nickynoo65 Posted 23 May Share Posted 23 May This forum has been so helpful in the past so I'm wondering if anyone can decipher the name of the ship/base 3rd up from the bottom beginning with O. I have recently discovered through DNA, that Matthew was my g grandfather after meeting my great gran whilst based in Falmouth at Dreel Castle. She had my gran in November 1918 and she never knew her father. I am now trying to piece his service record together. He was born on Barrow-in-Furness, but died in Canada. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio2 Posted 23 May Share Posted 23 May (edited) HMS OSEA, the base for coastal motor boats near Clacton-on-Sea (Osea Island, River Blackwater) Edited 23 May by horatio2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickynoo65 Posted 23 May Author Share Posted 23 May 14 minutes ago, horatio2 said: HMS OSEA, the base for coastal motor boats near Clacton-on-Sea (Osea Island, River Blackwater) So it appears he was stationed on at least 2 motor boat bases. Thank you so much 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KizmeRD Posted 23 May Share Posted 23 May (edited) You might be interested in viewing this short video clip https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02glfrh MB Edited 23 May by KizmeRD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickynoo65 Posted 23 May Author Share Posted 23 May 1 hour ago, KizmeRD said: You might be interested in viewing this short video clip https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02glfrh MB That is amazing, thank you so much 🙂. I need to figure out if the others are bases now. I had wrongly assumed they were all actual ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 23 May Share Posted 23 May VICTORY and PEMBROKE II were definitely shore bases, but I think all the others floated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KizmeRD Posted 24 May Share Posted 24 May VICTORY = Accounting Base for men at Portsmouth PEMBROKE = Accounting base for men at Chatham HERMIONE was an old cruiser based at Southampton, and was the depot ship for men of the Motor Boat Reserve - the place where they underwent training prior to deployment. COLLEEN was the Auxiliary Patrol base at Queenstown Ireland. The rest you already have. MB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickynoo65 Posted 24 May Author Share Posted 24 May 1 hour ago, KizmeRD said: VICTORY = Accounting Base for men at Portsmouth PEMBROKE = Accounting base for men at Chatham HERMIONE was an old cruiser based at Southampton, and was the depot ship for men of the Motor Boat Reserve - the place where they underwent training prior to deployment. COLLEEN was the Auxiliary Patrol base at Queenstown Ireland. The rest you already have. MB Thank you so much. It appears he was on Hermione a few times. Did this mean they had training before every deployment would you know, or as a motor mechanic he would have been servicing the smaller boats. Hope that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio2 Posted 24 May Share Posted 24 May (edited) 1 hour ago, nickynoo65 said: Did this mean they had training before every deployment Not necessarily. You will see that his drafts to HMS HERMIONE are all as List 15, which is for men who are borne as supernumerary, i.e. additional to the members of the ship's company. Such ratings would have been employed in their trade, in this case as a motor mechanic, on the motor boats for which HERMIONE was their engineering and support base. At the same time such supernumerarires were available as a pool of trained ratings, available for drafting into the crews of motor boats or elsewhere, as required. This happened on three occasions to Guest: from HERMIONE to VICTORY for HMML26; from HERMIONE to DREEL CASTLE for HMS LISETTE; and from HERMIONE to HMS OSEA as a member of her ship's company (List 5) Edited 24 May by horatio2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KizmeRD Posted 24 May Share Posted 24 May (edited) Hermione was more than just a place for training - it was the ‘Alma Mater’ of the men of the RNMBR, the organisational establishment that looked after naval Motor Launches and CMB’s. Guest seems to have returned there on a few occasions in order to be recycled to other vessels/operating locations. MB Edited 24 May by KizmeRD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickynoo65 Posted 24 May Author Share Posted 24 May 1 hour ago, horatio2 said: Not necessarily. You will see that his drafts to HMS HERMIONE are all as List 15, which is for men who are borne as supernumerary, i.e. additional to the members of the ship's company. Such ratings would have been employed in their trade, in this case as a motor mechanic, on the motor boats for which HERMIONE was their engineering and support base. At the same time such supernumerarires were available as a pool of trained ratings, available for drafting into the crews of motor boats or elsewhere, as required. This happened on three occasions to Guest: from HERMIONE to VICTORY for HMML26; from HERMIONE to DREEL CASTLE for HMS LISETTE; and from HERMIONE to HMS OSEA as a member of her ship's company (List 5) Thank you so much. This is really interesting. Is there an article I can read to tell me about the lists as I see he had a few different ones. Also where it says list and number, what does the number equate too please. 50 minutes ago, KizmeRD said: Hermione was more than just a place for training - it was the ‘Alma Mater’ of the men of the RNMBR, the organisational establishment that looked after naval Motor Launches and CMB’s. Guest seems to haveve returned there on a few occasions in order to be recycled to other vessels/operating locations. MB Thank you so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio2 Posted 24 May Share Posted 24 May 2 hours ago, nickynoo65 said: what does the number equate too please. It is just his number on the ship's book/pay list. It has no other significance. Numbers were allocated in order of joining the list. You can gain a deeper insight by using this link - https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~pbtyc/genealogy/RN/List_Numbers.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio2 Posted 24 May Share Posted 24 May (edited) Aside from his drafts on Lists 5 and 15, already discussed, he had several drafts to List12. This was for men who were borne for pay but who actually served as ship's company in another, smaller ship/boat which could not carrry its own pay ledger. Such small vessels were knwon as a tender to the larger parent ship. GUEST served on List 12 in the following tenders: HMML 378, tender to VICTORY; HMML 20, tender to COLLEEN; HMML 236 (?? unreadable), tender to both VICTORY II and VICTORY X; HMS LISETTE, tender to DREEL CASTLE. Edited 24 May by horatio2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickynoo65 Posted 24 May Author Share Posted 24 May 42 minutes ago, horatio2 said: Aside from his drafts on Lists 5 and 15, already discussed, he had several drafts to List12. This was for men who were brone for pay but who actually served as ship's company in another, smaller ship/boat which could not carrry its own pay ledger. Such small vessels were knwon as a tender to the larger parent ship. GUEST served on List 12 in the following tenders: HMML 378, tender to VICTORY; HMML 20, tender to COLLEEN; HMML 236 (?? unreadable), tender to both VICTORY II and VICTORY X; HMS LISETTE, tender to DREEL CASTLE. Thank you so much. This gives me a great insight into who I now know to be my great grandfather. I appreciate all your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickynoo65 Posted 28 May Author Share Posted 28 May Just a quick question and not sure if anyone can help. According to Matthews Imperial Gratuities form, he left Liverpool on March 1st 1919 on the S S Adriatic to return to Canada. He was by now married and his wife was pregnant. Would they have travelled together or was this ship just for returning troops.? Or was the Adriatic a normal passenger ship by now. I'm unable to find them for this date on the passenger list for this boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now