HMS Ark Royal to HMS Louvain or HMHS Rewa

[Guest sweep1]

Now received my grandfathers service record(Thomas Carpenter RNAS A.M.1) and i'm trying to decifer what he actually done, he first served aboard the balloon ship HMS Canning from 1915 to May 1916 when he was transfered to HMS Ark Royal while in port Mudros,His record then has it that he left the Ark Royal on the 20th December 1917 but how did he get back to England?his service record is a mess with notes written all over it but Louvain is scrawled down and according to the log of the Ark Royal HMS Louvain left port Mudros on 20th December 1917, so he could have been on it but did it return directly to England? as we know it later sank in late January 1918 or he could have left the next day on HMHS Rewa as on his record for 19th December under ability it says Pat, is this short for patient?so possibly he was ill but this ship also sank in January. On another point there are alot of land operations on his record but most people seem to think these are just a record of correspondense and don't relate to actual operations but speaking to my mother about her father she remembers him talking about going to Malta,Gibralter and other places and also coming into contact with a German patrol while on a land operation,he also said he was thrown overboard by an explosion and picked up by a foreign navy vessel,was this due to the sinking of Louvain or Rewa or not? sorry to run on but would be grateful for any help or to hear of anyone who served with him. Thankyou.

P.S. The only photo we have of him is aboard a submarine which there doesn't seem to be a mention of on his record.

[ARABIS]

The notations used for ability are Ex., for Exceptional, Supr., for Superior, & Sat., for Satisfactory. So I think the entry for 19th December is Sat., not Pat.

[centurion]

Louvain (ex Dresden) was used to ferry crew back to Malta for distribution to other ships. However one of the few survivors of her sinking records that the torpedo strike was "a dull thud" rather than a big explosion after which the ship went down very quickly most of her passengers being trapped below as access to the upper deck was restricted so this does not match being thrown overboard by an explosion.

[horatio2]

It might help to post his actual record.