At sea in the Great War as a Hostility Bastard

[IanA]

This is not a review, as I haven't read it yet, but I was given this book and it strikes me that it may be of interest to some pals. It seems to be an account of a chap from Mirfield Grammar School, who joined the navy (despite having dodgy vision) in 1917. He served aboard HMS Canterbury in the North Sea and, after the armistice had been signed, in the Aegean.

The ISBN numbers (there appear to be two of them) are: ISBN-10: 1494874717 and ISBN-13: 978-1494874771. It seems to be privately published using 'CreateSpace'. (2014).

[simonharley]

Thanks for the heads up, Ian.

[IanA]

I've just finished the book and can say that I enjoyed it. It is a plain narrative written by a comparatively well-educated, working-class Yorkshireman. He joined the Royal Navy in early 1917, trained at Chatham and was sent to the light cruiser HMS Canterbury. His was the lowest form of life on board - not only an Ordinary Seaman, but also a mere 'hostility bastard'. All forms of advancement by way of taking a trade were closed to him although he did become an Able Seaman. One of the most striking things is the strict social hierarchy of the navy with the ratings hardly ever seeing an officer, never mind having any sort of communication with him. The gradations of rank within the men are also jealously guarded with a leading seaman roughly slapping down an ordinary seaman (a mill manager in civvy life) who tried to offer some advice on a piece of machinery. I had not realised that each mess for the ratings was sacrosanct and, as Hird remarks, walking into another mess would be greeted much as if you attempted to break into someone's house. I confess that all I have read regarding Jutland, Scapa Flow, Q Boats, submarines, and other naval exploits have been written by officers so seeing life from the bottom was a revelation to me - the bewilderment of basic training; receiving the various items of uniform (including the first pair of underpants he had ever worn); learning how to smuggle tobacco ashore; discovering the existence of pallid souls whose job it was to keep the bilges clean and much, much more. One thread runs through the book which was clearly the cause of much frustration to Hird and that was the manner in which the ratings were kept in absolute ignorance of what was going on in the world and even of matters which affected them most directly. When they went to sea, no-one told them where they were going or why they were going there and even the end of the war comes as a complete surprise.

The Canterbury seems to have led a rather unremarkable existence, performing routine tasks and protecting merchantmen on trips to Denmark and the Netherlands to obtain food - these were known as 'beef trips'. The convoy would generally be accompanied by a couple of light cruisers and a flotilla of destroyers. In October, 1918, the Canterbury sailed for the Aegean - supposedly, to deal with the threat which the Goeben still posed but the war ended before any action could take place. The ship was then sent to Russian waters in a seemingly pointless exercise which Hird calls: "a piece of muddled strategy and an interference in the internal affairs of a country with which we were not at war".

I commend this book for the glimpse it gives into the hard, sometimes dangerous, sometimes tedious life of the naval conscript in the Great War.

[seaJane]

That sounds most intriguing, Ian. Thanks!

[simonharley]

Thanks for the review. It's a cause of much regret that all my attention is focused on the "regular" officer experience, although one day I'll have to look at the other side of the coin and find out what the ratings and hostilities only officers and men have to say. This book will probably be of interest: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0674007360

Does it say where the account comes from, i.e. an institution, private collection, and so on?

[IanA]

Hird began to write his account in 1968 when he was 70 but, in 1982, when the Imperial War Museum showed an interest, his response was: "By comparison with what the Admirals and Generals had written, anything that I could say would be insignificant". This book has been published by his daughter.

[anthony osborne]

Thanks Ian - will put the book on my list.

Ant