Nich About Town: Southampton

Southampton on 26 August 1917, and a city bustling with the movement of troops. Amongst those leaving home for a new and unfamiliar territory is 33-year-old Walter Henry Albert Sillence, who has been posted as a gunner to the Royal Garrison Artillery. They are en route to a gruelling campaign that has been raging in Mesopotamia. It’s a campaign that has gone on since the early days of the war, but at the time of Walter’s embarkation, the tide has been firmly turning in favour of the Allies – Baghdad, the Ottoman Empire’s southern capital, has fallen just a few weeks before, and this fresh wave of troops sets off with new-found optimism, to finish the job.

Walter received his notice and signed the attestation forms back on 29 November 1915. The next day, he was posted to the Army Reserve - the forces in the UK who were going through basic training and awaiting posting overseas. More than a year passed, during which time Walter was fully vaccinated, and assigned the regimental number 353671. Walter is not a particularly young man for the military, nor is he particularly tall, measuring only five foot five, and perhaps this is why he has been posted to the RGA instead of the infantry. As the HMAT A74 "Marathon" (A transport ship borrowed by the Australians, and recalled by Britain in April 1917) leaves Southampton Docks that morning, Walter watches his home city disappear into the distance. He leaves behind everything familiar; his parents, one brother (the other having already been enlisted in the RGA), and a wife from whom he has already separated.

HMAT A74 Marathon

The Marathon and its cargo of troops has negotiated the Mediterranean, made it through the Suez Canal, and rounded the entire Arabian Peninsula. Walter disembarks on 19 October 1917, probably setting foot on a foreign land for the first time. There is little fighting to be done over the winter, and political disarray ensues almost immediately, as General Maude, who has been commanding the British troops in Mesopotamia, dies of cholera. He is replaced by General William Marshall, who halts operations for the winter, meaning that Walter's introduction to Arabia is a relatively quiet affair.

Walter's role in the Royal Garrison Artillery is as a gunner, firing the “big guns”. Consequentially – and very fortunately – this means he sees limited, if any, frontline combat. Positioned far behind the fighting, the artillery is responsible for softening-up enemy defences, by shelling targets according to map coordinates and information wired to them by pilots from the Royal Flying Corps. Being a gunner is not without its hazards, however – Walter suffers a partial loss of hearing from which he will never recover, and has even managed to receive a sting from a scorpion during his posting.

Winter gives way to spring 1918, and Walter is posted to 394th siege battery, joining them on 2 March. Walter and his battery sees action at Hīt, Khan al Baghdadi and Kifri. Hīt is a bloodless battle, the Ottomans evacuating before a shot is fired, whilst at Khan al Baghdadi, the artillery battery supports an offensive that sees Allied troops dig in behind Ottoman lines. When the city is attacked, the Ottoman troops evacuate, falling straight into Allied hands, with 5,000 prisoners taken. Kifri barely gets a mention in the history books, but is reported in the New Zealand Herald on 6 May 1918:

Following Kifri, Walter embarks at Maqal (now a suburb of Basrah) for another trip around the Arabian Peninsula, as the battery moves to Egypt, arriving at Suez on 17 May 1918. Then it's onwards to Tul Karen in Palestine, then Haifa, Surafend (now Tzrifin), then back to Kantara as the war draws to a close. As fate has it, Walter misses the Armistice, suffering a bout of influenza that means he is absent from 28 October to 30 November 1918. Returning to fitness, he rejoins his battery in Kantara, and moves with them to Ismailia, Egypt, where he remains through the start of 1919, as monthly demobilisation slowly reduces the numbers. We have no date for when Walter actually returns home, but presumably it is by May 1919, when the 394th siege battery is disbanded. At this time, Walter is transferred to class “Z” Army Reserve, his demobilisation papers instructing him, in the event of re-ignition of the war, to report immediately to Plymouth.

