Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/59/1 - September 1916 - Part 6

10    56
on the face of it, an efficient
effective drainpipe;  & does not
pretend to be Nelson's Column
or somebody's obelisk.  This
last sort of drain pipe makes me
more physically sick than the others.
honest sort of smelly drain pipe
ever does.
From the _^centre spans of the
Forth Bridge were hanging
ropes leading to buoys.  Between
'Drawing - see original document'
each the lengths of rope
attached to the buoy
was a series of
loops with weights
on the end - the
weights suspended half way between
the bridge & the water - evidently
in order to help in lifting or lowering
the net there & in order perhaps to keep
an even strain on the rope.
When a ship goes through they must
either lift or lower the net - I
didnt see which.
Outside we cd see the
dim grey form of a very

57
'Drawing - see original document'
Direction of
Courcelette
windmill
observation Post
Tank astride of 
Walker's Trench
N W E S

10    58
'Drawing - see original document'
Tank on Walkers Trench (or O.G.1)

10    59
big warship - three funnelled,
'Drawing - see original document'
& very level
decked.  The
Lion or the
Princess Royal,
they sd, wh had gone down to
calibrate her guns.  I think
afterwds we heard she ws the
"P.R." Princess Royal.  The Lion
& the Repulse were away.
We were put on two
motor boats (new naval craft
included very few motor boats
before this war) & went
off to two torpedo boats.  I think
they were the oldest class
of destroyer - 25 kn boats of
about 1896 & they took us
up through the destroyers & the
fleet.
I used to know most of
the types in the navy on sight
but they have gone beyond me

10    60
in this war - Ever since my father
took me to Portsmouth in
1893 I have read pretty well
every book I could get hold
of about the Navy - at
school the "Navy & Army"
magazine used to be my chief
interest in the week, & the Navy
Estimates my chief interest
in the year - &; for a time, the
"Times" Naval news one of
the invariable interests in the
day.  Cassells _^have asked me to
write them a book about the
Australian Navy to go with
some pictures by Percy Spence.
But I dont know eno' abt
the modern Navy to take it
on;  unless I get to see something
o / inside of it now, I told
Cassells, I cdn't undertake it.
But this visit & another will
help.
The below First - nearest to /
Bridge lay a double line of

10    61
destroyers - L class (this
is new since the beginning o /
war or thereabouts).
Above them or among them
was a ship with three
funnels & one mast, but o /
destroyer type.  They She ws
'Drawing - see original document'
one o / new
Light Armoured
Cruisers - the
first I had ever seen.  They
date - the first of them - from
just before the war.
Her funnel ws painted in two
artistic shades of light grey
- the lighter colour in irregular
spots, round like the sun - I dare
'Drawing - see original document' ← this is too dark
say an excellent
protection if
she were lying in close
under the land -
Excellently well done as the French
do it;  not our usual wretched
little patchwork

10    62
Behind her were lying 4 big
ships.  I recognised one
at a glance.  The three big
funnels   'Drawing - see original document'
standing
isolated on
the deck showed tt she ws either
the Australia or the N. Zealand
- the Indefatigable had gone in
the Jutland fight.  She ws head
of her line, the ship we saw
& I read AUSTRALIA on her
stern & brass letters.  Behind
her were two ships not unlike
her but with their two forward
funnels closer together & connected
by upper works.
The Invincible  'Drawing - see original document'
has gone - so these
were the Inflexible & the Indomitable-
My Russian friend - who is an
enthusiast on / British navy,
and a real expert - ws bubbling
over, meanwhile, abt a ship
on the other side of us - lying

10    63
ahead o / line by herself.
She was a most compact
ship - like the latest ships
are;  bigger than any of them
really, but so compact &
neat tt she seemed like
a well tied up parcel -
'Drawing - see original document'
just a clean
clear platform for
8 big guns.
She ws the Tiger - of
abt 35 knots speed I believe
& 110 000 H.P.  They say tt
the Repulse (or is it the Hood)
will develop 150,000.
[They tell H.P. now by the
number of blades in the Turbine
etc. not by the twist o / shaft
as they did 4 years ago].
The warrant officer who ws
3rd in command of our t.b.d had bn
in the Swiftsure up the Dardanelles.
He sd they cd see the guns wh
were firing at them there when they
tried to get through;  and
the mines were floating down
past them thickly.  The Turks

10    64
were firing at them chiefly with
8 in. guns & the shot were falling
all round them thickly.  But the
skipper was handling his ship
so as to avoid them: "one salvo
over - next will be short - starboard
your helm" - True enough, next
salvo wd fall short.  "Next will
be right - stop the engines & take
the way off" - the ship wd check
her way & fall back, & a 
salvo wd fall into / water
ahead of her - where she wd
have been.
He saw the Ocean & the
Irresistible go - but not the
Inflexible - the Inflexible must
have been behind them.  He thinks
that the fleet could have got
through - at a price.
The torpedo boat took us
up round the fleet auxiliaries &
then back to the Rosyth Dockyard.
This was quite new to me -
in 1913 when I left England
there ws very little to show for

10    65
it.  When the war broke out
none of the dry docks were
ready but the basin & some
o / slips were.  It is just
a big stretch of flat land - reclaimed
flat I shd think - under the
hills of the N. Shore above the
Bridge - with several deep
big docks in it & two basins.
The New Zealand ws lying
alongside there;  & the Warspite
(like the Q.E.); & the Conqueror.
The admiral of the place had his
flag flying on the Crescent (an
old cruiser like the Endymion
but not blistered, as far as I cd
see).  The neutrals _^& we others were to lunch
aboard her.  As we came in to the
stage a midshipman brought me
a note from North - who was in the
Powerful & is new in the "New Zealand" - asking me to
lunch with him & go back to
the party later.  I was delighted
to have the chance.
He gave me lunch with
himself & the Commander -

10    66
Creighton.  Creighton is a little
chap with keen eyes who
might be the best sort of high
churchman - a Bishop or a
University tutor.  They were
anxious to hear all they cd
about the Somme & they
themselves told me in return
a great deal abt the Jutland
fight.
For the N.Zealand has had
great luck.  She was in all
the three big fights - Heligoland
-Dogger Bank (when they chased
the German cruiser Sqn. &
sank the Blűcher) - & Jutland.
the Australia arrived too late
for the first two;  & only only a
short time before the third - as she
& the New Zealand were in
their respective positns in /
squadron manoeuvring - she misread
a signal in the haze & smoke, &
turned the wrong way & rammed
the New Zealand.  Her bow ws
badly crumpled & she had to go