Brian Gautier's Family History Data

Ernest's Royal Naval Service Record and a transcript with explanatory notes. Most of the information and images relating to Royal Naval vessels featuring in the events which follow originate from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

Ernest left his job as a Baker's Boy in Bedminster , Bristol and joined HMS Impregnable as a Boy Sailor at the age of 15 years and 5 months. His rating on joining was Boy 2nd Class (B2cl). A boy aged 15 to 17 rated as such on entry to a training ship of the Royal Navy. Such entry was conditional on a boy being of adequate physical height, weight and medical fitness and who possessed evidence of being of 'good character'. The boy's parents or guardians would sign a declaration that the boy would serve in the Navy for a minimum period (usually 12 years). Ernest received a First Enlistment Clothing and Bedding Gratuity of £6. In December 1897 he received a Good Conduct Gratuity of £1. HMS Impregnable was a training establishment started at Devonport in 1862, and active until 1929. As training ships were replaced or added to the establishment, each was renamed Impregnable when she took on the role. HMS Howe was HMS Impregnable between 1885 and 1911

Ernest joined HMS Trafalgar, aged sixteen, as a Boy First Class (B1cl). To qualify for this rate a boy had to be aged 16 to 18 under training and have served for between 9 months and 18 months rated as Boy 2nd Class. He also had to show sufficient proficiency in seamanship and have accumulated at least one Good Conduct Badge (the requirements varied between training ships). His rate of pay was increased on being promoted. He also received a Gratuity of £3. At this time HMS Trafalgar had been paid off from service as second flagship, Mediterranean Fleet and was a guard ship based at Portsmouth.

Ernest was next posted to HMS Mars with the same rank of Boy First Class (B1cl) HMS Mars was a Royal Navy predreadnought battleship of the Majestic class. She had been commissioned on 8 June 1897 for service with the Channel Fleet. She had been present, the year before Ernest's posting, at the Fleet Review at Spithead for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria on 26 June 1897. Ernest continued to serve on board HMS Mars. However on the attainment of his 18th Birthday on 15 Setember 1899 he automatically became rated as an Ordinary Seamen and was then subject to the Naval Discipline Act as applicable to adult seamen. This is when he would have signed up for 12 years service with option of re-engaging for a further 10 years to qualify for pension.

Ernest is posted back to HMS Trafalgar with the rate of Ordinary Seaman. Trafalgar still had the same role as before as guardship at Portsmouth and she remained as a guardship until August 1902. She remained thereafter in reserve until 1907, when she went to Sheerness to serve as a drill ship for crews of turrets and of submerged torpedo tubes.

Posting to HMS Cressy still with the rate of Ordinary Seaman. HMS Cressy was an Armoured Cruiser capable of 21 knots built by Fairfield, Govan and launched 4 December 1899. Until 1908, the Cressy class ships served in Home waters, the Mediterranean and the Far East. On 1 February 1902 whilst still serving on board HMS Cressy, Ernest is promoted to Able Seaman (AB), sometimes referred to as Able Bodied Seaman. He remains with Cressy until February 1905. His conduct report each year was normally «b»Very Good«/b» but that dated 31 December1904 came out as «b»Good«/b» which seems fairly innocuous. However character was graded VG (Very Good), Good, Fair, Bad (men assessed as Bad were discharged). Officers were allowed no judgement in this. A man started each year as VG. If he was awarded certain laid down (and quite serious) punishment(s) this was reduced to Good, and so on. This indicates then that Ernest, now aged 23, had been a bad boy. We cannot know what his offences were, these were recorded on his Record of Offences Sheet but the rule was that this was destroyed when a rating left a ship and a new one started.

Ernest is posted to HMS Excellent presumably for gunnery training. HMS Excellent is a Royal Navy "stone frigate" (shore establishment) sited on Whale Island near Portsmouth in Hampshire. Originally housed in a number of hulks named HMS Excellent since 1830, it was formally established in 1869. It moved ashore in 1891.

