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Remembered Today:

Deciphering a WWI ship name


RNCVR

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I have a grp of medals to a Signalman in the RN & have copy of his SR - all the ships I can read except one - it appears to be "King Harry" - the King is fairly legible but the Harry part is not - the first two letters are very unclear. I have attached a scan of the name - wonder if any PALS might have a go at this one?

The dates he served on ner are 26 Nov 1917 to 19 Jan 1919.

I can locate no ship name King Harry in any of my ref books - any ideas??

Thanks in advance,

Bryan

post-24-1101664873.jpg

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yes Mike that thought ocurred to me as well - could very well be - but I can find no ref to this name either.

Bryan

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Bryan,

I owe you one, hope this helps.

When war was declared, the IOM. Steam Packet Company had a fleet of fifteen steamers. Eleven of these were either chartered or purchased by the Government for war purposes, and were as speedily as possible, fitted out and armed in order to adapt them for their special work.

Being a fleet of vessels specially suited for passenger carrying, and unsurpassed by any other coasting steamers in the world, as far as speed and accommodation were concerned, it seemed, to the uninitiated, natural to expect that their services would be required for the conveyance of troops across the Channel, a work for which they were so particularly well adapted. Strange to say, this was not the work they were called upon to perform, excepting in the case of two of them, viz. , the Empress Queen and Mona’s Queen. The others were destined to be Seaplane-carriers, Net-laying ships armed Boarding-vessels, and one, the King Orry, became attached to the Grand Fleet.

Courtesy of : http://www.isle-of man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/mf1923/intro.htm

Roop

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What a fantastic name for a ship. I'm going to completely trivialise this thread by telling you that we sing about this ship every other Saturday at Brisbane Road

"Oh Orry Orry,, Orry Orry Orry Orry Orient"

Mick (sorry)

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King Orry

diminutive of Godred Crovan, a Viking King whose Kingdom included Islands and lands around the Irish sea and whose capital was the Isle of Man. He was also known as Orry the Dane.

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Thanks very much fellows for the responses on HMS KING ORRY!

I never knew such a ship existed! & the articles on the Isle of Man steam ships are very interesting.

Would love to hear the rest of the words of the song Mick!

:D

Bryan

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Thought all of you might like to see a photo of Harold W. Williamson who served as a Signalman on HMS King Orry for the period noted in my orriginal request.

He had previously served in the Grand Fleet on HMS Iron Duke & saw action at Jutland (he was just over 16 yrs of age!) then served on HMS Queen Elizabeth, Adm Beatty's flagship.

Thanks again fellows for the helpful responses!

Bryan

post-24-1101688833.jpg

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sure not much to it is there? sure can't be a Navy ditty!

whats the tune?

Bryan

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Pals

I was taking some pictures at the weekend for the South Africa War Graves Project (SAWGP). The Merchant Navy memorial at Liverpool Pier Head contains reference to the King Orry, and Rupert Drake, the SAGWP director has pointed me to this posting.

The picture below shows the entry on the memorial for the King Orry.

Steve

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Thanks fof the photo Stephen - Rupert Drake told me about it & the three names thereon.

My man survived the war & went on to serve in the next one,

Bryan

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