New Zealanders - Motor Boat Reserve

[KizmeRD]

One response to the difficulties caused by the intensifying German U-boat campaign, was to place a sizeable second order for the construction of 500 ELCO (North American built) Motor Launches for delivery in late 1916 (in addition to 50 that were already in service), However that move led to a problem for the Admiralty in that at that stage in the war, there weren’t enough British naval officers and motor mechanics to fully man such a large influx of new vessels. Therefore a recruitment drive was launched both in Canada and in New Zealand to find men with adventurous spirits and motorboat experience to join the ‘Royal Naval Motor Boat Reserve’.

Following a selection interview, eighty suitable NZ volunteers were chosen for officer training and a further 100 men were recruited as motor mechanics. One such person was Philip Corliss Gannaway, he was duly commissioned as a Temporary Sub-Lieutenant RNVR and joined a group of 45 New Zealanders departing Auckland for Sydney on 16th December 1916. On arrival in Sydney he promptly transferred to HMAT DEMOSTHENES (A64) for onward passage to England (sailing as part of Convoy 27).

On arrival in England Sub Lt Gannaway and his class of fellow New Zealanders underwent initial officer training at Greenwich Naval College before being sent to  the depot ship HMS Hermione (in the Solent) to learn the practical aspects of their new profession, including subjects such as navigation, engineering, gunnery, care of ammunition and explosives, communications, seamanship and boat handling (plus how to detect and deal with U-boats). After successfully completing their training, the men were dispersed to their ships. Thus, in June 1917, Gannaway found himself appointed to ML 219, a motor launch tendered to HMS VANESSA II, the Auxiliary Patrol base at Holyhead, Anglesey. 

U-boats were often making incursions into the Irish Sea in order to lay mines or torpedo Allied supply ships, and Anglesey was strategically important as a centrally located operating base for RN and auxiliary patrol ships, and for the aircraft and airships of the RNAS (later the RAF).

ML 219 was one of six motor launches nominally attached to VANESSA II (and more would follow). They were 86 foot long petrol engined launches capable of 19 knots, armed with a QF 3-pounder gun and 4-6 depth charges, and having a crew of eight. They were hard worked little ships and were typically out on patrol for six days, then back for two, before putting to sea again in all weathers. Conditions onboard lacked many of the comforts enjoyed by larger vessels and in winter it was particularly cold and damp work. 

Gannaway was promoted to Lieutenant on 6th December 1917 and continued to serve aboard ML 219 until being taken seriously ill on 4th November 1918, and sadly succumbing to pneumonia two days later, aged 32. He left behind a young wife (Alice Muriel, nee Chitty) whom he married in Hamilton just a few short weeks before leaving home for the final time. He is buried beneath a marble cross on a beautiful spot on Church Island (directly adjacent to the fast flowing Swellies). Before the war he was employed as a Government Land Surveyor. His father Frederick was the Telegraph Supervisor in Auckland.

His naval service mirrors the experiences of many of this intrepid group of Kiwi yachtsmen who answered the call from the Motherland in 1916. A number of them were decorated and some took part in the raids at Zeebrugge and Ostend. It would be good to learn more about some of the others who served on motor launches. Hopefully fellow Forum Pals will be able to contribute something interesting to the thread.

MB

 

Edited 28 November , 2023 by KizmeRD
Typo

[KizmeRD]

[charlie962]

An interesting write-up, thanks for posting. 

That last press report surprised me somewhat that Game and Sporting were still being used as recruitment language (1916 or 17?). But then the market will have been carefully targeted no doubt.

I noted this even later Sept 1917 report in the Dundee Courier that uses similar language for the Motor Boat Reserve as a whole. Here's the intro from Findmypast Newspapers. 

Edited 18 December , 2022 by charlie962

[horatio2]

MB, Many thanks for highlighting this interesting NZ contribution to the often-(very) forgotten small boat sailors.

As well as the ADM 337 RNVR records at Kew, those who are after MB ratings' records should be aware that their RNVR (MB) enrolment documents are held at the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

"MB Reserve ... Non-combatants". I think not. 