At this time HMS Victory was a Depot Ship and permanently moored in Portsmouth Harbour. It is unlikely that Ernest was physically posted here rather he was assigned to HMS Victory for administrative reasons. This is because in the Royal Navy, under section 67 of the Naval Discipline Act 1866, the provisions of the act only applied to officers and men of the Royal Navy who are borne on the books of a warship. When shore establishments began to become more common it was necessary to allocate the title of the establishment to an actual vessel which became the nominal depot ship for the men allocated to the establishment and thus ensured they were subject to the provisions of the Act. This also applied to men who were between postings as there was often not a smooth transition from vessel to vessel. HMS Victory at this time was serving as a harbour ship in Portsmouth. In 1889, Victory was fitted up as a Naval School of Telegraphy. She soon became a proper Signal School, and signal ratings from ships paying off were sent to Victory, instead of the barracks, for a two-month training course. The School remained on Victory until 1904, the year before Ernest's posting.

Ernest was posted to HMS Aboukir as an Able Seaman. HMS Aboukir was a Cressy-class armoured cruiser. She was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Govan, Scotland in 1902.

Ernest spent two months aboard HMS Essex as an Able Seaman rate. HMS Essex was a Monmouth-class armoured cruiser of the British Royal Navy. She was built at Pembroke Dock and launched on 29 August 1901. She served in the First World War with most of her sisters, and survived to be sold for scrap on 8 November 1921.

Ernest was assigned to HMS Victory I between postings. The real HMS Victory was still permanently moored in Portsmouth harbour.

Ernest was posted as an Able Seaman rate to HMS Drake where he spent the next two years. HMS Drake was a 14,100 tons armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class. She was built at Pembroke Dock and launched on 5 March 1901. John Jellicoe, future First Sea Lord and commander at Jutland captained Drake in 1903-1904. Another notable figure who served aboard Drake was Humphrey T. Walwyn, a future Vice Admiral of the Royal Indian Navy, who served aboard her as a Gunnery Lieutenant.

Ernest was assigned to HMS Victory I for two weeks whilst between postings. The real HMS Victory was still permanently moored in Portsmouth harbour.

He spent almost a year aboard this vessel and on 8 February 1910 he was promoted to Leading Seaman rate. HMS Grafton was a first class protected cruiser of the Edgar class. She was launched on 30 January 1892. The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above.

He spent 18 months on board HMS Britannia. On 15 September 1911 he completed his 12 year Continuous Service Engagement. He now had the choice of leaving the Royal Navy or signing on again for another 10 years to ensure he would recieve a pension. He chose to sign on again. The sixth HMS Britannia of the British Royal Navy was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the King Edward VII class. She was built at Portsmouth Dockyard. She was laid down on 4 February 1902, launched on 10 December 1904, and completed in September 1906, but was made obsolete three months later by the completion of the revolutionary battleship HMS Dreadnought in December 1906.

Ernest was assigned to HMS Victory I between postings. His naval career was about to take a different course. The real HMS Victory was still pemanently at anchor as a depot ship and slowly rotting away.

Ernest's rate on this posting became that of Commissioned Boatman. This was the Coastguard equivalent of his previous Leading Seaman rate. He was at Flamborough Head for 18 months. The coastguard cottages still exist on Lighthouse Road. On 16 December 1912 the London Gazette reported a pay rise for the Royal Navy. This meant that Ernest , as a Leading Seaman with 3 years service, now got 2 shillings and four pence a day or £42 11s 8d a year, equivalent to about £3400 pa today.

