RNAS air mechanic with Ark Royal: photo album

[b3rn]

GWF member Eceabat acquired these photos recently and I worked with him to publish them online.

 

http://aegeanairwar.com/cramp/

 

Hoping you can help identify people, places and dates.

 

 

[pete-c]

Hello Bernard,

 

This is a goldmine!  It will take me a while to go through all of these but I've already noted some photos which could possibly feature my Grandfather.  Many thanks for sharing this info.

 

A few details to be going on with. 

 

CR01  Ark Royal Bluff seaplane base, Aliki Bay, Imbros.

CR03  A distant shot of a Short Type 166 probably off Ark Royal Bluff beach, Aliki Bay - with what looks like float failure.  Just zoomed - clearly 162!

CR10  Granddad possibly 3rd from left.

CR12  Henri Farman HF27 on board the Ark, one its steam cranes behind.  Granddad possibly 2nd from right - with his hand on shoulder.  On second thoughts I think G,dad may be the chap on the end - far right.

CR17  Nice view up from the bottom of the Ark's hangar.

CR24  In the background A Short Type 166 - and by the shape of the engine cover '161' - first of the series.

CR38  By the shape of the aircraft's float, this could be the German Friedrichshafen seaplane, captured in March 1916 and brought to Stavros seaplane base.

CR39  The only Officer I can identify for certain is Cdr Cecil Kilner - front row centre.

 

Cheers,  Peter.

 

Edited 25 July , 2017 by pete-c

[apwright]

Great collection!

 

I can only help with one:

CR31 is on Mytilene. https://goo.gl/maps/KL3ZW8pfdQt

 

Adrian

[pete-c]

Some more info regarding photo CR03.  I have only just used the Zoom facility and it is clear that the front float supports have indeed collapsed. 

 

Short Type 166 '162' did in fact suffer damage on August 14th 1915.  As you detail on the page, according to Ark Royal's Log:  '4.30pm. Dispatch boat left to render assistance to damaged 162'   Ark Royal would have been moored just around the headland in the photo, moored off Kephalo.  '162' was still a relatively new machine having had its first flight on the 2nd of August in the hands of the 'Boss', Cdr Cecil Kilner.  She was certainly back in action by early September, returning to Ark Royal from the base at Aliki Bay on the 5th.

 

Re photo CR35 could Gar[?] possibly be Garnett?  Walter Hugh Stewart Garnett, b1891 Monmouthshire, joined Ark Royal Jan 4, 1915.

 

Another comment Bernard - although the caption to the Cross and Cockade photo of Ark Royal Bluff base - used as part of the CR03 page -  states that both the machines illustrated carry torpedoes, this is now known not to be the case.  What appear to be torpedoes are in fact the wing-tip floats of the machines.

 

 

Edited 25 July , 2017 by pete-c

[pete-c]

8 hours ago, apwright said:

Great collection!

 

I can only help with one:

CR31 is on Mytilene. https://goo.gl/maps/KL3ZW8pfdQt

 

Adrian

 

Great photo Adrian - not much has changed during the last 100 years has it - excepting the modes of transport!    I wouldn't mind betting that somebody on the Forum can come up with the exact location of photo CR27 - I've got a hunch this could also be Mytilene.

Edited 25 July , 2017 by pete-c

[michaeldr]

Many thanks to Serpil & Bill for sharing this 

and to Bern for the attractive presentation

 

[pete-c]

CR05:  Packing up our base at Imbros: 

This event is recorded in Ark Royal's Log for November 1st 1915.  Lt Pulford was in charge of a working party of Seamen and Mechanics who left the ship at 7am to strike the seaplane base.  By 1.15pm hands were employed embarking gear and surplus stores from the seaplane base.

 

CR04:  Ark Royal's Log mentions a surveying boat and party's on 10th, 11th and 12th May, 1915, following the ships arrival at Kephalo Bay - these events presumably to check out the location of the new seaplane base. Unfortunately it does not detail who was in charge of these party's.

I am wondering if the man in the white trousers, addressing the Greek labourers, could possibly be Mr Riddle - British Agent tasked with liaising with the Greek Government regarding use of Greek property and labour.  He was certainly in evidence the following year when negotiating over the use of ground on Thasos for the new aerodrome.

Edited 26 July , 2017 by pete-c

[apwright]

Couple more locations:
CR21 is at Moudros.
Pretty sure that CR29 is Kephalo Bay, Imvros.

