H.T. Excellency

[Smudger51]

Hello

An entry in my grandfather's Royal Navy Service Record for 1915 says "H.T. Excellency".

What does this mean? Was this a ship? I have tried searching the web but have had no success.

Thank you

SmudgerJACOBWW1.pdf

[horatio2]

Welcomme to the GWF, Smudger

The hired Buckie drifter EXCELLENT (Buckie-reg BCK.95 and Admiralty No 3208) was employed as a net vessel. She was renamed EXCELLENCY soon after hiring to avoid confusion with other EXCELLENTs in the Royal navy.

She was first taken up at the Sheerness base (HMS ACTAEON) on 23 Jul 1915 and operated from there in the Thames estuary. She was transferred to the Immingham  base (parented there by HMS WALLINGTON) on 1 Sep 1918 and then transferred to Grimsby (parented there by HMS PEKIN) on 10 Dec 1918. (NB the move toGrimsby does not appear in his record for some reason. He may (or maynot) have remained ashore at Immingham when the boat moved. The two Humber bases are only six miles apart.)

HT = Hired [by Admiralty] Trawler but the term was often used for drifters as well. All such boats were commissioned into the RN so could also appear as e.g. HMS EXCELLENCY.

Edited 16 February , 2022 by horatio2

[Smudger51]

Wow - thank you very much for this information - much appreciated. I'm ex-RN myself but the HT prefix certainly baffled me.

[rolt968]

Formerly BF1484 (Banff registered, but home port could have been one of a number small ports near Banff).

Built of wood in 1904 by (a little surprisingly) Beeching Brothers of Great Yarmouth, apparently for the Banffshire owners. 60 tons, 79.1 feet long. Returned owners (I assume) post WW1. Scrapped 1945. (Steam Drifters, a brief history - Tarvit).

RM