Edited 18 December , 2022 by horatio2

[KizmeRD]

Here’s an interesting photo of a large group of New Zealand RNVR Officers, most likely the photo was taken onboard HMS HERMIONE (depot ship for the RNMBR) early 1917.

Everyone in the photo was a member of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland.

MB

edit - names added (see below)…

Back Row : C H Palmer, W A Currie, N E Blomfield, W A Garden, W P Endean, C V Brown, F G Foote
Centre Row : R A Kirkwood, R Mays, W C Leys, G S Reid, L N Foote, T E Le Huquet, A E Choyce, R Philson, C Armitage, W L Sheffield
Front Row : L Jenkinson, G T George, D V Hanna, T M Alexander, B W Beaumont, C Harrison-Smith, E C Alexander, W Nolan, T C Webster
Absent : G E L Alderton, J C Hewson, J A Hardie

 

 

Edited 18 December , 2022 by KizmeRD
Names added to photo

[GreyC]

11 minutes ago, KizmeRD said:

Everyone in the photo was a member of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Club, Auckland.

 

Hi KizmeRD,

taking you up on your cited remark, I wonder if there was a similar procedure in the navies of the Commonwealth as in the German navy? There, members of the Imperial Motor-Yacht Club who volunteered with their motorboats and crew where united in the Freiwilliges (Kaiserliches) Motorbootkorps (Volonteer (Imperial) Motorboat Corps) shortly after the start of the war which was mainly used to patrol harbours and rivers but which was also involved in combat (e.g. at the Eastern front). The owners of the motorboats had the status of subaltern officers, the FMK was a private organisation under military rule. Later the Corps was fully integrated in the German army (not navy!).

As the British had a volontary motorcar unit, maybe there was a voluntary motorboat-corps, too?

GreyC

 

[KizmeRD]

GreyC - I think that this was simply an opportunist photo (to good to miss), taken to commemorate the last time that this group of officers were all together in one place.

All the people in the photo answered the call for experienced yachtsmen. The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron were the main ‘sponsors’ of the navy recruiting drive. Cdr Armstrong RN was the chief recruiting officer and he travelled out to New Zealand during the summer of 1916 specifically for the purpose. The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron allowed him to use their premises for the selection interviews and also put him in touch with other New Zealand Yacht Clubs. 29 out of a total of eighty officers recruited were Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron members. They all travelled to England on the same transport ship and stayed together until their basic training was completed (summer 1917), after which they dispersed to whatever ship they’d been appointed to. Most became Executive Officers on Motor Launches, serving in UK home waters, but there were also a lucky few who got to serve out in the Mediterranean.

All were Temporary RNVR officers (signing on for duration of the war), and generally, they all received a promotion to Lieutenant after twelve months service.

FYI, there was indeed a local Motor Boat Section of the NZ Army Motor Service Corps established at the outbreak of the war who were mainly used to check that any ships arriving in port were what they claimed to be. It largely comprised of yacht club members who were part-time volunteers using their own motor boats operating under the auspices of the military, rather like a maritime territorial force/home guard. They were disbanded around the same time as the RNVR recruitment campaign began, but got re-established again later in the war. It’s likely that at least some of the men in the photo were originally part of the Motor Boat Section of the Motor Service Corp., but most of those recruited probably weren’t.

MB

 

Edited 18 December , 2022 by KizmeRD

[GreyC]

Perfect. Thank you for your comprehensive answer!

Find attached a photo of the German Motorboat Corps.

[KizmeRD]

And thank you Grey C, I didn’t know about the existence of the German Motorboat Corp. - so you’ve started me off on a fresh avenue of investigation and research!

By the way, during the first couple of years of the war, there was a formal unit of British volunteer yachtsmen (a distinct section of the RNVR) known as the ‘Royal Naval Motor Boat Reserve’ (they were largely the owners and crew of private motor boats who transferred into naval service along with their boats, and got used by the navy as sort of picket boats in various ports and anchorages).

