HMS Natal

[Jonathan Saunders]

I was just going through some notes I had copied from local papers (The East Kent Gazette edition of 8 January 1916) and came across the following remarkable story under the heading How Football Saved a Rainham Man’s Life:

"George Day, a member of a well known family of Rainham (Kent) runners, who was one of the crew of the ill-fated Natal, owes his life to football. Day was refereeing in a football match between sailors and soldiers when the cruiser blew up and the teams witnessed the harrowing sight. But for the fact that they were ashore engaged in football, Day and his mates would have shared the same fate as the other poor fellows. George Day at once telegraphed to his people saying he was safe and he has been on a visit to Rainham this week".

George Day’s visit to Rainham, whilst a happy one for his family must have been a mixed one for him. In addition to losing nearly 500 shipmates, he had to face the families of three other Rainham men lost in the disaster: Ship’s Chief Cook Andrew Evers, aged 38 and married with two young boys; ERA3 George Haigh, aged 22 and recently married; A/B Edwin Cramp, aged 24 and married with one child. A civilian from the village was also said to be killed in the explosion but I have not been able to find his identity.

The NATAL’s loss at Cromarty Firth on New Year's Eve was shrouded in mystery and was subsequently the subject of a book They Called it Accident by A. Cecil Hampshire (1961). I havent read the book but I believe the Natal exploded after cordite had ignited, similar to the VANGUARD in July 1917.

It led me thinking to what was the most unusual or weird "survivor" story that came out of the war.

[chris basey]

George Day was one of the lucky 300 or so who were not on board at the time of the explosion when over 400 officers and men perished. One of those was a young Stoker 1st Class from Acle in Norfolk - Benjamin Watts aged 22 years. The local newspaper reported "The people of Invergordon were exposed to the horros of war when, at Hogmanay in 1915, H.M.S. Natal blew up in mysterious circumstances with a loss of over 300 lives"

A quickly convened Court Martial (January 1916) found that . . . "the loss was not due to design, negligence or carelessness but by spontaneous combustion of cordite in the ship's magazines". The Court fully acquitted the survivors and (surprise, surprise) made recommendations about methods of storing the material and the recording of cordite movements in the Navy.

[Jonathan Saunders]

The Court fully acquitted the survivors and (surprise, surprise) made recommendations about methods of storing the material and the recording of cordite movements in the Navy.

Obviously the RN did not carry out the recommendations of the enquiry, hence the loss of the VANGUARD in July 1917 from ... an explosion of cordite ... in this instance believed to be stored loosely, as was the RN custom, but with some cordite stored against one of the bulkheads to the magazine.

During the course of that fateful day the VANGUARD had moved buoys, which involved stoking the boilers. The heat is believed to have been conducted through the bulkheads until a pocket of intense heat was created. This ignited the unstable cordite, causing two large explosions and when the smoke cleared the VANGUARD was no more. Nearly 850 men died with just 2 surviving the event, and about another 150 either on leave or dispersed elsewhere that evening.

[michaeldr]

Have a look at 'The Technical History and Index' part 24 "Storage and Handling of Explosives in Warships" written in October 1919 which covers 10 cases of such wartime explosions including 'Bulwark,' 'Natal,' 'Vanguard' and 'Glatton' plus some foreign vessels. Lots of detail. Go to

http://www.gwpda.org/naval/thist24.htm

Regards

Michael D.R.

[Jonathan Saunders]

Michaeldr – the website you refer to also has pages commemorating the loss of the VANGUARD under category Battles & Campaigns – including lists of those killed, survived and absent on night of explosion, some scans and details of crew members (I have started an obituary project but it is still early days although I have a career summary posted for Capt Dick), further scans from the grandson of Commander Ito – the observer from the IJN who also died that evening, a fantastic account of salvaging from the wreck in the late 50’s by Frank Lilleker and final a transcription of the Court of Enquiry. Please do look at the VANGUARD info as I am sure you wont be disappointed.

A fifth Naval ship, HMS Princess Irene was also lost to explosion in the war as a result of about 500 mines exploding. The official enquiry stated faulty primers but it was generally considered the priming of the mines had been conducted by inexperienced men. It caused enormous loss of life as there were additional CPOs/POs aboard at the time and also civilian dockyard workers. An account of the Irene is in the same category as the VANGUARD.

Regards,

Sigs

[Jonathan Saunders]

Could I just add there is also a photo of my Gt/Gthr on the VANGUARD pages of that website. He is commemorated on my Forum signature below.

Thanks & regards

[michaeldr]

Sigs,

Many thanks for the tip. Very sorry that I missed that previously, but I have made up for it now. Congratulations on all the work and a fascinating story

Michael D.R.

[chris basey]

The variety of reports of what befell the NATAL highlights how difficult it is to arrive at the correct number of casualties in these type of disasters.

Does anyone know the official source of such statistics, please?