JIM LUEN

[KG]

A LETTER FROM JIM:

S.S. Harcalo,

At Sea,

28th April 1937.

Dear T.E.N.

Further to attached letter I thought I would let you know that knowing how impatient youth is, especially when taking up a hobby I decided last evening to hunt around the decks to see if I could find a few specimens for you straight away. We were only a couple of days out and just off the coast so \I knew that I should have a fair chance of picking up a few. Insects aboard a ship, as soon as she is at sea, seek shelter from the wind, and they generally are to be found under the steam pipes which run along the decks close to the hatches.

Accordingly I obtained a glass jam jar, a pair of pincers, and as I have no personal liking for these insects or any crawly thing unless I do the introducing, I also took with me, as protection, a hammer.

In the dog watch last night then, I sallied forth on my first expedition, and getting on deck I was soon on my hands and knees looking under the steam pipes. I was very agree-ably surprised to find quite a few insects but I had a job to catch any. I did not like to pick them up with my fingers so I had a small piece of paper with which I tried to pick them up. Some were too quick for me,

"nimble" is how I would describe them, and some were so horrible looking and ferocious that after trying in vain to catch them between the paper, and my natural timidity getting the better of me I would swot them…with the hammer, they dodged and it took several blows sometimes before I got them on the spot.

I had told no one of my intentions when I went on deck and I had paid no attention to anyone in my enthusiasm, but happening to look up, I noticed that half the crew had gathered in a little crowd and were watching me closely. Some of them I noticed were armed with large hammers and one had a length of rope. However I was too busy to pay any heed to them as I had now succeeded in obtaining a few small insects.

It suddenly occurred to me that the galley being a warm and sheltered spot, would be a likely hunting ground, and the time now getting on, I hurried to the galley muttering "Won't T.E.N. be pleased with these". As I rushed in one door of the galley I noticed the cook dash out of the other door carrying all his long knives and choppers, so I sung out "Cookie, can I look" but he was gone, so I hurried after him to find out what was the matter. Away he went along the deck like hell, so I naturally thought he had burnt himself and was rushing to the Steward for treatment. I am keen on first aid myself so I dashed along to give the Steward a hand and unfortunately dropped the bottle in my haste, and there I was, rushing along the deck when suddenly a sack was thrown over my head and my arms pinioned.

Bless my soul, the crew had thought that the heat had effected me, and intended putting me in a straight jacket!. I lost all the specimens but one, but I will never forget the cook dashing along the deck with every hair on his head on end, and that is the end of my first expedition. One bugs the bag, and he, I think it a he by the way it kicked, is shaped exactly like a shield, about half inch in length, and is an olive green in colour.

It is now trying to bite its way out of a tobacco tin, but I have a 7 lb weight on the lid. I am taking no chances with things like that in my room, and so near to my bunk, oh no!

Jim Luen

The cook is bald!

We are not aware of the recipient T. E. N.

ANY INFO ON : S.S. Harcalo WELCOMED......

[KG]

To follow up, I now know that Jim was involved with The British Ship Adoption Society, I personally knew nothing of it until today. I add some notes that will explain all: K.

December 14, 1946
The Children’s Magazine.
Adopting a Ship

T H A T excellent organisation, the British Ship Adoption Society, which enables schools in Britain to " a d o p t " merchant ships, recently held an interesting exhibition in London.

Since it was founded in 1936 the Society has grown so that now 826 schools are in close touch with 1200 merchant ships. At the exhibition: Were shown letters written to schools by ships' officers, and samples of calendars and cards made by school children for their adopted ships. An impressive exhibit was a fine scale model of their adopted ship, the Blairclova, made by the boys of Wembley Hill Senior Mixed School.

The Society is doing a splendid educational work. The sailors greatly appreciate the letters and mementoes they receive, and the boys and girls themselves find that the letters describing foriegn countries and ships' cargoes, the photographs, and souvenirs, make geography come to life. They see the world through a seaman's eyes. They acquire, too, a pride and interest in our glorious Merchant Service, the basis of our national livelihood;

Ship Adoption

Children of Barkers' Butts had for some years been associated with the Ship Adoption Society. In fact Barkers' Butts was the ONLY school in Coventry attached to the society at that time. This entailed sending letters, books and comforts to sailors. In June 1942, Barkers' had a visit from Stephen Britten, secretary of the Ship Adoption Society who presented the children with a special badge for affiliated schools and talked to children for over an hour about the 2,000 ships now 'adopted' and told stories of gallantry at sea.

Barkers' Butts had adopted the S.S. Calchas (built in 1921) but sadly this sank in 1941. The school used to send (in pre-war days) items to the crew (often knitted items by the girls) and in return the skipper and the crew would send books, stamps and pictures. The school then adopted the S.S. Empire Penguin.
WWII.

Another interesting record derives from the Harriet Costello School, Basingstoke dating from its foundation in 1908 (as Basingstoke County High School for Girls) to 1987. The deposit includes school magazines and photographs, speech day and school service programmes and an examinations results register for 1933-66 as well as a number of headmistresses' reports and circulars to parents.

