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Remembered Today:

HMS BARHAM, 31 May 1916


seaJane

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Fleet Surgeon Edgar Penfold, HMS BARHAM, writes:

 

“Only one slight casualty had come to the Fore Station during the first hour of the action and this had been dressed; the man would have been sent back to his post, but just after dressing his wound a heavy shell burst close to us in the fore part of the ship and completely wrecked the Dressing Station and Medical Store, causing many casualties in this part of the ship.

 

On recovering from the effects of this explosion, it was found that all the lights were out in our compartment, which seemed to be filled with debris, and the air thick with smoke from the adjoining stores-room which was on fire, but no flash had been felt and no nitrous fumes were noticed; water was rushing in (from burst pipes) and the compartment was quickly flooded; the uninjured men were crowding towards the corner of the compartment where there was some light from the deck above coming through the hatchway.

 

All the unwounded were sent up as quickly as possible, but there was a little delay owing to the ladder being damaged by the explosion. In two or three minutes the place was cleared of all except the Medical Officers and sick berth staff and those who were helpless. Surgeon Margetts and myself were practically unwounded and were able at once to attend to the wounded, with the assistance of one sick berth assistant (who was afterwards found to be slightly wounded in the leg by a shell splinter); the other two sick berth ratings stationed with us were found to be seriously wounded, and one died shortly afterwards.  

 

Several Neil Robertson stretchers were found in the least damaged part of the station, and the wounded were fastened in them as quickly as possible and carried up to the deck above, where they were laid either on mess tables or on field stretchers on the deck, and a temporary dressing station was arranged on the stokers’ mess deck. … Very little in the way of dressings was salved from the Distributing Station or Medical Store, as what was not destroyed by shell explosion or fire was damaged by water.”

 

(Penfold, EA. 'A battleship in action.' Journal of the RN Medical Service, vol 3 (1917) pp. 44-56.)

Edited by seaJane
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Penfield refers to that in his article; I'll try to dig out the quotation later 

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4 hours ago, Kath said:

 

Penfold again:

https://archive.org/details/JRNMSVOL3Images/page/n51/mode/2up

" ... there were, unfortunately, several more cases than usual on the sick list, chiefly owing to a number of boys and ordinary seamen having been vaccinated recently, and some of them had been placed on the sick list as cot cases that day, with febrile condition and painful arms; these had to be accommodated in the Fore Station, as well as a few patients with injuries, such as sprains, &c., who would not have been of any use in their proper action stations."

Medical Officer's Journal, CHINA:

(written up by a colleague) - Later that year an Ordinary Seaman aged 16, aboard CHINA, was diagnosed “Neurasthenia (Traumatic)” and discharged to PLASSY. He was finally sent ashore to what was then still called the lunatic asylum at Haslar. As a Boy Seaman he had been one of the group recovering from tetanus vaccination aboard BARHAM, and had been profoundly affected by the killing or wounding of all his shipmates in the same compartment.

 

E.A. Penfold as a new entry surgeon at Haslar, 1891. From an album in the Historic Collections Library, INM.

 

Penfold March 1891 sent.jpg

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Very interesting thread SeaJane and Kath, thank you for posting.  It reminds me of all the Boys lost on Aboukir, Hogue and Crecy, I don’t think there were any survivors because they were all asleep (apart from the Watch) if I recall correctly.

Edited by FROGSMILE
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Thanks Jane for posting, appreciated reading article on Surgon Penfold & the casualties sustained by crew of HMS Barmham at Jutland.

 

Best wishes!

Bryan

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1 hour ago, FROGSMILE said:

Very interesting thread SeaJane and Kath, thank you for posting.  It reminds me of all the Boys lost on Aboukir, Hogue and Crecy, I don’t think there were any survivors because they were all asleep (apart from the Watch) if I recall correctly.

 

The Admiralty was extremely slow & very reluctant in recognizing the German Submarine menace, & how effective submarines could be, & thus the ships company of these 3 old Cruisers paid the price for what can only be described as plain ' heads in the sand' attitude, otherwise known as stupidity!

 

Thanks,

Bryan

 

 

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2 hours ago, RNCVR said:

 

The Admiralty was extremely slow & very reluctant in recognizing the German Submarine menace, & how effective submarines could be, & thus the ships company of these 3 old Cruisers paid the price for what can only be described as plain ' heads in the sand' attitude, otherwise known as stupidity!

 

Thanks,

Bryan

 

 

 

Yes I've read some really good pieces about the incident Bryan, but I wondered if any more was known about the Boy Rates on board.  However, I do not mean to start deviating too much from SeaJane's thread.

Edited by FROGSMILE
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Unknown to me how many Boy Seaman were on board the 3 Cruisers, but a check of the Casualties subsequently printed in the Navy Lists would reveal the various rates of casualties on the 3 Cruisers Froggie.

Most of their crews were made up of Reservists called up for the war, so perhaps not a full complemnt of Boys.

 

Agree, also dont wish to further deviate from Jane's memorial to Barham .

 

Best....Bryan

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I've searched CWGC for UK boys in the Navy killed on 31 May 1916.

 

199 aged 17, 5 of them aboard BARHAM.

64 aged 16, 3 of them aboard BARHAM.

7 aged 15. As far as I can tell none of them was aboard BARHAM.

 

 

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HMS Barham in 1916 carried a crew of 1016 Officers & Ratings.

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