle of Heligoland Bight? (From his comments that his ship came through the battle unscathed, I guess we can rule out HMS Arethusa, Liberty and Laurel which are shown as having casualties.)

Thanks!

Jane / poppy3

Edit: I've just found this account of the battle, from which the destroyer Goshawk emerges as a possible candidate for the ship on which Alf Bishop served.

Hi there,

You are lucky to have such a poignant memento of Alf. Thank you for sharing it.

You mention that you are intending to check the local newspaper for details of Alf's death. What would the name of that paper be? I have been told to look for a paper called the Hampshire Gazette but have found no clues when I have googled that name.

Lynda

[janecavell]

Hello again Lynda

The man I'm looking for lived in Oxfordshire, so it is a local newspaper there that has been useful to me. You say that Albert was born in Portsmouth. Do you know if his family stayed in that area? If they did, then you will need to track down newspapers covering that area. I've checked the British Library newspaper catalogue and see the following titles published in Portsmouth during the First World War:

(Portsmouth) Evening News

Hampshire County Times

Hampshire Telegraph

As with today's papers these probably catered for different audiences: they may vary in their politics, the geographical area covered, and so on.

I see that the Central Library in Portsmouth has newspapers on microfilm. They also have what they describe as 'detailed indexes' to some material, including the Hampshire Telegraph, so I would get in touch with them in case they've got a reference to your man. It could save you lots of searching!

Jane

P.S. oh, a tip on replying to messages: if you click on 'Add reply' or type in the 'Fast reply' box instead of clicking the 'Reply' button, you won't get the whole of the previous post quoted at the top of yours. Alternatively you can quote just part of a message by clicking 'Reply' and then deleting unwanted parts of the post.