´óÏó´«Ã½

Between September 1939 and April 1941 H.M.S. Beaver Grimsby base had three changes in top brass. On the latter date Capt. B. VIlliers R.N. took command and henceforth the base was run on strictly naval routine. Although not slack, it had not been subjected to the strictest naval discipline previously. Considering that most of the personnel were ‘hostilities only’ this tightening up was not appreciated. However, it had to be accepted and tolerated. A number of restrictions were imposed and certain places were put out of bounds.
Divisions, inspections, defaulters and church parties were the weekly routine. This senior officer gave periodical pep talks to officers. In a rather pointed manner he would occasionally refer to the difference between the Royal Navy trained officers and the reserve officers. He never seemed to get the best out of his subordinates. It could be said that he was not a popular senior officer, restrictions or no restrictions , the base pushed along with a war winning effort.
On January 22nd 1941 the Admiralty tug ‘St. Cyris’ was ordered out to the assistance of a British steamer that was in distress, having struck a mine. The St. Cyris had no sooner cleared the gate in the boom defence when she was blown up and disappeared in 30 seconds. 28 of her crew of 32 were lost. She was commanded by Lt. Allan, a Boston pilot. Sub Lt. Robinson, who had just completed his apprenticeship was 2nd in command and was one of the 4 who were saved. He spent a long time in Grimsby base hospital, recovering from his ordeal. When recovered he accepted a permanent commission the Royal Navy.
On 4th and 16th February the ‘Gwynwood’ and ‘Thomas Deas’ were also totally lost. Mines were being laid now which were either magnetic, acoustic or a combination of both. There were also a type that remained dormant for some time after being laid and often eluded the sweepers.
Still, the examination vessels made their regular runs between Grimsby and the examination anchorage…..living a chanced life.
As time passed the need to board all the merchant ships and trawlers entering the river became less of a matter of urgency and there was no necessity to have boarding officers at sea.
The pilot cutter ‘J. H. Fisher’ was not immune from attack for on March 7th she was at anchor close in shore to the west of Spurn Point when she was subjected to a low level bombing attack.
The narrator of the episode Humber Pilot, J. Raddings relates that at about 12.30 pm having finished my dinner, I went up to the bridge to relieve the watch pilot, H. Carlisle. The weather was moderately clear and calm although the cloud ceiling was rather low. Suddenly I saw an aircraft appear from out of the clouds to the east, flying straight towards our ship. I said to my ship mate, who was on the point of leaving the bridge, Look, there Horace, here comes an attack. I mounted the ladder to the wheelhouse top, trained the Lewis gun on the enemy, and waited till the aircraft was at close range, then opened fire. The ammunition pan contained but a few rounds, so I was only able to fire a short burst. This must have been effective and sufficient to distract the pilots thoughts momentary.
He released his bombs a fraction of a second too late. The two missiles passed over the cutter. The nearest passed between the funnel and the masts and in between the davits that lift the motor boat, which luckily was in the water. This bomb just cleared the deck margin by inches and hit the water at an angle, only a couple of yards from the ship’s side.
Both bombs richochet and did not explode. Until they hit the water a second time. The explosion did little structural damage. The cutter, however, was shaken badly and some internal damage and breakages were sustained.
The trawler ‘Joan Margaret’ and the mine sweeping trawler ‘Lady Selbourne’ were blown up by mines in the river with the loss of life on 3lst March.
On 11th April the Humber mouth patrol yacht ‘Yorkshire Bell’ and the boom defence vessel ‘Othello’ were also blown up and sank with more loss of lives.
The enemy pressed along with mine laying. However, counter measures were proving effective. No merchant ships had been lost in the Humber since February. 7th and 8th May saw two more mines sweepers being sunk in the river entrance. The ‘Susarion’ by aircraft and ‘Silica’ by a mine. The ‘Corvett’ ‘Pintale’ was sunk by a mine and became a total loss on 10th June and on the 22nd the sweeper ‘Lunda Lady’ was yet another victim of mines.
Lieut. Johnstone, a Humber Pilot, commanded the mine sweeping trawler ‘Streathbourn’ lost his life with others of his ships company on 6th September when blown up whilst operating off the mouth of the river.