It was still known as the RNMBR in the summer of 1916 when the Kiwi recruits first attended their selection interviews, but consequent upon the rapid and sizeable expansion of the organisation following the government decision to purchase first 50 (and soon after an extra 500) Elco Motor Launches things appear to have changed, and by the time that the New Zealanders got to England and completed their basic training, they were simply absorbed into the mainstream RNVR, albeit for service in motor launches attached to Auxiliary Patrol units.

MB

Edited 18 December , 2022 by KizmeRD

[GreyC]

Thank you! Would be interesting to know if the US and France had similar voluntary motorboat units.

Original material of the German voluntary motorboat unit are rare and hard to come by.

GreyC

[aconnolly]

Thanks MB - fascinating.  I cannot find a definitive roll, but as you have noted there was effectively an advertising campaign.  Interestingly this occurred  at the same time the Government had determined there would be conscription for the Army (effective 1 August 1916).  There are a number of newspaper items of individuals setting off to take upon positions.  

Those who received mention in NZ press coverage in 1916:

J Batey jnr. of Stratford

R McLean, Hamilton

Harold Harris, Christchurch

JFS Briggs, Northland

Clarence Lane, Northland

BG Booth, Christchurch

JA Hardie, Wellington

Charles E Dunn, Wellington, (Gisborne-based on a dredger)

James Anstice, Nelson

H Rhind, Christchurch

Roy Alexander, Rama Rama, Sth Auckland

GF Bothamley, Wellington

EV Smith, Otago

CI Denham, Christchurch

J Hines, Christchurch

C Bowman, Christchurch

BW Beaumont, Auckland

Percy C Loasby, Christchurch

K E England, Christchurch - note I interpret reports as this man was accepted into the Motor Boat service, but may have stayed in NZ on account of death of his father and need to run the family motor mechanic business

----

Andrew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew 

[KizmeRD]

Yes indeed, the NZ army made sure that they got the pick of all recruits once conscription was introduced in the country in August 1916, however the British Admiralty was able to pull a few diplomatic strings and managed to obtain exemptions for this particular group of yachtsmen. The NZ Government even topped up the pay of married men to match equivalent ranks of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

I have now discovered that the men left New Zealand (via Aus) in batches between October and December 1916.

29 embarked on ‘Willochra’, 34 aboard ‘Maunganui’, 36 on ‘Tahiti’, 16 aboard ‘Athenic’ and 45 aboard ‘Manuka’. I have compiled a full list of all the officers, but I’m still working on identifying the senior ratings (Motor Mechanics).

I also found these two press cutting when researching Sub.Lt. Gannaway. It’s interesting his name gets mentioned all over New Zealand. (As a Land Surveyor, he obviously must have travelled around the country quite extensively). His parents lived in Auckland, he married in Hamilton, and received a send off in Otago!

WOMEN'S WORLD WAIKATO TIMES, VOLUME 87, ISSUE 13359, 9 DECEMBER 1916
WEDDING. GANNAWAY—CHITTY. A very pretty wedding took place on Saturday, 1st December, in the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East. Very Rev. Dean Darby, V.F., assisted by Rev. Father Duffy, performed the ceremony which united Mr Phillip Gannaway, second son of Mr F. Gannaway, of Remuera, Auckland, to Miss Muriel Chitty, third daughter of Mr W. Chitty, of "Brooklyn," Hamilton....The best man was Mr Fred. Gannaway, brother of the groom. As the wedding party left the church, to the strains of the "Wedding March," played by Mr Webster, they were greeted with a perfect deluge of rice, flowers and confetti, testifying to the popularity of the young couple. A sumptuous breakfast was partaken of at "Brooklyn," and the usual toasts were honoured ere Mr and Mrs Gannaway left for Wellington prior to embarking for England, where Mr Gannaway will join the Motor Patrol Service.' 
 