 

Adrian

[michaeldr]

Adrian,

 

Well spotted with CR31; that's a great match-up 

 

I agree your above "Pretty sure that CR29 is Kephalo Bay"; 
if you look at the right margin I believe that you can make out the dummy battleships which were sunk to provide a breakwater 

 

The text beneath CR38 mentions that Cramp's transfer to Stavros was probably made in HMS Clacton;
a photograph of that ship can be seen here http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205039657

 

regards
Michael

Edited 26 July , 2017 by michaeldr

[b3rn]

Thanks Peter, Adrian and Michael. We'll update the site with this info soon, I am travelling this week. 

 

Great spot on the locations, Adrian!

 

Peter, take a look at CR04. Across the salt lake you can see a windmill. That is the windmill that gave its name to Windmill Camp when 2 Wing set up their aerodrome to the right of that hill.

 

I was surprised to see the Ark Royal camp (or a part of it anyway) was some distance from the beach, almost half way around the salt lake. I took a photo from roughly this point, having nearly lost my boots in the mud. The firmer ground would have made a better camp than the beach.

[Jeff Pickerd]

Michael & Bernard,

 

The Minesweeper "HMS Clacton Belle" is the wrong ship for the text of CR38, she never saw service in the Aegean during the Gallipoli campaigned.

The correct Clacton was "S.S. Clacton", originally a steam passenger ship of 820 ton, powered by two triple expansion engines, dual shaft, two screws. requisitioned into the Royal Navy, commmisioned 7/10/1914 as an auxiliary minesweeper.

Sent to the Dardanelles as one of several Fleet Sweepers for running ammunition and supplies to Gallipoli, and removing wounded to Lemnos, or Hospital ships. She arrived at Gallipoli on the 29th May 1915. She was armed with one forward gun, but I have not been able to establish what calibre that was.

HMS "Clacton" has been discussed previously on this forum. A search of the net will bring up a couple of photographs of her, one such site being '7th-battery.blogspot.com'.

 

Cheers,

Jeff

 

 

[Eceabat]

Hi Jeff,

 

Bill here. The caption created for that picture does set out that it was SS Clacton that did the run to Stavros, not HMS Clacton Belle.

 

Cheers

Bill

 

[michaeldr]

Jeff,

 

Thanks for the correction and the further info on the Clacton

 

And

On 27/07/2017 at 23:45, Jeff Pickerd said:

HMS "Clacton" has been discussed previously on this forum.

 

Oh dear! Yes Clacton has indeed been mentioned before, and by none other than.........

see post No.14 here 

 

 

Very embarrassing; apologies all round 

 

Michael

[Guest]

If it is of any interest I have copies of HMS Ark Royal's Log Book (43 pages) for Aug-Sep 1915 as well as HMS Ark Royal's "Reports on Operation Feb - May 1915"  which has lots of detailed reports (48 pages). If anyone would like copies I can email a drop-Box link to download them. Ping me a PM if interested. 

 

Martin

 

A random example of one of the pages from the Report. Apologies for the orientation...

 

[pete-c]

On ‎26‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 21:49, b3rn said:

Thanks Peter, Adrian and Michael. We'll update the site with this info soon, I am travelling this week. 

 

Great spot on the locations, Adrian!

 

Peter, take a look at CR04. Across the salt lake you can see a windmill. That is the windmill that gave its name to Windmill Camp when 2 Wing set up their aerodrome to the right of that hill.

 

I was surprised to see the Ark Royal camp (or a part of it anyway) was some distance from the beach, almost half way around the salt lake. I took a photo from roughly this point, having nearly lost my boots in the mud. The firmer ground would have made a better camp than the beach.

 

Thanks for pointing this out Bern.  Regarding CR01 - and the packing case at far right - can you de-cipher the stencilling?  It looks to me like 'Sopwith Scout', so probably the case for '1202'.  What do you think? 

[b3rn]

6 minutes ago, pete-c said:

 

Thanks for pointing this out Bern.  Regarding CR01 - and the packing case at far right - can you de-cipher the stencilling?  It looks to me like 'Sopwith Scout', so probably the case for '1202'.  What do you think? 

Peter, I see 'Stores'!

[pete-c]

11 minutes ago, b3rn said:

Peter, I see 'Stores'!

 

Agreed - more likely 'Stores' than 'Scout'.  Pity the other large script is so blurred - probably 'Aeroplane'.

[pete-c]

On ‎24‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 14:45, b3rn said:

GWF member Eceabat acquired these photos recently and I worked with him to publish them online.

 

http://aegeanairwar.com/cramp/

 

Hoping you can help identify people, places and dates.

 

 

 

Further to my earlier reply re photo CR12, and my statement that the machine illustrated is a Henri Farman F27, there are a few details that I now realise are not quite right. 