The sinking of he sweeping trawler ‘Heneretta’ by a mine on 26th December, 1941 was the last of the year in the area. About the middle of the year 1942 the enemy parachuted a couple of mines into Grimsby Docks in addition to those laid in the river.
These were successfully plotted by a method that I worked out and submitted to the captain of the base in response to a general signal he had previously made, asking for ideas on mine spotting.
The method was to paint the replica of the compass card six feet in diameter in white on the surface of wharfs and jetties. Around the docks and river front, at well separated points. The north south point being placed on the true meridian, mine watches armed with a torch could easily take a bearing of a falling object.
The bearings so obtained were sent to a central office manned by a duty officer, having before him a large scale plan of the whole area. With two or more bearings a reasonable plot could be obtained. The plan was adopted and gave quite good results.
The examination vessels were now operating as part of the Humber mouth patrol. Sub. Lt. Newton, a Humber Pilot time expired apprentice, having been granted a commission, was appointed in command of the ‘Belton’. The names of the commanding officers of the Flixton alludes me.
In January, 1942 Commander Brown R.N. took over from Capt. Hunt R.N. as extended defence officers and moved over to Spurn Point taking as his staff Casson, Colbridge and Harboard. I remained in charge at Grimsby, having an efficient Wren, S. Taylor as a secretary. One Chief Petty Officer, and two Royal Marine Signalmen. We ran a busy office and attended to the maintenance of some ten small craft.
The recent acquisition was that of a motor fishing vessel ‘M.F.V. Outburst’ a very sturdy little craft from Whitby, owned by her skipper J. Storr. He had offered his boat to the Admiralty for services. Inshore fishing at his home port had fallen off very considerably owing to the war.
Employed as our duty boat ‘Outburst’ made daily runs from Grimsby to Spurn Point and the Bull Sand Fort, with personnel, stores and mail. Skipper Storr being a life-long fisherman knew where to find good fish. It was not long after joining our service that we would return from his daily run with a quantity of good sole and plaice! He trawled this up in towards the north Lincolnshire shore, to the south of Spurn Point. Form his frequent catches he supplied the officer’s mess at Spurn and the mess at the Royal Hotel which had been taken over as the officers Royal Navy Barracks. He also supplied those of us who lived with our families.
Storr also had an eye to business and on occasions he would take his boat into the Fish Dock and land a quantity of prime fish on the market and leave it in the hands of a salesman for disposal. His fish would make a good price and no doubt it was to the mutual benefit of Skipper Storr and his crew that these actions passed unnoticed.
During the year 1942 tensions in the lower Humber area eased considerably. There were three sinking by aircraft in January and February, however as time passed losses diminished considerably.
Hull was receiving a great amount of bombing as is well known. From Grimsby we would see the flashes of the exploding bombs on a dark clear night, together with the bursting of hundreds of ack-ack shells.
Many times I said to my wife I wonder if we still have a house? A number of ships were damaged in the Hull Docks. However, the dock entrance fortunately escaped damage.
In the early spring the Duke of Kent visited the Naval Base. It was a cold and miserable damp day when the parties of officers, rating and W.R.N.S. from various departments mustered under the sheds on the herring stage. He arrived and with the base Captain, did his tour of inspection, having a word here and there. The visit did not create much enthusiasm.
Not so long after this we received the news that the Duke had been killed on active service. According to official reports when Grimsby and Cleethorpes were bombed 196 people were killed and over 400 seriously injured. The lst raid occurred on 21st June 1940 when a number of bombs were dropped without doing much damage. However, on the 23rd a number of incendiary bombs were dropped around Cleethorpes but they mainly found open ground. The same thing happened on 6th September. Fortunately for the last three months of the year there were many alerts but few raids, causing little damage.
The year 194l opened with a number of incendiary bomb raids and a couple of land mines fell near the village of Great Coates, making large craters in open land and shaking the whole village severely. There were a couple of raids in February which did considerable damage, mainly in Grimsby.
