Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/61/1 - October 1916 - Part 4

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31
in / water. The destroyers
were always chasing these
things & firing at them &
then turning round & finding
these ^foam on / other side & firing 
at that - We had battles
of Scapa Flow constantly-
constantly. The most
furious was the Battle of 
Jemima ville- That ws
down at Invergordon. There
is a bar there & the tide or
somebodys wake ran along
this thing just like a
periscope & all / ships
started firing at it. The
fight was furious. The
destroyers turned out
& their torpedoes were all
ready - One of them was
 

12
32
about to attack when I
think she tumbled to the thing -
Anyway the order was given not
to fire. But The torpedo 
was in the tube - the
destroyer swung round
suddenly & the torpdeo swerve
was wrenched the torpedo
out of the tube! So in
addition to the shells which
were flying there was this
torpedo with its war head
on & nobody knew where
it was.
The losses in that fight
were a perambulator & a
baby- a shell hit the
perambulator clean out
of the nursemaids hands
at Jemimaville - I Ap
 

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33
the perambulator & baby
vanished.
“But though it all
sounds very absurd
now it was not absurd
really- you couldnt
afford to take any chances
in those days. There was
no alternative but to fire
at any if you be 
if you had doubts.
There are no submarines 
about Scapa now, they
say. The south channel
(Pentland Firth I think)
has so swift a tide rip
that you cannot keep
a Submarine stable in
it. They are very unstable
things when submerged -
 

[shorthand]
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34
- in a tide like that (wh
^sometimes runs up to 12 knots - the
fastest in / world - & only
slackens at the turn for
an hour or so- the Submarine
is as likely as not to 
turn over & sail upside 
down - They have to come
to the surface & enter with
their superstructure or
canning tower awash - & of
course we should soon
finish them now. You
cannot sow mines in
the Pentland - those streaks
on / map mean the rip.
But that current is thexx
protection of Scapa
on this side.
We steamed in between
 

12
35
two islands - past low
green rolling grass lands
& cliffs undul  hillsides
with plenty of the usual ^war huts
upon them, There painted
in the usual war patchwork
very like a Harlequin.
The people in the ^small stone houses
prim & grim houses
I daresay prim & grim
people are extraordinarily
well read, they said. They
are sufficiently prosperous
to make their parson minister a salary
of £400 a year. I shd think
he will put in for a rise
in salary now for they have
discovered how to charge
sailors 6d for everything
tt cost 3d when / fleet first
 

36
came here. But perhaps
the parson does none so
badly himself. For in these
ports the non-conformists
on shipboard are sent xxox off
to their own minister churches
ashore & the minister
receives payment at the
rate of 4d per soul per
service. If the parties do
not turn up, or men
absent themselves, firm
representations are made
to the admiral authorities
by some of these ministers
asking why the men
have not been present
attending service.
We passed three nets
- the first was marked
 

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37
chiefly by / line of gulls
wh swarm outside it.
I wondered how they got
this discipline into so
freethinking a crowd as
that of the average seagull
community until it
ws explained tt the fish
remain outside / net & /
gulls are there after /
fish.
Inside / first net - wh
ws held up by buoys ws
a line of trawlers or
drifters holding up a
second net; inside tt
another line of drifters
holding a third net. A
seaplane (perhaps a patrol
subm looking for submarines)
 

12
38
flew ^fairly low over the sea
like a white bird.
We rounded the point
& there ws the grand
fleet.
They were quite few
big ships & not many
small ones. In the
bay to our left were
I think 12 big grey warships
- all battleships; & slipping
out behind them at / far
end o / water stretch of
water - closer to / shore
were four battleships
moving slowly. Four
destroyers were coming
slowly out close beside
us on our left. The
four destroyers quickened
 

19
39
Magic, Martial, Ossory,
& some other M (perhaps
Magnet) - & rushed past
dragging their crisp wake
like a fluttering lace fringe.
They altered course several
times & I suppose they
fired xxx torpedoes with
collision heads - It is part
o / daily practice, I fancy;
I don't think it ws arranged
specially for us tho' it may
have been. The fleet has
not very much room to
practice now tt it lives in
its harbours.
the fleet
Outside ^the fleet were the
Warspite & the huge new
cruiser Repulse. The Repulse
ws laid down as a battleship
(& so ws / Renown) but at
 

40

Zeps
[shorthand]

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41 

the beginning of the war xx
when the keel was only
part land the design ws
altered & they had another
150 feet put on to them &
were turned into cruisers.
I believe their speed is
32 knots - the Repulse by
worked up to 127,000 H.P.
& is likely to get more.
The ship has to be a very long
one (I think they said 900 ft - it
may have bn 800) in order to
get her speed, & therefore there
is plenty of space for the mens
comfort to be arranged for.
The have baths for the ships company,
& reading rooms. The ship is
ventilated by forced drought
& the air can be heated to
any extent they wish. It was