Rank and job

[Gulliver]

With the outbreak of World War I Royal Mail moved its home port to Newport, South Wales, two new ships entered service on the Atlantic routes they were Essequibo and Ebro. A third vessel the s.s. Almanzora (ON 136353)which was due for delivery in 1915 (completed 7/10/15 by Harland & Wolff,Belfast ,was in fact taken over by the Government and converted to an armed Merchant Cruiser being completed as such.

ALMANZORA (ON 136353) 1915-1948.jpg

The Almanzora saw World War I war service in the 10th Cruiser Squadron and at war's end arrived in Belfast for refurbishment which was completed in the January of 1920. She entered service on the Southampton - River Plate route and remained thus until the outbreak of the Second World War. For the whole of the war she was used as a Troopship in many theatres of the war and managed to complete her duties without incident. At war's end she continued in Government Service but this time as an emigrant ship until being laid up off Cowes in 1947. A year later she was sold for breaking at Blyth and the work was carried out by Hughes & Bolckow 23/10/48.

[Hugh]

Rank and job:mention of s.s.ALMANZORA in documentation

Sorry Gulliver, I should have made it clear in the documentation posted in #15. ALMANZORA was not related to the service of Matthew Battle but the gent above his name, a John J. Battle, sorry.

Regards
Hugh

[Gulliver]

Sorry Gulliver, I should have made it clear in the documentation posted in #15. ALMANZORA was not related to the service of Matthew Battle but the gent above his name, a John J. Battle, sorry.

Regards
Hugh

OK Hugh.Thanks.No harm done then!

[Jay Battle]

.....and expanding on what Brian says: s.s. Ganandoc Steel St. Lawrence River canal size bulk freighter

Thank you very much for the information on this, Gulliver. I am amazed at the knowledge. Out of interest, would a CR2 card be issued for each vessel a sailor worked on. I am assuming the date on the card of April 4 1929 was his first day on board?

[cappy]

aye jay gully amazes even the best of us a true font of information

[Jay Battle]

That does clear a lot up but also raises a rather sad issue.

No one in the family seems to have known that he was involved in WW1. His son,(my grandfather) was also Matthew Battle and it was well known that he followed is father into the Merchant Navy but never a mention of engagement let alone having received his 'Mutt and Jeff'. I am going to make a concerted effort to pass this onto my family members. I understand the people involved in WW1 seemed to talk very little about it but not knowing a family member was involved seems very....ignorant of us.

A bit late but at least knowing makes things so much clearer.

Thank you again
Jay

[Hugh]

Out of interest, would a CR2 card be issued for each vessel a sailor worked on. I am assuming the date on the card of April 4 1929 was his first day on board?

The CR2 card would record the seaman's foreign voyages. The date on the card would be the date of engagement on the ship.

It was usual for only one CR2 card to be kept for each seaman showing the start of all foreign going voyages.
Usually, on the back of the CR2 card, all previous foreign voyages would be transferred to the card and any other CR2 cards were then discarded. I have found errors and omissions in some of those cards in the past.

Regards
Hugh

[Jay Battle]

Thank you Hugh

I had always assumed at an age like 61 it showed when he might have finished rather than the beginning of another journey. Having learnt from Doc that his uncle was still working that hard at 69, I have had to adjust my own definition of 'hardness'.

Kind regards
Jay

[Ian Malcolm]

The Donkeyman was, under the Engineer, the man in charge of the men in the engine room and, certainly, was a Petty Officer. None of the Donkeymen I sailed with ever wore uniform. The Royal Navy used the term stoker, instead of fireman, so that, if he were RN, he would be a Petty Officer Stoker.

[Jay Battle]

Thanks for that, Ian. The medal roll that Hugh produced ( in message 15) showed him as having been a 'Pumpman' when he received his WW1 silver but the CR2 card shown in my thread lists him as being a Fireman with the Merchant Navy. I guess it might be written 'Pmman' but I am not sure that first letter is a P. If thats the case then I understand a Pumpman would have been a Petty Officer and that accounts for the photo.

Maybe when he returned to the MN he stayed as a Fireman for some unknown reason.It does seem odd. I assume a Pupman job is an entirely different understanding to tending the boilers but again maybe there is crossover.

Given I don't know about this, is it reasonable that a sailor would spend time doing a variety of jobs or would you pretty much stick to one job or tittle? If you were happy, could you stick to a trade or job or are you encouraged to move either up or down?

Kind regards
Jay