About lpm on 27th February I witnessed a very heavy raid made by a Heinkle at a low altitude, over the town docks area. At the time I was in Ribey Square and heard explosions to the west, followed by the drone of an aircraft, which appeared to be very low. The cloud ceiling was also low that day. Facing west and looking where my ears directed them, I saw a large aircraft coming out of the low cloud. I could see the marks of its side quite plainly. It was flying on a easterly course, parallel to Cleethorpes Road, but a little to the north towards the dock area. Following the flight, I saw a bomb released when almost overhead at around 2,000 feet. The missile sailed along with the aircraft, loosing height slowly. As the plane forged ahead gravity gradually overcame velocity. Just before the bomb took its final dive, 400 yards to the east of me, I took cover. The explosion created bomb damage to shops and other property, killing a number of people. Windows went in all around Ribey Square. The bomb which had fallen previously had demolished the Oberon Hotel close to Grimsby Dock Railway Station. On 22nd March Grimsby had the satisfaction of seeing a Heinkle bomber crash. Two the crew were injured and captured, the rest perished. Many incendiary and a number of heavy bombs were dropped at various times throughout the year.
One or two serious attacks came in the fist 3 months of 1942. One raid that might have done serious damage to the residential area of east Cleethorpes occurred on 30th May about mid-night. A plane flying east dropped five 500 pound bombs which fell in the Cromwell Road area, none of which exploded. Mostly they fell in gardens, burying their warheads deeply in soil. Two houses were damaged slightly. A big blitz occurred on 14th June when the town was ringed by pathfinders and dive bombed. Many thousands of anti-personnel butterfly bombs were dropped and much damage was done. About 100 people were killed and nearly 200 seriously injured.
Another similar raid took place on 13th July doing much damage and killing and injuring many people. On 4th September 1943 came the last raid of the war on Grimsby. Without any warning 8 heavy bombs fell around the Peoples Park and Welholme Road residential areas and not one of them exploded. What luck!
To return to the naval base, towards the end of 1942 changes took place in the Humber Mouth Patrol. Lts. Shepherdson and Spencley were appointed to Iceland as Admiralty pilots and Lt. Lazenby was appointed to Freetown, Sierra Leone for pilotage duties.
Lt. Shepherdson joined our service and took command of the ‘Arlett’ through this wartime meeting we formed a lasting bond of friendship. He was the one who gave up sea life at an early age in favour of insurance business and now manages a large insurance company office in Jersey.
As it might be asked why some of the wrecks in the River Humber were not salved, this can only be answered by the fact this it is a most difficult river on which to carry out any successful salvage. It has been said that the Humber always claims its wrecks. This may be because a vessel sunk in its fast flowing tides will fill up with silt and scower a bed for herself in a few tides, which greatly increases salvage difficulties. The salvage officers of the Humber area were Commander Vine R.N.R. and his assistant, a Humber Pilot, A. Person, R.N.V.R. who carried out some successful work on the East Coast and at the invasion beaches.
In November, 1942 Wren S. Taylor was appointed to take an officers training course and she departed, taking with her our good wishes. She obtained a third officers commission.
Wren E. Wright joined in place of Taylor and carried on in an efficient manner which gained her promotion to Leading Wren. In October 1943 she was transferred to Hull. Her place was then taken by Wren A Fellows, a Hull girl.
July 1943 Capt. Maxwell took over as Captain of the base. Capt. Villers having been posted to a base on the south coast. Everything was running to routine. War tension had relaxed quite appreciably. My opposite number, Lt. Commander Casson was appointed to Workington as examination officer around about November, 1943 and Lt. Newton was appointed to command a landing craft.
One sight that I remember very clearly was the Lancaster bombers which, during the light nights of summer 1943, could be seen and heard struggling into the sky with their heavy load from their base in North Lincolnshire en route for Germany. Slowly they climbed as though carrying more than their maximum load. Like the great Eagle carries a heavy load of prey to its ‘eyrie’ high in the mountains. Always there were those who did not return.
Early February, 1944 I said goodbye to the Grimsby base. My wife and I were able to open up our house in Hull. We had been most fortunate for the only damage it had sustained was a piece of shrapnel through the upstairs windows.
For the next two months I served with the Naval Control Service in Hull.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.