Help with ship identification and service CZ1483 Thomad Henderson AB RNVR

[James123]

Can someone please help identify third down on service record please? 

 

Also I do not understand what he was doing prior to 1916? "armed guard for merchant ships etc" 

 

Any help as normal would be very much appreciated 

 

Thanks

[KizmeRD]

Merchant ships suspected of contravening wartime restrictions (having embargoed/contraband cargo) would be directed to sail to a designated examination port. In order to achieve this, armed guards would accompany the boarding officer and if necessary remain with the ship to ensure compliance with official instructions. Your man was one of the men dedicated to fulfilling this role.

MB

Edited 11 October , 2021 by KizmeRD

[James123]

Thank you KizmeRD, that makes sense I appreciate your help. 

 

 

[KizmeRD]

Looks like A.B Henderson was stationed in Ramsgate, and was assigned to examination patrols in the Downs - appointed to HMS Ceto (an armed steam yacht, previously belonging to Lord Iveagh). He may well have also found himself temporarily working aboard one of the armed trawlers also tasked with this role. 
He would have been engaged in intercepting, boarding and verifying suspect shipping - although the main work of enforcing the blockade against Germany was taking place in the northern part of the North Sea (by ships of the 10th Cruiser Squadron), there were nevertheless many small coastal vessels trading in and out of neutral Netherlands who needed keeping an eye on too.

A naval armed guard detachment ordinarily consisted of two RNR boarding officers and twelve RNVR ratings. 

MB

[James123]

Thank you KizmeRD

I didn't know that there were guard detachments, very interesting 

As it appears he enlisted October 1914 would he have done that throughout the war? Would you know? Could he have opted for this role or just been chosen at random? 

 

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to learn 

[horatio2]

He was initially entered for the Royal Naval Division (RND) and was training at the Crystal Palace Depot with the newly-forming Benbow Battalion. (The first Benbow Battalion had been interned in Holland after the Defence of Antwerp.) His transfer to sea service (for Armed Guards) in December 1914 probably saved him from death, wounding or serious illness in the 1915 Gallipoli campaign. Later he served as a seaman gunner in Defensively Armed Merchant Ships (DAMS). He ended his sea service with a draft to the ship's company of HMS ALEXANDER in North Ruussia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin_(1916_icebreaker)

[James123]

Many thanks horatio2

 

Appreciate your kind help as always👍

[KizmeRD]

h2 is spot on with filling in his wartime service prior to and subsequent to his time in Ramsgate. If you want to know more about RND training at Crystal Palace, or the work of DAMS gunners on merchant ships, then enter one of these phrases in the search box at the top right corner of the page (there are a number of other threads that you can find on those particular topics).

MB

[James123]

Thank you KizmeRD

 

I shall do that👍