Post by Administrator on May 5, 2017 13:12:51 GMT
The heroic wartime service of Barry's paddle steamer – by Keith Greenway
Thursday, 4 May 2017
This month, 110 years ago, Barry’s own paddle steamer commenced service for the town, her public and shortly after, King and country.
The paddle steamer Barry was built for and named after the town in 1907. Originally intended for excursion cruising to and from Bristol Channel ports, she gave pleasure to the public, day tripping in peacetime.
The paddle steamer Barry would become heroic in wartime and both World Wars as far as Gallipoli and later involved with D-Day.
The local Merchant Navy Association (MNA) branch has paid tribute over the years to Barry, her loss and that of her Royal Navy crew members. This year it is the 110th year since the commission of the vessel.
Since the underwater discovery of the vessel, which was lost in an enemy air attack,was discovered a few years ago, the wreck of the paddler has been declared a war grave. The vessel was sunk in 1941 during the Second World War.
A little ship of Dunkirk, she also served under the white ensign during World War One and was mentioned in dispatches. Between conflicts. she returned to her public duties and also covered for the laid-up paddle steamer Waverley.
The Barry was built for the Railway Company’s fleet in their new venture to capture a share of the Bristol Channel excursion trade by John Brown at Clydebank, launched at 4.30pm on May, 4, 1907.
She was christened by Miss Nesta Forrest, the daughter of Robert Forrest of St Fagans, a director of the Barry Railway Company. She bestowed on it the name of Barry.
She was a decidedly handsome and purposeful vessel, as befitted a product of a shipyard where she had taken shape alongside world-class Cunard ocean liners.
The Barry sailed on day trips from Barry pier to all the favourite places in the Bristol Channel, including Weston and Ilfracombe.
Many paddle steamers were commissioned into the Royal Navy from as early as September 1914, and minesweeping was to become the principal occupation of the shallow-draughted vessels such as paddle steamers.
Enemy mines were usually laid to hit lower hulls; a pleasure boat stood a fighting chance of being able to sail right over one unscathed. The same applied with submarine torpedoes. “They always went nicely under our bottom, thank you,” said an officer of the Devonia after the war.
The Barry had the most interesting war of all of the paddlers. A very different role developed for the former Barry Railway steamer, it is recorded the Barry entered a period of charter to the War Office in December 1914.
She was initially to be used for war service transport and first took 400 prisoners-of-war to Dublin to be moved to a camp in Ireland. In later duties, she was used as a patrol vessel in the upper reaches of the Bristol Channel until May 22, 1915.
She was then requisitioned by the Admiralty on June 30 and commenced loading stores and large quantities of bunkers without it being made clear where she was destined.
The Barry left Bristol on July 25, 1915 for the eastern Mediterranean to become a supply ship transporting stores and personnel for the ill-fated Gallipoli-campaign.
The voyage to Lemnos in the Aegean Sea took a little under two weeks and her first trip from her new base at Suvla Bay took place on August 9.
One of her key duties was the transport of the wounded back to the hospital ships at Lemnos for return to the UK.
The evacuation of the troops took place in December almost always under artillery fire. Slow and lightly armoured, she was completely unsuited to a combat role, but the fighting on the beaches was going so badly that every ship possible was required to get the troops back to Egypt.
Twice her paddles struck mines and she was almost lost, but against all the odds she was the last British ship to leave Suvla Bay, rescuing untold thousands of troops.
When the campaign was abandoned it was the Barry that was the last to leave, evacuating the men of the rearguard. She had entered the Great War under her own name of Barry and ended as Barryfield, one of her many name changes.
It was not until 1917 that her original Bristol crew were relieved and it was around this time that her name was changed to Barryfield as a Bainbridge-class destroyer named Barry had now joined the US fleet.
Barry saw out the rest of the war in the Mediterranean ferrying troops and supplies around.
After the Great War she was to return to her pleasure cruising as a civilian. In 1920, she was refitted by her builders when it was decided to revive the popular name of the paddle-steamer Waverley and this was bestowed upon the one-time Barry in 1925.
She was called to arms again for her country for World War Two.
Barry was sent as HMS Snaefell to the Tyne and sailed south with other Campbell steamers with their white funnels now painted navy grey in the 8th Flotilla, where she attended Dunkirk.
She was involved in the rescue of her grounded stablemate Glen Gower. HMS Snaefell served well at Dunkirk and was one of the last boats away with survivors, her precious cargo of 981 soldiers. The Dunkirk evacuation took place from May 27 to June 4, 1940.
