Eastham Mersey ferries used as minesweepers 1917-8

[soonguy]

Hi, I note with interest that the three small Mersey paddle ferries on the Eastham run became navy minesweepers for 1917 and 1918 (Pearl, Sapphire and Ruby, recorded with prefix 'royal', though this may have been an unofficial copy of the royal designation given to Daffodil and Iris. Does anyone have any more information on their war service? As ferries, they were only ticketed for passengers to the end of the Mersey, ie New Brighton, being quite small. Did they operate out of Liverpool, and were they useful in this role?

[KizmeRD]

Paddle steamers had the advantage of being relatively fast, shallow drafted, and highly manoeuvrable ships, so they were great in the auxiliary minesweeping role, particularly in coastal waters and estuaries (although they were not good sea boats in heavy weather).

Not sure where these three Royals were working during the war, but I  ought to find out more in the next day or two.

MB

[soonguy]

Thanks so much.

[horatio2]

Frton naval-history-net:-

ROYAL PEARL (ex-PEARL), paddle minesweeper, mercantile conversion to take advantage of shallow draught, high speed and manoeuvrability, Adty No. 504. Built 1897, 171grt. Armament: not listed. In service 16.4.17-19.5.19. Served with Auxiliary Patrol, carried Fishery flag superior pendant.

ROYAL RUBY (ex-RUBY), paddle minesweeper, mercantile conversion to take advantage of shallow draught, high speed and manoeuvrability, Adty No. 503. Built 1897, 171grt. Armament: not listed. In service 16.4.17-19.5.19. Served with Auxiliary Patrol, carried Fishery flag superior pendant.

ROYAL SAPPHIRE (ex-SAPPHIRE), paddle minesweeper, mercantile conversion to take advantage of shallow draught, high speed and manoeuvrability, Adty No. 505. Built 1898, 223grt. Armament: not listed. In service 16.4.17-31.10.18. Served with Auxiliary Patrol, carried Fishery flag superior pendant.

All three were based on HMS EAGLE at Liverpool from 1 May 1917, the base being re-named HMS EAGLET from early 1918. They were transferred on 19 March 1918 to Ardrossan for operations in the Firth of Clyde, baed on the old cruiser HMS PACTOLUS, which had been converted to a depot ship. HMS ROYAL SAPPHIRE was returned to EAGLET at Liverpool from 27 August 1918 and she paid off there on 6 September 1918.

Edited 2 March , 2023 by horatio2

[KizmeRD]

Good work h2, makes a lot of sense to be using these smaller class of paddle steamers in the Mersey and Clyde estuaries.

In addition to minesweeping, they also came in handy for general patrol duties too.

MB

[soonguy]

Thank you so much for that helpful information. And interesting they'd be up in the Clyde also. I have not found any photos of them during WW1 - would be fascinating if they'd appear in any general view. Interesting also that they flew the Fishery flag. I presume that this was because the Auxiliary Patrol was presumably substantially made up of drifters and other fishing vessels, as was the case for the Dover Patrol? As the Navy listings have them named as Royal, presume this was to avoid confusion with existing Navy vessels Pearl Sapphire and Ruby.

Eaglet was the flagship for Rear Admiral Stileman, who had been recalled from retirement to command in the Mersey. Here are two shots of her, moored in Salthouse Dock. So the Eastham ferries would have been under his command during their time in the Mersey. They would also have been in a sense under the authority of his civilian counterpart, Harbourmaster Richard Crafter, my great-grandfather-in-law. He had a five of sons in the services, pilotage or RNR during the war. One was to die with the Dover Patrol on drifter Clover Bank  Feb14/15 1918 during the last big German offensive against the Patrol. His widow was to be later presented with his DSC by Stileman on board Eaglet, she was accompanied by her father-in-law the Harbourmaster, who would have worked closely with Stileman throughout the war. Harbourmaster Crafter was also to be later awarded the OBE for his work during the war.

The Eastham ferries are much less known than the Wallasey and Birkenhead ferries, smaller, very gracefully proportioned and not very wide in the beam. They needed a shallow draught to moor at Eastham Ferry at low tide.

 

[KizmeRD]

On 02/03/2023 at 21:23, soonguy said:

Thank you so much for that helpful information. And interesting they'd be up in the Clyde also. I have not found any photos of them during WW1 - would be fascinating if they'd appear in any general view. Interesting also that they flew the Fishery flag. I presume that this was because the Auxiliary Patrol was presumably substantially made up of drifters and other fishing vessels, as was the case for the Dover Patrol? As the Navy listings have them named as Royal, presume this was to avoid confusion with existing Navy vessels Pearl Sapphire and Ruby.

 

As regards ‘flying the fishery flag’ it would be (pedantically) more correct to use the phrase ‘carried Fishery flag superior pendant’ or in other words the three Eastman paddlers were each allocated ‘FY’ pendant numbers (FY ####) - which meant that they were naval auxiliaries specifically assigned to mine-sweeping duties (1st-21st M/S Flotillas). This was seen as being ‘one up’ (certainly more dangerous) than being on an Auxiliary Patrol vessel. For example, after the war men who had been employed on a daily basis on a mine-sweeper became eligible for a special clasp to be worn on their British War Medal (provided that the vessel in which they served was part of a dedicated mine-sweeping unit which swept up an enemy’s moored mine when the applicant was present). However, men on Auxiliary Patrol vessels (who only occasionally passed their sweeps in connection with their patrol duties) did not qualify for the ‘Mine-sweeping’ clasp. 
Mersey = 11th MSF
Clyde = 12th MSF

And as regards the addition of the ‘Royal’ prefix, when the three paddlers were taken into government service, you are correct - this was done to avoid creating confusion with other similarly named vessels.

MB

 

Edited 4 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[soonguy]

Thanks so much, very helpful.

 

[horatio2]

2 hours ago, KizmeRD said:

became eligible for a special clasp to be worn on their British War Meda

@KizmeRDcan you elaborate? I am no medal guru but I thought no clasps to BWM were ever finally authorised.

However the original eligibilty end-date of 11 Nov 1918 was extended to cover service in 1919 and 1920 in mine-clearing at sea as well as participation in operations in North and South Russia, the eastern Baltic region, Siberia, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, during the allied intervention in the Russian Civil War [according to Wikipedia].

[KizmeRD]

Gosh I’m not a medals expert either, that much is clear - but when I read (only this morning) Admiralty Order 2051 (dated August 1920), I thought I was on safe ground. It was an official document beginning with the words “The King is pleased to have approved the award of naval clasps to the British War Medal…” However h2 is right, as usual, and it certainly explains why I’ve never seen one - as it turns out the new incoming Law administration that replaced Lloyd-George in 1923 reneged on the deal (on the grounds of cost), and no clasps were ever issued. I’m sorry for mis-leading people.

MB

It would appear that I need to read ADM 116/2327  next time I’m back in UK.

 

Edited 3 March , 2023 by KizmeRD