Ernest was moved to Speeton but this posting was about to be interrupted by the start of WW1. The Coastguard Cottages at Speeton still exist. The picture of the Coastguard Cottages at Speeton is by courtesy of Yorkshire Guide at http://www.yorkshire-guide.co.uk/reighton-speeton-hunmanby-gap.aspx

War having been declared on 28 July 1914, Ernest was embarked from Speeton. In other words he was returned to sea going duties for the duration of the War. His rate was recorded as Leading Seaman (Boatman). Ernest had served on Mars early in his naval career and he did not have far to travel as Mars was serving as a guard ship at the Humber when World War I began. Mars was transferred to the Dover Patrol on 9 December 1914, and was based at Dover briefly before moving to Portland on 11 December 1914. She was based at Portland until February 1915. The Majestic-class ships were by then the oldest and least effective battleships in service in the Royal Navy. In February 1915 Mars transferred to Belfast, where she paid off on 15 February 1915. In March and April 1915 she was disarmed there by Harland and Wolff, retaining only four of her 6-inch (152mm) guns and some lighter guns; her 12-inch (305mm) guns were taken to arm the new Lord Clive-class monitors HMS Earl of Peterborough and HMS Sir Thomas Picton. After that, she was laid up in Loch Goil in April 1915.

Armed Merchant Cruiser Ebro was on Contraband duties. She was a Ship Taken Up From Trade (STUFT) belonging to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. She was taken into naval service 23 March 1915; and armed with 6 x 6in guns and 2 x 6pounders. She served with the Northern Patrol, based at Scapa Flow and tasked with patrolling the Iceland-Faeroes/Faeroes-Shetland gaps, stopping and searching neutral merchant shipping and intercepting blockade runners. On 26 July 1915 Ernest managed to get some leave from AMC Ebro and married Martha Clay in Leeds. On Northern Patrol on 14 Jan 1916, AMC Ebro stopped the OLIVIA, a Norwegian Barque. It appears that her movements were considered suspicious and an Officer plus four seamen boarded her as an armed guard. Nothing further was heard from the guard or the Olivia until 15 Feb when a boat from the barque was found. Subsequently the men were reported as killed. On 1 March 1916 Ernest was promoted to Petty Officer (Leading Boatman). On 21 March 1917 four more men were killed whilst acting as armed guards on a Norwegian Barque. In March/April 1918 AMC Ebro was in sunnier climes. As part of the Fourth American Convoy she visted Rio de Janiero. It had taken until May of 1917 in WW1 for Britain to introduce the convoy system to protect her merchant fleet from marauding German U Boats.

HMS President IV was the London accounting base, in operation between 1918 and 1926 handling the accounts of the commands of the Coastguard ships and the Reserves. This meant that Ernest was posted back to the Coastguard Service at Speeton rated as a Leading Boatman. The job included accommodation at the Coastguard Cottages so his wife Martha, daughter Gladys aged 2 and newly born son James moved there to join him from Bowers Row, Kippax. During 1919 Ernest recieved a War Gratuity. Based on his rate and years of service he would have been entitled to £32.

No sooner had Ernest been reunited with his family at Speeton than he was posted to Deal in Kent. On 26 July 1921 his third child Harold was born. He is recorded as Leading Boatman on Harold's birth certificate Later that year on 14 September 1921 Ernest completed his "12 and 10" ie. his 22 years service to qualify for a naval pension. Ernest carried on, now working in the New Coast Guard Force but still at Deal. His rate was now called Grade III. However in 1923 responsibility for the Coastguard moved from the Admiralty to the Board Of Trade. Leading up to this there was a reduction in staffing:- Transcript extracted from London Gazette of 8 May 1923 "Further RN & Coast Guard Redundancies And whereas by Order in Council of 13th October, 1922, ................... in order to complete the reduction of Your Majesty's Naval and Marine Forces we have found it necessary, subsequently to the 11th August., 1922, to invite further applications from men for discharge from those Forces and to discharge compulsorily additional men from those Forces." Ernest fell victim to this and on 31 March 1923 his service with the Coastguard finished. He received compensation of £266 16s 8d. In addition he would have had removal expenses to a future residence paid and a civilian clothing allowance. Those discarded could however volunteer for service with The Coast Watching or Coast Preventative Force and the latter seems to have been his next move.