Walter Henry Albert Sillence was my great grandfather. On return to civilian life, he recommenced his work as a warehouse foreman, supplying meats to the ocean liners of Southampton. He went on to marry his second wife, Dorothea, and to have one child, my grandma Stella. Walter and Dorothea lived the rest of their lives in or around the Southampton area. He died in 1962, decades after a war that had claimed so many lives. What remains of Walter's army record can be viewed here.

This week, people in both the UK and North America commemorated the 100th anniversary of the sailing, and sinking, of the Titanic. This blog's tribute takes the form of a few newspaper-style reports, coupled with some memorabilia from the Titanic Replica Pack, made by the fantastic Memorabilia Pack Company (www.mempackcompany.com).

Queen of the Ocean Launches Tomorrow

09 April, 1912

RMS Titanic, the largest and finest steamer afloat, will set sail from Southampton tomorrow en route to New York. The spectacular new addition to the White Star Line family, this Queen of the Ocean sails at 882 feet, weighs over 45,000 tonnes, and is said to be unsinkable. Facilities are of the highest standards ever found on any ship; designed using the Ritz Hotel as a reference, first-class cabins have been finished in the empire style, and the Titanic aims to give the experience of one being in a floating hotel, rather than a ship. Passengers will be able to use the onboard telephone system, library and barber shop, whilst those in first-class can take advantage of the swimming pool, gymnasium, squash court, Turkish bath, and luxurious Cafe Parisien, located on the veranda and offering the very best in French haute cuisine. The first-class experience is punctuated by the sumptuous Grand Staircase, which descends through seven decks, from the Boat Deck to E Deck, ornate, elegant and sophisticated.

Accommodating over 700 first-class, 600 second-class, and 1,000 third-class passengers, the Titanic's crew is over 900 strong. In addition to passenger duties, the ship will also carry mail under contract with the Royal Mail and the United States Post Office Department. 26,800 cubic feet of space has been allocated to the storage of letters, and a team of five postal clerks will work the sea post office on Deck G, sorting thousands of letters daily. Taking command of the Titanic for her maiden voyage tomorrow, Captain Edward John Smith, the most senior of all White Star Line captains, who has been transferred from the Titanic's sister ship, RMS Olympic. Following him from the Olympic is Chief Mate Henry Tingle Wilde. Among notable first-class passengers expected to be on board tomorrow are the American millionaire John Jacob Astor IV, industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim, Macy's owner Isidor Straus, and the silent film actress, Dorothy Gibson. The Titanic's owner, J.P. Morgan, was due to attend, but has cancelled due to the national coal strike. White Star Line managing director, J. Bruce Ismay, and the Titanic's designer, Thomas Andrews, are expected to be on board.

Fares for the maiden voyage begin at £7 9s for third-class passengers. Those wishing to travel in first-class luxury will pay at least £23, with the most opulent suites eventually costing £870 in high season.

The Titanic Sets Sail For New York

10 April, 1912

The Titanic is launched! Passengers and crew from the London and South Western Railway's boat train arrived at Southampton Terminus Railway Station on the quayside, having set off from London Waterloo. Third-class passengers were inspected for illnesses and impairments that may lead them to be refused entry in the United States. 922 passengers were recorded as having embarked the Titanic at Southampton, with further passengers expected to be picked up at Cherbourg and Queenstown. The Titanic, having narrowly avoided a collision with the moored SS City of New York, was guided safely through Southampton Water and the Solent, and out into the English Channel. Godspeed, Titanic! And we'll see you again very soon!