Those dating from the Second World War reveal that school life continued to include examinations, games matches, and extra-curricular activities such as country dancing and lectures, but they also reflect war-time conditions. In 1942-3, the school grounds were yielding good crops of potatoes and sprouts 'to help balance the mid-day meals'. In addition, the school had joined the British Ship Adoption Society and the girls were busy 'writing letters and knitting comforts for the crew of their ship'. They had also sent the crew a dartboard and football.

Templars Primary, Coventry c. 1950’s.

I do remember the School having correspondence with a Captain of a Merchant Ship, who wrote often to the School. Captain Watson and his wife travelled from Cardiff on November 7th, 1952, to the School. The Captain was presented with a leather briefcase, from both staff and children. They stayed with the Head over the weekend and saw places of local interest.

On the 10th February 1955, Mr E. R. Physick, Second Officer on the ‘Fernhursta’, visited School. He was shown around, presented with a leather briefcase and stayed for two days. He wrote to say how much he had enjoyed the experience and hoped to return. He returned on the 13th July 1956 and presented prizes won on Sports Day. Mrs. Moore (Nee Rexworthy) remembers: "When I was about nine, a Sea Captain came to Templars. I can’t remember which ship, but it appeared to be connected with the School. He brought some sugar cane with him and everyone in the Junior School had a piece. I took a photograph of him in the playground and one copy was sent to him and another copy hung in the Head’s Study."

Templars Primary, Coventry c. 1960

August brought a visit from Mr. Ivor Little of the ’SS Constantia’. The correspondence with this ship, through the British Ship Adoption Society continued but we don’t find out what happened to the previous ship, the ‘Fernhurst’.

WEBSHIPS

The concept of the webship has its roots in The British Ship Adoption Society (BSAS), an independent charity founded in 1936. The Society encouraged schools to correspond with seafarers who wrote back in turn to explain what life on board was like. In the mid-1970s the BSAS merged with The Marine Society and in the late 1990s, the proliferation of the internet and of ‘blogging’ (keeping a web log) led Brian Thomas, Director of Education at The Marine Society & Sea Cadets, to promote the idea of ‘webships’–vessels that post regular email dispatches and photographs online to create a unique insight into contemporary life at sea.

The Marine Society currently has two webships, P&O Nedlloyd Kobeand and the RFA WaveRuler. You can read an excerpt from a web blog below.

Webships may have replaced ship adoption, but by providing insight into the contemporary seafarer’s life they maintain the spirit of the BSAS motto:

"We live by the sea
We exist by the sea
Let us never forget this"

(Motto of the British Ship Adoption Society)

P&O Nedlloyd Kobe

February 8, 2005

We sailed from Long Beach, California, on the evening of December 22. As we were10 hours behind GMT we were probably among the last in the world to celebrate Christmas. On the day itself most of the crew had the rare opportunity to relax, though of course the bridge still had to be manned and the catering staff were hard at work cooking a lovely festive meal.

Contrary to the above, the crew were probably one of the first to celebrate the New Year, as by then we had crossed the Date Line and were eleven hours ahead of GMT, which meant we celebrated at the same time as the people of Sydney, Australia. I am glad to report that most of the crew stayed up to see in the New Year.

Jim Luen

A small tribute remembering Jim Luen: From the scroll commemorating him - Words are " This scroll commemorates J.E. Luen, Chief Officer Merchant Navy held in honour as one who served King and Country in the world war of 1939 - 1945 and gave his life to save mankind from tyranny. May his sacrifice help to bring the peace and freedom for which he died".

RE: A relative of Jim Luen and the source of Jim’s information.

Regarding a lot of documents recently acquired: “Such a lot of very sentimental things! I would love to put them into a book form but have no idea at all how to go about it and would, of course, first have to have permission from other Family members, I am sure they would be delighted”.

Would anyone be able to advise on the steps required to put all into print ?

In his time Jim Luen not only did his bit, but also attempted to help others. I have discovered that the children of yesterday also played a major part and that school records are a mine of information. I WILL LOOK FURTHER.

Hopefully, this link will work and show one example:

Downhills Central School, SS Beaverford,

freespace.virgin.net/j.franklin/Beaverford2.htm

I WOULD VALUE ANY INFO ON SHIPS MENTIONED AND ANY THING ON THE MERCHANT NAVY COMFORT SERVICE: Sorry not shouting but emphasising. K.

More on Jim: On our homepage under Other Ships

www.ss-tregenna.co.uk/other_ships.htm

SS Harlingen

www.ss-tregenna.co.uk/SS%20Harlingen.htm

and:

LUEN, Chief Officer, JAMES EDWARD,

www.ss-tregenna.co.uk/Pdf/BDH%20JIM.pdf

The school with whom Jim corresponded with was mainly the Archbishop's Temple School in Lambeth in London - the school no longer exists, but someone may hold the charts etc that he sent on his travels ( some hope after all this time! But will follow up ) and the other was Grangetown Council Boys School in Cardiff !

T.E.N. was one of the masters of the school in London - a Mr Nicholson. Originally Jim thought he was called T.E.N. after the Beetles and Bugs group ( a group interested in Jim collecting the insects described in the letter! but who were actually the Natural History Society! and that there were Ten in the group but they are Mr Nicholson's initials!!

We would love to communicate further with any schools involved in this or similar projects and ask that you may contact us at :

[e-mail]

KG.