Post by Administrator on Jun 12, 2010 22:40:46 GMT
THE MARITIME HISTORY OF BARRY
1881 Barry village - population 85.
1884 - David Davies begins to build his dream
1889 SS Ravenshoe loads the first coal cargo and by 1913 Barry is the largest coal exporting port in the world.
1977 Last coal cargo leaves Barry and the town begins to forget its heritage.
BEFORE WORLD WAR TWO
As early as 1936, the British Government became aware that War was imminent - and that steel was going to be in short supply. They encouraged the iron- ore trade with the Continent where iron-ore has always been easily available from countless small ports in France, Portugal, Spain and North Africa. For this reason, the bulk of Welsh shipping in the late1930’s consisted of small ‘Short sea Traders’ – eminently suitable for coal out and iron ore home.
Competition was fierce. Ship-owners cut costs - equipping their small ships to the lowest permitted standard. The food and accommodation was dreadful. In the port of Barry, for hundreds of men who earned their living trimming coal on these ships, it naturally followed that many of them would go to sea and may of them would go ‘down below’ – as firemen Trimmers or Greasers.
Much of Barry’s trade was to small iron-ore ports in Spain and, in 1937, the Spanish civil War began. This brought British ships into early conflict with the fascists. Indeed, in just 12 months of that war, 27 British vessels, nine of them from South Wales, were lost.
If torpedoed, most ships will sink; but a small ship carrying deadweight cargo of coal or iron-ore, will sink like a stone - often in seconds. As we shall see, this was to become the fate of many Barry ships.
BARRY IN WORLD WAR TWO.
On Tuesday Sept. 3rd 1939, day one of World War Two, the unarmed liner Athenia is sunk and the ‘Battle of the Atlantic’ begins. On Sept.16th, the SS Bramden is sunk and her Master, Charles Meston Milne became Barry’s first casualty of WW2.
From Sept. 1939 to June 1940 - nothing happens on the Battlefields of Europe. We call it the ‘Phoney War’ - the Germans call ‘Sitzkrieg’ – the ‘Sitting War’.
For the Merchant Navy, there is no ‘Phoney War’ and ships are lost at the rate of 2 per day.
Then, in May, 1940 – the Germans sweep through France and Norway. The capture of Lorient in France and Bergen in Norway allows the Germans to flood the Atlantic with U-boat wolf-packs and the English Channel with bombers and E-boats. Merchant ship losses increase further and Churchill orders the numbers to be concealed from the public.
As cargoes of Oil and Iron-ore fall by half - covering less than two-thirds of essential consumption – On May 15 i940, Lord Halifax calls on the War Cabinet to surrender. On May 25, Churchill persuades them to refuse. He sent delegations USA and Canada pleading for maritime help. But – the situation at sea got worse – on October 17 1940, in 3 days, U-boats sank 36 ships from two convoys – SC 7 and HX 79. Again: the details are kept secret. The survival of the British Empire was on the brink of catastrophe. Later; Churchill had this to say -
“The only thing that really frightened me during the Second World War was the U-boat peril. Indeed: the ‘Battle of the Atlantic’ was the dominating factor throughout the War. Never, for one moment, could we forget that everything happening elsewhere – on land, at sea or in the air – depended on the outcome of that battle”. Now: if Churchill considered that ‘The “Battle of the Atlantic” was ‘the dominating factor throughout the War’ and if, in that battle, Barry lost a greater proportion of its men than any other port, then - in a very real sense - Barry’s contribution to the Second World War was unique.
Let us look at just one of the Barry ships - Jeanne M - in an earlier life she was the Baron Helibank. Her owner was W.F. Moorsom - the Jeanne M was named after his wife. If the name Moorsom does not ring a bell to locals, think back a few years to the garage he owned in Barry, at Weycock Cross - Moorwell Motors. You may have bought petrol from his son - Bruce Moorsom - there was a ship named after him as well - the Bruce M !
The Jeanne M was not new; typically, she had had six previous owners! In May, 1937, in the Spanish Civil War, she was the first ship to break the blockade, and take food to the beleaguered Republicans in Bilbao. Captain Roberts had his daughter, Florence, with him - newly down from Penarth College. She refused to be put ashore in a French port - ‘Make no mistake - I shall be with the ship when she gets to Bilbao’, she said - and she was!
The Jeanne M survived the Spanish Civil War and continued running coal or ‘general’ to Spain and iron ore back to Wales.
With the outbreak of WW2, Jeanne M simply carried on. In October, 1940 we find her in Convoy HG.45, with 49 ships – 41 of them carrying iron ore or pit props from the Mediterranean. Leaving Gibraltar they met a full Atlantic Nor-westerly gale. When she got to Barry, she had sailed 1,276 miles in 18 days – averaging slightly less than 3 knots!
Outward bound again, she was in in Convoy OG.46, with coal for Lisbon. At 0446 on December 2nd, 1940, Jeanne M was torpedoed 200 miles west of Lisbon.
The Battle of the Atlantic continued; Merchant ships had little defence against attack - the few guns available were from the World War 1, or the Boer war!
