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DUNN (Chief Petter Officer, Gunlayer, F.H. "Ginger")
Personal daily 'log' maintained aboard HMS Exmouth from July 1914-31st August 1917, plus notes of service after that date.
A fair copy neatly written in ink in a contemp. lined notebook, marbled sides with cloth backstrip, 192x160mm, 290pp., some 45,000 words in all.
#67877
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![[HLMainPic]](booksThumbs/67877.jpg "Click on the left or right of the image for more images")
The battleship HMS Exmouth was recommissioned on the outbreak of war, served in the North Sea with the Grand Fleet, was employed to bombard Zeebrugge (which was a German u-boat port) in November 1914, operated in the Dardanelles from May-November 1915 then in the Aegean, blockading the coast of Greece & Bulgaria & participating in the seizure of the Greek fleet. Transferred to the East Indies Station in March 1917, performing convoy escort duties. She was paid off in August 1917 at Devonport when her crew were allocated to other vessels, mainly in the anti-submarine service. Petty Officer, later Chief Petty Officer, Dunn, a senior man of many years service, served on board throughout her WW1 commission. He provides an excellent, detailed, daily log describing the ship's movements & operations throughout the war, also recording events of note that took place on board, including the misdemeanours of himself & fellow POs & seamen, the behaviour of several officers, & other operational & domestic matters. Some extracts: 4/8/1914, war declared: "When the signal was read out to the crews deafening cheers went up from all the ships & all bands struck up the French & Russian Anthems. Everyone was filled with joy to think our chance had come at last to show at last what the British Fleet was made of..." 5/9/1914: "Now comes a very amusing incident. During the coaling the Officer of my Division Lieut. Turner paid numerous visits to the collier Captain's cabin, & eventually imbibed really more than was good for him, & made himself a general nuisance, after tea he became worse & I noticed he had his revolver on (all Officers carried Webley Revolvers during the early days of the War). He wanted to work the winch that a coloured man, one of the crew, was working to everyone's satisfaction, our Commander noticed this & warned him off. This evidently ruffled him & he began to bully the [man] & pointed his pistol at him... shortly after, without any cause (as witnessed by P.O.s Cunliffe & Manley & several others) he came to me & accused me of insubordination, & pushing the pistol against me said 'I will put a bloody bullet through you if you laugh at me, War or Peace. I don't care a damn for you. I coaled ship before you were bloody well born.' I remonstrated with him & asked him to please go away... he replied by shaking the pistol in my face... My composure seemed to make him worse..." At the same time Dunn was positioning himself to push Turner overboard if necessary, but the latter, in need of refreshment, returned to the collier: "...later he came staggering up the hatch from the Captain's cabin... a thump & Lieut. Turner fell sprawling onto the iron deck below..." In a later diary entry Dunn records that Turner's court martial resulted in him being dismissed the ship. 23/11/1914, bombardment of Zeebrugge: "We passed several floating mines, fired at them & sank or blew several up... the destroyers are securing us from submarine attack which was thought for certain, so preparations were made for any mishap & we were then informed we were on a very hazardous mission & would be lucky if we got back, anyway we arrived off Zeebrugge at 2.0 pm cleared for action, loaded with common shell, & started bombarding. Fired 4 rounds from each Turret then the 12 inch guns fired Lyddite & 6 inch fired Shrapnel & very soon the whole place was in flames a very pretty but awful sight. We caught a train coming along the shore & fair hit under the engine which sent it flying into the air followed very soon by some of the carriages & a large crane on the Mole... we achieved our purpose..." Senior ratings were evidently capable of mischief, as recorded on 23/1/1915: "On returning from leave this evening orders were given to search all Petty Officers for smuggling in consequence several were found guilty & I think I personally was the only one that escaped after a thorough search..." He had got away with a bottle of Johhnie Walker which, however, "was quickly consumed in case of accidents." On 25/1/1915 "P.O. Windsor got dished up for the theft of a side of ham from the canteen, very laughable although rather sad." Next day: "Ex P.O. Windsor left ship today as a A.B., his career ruined right enough poor chap." The Dardanelles, 30/5/1915: "...proceeded to sea dodging some submarines outside & passed Cornwallis 1 pm & away to our starboard there looms up the Peninsular of Gallipoli & about 2 or 3 miles from shore was the Majestic bottom up only the ram showing above water..." Bombardment of Achi Baba, 4/6/1915: "...proceeded at 15 knots accompanied by screen of destroyers went up to close range of Peninsula & opened fire 11 am we had a fine point of aim which was the crossroads above Krithia the shells falling away to left on the main road etc. & according to what we could see & reports from our aircraft who were up spotting we inflicted great losses to the enemy... we silenced several guns & our troops by 4 pm had advanced 1700 yards..." As well as supporting ground operations by bombardment HMS Exmouth landed troops ("wonderful chaps these soldiers only they cannot keep their feet in our boats, they fall all over the place") & her divers were often employed, e.g., 14/6/1915 "our divers were busy trying to patch up some of the lighters on the beach, & clearing hausers from ship's propellor" and the nextday "trying to salve steamboats engines & boilers." This rare & engaging log continues until the conclusion of Exmouth's commission, after which CPO Dunn relates various employment including training in gunnery until the log tails off, having related a conversation in which his then captain told him he was worthy of mention to the Admiralty for saving the ship during his absence, for which he, apparently, should have been court martialled. Dunn: "We shook hands & I said try and forget it, I shan't be blowing the gaff I am leaving the service I hope soon. He says Anything I can do when you get in Civil life just write & tell me. I promise." See illustrations on our website.
£500
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