Why be a Stoker in the Royal Navy 1900-1910?

[seaJane]

On 12/11/2019 at 14:50, Hatchetjack said:

as mentioned my GF was not a large man. My Godfather was his oppo in The Navy and he too was not a large man both wiry rather than bulky.

I can't be certain, but perhaps being wiry rather than bulky made them less prone to heat exhaustion, which was not uncommon among stokers.

[Heid the Ba]

As was mentioned upthread many stokers were lascars so “wiry” might be a kind description.

[KizmeRD]

I am not aware that there were many Royal Navy stokers in the Great War being Lascars (is there any evidence?). It is certainly true that there were many employed in the mercantile marine, but not RNR or MNR. 

The stokers job was to keep the boilers going, they would hav been physically fit and probably more mechanically minded than the chaps who wanted to be seamen. They would also be more employable in civy street after hostilities had ended.

Edited 19 January , 2020 by KizmeRD

[FROGSMILE]

As the old saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words.  HMS Kent boiler room whilst in pursuit of SMS Nurnberg, Battle of the Falkland Islands, December 1914.

 

Edited 19 January , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[John(txic)]

If you were a lad from the Black Country, shovelling coal into a furnace was second nature...

[KizmeRD]

To be fair to stokers, they weren't just 100% engaged in shovelling coal into the furnaces (as horrible and strenuous as it obviously was), they would also have had to learn how to operate, care for and maintain all sorts of other auxilliary equipment too - such as steering gear, distilation plants, pumps, valves and piping, cooling equipment & ventilation, electrical generators, capstain gear, boat hoists & coal hoists, and general bunkering arrangements (under supervision of an Engine Room Artificer).

[John(txic)]

Thanks, Kizme - appreciated.  Not just a mindless labouring job, then.

[KizmeRD]

As warships became more complex, the role of the stokers expanded somewhat. Although they were not skilled technicians (i.e. they had not completed a trade apprenticeship), they would have been involved in such duties as taking temperature readings and routine oiling and lubrication of moving parts etc. Any repair work would have been the responsibility of the ERA's.

I also believe that the ship's laundries were also manned by stokers, presumably because of their working association with the steam boilers.

[Darloboy]

My Grand Uncle, Frank Glover, was a Stoker 1st Class on HMS Hampshire for the whole of her war.

Until she died almost exactly 50 years later my Nan always said he was 'still at his station'.