OTAGO WITNESS, ISSUE 3273, 6 DECEMBER 1916
The Otago Yacht and Motor Boat Club on Monday in the Arcadia Tea Rooms entertained the Otago and Southland men who have been accepted for service in the Motor Boat Patrol. The guests were Ernest Victor SMITH, George McKNIGHT, George Henry GREEN, Henry Eric CLARK, Lionel Alfred HOOKE, William. A. H. GORDON [?], Arthur Bruce WELCH, Walter Harold HISLOP, Herbert Robert COLE, Walter Herbert HODGINS, William Henry SELL, Hector James MCBEATH, Philip Corliss GANNAWAY, Arthur James DEAN, Alexander Walter WYLIE, and Douglas Arthur Hagar SMALL (Invercargill)

MB

Edited 19 December , 2022 by KizmeRD
Typos

[charlie962]

11 minutes ago, KizmeRD said:

have now compiled a list of all the officers, but I’m still working on identifying the senior ratings (Motor Mechanics).

I presume you have seen this.

https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C115774

There are presumably follow on pages for this nominal roll.

[KizmeRD]

Thank you Charlie,  I hadn’t come across that ‘Miscellaneous’ listing before, excellent info.

MB

[charlie962]

You may have cracked the lists but I do see the following:

1.   ADM 337 RNVR.

MB1820-1877 and MB1906-1919 are New Zealanders engaging 16/10/16.

MB1921-?? are further NZ engaging 6/12/16.  

The copies on Findmypast are fairly easy to scroll through and easily identify those enrolled in NZ, I think.

2. Here's another odd list from the Nominal Rolls. Have you found direct access?

 

3. The Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph has some excellent info on the individual's and many photos. I've not thought to post any here due to copyright. 

Hope that's of help. 

Charlie 

[KizmeRD]

I don’t have a FindmyPast subscription, but thanks anyway.

MB

[Tawhiri]

A search of the Papers Past website between 1 January 1914 and 31 December 1919 for the phrase 'motor boat reserve' produces 52 hits. Not all will be independent articles, several are the same article reprinted in various papers around the country, but it may give you some further insights.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers?phrase=2&sort_by=byDA&items_per_page=100&snippet=true&query=motor+boat+reserve&start_date=01-01-1914&end_date=31-12-1919

A similar search for the phrase 'motor boat patrol' between the same dates produces almost 1000 hits.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers?phrase=2&snippet=true&query=motor+boat+patrol&start_date=01-01-1914&end_date=31-12-1919

Similarly, a search of the Online Cenotaph database at the Auckland Museum for the phrase 'Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve', and filtering it for WW1 results only produces a list of 258 names, not all of who would have served with the Motor Boat Reserve. I presume, however, that those with a service number prefixed with MB are likely to have served with the Motor Boat Reserve.

https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/custom-search?mu=Royal+Naval+Volunteer+Reserve&w=World+War+I%2c+1914-1918&pp=500 

Edited to add that you can apparently drill down even further using the search phrase 'Royal Naval Auxiliary Patrol (Motor Boat Service)', which returns a list of 158 names.

https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/custom-search?eun=Royal+Naval+Auxiliary+Patrol+(Motor-Boat+Service)&pp=500

Edited 20 December , 2022 by Tawhiri

[KizmeRD]

Thanks for the link to the press reports - the Auckland Motor Boat Reserve references were all enlightening, however the really interesting snippet (for me at least) was reading that naval ratings crewing Spicer-Simpson’s ‘Fifi’ on Lake Tanganika were all RNMBR men (and so I presume that same was true for ‘Mimi’ and ‘Toutou’ too).

And isn’t it also great that the Auckland Museum publishes such great material online.

MB

Edited 20 December , 2022 by KizmeRD

[charlie962]

1 hour ago, KizmeRD said:

on Lake Tanganika

That was the bit I omitted from my earlier post of a 1917 Dundee press article because the crew were not NZ! 

[KizmeRD]

My final tally of NZ motor mechanics enrolled into the Motorboat Section of the RNVR was 96. They ended up pretty easy to identify and research as all New Zealanders had their docs marked with rhe words ‘Inform SNO Auckland of any casualty’.

Thanks again  Charlie for providing the ADM 337 references.

They were initially enlisted as ‘Motor Mechanics’, and after 12 months service, generally speaking they all got bumped up to Chief Motor Mechanic.

MB

Edited 21 December , 2022 by KizmeRD