As we have seen, most Barry Merchant Seamen were firemen or ‘Trimmers’ - ‘down below’. On deck, the sailors, on look-out or at the wheel, were dressed for the weather conditions; they had
some chance of survival. The firemen, shovelling coal into the boiler fires deep in the bowels of the ship, had next to no chance. If they were not killed in the first explosion they had the problem of getting out. If they were able to scramble up 35 feet of steel ladders, and stumble out into the freezing cold of the North Atlantic... well - they were dressed in dungarees and a singlet! Look back at the Picture… and he was one of the lucky ones!
The only chance for the small, under-powered ships of South Wales was if, homeward-bound, they had a cargo of pit-props for the mines. With timber in the holds, a ship had some chance of survival.
Perhaps, now, you can begin to see why I say that the Merchant Navy and the ships of South Wales in particular, made a unique contribution to World War Two. Of course: comparisons are odious and every Mother who lost a son in WW2 - on land, at sea or in the air - mourned a hero.
My plea to the citizens of Barry is simply this. Please do not forget what your Merchant Navy heroes achieved in World War Two. - In that War, over 180 ships were lost from Barry. Further: behind each ‘statistic’, lays a story of pain and sadness brought to a house in Barry.
In Queen St. and Princes St. alone, one in 3 houses lost man in WW2 - 76 men from just 2 streets!
Again: A veteran tells me:-
‘From my house, in Station Street, I count 8 houses from which men were lost in WW2’.
Allow me to introduce you to Mr Ernest John Burman Stiff and his wife Mrs Elsie Dehaney Stiff – they resided in 75 Thompson St.
On the 18th September, 1940, their son William George Stiff, ‘Sailor’, was lost on the SS ‘Magdalena’ – he was 19.
On 3rd November, 1941, his younger brother, Charles Burman Stiff, was lost on the SS ‘Rose Schiaffino’ – he was 16.
Four months later, on 16th March, 1942, Joseph Sidney Burman Stiff, was lost on the SS ‘Baron Newlands’ – he was 21.
Hard to bear - all three sons lost – the male name ‘Stiff’ is wiped out. Not easy to forget, you might think - but the town of Barry seems to have forgotten and I can tell you why.
You see, at Memorial services, the Merchant Navy men are usually at the back – in civvies. They have no uniform: no Admirals: no Generals: no Air Vice-Marshals! On ceremonial occasions, there is no-one to meet the dignitaries. Another reason is that the Barry Merchant Navy today has no young ‘cadet corps’ to march along, with uniformed ‘Officers’ to take a salute. To be fair – we never saluted anybody anyway! All in all, we were just proud of our little silver M.N. badge.
Perhaps the saddest and most important reason why Merchant Seamen are forgotten is because there are no graves in well-kept cemeteries for men lost at sea. There are no neat white crosses - nowhere a loved one can shed a tear. TV cameras cannot reach into the Atlantic and film the deep resting places of the Barry dead. There are no poppies on the ocean.
Over the years, thousands of men and ships sailed out of Barry. A few officers lived in the town but, basically, Barry was a working class port – and proud of it.
In 1938, a Barry seaman would leave a house in Barry, walk down to a ship and sign on. At the end of the trip he signed off and walked back home. If he was lucky, he continued to do that all through the War.
And, when the War ended? Well, he just carried on doing the same thing. There were no bands; no banners in the street, no flags to welcome him back - just a pint in the “Chain Locker’. Nobody noticed these men in their civvies – they would not notice their small silver ‘M.N.’ badge. These, the, are the simple reasons why it the people of Barry have forgotten their Merchant Navy dead – and their brave and glorious past.
Now; I am not originally from Barry - I went to sea from Liverpool throughout the War and the reason why I found out Barry was ‘special’ was due to the efforts of a true Barry hero - Fred Hortop.
Now Fred was not in the Merchant Navy - he was a Naval A.B. throughout World War Two – he had six brothers who also served in WW2. Fred sailed as a Depth-charge operator in the Western Approaches. He saw the losses of merchant ships in the convoys he escorted and decided to research the details of all ships and men lost from Barry in the two World Wars. Quite simply; he became Barry’s Merchant Navy historian.
Fred Hortop died last year. Here is a quote from another ‘Western Approaches’ Royal Navy man - Cdr. Tony German R.N – in charge of convoy escorts in the Westedern Approaches – it may help you understand why Fred wanted Merchant Seamen remembered.
“If it was a nightmare for the young naval sailors at action stations on an escort, it was 10 times worse for the Merchant Seamen. For the most part, all the captain could do was keep his station and hold steady against all his instincts. These men knew they were sitting ducks in a doomed formation. And when the U-boats attacked, all they could do was watch the blazing death of stricken ships, listen to the cries for help and wait for the next torpedo."
Fred Hortop’s destroyer – HMS Hesperus
HMS Hesperus
The Internet now allows us to expand the human-interest stories that lie behind Fred’s patiently established facts. His facts confirm what has always been true – the people of Barry must demand that, somewhere, a living, hands-on memorial to their Maritime History is provided. A museum showing the complete history of Barry – where the children can learn how the coal tips worked and how the ships and the dock operated.