 

Having thought initially that this machine was one of the many F27s flown by 2 Wing, having studied the picture more closely I can now see that this machine would seem to be a float-plane.   Also, the engine is not a nine cylinder Salmson Canton-Unne 150hp R9, but a 14 cylinder 2M7. (This should have set alarm bells ringing)   I am now certain that this is one of Ark Royal's big Wight Type A.1 Pushers, either '172', '173', '175' or '176', all of which were on her from Feb through to July 1915.  '172' was re-erected using parts from '175' and was henceforth known as '175'.  '173' was dismantled at Tenedos by 27.3.15 - '176' was deleted by 27.7.15 - which leaves the original '175'. 

This machine utilised parts salvaged from both '172' and '176'.  It was hoisted up on to Ark Royal's deck on 23.7.15 but it would seem that it never flew.  There is certainly no mention in Ark Royal's log of it ever being flown.

I therefore believe that this machine is in fact '175', and I am as certain as I can be that the chap seated far right is my Grandfather SL Cowlan.  He joined Ark Royal in July 1915.  Ark Royal's log, dated 30.7.15, details the arrival of 18 Air Service Ratings on that day.  This photo could therefore have been taken on the 30th of July 1915, with the men in it being Sylvester's new shipmates and being one of these new boys could of course explain his somewhat sheepish demeanour.

 

 

 

Edited 6 August , 2017 by pete-c
Corrected and additional information.

[b3rn]

Bill has been adding to the information about each photo, with thanks to Peter who is kindly sharing his wealth of knowledge!

http://aegeanairwar.com/cramp/photographs/cr04
http://aegeanairwar.com/cramp/photographs/cr05
http://aegeanairwar.com/cramp/photographs/cr12

 

[Eschwege1917]

Dear Friends,

 

I wish to shed some light on a couple of these wonderful images posted by Bern. More comments will follow later on. 

 

a) Adrian has already proved that CR31 refers to the island of Mytilene, a road that connects the capital of the island with Port Iero. However, the place in CR34 is not Mytilene! Instead it is Stavros with Orphano Bay in the distance. A naval base was being constructed there during the first months of 1916 with the aim of supporting the Army units (plus RND for a short time) encamped round the Redina gorge. In fact, both Navy and Army units placed there, were guarding the eastern flank of the Salonika Army. Now, a closer look reveals three ships (not two), a hospital ship and two monitors, one of the Abercrombie class and another of the M.15 class. By coincidence, I have in my collection a couple of similar photos, albeit taken from different angles; they are part of a big, heavy album I had purchased a couple of years ago. This was the personal album of FL R. Whitehead, a seaplane pilot serving onboard HMS Ark Royal and transferred to Stavros in early 1916. So, by careful examination of the ADM137 files I came to the safe conclusion that the three ships in question were HMHS Galeka, HMS Raglan (the SNO 6th Det. Sqn Stavros at that time) and HMS M.18. I have attached one of those photos found in the album. In the foreground one can see the construction progress on the 2nd pier at Stavros. In ADM137.365 there is the weekly report of the SNO Stavros (HMS Raglan, captain Cecil Raikes) dated 14 May 1916, which reads for 08 May 1916: "On 8th May "Raglan" left Kavala at 12.30a.m., anchoring at Stavros at 9.10a.m. Hospital ship "Galeka" and M.18 were at Stavros; the latter was employed launching the last crate for pier extension [...]".

 

b) Image CR39 is cut as evidenced by the complete image (also found in Whitehead's album) which is attached below. Unfortunately, Whitehead's writing is illegible to say the least and it took me ages trying to decipher the caption of the photo and research the (likely) names. What caused much more bewilderment was the fact that some of the officers were only visiting the seaplane base at Stavros and were not part of it. One of the officers - a Lt Cmdr - still remains unkown, however, so  I have attached his name as it appears in the caption; hope someone will help by revealing it. Now, here is the list:

 

Standing (l - r)

CPO William George Finbow (Observer), also acting as Warrant Officer, later to train to become a pilot. Lost life on 27/10/1918 flying with RAF 201TS, aged 29.

 

FSL Luck (R.N.V.R. - Observer). On 30/6/1916 he and his pilot (Flt Cmdr Thomas A. Rainey) were injured when their Nieuport 12 ‘8919’ of A Sqn (Thasos) overturned on landing at Kazaviti aerodrome due to strong turbulence. They were returning from a crop burning mission. His name reains unknown to me 

 

FL William Park D.S.C. (R.N.V.R. - Observer). An excellent officer who was mentioned in dispatches on 14/3/1916 (London Gazette) for “meritorious service” and was subsequently awarded the D.S.C. On 26/3/1916 he was hospitalized in Stavros with malaria, recovered and became part of A Sqn Thasos flying many daring missions over the mainland during the Bulgarian advance in E. Macedonia. On 8/10/1916 he got ill again with a second bout of malaria and was sent to Malta hospital and after a month to Chatham hospital back in England. Although in late 1916 he was examined and found fit to fly again, he was hospitalized again at Chatham on 25/1/1917 and unfortunately on the next day, he died from “rupture of spleen excised”.