During the Second World War, approximately half the paddle vessels requisitioned for naval service and pressed into use as minesweepers or anti-aircraft vessels, many took part in ‘Operation Dynamo’ the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the Harbour at Dunkirk and beaches running east from the town to the Belgian border.
The original Waverley had been mothballed in peacetime was called to duty again for World War Two. She also attended the evacuations at Dunkirk, but was bombed and sunk on the 41st anniversary of her own launch date.
The Barry by then had been renamed HMS Snaefell but had been confused with the lost Waverley.
The PS Barry/HMS Snaefell survived Dunkirk and more but was finally sunk in an enemy aircraft bombing raid 13 months later off Sunderland on July 5, 1941. The paddler was on mine sweeping duties on the north coast at the time.
The wreck of the Snaefell or as we remember her more locally, the Barry, was found by divers eight miles off the north-east coast of England in 2010.
The team leader of the dive team that found the PS Barry contacted the local Barry at War group to identify the wreck and recovered several items, one being the ship’s helm with brass wheel still attached.
The helm was in fantastic condition and the pointer is still facing the direction the ship was in, trying to avoid bombs.
The local MNA branch assisted Barry at War with the help of many to gain the recovered items and return all to the paddle steamer’s home town of Barry.
Time was of the essence to ensure these historical items were returned to the paddler’s home town. The other option was scrap value as most is solid brass.
It was important to have the pieces safely returned, housed and displayed in time for an RBL Barry branch/Gallipoli Remembrance service and tribute.
The artifacts included two large solid brass windows, the brass helm with damaged wheel and a copper and glass lamp. The items where declared to the receiver of wreck back in 2010.
They are safely housed and displayed with a model of the vessel in the entrance to the Mayor’s Parlour at King’s Square, Barry.
Last summer, members of the MNA (Wales) Barry branch, and Terry Sylvester of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society ensured that both the loss of the Barry and her wartime crew were remembered and paid tribute 75 years later.
They also presented the captain of the current Waverley with a branch plaque and documents of PS Barry, which was once named and conducted duties for the then PS Waverley. 2017 is a special year for the current Waverley as she celebrates 70 years since her maiden voyage.
LINK
Thursday, 4 May 2017
This month, 110 years ago, Barry’s own paddle steamer commenced service for the town, her public and shortly after, King and country.
The paddle steamer Barry was built for and named after the town in 1907. Originally intended for excursion cruising to and from Bristol Channel ports, she gave pleasure to the public, day tripping in peacetime.
The paddle steamer Barry would become heroic in wartime and both World Wars as far as Gallipoli and later involved with D-Day.
The local Merchant Navy Association (MNA) branch has paid tribute over the years to Barry, her loss and that of her Royal Navy crew members. This year it is the 110th year since the commission of the vessel.
Since the underwater discovery of the vessel, which was lost in an enemy air attack,was discovered a few years ago, the wreck of the paddler has been declared a war grave. The vessel was sunk in 1941 during the Second World War.
A little ship of Dunkirk, she also served under the white ensign during World War One and was mentioned in dispatches. Between conflicts. she returned to her public duties and also covered for the laid-up paddle steamer Waverley.
The Barry was built for the Railway Company’s fleet in their new venture to capture a share of the Bristol Channel excursion trade by John Brown at Clydebank, launched at 4.30pm on May, 4, 1907.
She was christened by Miss Nesta Forrest, the daughter of Robert Forrest of St Fagans, a director of the Barry Railway Company. She bestowed on it the name of Barry.
She was a decidedly handsome and purposeful vessel, as befitted a product of a shipyard where she had taken shape alongside world-class Cunard ocean liners.
The Barry sailed on day trips from Barry pier to all the favourite places in the Bristol Channel, including Weston and Ilfracombe.
Many paddle steamers were commissioned into the Royal Navy from as early as September 1914, and minesweeping was to become the principal occupation of the shallow-draughted vessels such as paddle steamers.
Enemy mines were usually laid to hit lower hulls; a pleasure boat stood a fighting chance of being able to sail right over one unscathed. The same applied with submarine torpedoes. “They always went nicely under our bottom, thank you,” said an officer of the Devonia after the war.
The Barry had the most interesting war of all of the paddlers. A very different role developed for the former Barry Railway steamer, it is recorded the Barry entered a period of charter to the War Office in December 1914.