In short – we need a museum.
If you cannot think where such a museum might be, well, how about plumb in the middle of the ‘Waterfront’ area, on what used to be the docks.
There is a soul in the town of Barry; it was born on the 14th of November, 1884, when Lord Windsor turned over the first spade of earth for No1 dock. It was nurtured in the docks of Barry and in the men who built them. It was nurtured in the men who sailed in the ships of Barry - and in the men and women whose lives were entwined with the docks and the ships of Barry. A soul that shed a tear for Mothers and Wives who lost loved ones in two World Wars. A soul that grew strong in the working-class streets of Barry. It had a pint in the Chain-locker, danced in Bindles and swam in the Knap pool - and when it had a few bob it shopped in Dan Evans. It still lies deep in the granite of the docks, in the Dock Board building and in the statue of David Davies.
the soul of Barry needs a place to rest – a place where people can stop and look back to the stepping-stones of Barry’s history.
It needs a museum to help the people and children of Barry understand why the town was built - and explain just how it came to be the largest coal exporting port in the world. It needs a museum that will help today’s ‘Barrians’ honour the sacrifices made in two World Wars - and enable them to understand why their Grandfathers thought Barry was a town worth dying for.
The regeneration of Barry promises a wonderful future. But that future can only be part of the soul of Barry if it recognises its debt to the past.
If ‘regeneration’ just means more concrete boxes, in soulless concrete streets, the soul of Barry will die.
Barry is unique in that, in just 24 years, it was transformed from a small village into the greatest coal-exporting port in the world.
Barry men paid the ultimate sacrifice in two World Wars but their memory does not need a campaign for ‘Medals for the Merchant Navy’. It does not need a film called ‘Saving Seaman Stiff’. Barry needs a museum – please help us spread the word.the word. Barry needs a Museum.
In the original dicument there is picture of the ‘RoseSchiaffino’ – a captured French ship pictured before the War –
The Rose Schiaffino had carried coal out to Newfoundland and was bringing iron ore home. A small ‘short sea’ trader and totally unsuited to the winter weather in the North Atlantic, she straggled from her convoy and was torpedoed at 09:03am on 31st October 1941 off the coast of Canada, it was no surprise that her iron-ore took her to the bottom in seconds- lost with all hands.
27 of her crew of 41 were over 40 - 11 were over 50, 2 were over 60.
One was a boy of 15, and one, as we have seen, was the third son of Elsie Stiff - 16 year old Charles. Barry mums might murmur a heartfelt - ‘Love her’.
If you are doubtful about the Wartime role of the Merchant Navy – just listen to Winston Churchill again – fully aware of the sacrifices of British Merchant Seamen - this what he had to say -
“The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominant factor throughout the War. Never could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea, or in the air, depended on its outcome. Many gallant actions and incredible feats of endurance are recorded, but the deeds of those who perished will never be known. Our Merchant Seamen displayed their highest qualities and the ‘brotherhood of sea’ was never more strikingly shown than in their determination to defeat the U-boat”.
The man was right: courageous himself, he never failed to recognise those qualities in others. To honor the sacrifice of all Barry’s lost sailors, the Red Ensign should fly, every day of the year, on a flagstaff at the town’s Museum. In that museum, the full story of the town of Barry could be told: how David Davies’ dream - of turning a tiny village into the largest coal-exporting port in the World - became a reality. A museum that could communicate the story to the school children of Barry – who may then understand how proud they should be of their town’s past – and the sacrifices made.
If you would like to assist in this venture, please contact anyone you know who has influence and see if, together, we can make our dream come true. David Simpson, Barry. 94 High Street. Barry CF62 7DY…Tel: 413871. On behalf of: - The Merchant Navy of Wales [Barry Branch]. If you would like information about Barry men or ships,
email: davesimpson321@ntlworld.com or visit our website www.barrymerchantseamen.org.uk
Before we part, I would like to show you another small Barry ship. In June, 1940, she arrived, unheralded, in Barry, laden with 2,200 troops. She had rescued the men from France…but not from Dunkirk, 20 miles across the English Channel.
She had taken a cargo to the French port of La Pallice
( La Rochelle) and when the Germans had swept through France she seemed to be trapped. On June 17th, she took on board as many men as she could hold – cut the moorings and escaped.
A photo has a faint ‘Barry & District’ stamp…
The faint signal letters are G,K,M,T.
The Philipp M. was to carry on during WW2 until Feb 24th, 1944 when she was torpedoed by a German E-boat off Great Yarmouth. Like the Jeanne M. she had also seen service in the Spanish Civil War.
The Barry ships and the Barry men paid a high price in their fight against the fascists.
Barry is no longer the largest coal exporting port in the world…it is not even any kind of a real working port now.
But it would be sad indeed if the nowadays Barry people forgot the sacrifices made – on their behalf.
David.
www.barrymerchantseamen.org.uk