 

FL John Stanley Fleming Morrison (Pilot).

 

FL Ralph Whitehead (Pilot).

 

Lt J. H. de W. Waller (Royal Engineers). Responsible for the design and construction of the 2nd pier at Stavros, in charge of the pier works at Stavros in general. “Did excellent work” according to the SNO 6th Det. Sqn RN, Captain Cecil Raikes of HMS Raglan.

 

FL Edwin Harris Dunning (Pilot). Together with his CO, Major Cecil Francis Kilner, boarded HMS Rowan and sailed around Thasos and Samothraki to select a piece of land for the new aerodrome; Kazaviti on Thasos became the favored place. Dunning was later to become famous for the first landing on a moving ship (HMS Furious). Unfortunately he lost his life on the second attempt.

 

FSL Arthur Edward Hilary Roberts (R.N.V.R. - Observer).  

 

Sitting (l - r)

Lt Cmdr Sterike Finnis, Staff Paymaster (HMS Ark Royal).

 

Lt Miller (RMLI). In charge of a 6 in gun at Stavros. On 4th May 1916 he was reported to SNO 6th Det. Sqn RN, Captain Cecil Raikes of HMS Raglan, by the beachmaster and he was subsequently discharged to HMS Europa for disposal. Another W.O. was asked to take his place.

 

Cmdr Winstanley Robert Cloverdale Moorsom, Captain (from 11/1/1916) of HMS Ark Royal.

 

Major Cecil Francis Kilner (RMLI). CO of the seaplane base at Stavros; later also of Thasos aerodrome.

 

Engineer Cmdr George William Wooldridge (HMS Ark Royal). Left for England on 13/5/1916.

 

Lt Cmdr unknown  (Charles ???)

 

FSL Albert George Errington (R.N.R. - Observer). Unfortunately he died later of malaria fever.

   

c) CR38 as Peter has already pointed out, shows the Stavros RNAS Ratings by the German FF33F '536' captured close to Thassopoula islet, between the mainland and Thasos island, on March 17, 1916.

 

Hope, I helped a little...

Best Regards,

Paschalis Palavouzis

   

[b3rn]

Fantastic Paschalis, a wealth of information there!

[Eceabat]

Hi Paschalis,

 

that is outstanding, thank you for all the detail you have added. 

 

Now to find time to write it up, I am so far behind.

 

The photo of the pier is interesting, as there are men in what appear to be broad brimmed hats, similar to those worn by Australians and New Zealanders at the time. Just something that caught my eye.

 

Bill

[Eschwege1917]

Hi Bill,

 

Glad you found my comments useful. More will follow when I find some spare time :-)

 

Regarding the broad brimmed hats, I have seen many photos in the IWM collections which show men of the 27th Division (who had landed at Stavros in early 1916) wearing these hats and they were not necessarily ANZACs. Some of them were Scottish, as evidenced by the kilts they were also wearing! I assume it was the least precaution against the burning Greek sun.

 

Rgds,

Paschalis

[Eceabat]

Hi Paschalis,

 

thanks for the information on the 27th Div and their headwear. I know of a number of cases where British troops adopted wide brimmed hats. Charles Bean the Australian correspondent and historian mentions British engineers I think it was in Egypt wearing hats similar to the Australian slouch in early 1919. 

 

A bit hard to identify the tunic worn by the men in your photo, they do not exactly look British with a wider flare at the bottom and the deeper pockets, but that could just be my failing eyesight.

 

Cheers

Bill

[xv229]

Fascinating photos and stories!

I have a particular interest in the captured Friedrichshafen FF.33f No.536, as I think I might have a link to the German crew and their names?

This might be a case of 2+2 = 6, but here goes with the theory:-

Malta had several PoW Camps during WW1 and whilst looking through some of the Allied Prisoner lists on the excellent ICRC website, I found these two airmen from Seeflieger Abteilung.1. These two are mentioned in the US Consul's April 1916 report on Malta's PoW Camps as captured at Thasos and received at Malta on 21 March 1916, which seems to tie in quite nicely with the capture date for no.536

I attach sections of the Allied List and the US Consul's report showing the individuals in question.

I wonder if anyone can confirm that the two listed were in fact the crew of No.536?

MTIA, Alan