She was initially to be used for war service transport and first took 400 prisoners-of-war to Dublin to be moved to a camp in Ireland. In later duties, she was used as a patrol vessel in the upper reaches of the Bristol Channel until May 22, 1915.
She was then requisitioned by the Admiralty on June 30 and commenced loading stores and large quantities of bunkers without it being made clear where she was destined.
The Barry left Bristol on July 25, 1915 for the eastern Mediterranean to become a supply ship transporting stores and personnel for the ill-fated Gallipoli-campaign.
The voyage to Lemnos in the Aegean Sea took a little under two weeks and her first trip from her new base at Suvla Bay took place on August 9.
One of her key duties was the transport of the wounded back to the hospital ships at Lemnos for return to the UK.
The evacuation of the troops took place in December almost always under artillery fire. Slow and lightly armoured, she was completely unsuited to a combat role, but the fighting on the beaches was going so badly that every ship possible was required to get the troops back to Egypt.
Twice her paddles struck mines and she was almost lost, but against all the odds she was the last British ship to leave Suvla Bay, rescuing untold thousands of troops.
When the campaign was abandoned it was the Barry that was the last to leave, evacuating the men of the rearguard. She had entered the Great War under her own name of Barry and ended as Barryfield, one of her many name changes.
It was not until 1917 that her original Bristol crew were relieved and it was around this time that her name was changed to Barryfield as a Bainbridge-class destroyer named Barry had now joined the US fleet.
Barry saw out the rest of the war in the Mediterranean ferrying troops and supplies around.
After the Great War she was to return to her pleasure cruising as a civilian. In 1920, she was refitted by her builders when it was decided to revive the popular name of the paddle-steamer Waverley and this was bestowed upon the one-time Barry in 1925.
She was called to arms again for her country for World War Two.
Barry was sent as HMS Snaefell to the Tyne and sailed south with other Campbell steamers with their white funnels now painted navy grey in the 8th Flotilla, where she attended Dunkirk.
She was involved in the rescue of her grounded stablemate Glen Gower. HMS Snaefell served well at Dunkirk and was one of the last boats away with survivors, her precious cargo of 981 soldiers. The Dunkirk evacuation took place from May 27 to June 4, 1940.
During the Second World War, approximately half the paddle vessels requisitioned for naval service and pressed into use as minesweepers or anti-aircraft vessels, many took part in ‘Operation Dynamo’ the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the Harbour at Dunkirk and beaches running east from the town to the Belgian border.
The original Waverley had been mothballed in peacetime was called to duty again for World War Two. She also attended the evacuations at Dunkirk, but was bombed and sunk on the 41st anniversary of her own launch date.
The Barry by then had been renamed HMS Snaefell but had been confused with the lost Waverley.
The PS Barry/HMS Snaefell survived Dunkirk and more but was finally sunk in an enemy aircraft bombing raid 13 months later off Sunderland on July 5, 1941. The paddler was on mine sweeping duties on the north coast at the time.
The wreck of the Snaefell or as we remember her more locally, the Barry, was found by divers eight miles off the north-east coast of England in 2010.
The team leader of the dive team that found the PS Barry contacted the local Barry at War group to identify the wreck and recovered several items, one being the ship’s helm with brass wheel still attached.
The helm was in fantastic condition and the pointer is still facing the direction the ship was in, trying to avoid bombs.
The local MNA branch assisted Barry at War with the help of many to gain the recovered items and return all to the paddle steamer’s home town of Barry.
Time was of the essence to ensure these historical items were returned to the paddler’s home town. The other option was scrap value as most is solid brass.
It was important to have the pieces safely returned, housed and displayed in time for an RBL Barry branch/Gallipoli Remembrance service and tribute.
The artifacts included two large solid brass windows, the brass helm with damaged wheel and a copper and glass lamp. The items where declared to the receiver of wreck back in 2010.
They are safely housed and displayed with a model of the vessel in the entrance to the Mayor’s Parlour at King’s Square, Barry.
Last summer, members of the MNA (Wales) Barry branch, and Terry Sylvester of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society ensured that both the loss of the Barry and her wartime crew were remembered and paid tribute 75 years later.
They also presented the captain of the current Waverley with a branch plaque and documents of PS Barry, which was once named and conducted duties for the then PS Waverley. 2017 is a special year for the current Waverley as she celebrates 70 years since her maiden voyage.
LINK