My paternal grandfather, William Curran R or “Mick” to his shipmates was in HMS Southampton from March 1917 to January 1919 when he was demobbed. His extra role was that of gunnery correspondent so he regularly sent back despatches to The Times during his two years of cruising around the North Atlantic. I have his diary from those years, an autograph book over-stuffed with photos, momentos and cuttings of his pieces from The Times. The diary is entitled “The Rough Log of a Longshoreman Afloat” and is assembled with great care and attention to detail.

To my disappointment my Grandpop missed the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow in June 1919, an event, which fascinates my wife and me since she has actually dived the few remaining wrecks in the Flow. Interestingly these wrecks are now the only remaining source of steel uncontaminated by the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl, so the metal is much prized for making delicate scientific instruments. There is a fascinating book about the salvage of the German fleet, Cox’s Navy by Tony Booth.

Grandpop’s diary contains some fascinating accounts of life aboard Southampton in the closing months of the war. Here’s an excerpt from 1918:

“Off the Norwegian coast, September 2 – 7th – Another breezy trip with a slow-moving convoy. During the middle watch on the 3rd our stern struck a very hard submerged object (probably one of our own or a Hun submarine) very forcibly indeed. The impact gave everybody the idea that we had bumped something very nasty. As yet we don’t know the damage done but we think out starboard propeller has an unhealthy kink in it. Sighted Fair Island in the first dog watch on Sept 6. Arrived off Donybristle on evening of 7th. Examined propellers for defects. Coaled ship till midnight (700 tons). Heart and back-breaking!

Rosyth Dockyard September 16 –18 – Went into dry dock for examination of defective underwater fittings. 150 feet of 1½ wire (such as used as ridge ropes for submarines) found twisted around propeller, which was also cracked. Propeller shaft was slightly bent.”

There are also some interesting accounts of encounters in some northerly fjords with early Russian revolutionaries.

My grandfather went on to work the rest of his life on the night printing press at The Times in London’s Printing House Square. Being a romantic Irishman he was a great character who used to burst into song in restaurants, to the embarrassment of us children. He self-published about a dozen volumes of poems and sea shanties. My father offered the diary to the Imperial War Museum who replied that this part of naval history was already adequately documented but that the diary would probably be useful to anybody wanting to know about daily life in a navy ship of the time. The diary is my only momento of my Grandpop who we rather took for granted at the time, to my regret. I hope one day to transcribe the entire diary to the web but here are a few sample pictures:

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