Chris_Baker Posted 11 February , 2005 Share Posted 11 February , 2005 Blimey, I've gone all wavy-lined today... Can anyone please tell me something about the wartime service of HMS Colleen, and if possible about the ship herself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kin47 Posted 11 February , 2005 Share Posted 11 February , 2005 HELLO COLLEEN WAS THE DEPOT AT QUEENSTOWN, IRELAND. SHE WAS THE 1883 CORVETTE ROYALIST AND WAS COMMISSIONED ON 1 DECEMBER 1913. PERSONNEL WISE, SHE HAD A NUMBER OF DEATHS TO ILLNESS AND DROWNINGS IN THE COURSE OF THE WAR, BUT NO COMBAT DEATHS. don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 11 February , 2005 Author Share Posted 11 February , 2005 Aha! Thank you very much. I never will get the hang of those Navy types calling things on land "HMS". Now, I have another and I suspect much the same: HMS Hecla II. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kin47 Posted 11 February , 2005 Share Posted 11 February , 2005 Hello Chris HECLA II is the Armed Patrol Depot Ship at Buncrana. All HMS shore establishments have a floating boat or ship, maybe as minor as a ship's cutter. HECLA II was the drifter WHEAT STALK. don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted 11 February , 2005 Share Posted 11 February , 2005 Chris, I've sent you an un-editted list of Home Bases. You'll have to unscramble most of them. Aye Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 12 February , 2005 Author Share Posted 12 February , 2005 Fantastic, gentlemen. Thank you very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swift1914 Posted 12 February , 2005 Share Posted 12 February , 2005 Gentlemen. According to my grandfathers service record whilst he was serving in the destroyer HMS Ambuscade 1915-16, Hecla is listed as the depot ship at Scapa not Buncrana. When he transferred to the destroyer HMS Plucky in July 1916 the depot ships are listed as Greenwich and Vulcan at Buncrana. Swift Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted 12 February , 2005 Share Posted 12 February , 2005 Yes HECLA was at Scapa but HECLA II was at Buncrana. Aye Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferguson73uk Posted 12 February , 2005 Share Posted 12 February , 2005 Chris, My Great Uncle was attached to the shorebase by the same name at Queenstown. On board the ship, though, was a man called Tom Crean. Thomas Crean was an Irishman who was Acting Boatswain. In December 1901 he had been in Christchurch, New Zealand where he had met Captain Robert Scott who was on his way to the South Pole aboard the ship Discovery. He joined Scott’s expedition, and proved himself so well that when Scott returned to the Pole for his ill-fated expedition in 1910, Crean was one of the first crewmen appointed. He narrowly missed being chosen as one of the small group who made the final push for the pole, losing out to Bowers. In February 1912 Crean and two companions were stranded on the ice and close to death. Crean made an epic 35-mile lone journey to obtain assistance and in doing so won the Albert Medal. On 12th November 1912 Crean was one of the men who discovered Scott’s tent and the three bodies inside. Crean’s remarkable polar story did not end there and in 1913 he was aboard Endurance as part of Shackleton’s expedition. The Endurance sank and Crean made the astonishing open boat journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia and then by foot across the island to a whaling station. He joined HMS Colleen towards the end of the War and spent some months sailing around the Irish coast. His stories must have been something to hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swift1914 Posted 12 February , 2005 Share Posted 12 February , 2005 Fair point Malcolm. Presumably there was a depot ship per flotilla then? Swift Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oak Posted 15 February , 2005 Share Posted 15 February , 2005 HELLO COLLEEN WAS THE DEPOT AT QUEENSTOWN, IRELAND. SHE WAS THE 1883 CORVETTE ROYALIST AND WAS COMMISSIONED ON 1 DECEMBER 1913. PERSONNEL WISE, SHE HAD A NUMBER OF DEATHS TO ILLNESS AND DROWNINGS IN THE COURSE OF THE WAR, BUT NO COMBAT DEATHS. don Colleagues, While there were no combat deaths on board H.M.S. Colleen, three of her crew were killed by enemy action on the R.M.S. Leinster on 10 October 1918. Signalman John Christy, Sick Berth Attendant Arthur Eade and Yeoman of Signals Chief Petty Officer Herbert Pilgrim appear to have been going on leave at the time the R.M.S. Leinster was sunk by UB-123 in the Irish Sea. Regards, Philip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kin47 Posted 15 February , 2005 Share Posted 15 February , 2005 Hello Philip Many, many thanks for the note on CHRISTY, EADE, and PILGRIM. I did have Christy in LEINSTER, Eade and Pilgrim were in the died from illness list. Both dying on the day LEINSTER was lost is too much of a coincidence. One further, actually two notes. Another COLLEEN man was lost in LEINSTER: Private Thomas P.B. Williams, RMLI. (18195 (PLY). And a man from COLLEEN was lost in IOLAIRE on 1 Jan 19. don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oak Posted 15 February , 2005 Share Posted 15 February , 2005 Many thanks Don, You certainly know your stuff! I had a momentary panic, thinking that I hadn't included Private Thomas B. Williams RMLI in the list of casualties in my recent Leinster book. (See my byline). But thankfully