Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/59/1 - September 1916 - Part 5

8                          44

Skyline trench ws not occupied. We used to send

overland to Tommy m.g. post wh ws 

near Ration trench. The reinfts of C & D wh.

went up were mostly lost & carriers

also. The Bn. had 560 rifles in the line on Aug 26.

& abt 70 out. Lost 365 on 26^th Aug. (this fight)

& abt 140 before that -(& 4 officers before 26^th)

That left abt 200 at the fight front at end of day

(This is excl. of 22 Bn).

 

Lt Jones at 54 ws fighting all day.

45

JB. Repulse (shorthand)
Barham (shorthand)
Tiger (shorthand)
Be  Ramithies (shorthand)

 

P.R.

 NZs (shorthand)

(shorthand)

Straddled lines in S. Then (shorthand) No 5.

(shorthand) No5 (shorthand) No 4 (shorthand)

(shorthand)

(shorthand)             Q.M. One picket trench

Windy Corner        of Indefat 

                                    500 (shorthand)

Cd see shots               Black smoke for

(shorthand)                10 secs.

                                      Hull of QM & they

                                       passed her.

(shorthand)                        ? Blucher

(shorthand) ships (shorthand)

(shorthand)      cruisers

(shorthand)

 

10                                        46

shells  (shorthand)

(shorthand)

(shorthand) 50 tons

 

Birdwds (shorthand)

 

Flying Corps  Birdwoods Article

I called on John Buchan. on 

Tuesday a note arrived telling

me tt my name ws down on

tt of a party of neutral journalists

to visit the Fleet & Clyde shipyards

(Buchan had been working this).

I went up to Glasgow by the train

from Euston on Wednesday night

at 11.30 - reaching Glasgow at 

breakfast time. About 10 am.

on Thursday we started.

We went to Fairfield, John

Brown's, & Beardmores.

There were very few big ships building

but simply scores of destroyers

& small craft. There were the

10                           47

"Mystery ships" - P. boats-

very like submarines to look

at; but really, I believe,

swift small boats to catch 

submarines

 

Sketch

 

I do not know if they are meant

to be mistaken for submarines; but

it looks like it. There were a

fair number of submarines build

also - both new & old classes. But

the greatest xxxx impression

was that of the crowds of

destroyers - there were 10 new

ones building at one yard

alone & hund I shd say we

saw 50 to 60 during the day

in the c yards alone, all being

built. In one yard we saw

10 all on the stocks together.

48

sketch

The Barham & many other

ships had been delayed on the stocks for 

better dwgs of design. In I case of

the Barham this ws to have bleaters put on to her sides

-you can see them in dock.

 

 

10                                      49

of big ships. John Brown

had just finished a battle

cruiser, the Repulse - I

believe she is with the Fleet

(& I think the Renown is also).

They had built the Barham

battleship - & the Tiger had

of course been finished since

the war. On one of their

slips were the blocks to take

the keel of the Hood, a big

battle cruiser.

Beardmore had finished

the Ramillies. The Barham, I

think it was, ws lying alongside

the wharf at J. Browns. She

had only one great funnel.

These big modern ships are

splendidly compact - she might

have been a huge tug boat - so

simple was her design.

                       Sketch

 

John Henderson, whom I

met at John Browns, told me tt

his work people were making good

 

10                         50

wages of £3 or £4 a week average

& up to £6 in cases - but they

were working tremendously

hard for it. From 6 in the 

morning to 7 at night many 

of them - & all the days in

the week continuously. They

were fagged out, he said - &

he believed it wd pay the 

country to cut down their

hours to 8 & give them 3

days holiday - he thought 

that more work wd actually 

be done in an 8 hour day

for 6 days in the week. I

daresay this was an

exaggeration - probably it

was. But it is an interesting

new point of view; for I knew

Henderson, of old, when the

Australia ws building. He 

ws a good man but not a

men's man. There In peace 

he used to tell me tt I men in

John Browns took no particular

10                                   51

interest in the ships they built

-it ws cold crude business

between employer & employee.

There is clearly a different

spirit in the yards, I really

believe.

The reason the hours

cannot well be cut down is

bec. it wd mean also cutting

down the pay - & tt cd not

(& shd not, it I say) be done.

I have been very much 

struck during this visit to England

by a new unity of feeling in the

British English nation. The

welcome given to our train as

it came up from Folkestone into

London, full of soldiers on leave,

was quite unrehearsed, & genuine,

& wonderful. It was when we

got into London tt it began. As

we went thro wound along our embankment

along through the ugly back suburbs, all

white brick villas with ugly back yards or cramped

little gardens of behind, & dismal

straight streets & little pretty shop fronts

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before, the people all waved at

us as though we had been their

own brother returning to their

own family. There was no window

dressing, no crowds, no decoration,

no organised ceremony - the 

sort of show which does not impress

me in the least. But from every

window, every backyard, every

street pavement the peo inhabitants

just turned & waved & waved

again; & I dont know what it

was that made you feel their

heart went out to the men

returning as though they were really

brothers & not employers or employees

or cut off by a hard & fast social

barrier. It was honestly the first time

I have seen the English really moved

by one common feeling as a 

nation. Three girls standing at the

open dining room windows waved their

hands; a woman pinning up washing

in the next back yard left it & held

up her handkerchief ever so long;

to small boys on the street pavement

ran along to the rly fence &

stood there whirling their caps;

a middle aged man shook his

10                                 53

hand at us cheerily, a flapper

coming from shopping wagged one

of her parcels up at us; 

women at upper windows,

servants looking from the back 

door, small shopkeepers standing

in front of their little square paned

news & tobacco shops, the children

& their parents in the gardens,

a middle aged man out walking

with his wife - girls everywhere,

of every age & every position,

young girls, old girls, pretty girls

& the good old plain girls -

they all waved & waved &

waved again through the

whole of that long eight miles

of Southern suburb. Every

one was doing it on his own 

- the chances are that even the

neighbours didn't know one

another - they wdn't, being English.

But here was something binding

all of them together. They were all

thinking & feeling much more than

I realised, about the Battle of the

Somme. We were, to tell the truth,

very tired - very weary of that fight.

Everyone had had enough of it -

10                                       54

had come out of a really

trying experience & ws ready

for a little home comfort - &

it was a wonderful wonderful

welcome.

I haven't seen a newspaper

that noticed it. It was quite

un-selfconscious. That was the

precious part about it.

If only England could wage

peace with the unselfish unity of

purpose with which she wages

war!

The neutral journalists

& myself - with a civilian who

Jim Hutchinson & a Naval Lt. Commandr

Houston as guides - after seeing Beardmores

came up the river in a custom

house launch & took train to Edinburgh. 

What a city that is. It strikes

me as finer every time I see it.

We were a mixture of Spaniards

& Americans, with a Canadian

Macpherson & a Russian exile 

Aladin as my particular mates.

We had tea at Mackey's Shortbread

10                                   55

house; & I strolled up to the Castle

& found the Americans making

the small boys of the place

recite their guide book rigmarole

in duet - It is tougher than

in the schools.

We started next morning at

10 for Rosyth in a big motor

Charabanc. We passed Lord

Rosebery's great park & House

to wh, they say, he never

invites any guest except his

sons - & came down the

grey grim dour countryside

to the Firth of Forth. The

Forth Bridge is to me always

a beautiful thing. I think

any object is beautiful whose

lines show are most visibly

effective for fulfilling their

function - There is no

reason why a drain pipe

shd not be a thing of art

provided it is a drainpipe

& is meant for a drainpipe.