Titanic Disaster. Great Loss of Life
15 April, 1912

Between 1,500 and 1,800 lives have been lost following the shock sinking of RMS Titanic early this morning. Early reports state that, late into the evening of 14 April, an iceberg was spotted by the ship's lookout, who alerted the bridge. The order was given for the ship to be steered around the obstacle by putting the engines into reverse, but it was too late, and the Titanic struck the iceberg, causing several holes below the waterline. The ship soon flooded, as water spilled from compartment to compartment, whilst those aboard, many of whom had held the belief that the ship was indeed unsinkable, began to head for lifeboats. It is reported that a "women and children first" protocol was followed when loading the lifeboats, with most male passengers and crew remaining on board. The ship's distress signals, sent by wireless, rockets and lamps, could not be answered in time. The nearest ship to the Titanic - an as yet unknown vessel- did not respond, and despite the RMS Carpathia racing to the disaster, the Titanic sank, plunging the remaining passengers into the ice cold ocean.

Carpathia Arrives in New York. Full Horror Revealed

18 April 1912

RMS Carpathia arrived in New York this morning, bringing with it the full horror of the Titanic disaster. The Carpathia had arrived on the scene of the Titanic sinking at 4am on 15 April, after receiving the striken steamer's distress call. Captain Arthur Henry Rostron immediately set a course at maximum speed, ordering that the ship's heating and hot water be cut off, so that as much steam as possible was available for the engines. On arriving at the Titanic's last known position, and picking through dangerous ice fields, the Carpathia rescued 710 people, then made for New York.

As the Carpathia unloaded survivors in New York, so the full horrors of the disaster become clear through eye-witness reports. In the last moments of the sinking, Titanic's angle in the water began to rapidly increase. The ship's stern lifted high into the air, and survivors on the lifeboats reported hearing a great noise, believed to be the boilers exploding. The lights flickered and then failed, and the ship broke suddenly in two, throwing hundreds of passengers into the icy sea. Those in the lifeboats reported hearing harrowing screams, which died out after about twenty minutes. For the lucky ones in lifeboats, freezing but alive, there was nothing to do but wait for a rescue ship. The lights of the Carpathia were spotted at around 3.30am, and were greeted with cheers of relief. Many hours later, the Carpathia was joined by two more ships - Mount Temple and Californian - but they could find no more survivors.

Aftermath

Of all the cities that suffered following the Titanic disaster, none felt more loss than Southampton. 699 of the ship's crew gave Southampton addresses, and 549 residents of the city were lost. Memorials were raised in many cities, and services were held nationwide, to commemorate the dead and raise money for survivors. Even before the Carpathia had reached the disaster, White Star Line had sent four boats to retrieve the dead. 328 bodies were recovered, of which 119 were buried at sea and 150 at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Most bodies, however, were never recovered, instead being left to a watery grave.

The unknown ship that had at first failed to respond to the Titanic's distress calls was the Californian. Debate rages over why this ship did not react quickly. In the aftermath, Captain Stanley Lord was heavily blamed, however more recent investigations has brought into question the exact locations of both the Titanic and the Californian. Lord protested his innocence until the end of his life, and certainly the Californian had tried to send warning to the Titanic of the danger of pack-ice. Following the rescue effort by the Carpathia, the crew were awarded medals. Captain Rostron was knighted by King George V and given the Congressional Gold Medal - the highest award the United States Congress could confer upon him. The Carpathia was later torpedoed by a German submarine in 1918, but fortunately all the crew were rescued.

Public enquiries set up in the wake of the disaster slammed the number of lifeboats available to passengers. Major changes were enacted - more lifeboats were made compulsory, and lifeboat drills became part of crew training. The International Ice Patrol was set up to monitor the presence of icebergs in the North Atlantic, and maritime safety regulations were brought together at an international level through the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. This is still in force today.

In total, 1,514 people lost their lives when the Titanic sank. The last survivor of the disaster was Millvina Dean, who died in 2009 aged 97. She was just ten weeks old when she was lowered into a lifeboat in a canvas mailbag.

Through the Years

The wreck of the Titanic was discovered in September 1985, and has since been revisited numerous times. The wreck's sole 'salver-in-possession', RMS Titanic Inc, have been collaborating with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to survey the entire wreck site. Their work has been brilliantly displayed in this month's National Geographic magazine. Below are a few of the photographs from this edition.