he is on the list as Thomas Williams. I strongly agree with your byline that "Knowledge not shared is lost", it could be adopted as the motto of the Forum. Regards, Philip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 20 February , 2005 Author Share Posted 20 February , 2005 A rather belated thank you all, for what turned out to be a most interesting thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithchristmas Posted 13 August , 2006 Share Posted 13 August , 2006 Hi, Does anyone have any information with regard to HMS Colleen? I am interested in the period between November 1915 and October 1917. On the ADM records their is a set of brackets after the name of this ship with a ditto mark inside the brakets ie Colleen ( "). But I can read the name immediatly above which starts with the letter P! Regards, Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kin47 Posted 13 August , 2006 Share Posted 13 August , 2006 Hello HMS COLLEEN was the shore establishment at Queenstown (Cobh today), Ireland. A name following COLLEEN inside quotation marks or parenthesis would be a small ship or boat on the books of COLLEEN and operating from that port. All best don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithchristmas Posted 13 August , 2006 Share Posted 13 August , 2006 Thanks for the info. Do you know where I could find a list of the ships attached to HMS Colleen at this time? My best guess when trying to read the name of this ship in would be ' Primrose' but I could be mistaken! I note that after Colleen that he joined Hecla 11. This ship also appears as Hecla 11 ( " ). So I imagine he again served on the same smaller ship. Would this smaller ship have been a Destroyer? Cheers, Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kin47 Posted 13 August , 2006 Share Posted 13 August , 2006 Hello Keith PRIMROSE would certainly be a good candidate. She was a fleet sweeping sloop of the Flower Class: Acaia type. HECLA II was the armed patrol trawler base at Buncrana. The name in parenthesis would probably be an armed trawler. All best don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithchristmas Posted 13 August , 2006 Share Posted 13 August , 2006 Hi Don, Thanks again. It would appear that the person that I am researching served on the same ship whist attached to both HMS COLLEEN and HMS HECLA 11. Do you think that this could have been PRIMROSE ? The only other information that I have is from the London Gazette, which confirms that he was Mentioned in Dispatches for services in vessels employed on PATROL AND ESCORT DUTY during 1917. I would therefore very must like to establish the name of the ship upon which he served at this time. Regards, Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kin47 Posted 13 August , 2006 Share Posted 13 August , 2006 Hello Keith Hurd's MERCHANT NAVY mentions PRIMROSE escorting a convoy coming from the west and being met by rescue tugs on 25 September 1917 near Fanad Head. This was in particularly dirty weather with many problems in heavy seas. Moving from Queenstown to Buncrana was just a matter of going from the southern end of the Home Western Approaches to the northern end. PRIMROSE would have been involved in exactly the same duties. As a sidebar, I have no deaths in PRIMROSE during the war. All best don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithchristmas Posted 13 August , 2006 Share Posted 13 August , 2006 Don, The picture is starting to come together! From another read of the ADM records, I am now convinced that the name of the ship was PRIMROSE. The man I am reserching is 164315 Yeoman of Signals Charles Rivers, who as I mentioned before, he was mentioned in dispatches during 1917. I have also just noted on his records that it states ' Traced Grat. 25.9.17'. This is the same date as the PRIMROSE was met by the rescue tugs!! Does this mean he was paid a cash sum? Regards, Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kin47 Posted 13 August , 2006 Share Posted 13 August , 2006 Hello Keith One of the tugs, FLYING FALCON stood by a steamer ANTILLIAN, whose steering gear had broken down. ANTILLIAN eventually was able to proceed on her down. FLYING FALCON was lost in the heavy seas after this with the lost of 3 Mercantile Marine Reserve ratings. This gratuity may have been involved in this. I will check further. All best don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph Posted 13 August , 2006 Share Posted 13 August , 2006 Keith, 'Traced Grat. 25.9.17' means he was paid a long service gratuity. Regards Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithchristmas Posted 15 August , 2006 Share Posted 15 August , 2006 Thanks for the message Charles. Would this graturity have been paid some years after he qualified for his LS&GC Medal? The ADM records shows ' medal traced 23/11/1910'. This graturity was traced on 25/9/1917. This is all new to me, I did not even know that someone received a long service garaturity! Regards. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph Posted 16 August , 2006 Share Posted 16 August , 2006 Keith, He would have been paid the gratuity on completion of time to pension usually 22years, he would also be kept on in service and recieve his pension and his wage. There will be a note in the remarks column if he extended his service. Regards Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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