HMS ELAND & DRAKE

Does anyone know where the ship Eland was between June 1945- September 1945?
Sorry to sound vague, just trying to trace my grandfather whereabouts at this time.

 

HMS ELAND was the Royal Navy base at Freetown, Sierra Leone. It was not a seagoing ship.

Regards
Hugh

 

Hugh,
Thank you for the prompt reply.

Drake 13th March 1945-24th April 1945
Drake 25th April 1945-14th June 1945
Eland 15th June 1945- 4th September 1945

what do you think this could mean? Were any of these seagoing?

very grateful on any thoughts you might have.

 

Hi Bonnie,
DRAKE was the Royal Naval Barracks in Devonport. None of those establishments indicate sea time but that does not mean he did not go to sea. What records do you have - his original service record or a recent transcription from P&V ledgers? Is there anything else on the record that may help us?
Regards
Hugh

 

I have the Original service paper, it’s on strange kind of paper, feels more like a fabric type material, I shall try and upload on here in a bit, because there are a few abbreviations, So you might be able to help me understand a little more!
Yes, my mum told me he was stationed at Davenport and she vaguely remembered him talking about Africa, so perhaps he did actually go there.

thanks for the help, I’ll look at loading his papers on here.

 

Hopefully this is more helpful.

thanks for looking.

 

That will be his original certificate of service called an S.459. It will probably be necessary to contact the MoD for a search of his P&V record which will not have been done when he left the service and was given his original records. Get a copy of military records of service

The name in brackets is usually where he was serving and the establishment named on the left would be where his account was held. The name in brackets can be an actual ship or base ship or indeed another base but it was where he was actually serving. I cant quite make out the bracketed name against HMS ELAND II. The other bracketed name HMS TURTLE was an Assault and Gunnery School and Landing Craft Base at Poole. He could have been involved at D Day on landing craft but I would suggest you apply again using the link above to get a P&V transcription of his service.

Regards
Hugh

 

Thanks again!
I couldn’t work out what the brackets meant, you’ve been a big help to explain his whereabouts, I have requested the above mentioned a good few months back, however I’m still waiting for the documents.

 

What does the WS14 mean?

 

WSI (4) = War Service Increment [for 4 years service].
This was an addition to daily pay. It began to be paid after the completion of 3 years, increased yearly thereafter by an extra 6d/day but was not payable prior to 3 September 1944. Payments for WSI ceased on 30th June 1946.
Regards
Hugh

 

Hi Hugh,
Does any of this next certificate explain anything about his time in service?
Sorry, but it’s nice having someone explain this document to me, as I haven’t a clue where to start!

 

Hi Bonnie,
In the time forfeited section of his record it shows that he was in detention for two periods in 1944 - this also corresponds to his conduct being downgraded to Fair (Sat) from the previous VG. This was when he was serving at HMS TURTLE at Pool.

Regards
Hugh

 

Fabulous, I could have never guessed that without your help and also thanks for explaining the WSI(4) scenario.

Reading your quote regarding the merchant ship sailors do you also know much about this subject also?

 

The Merchant Navy is my main reason for being on this forum....I have researched the "forgotten fourth service" for over 20 years.
If you have any questions I would be happy to help?

Regards
Hugh

 

I realised that when I looked through some of the forums! Obviously I’m very new to this site, but yes I have probably many questions regarding the merchant navy, so any help would be much appreciated.
I’d never heard that term (forgotten fourth service) just googled it, how true it is.

My main question is going to be about my great grandfather James Devlin born 1886 in Dumbartonshire, Scotland, he was in and out the merchant navy I believe, he was also in the army and was a coal miner by trade.
Anyway the last ship he was on was Port Caroline O.N. 143790
This ship left from London in 1927 and my great grandfather deserted it in Wellington, New Zealand in September 1927. I requested the ships manifest from Newfoundland which gave all this information.
Basically I am trying to track him down after this last known whereabouts (genealogy) I’d wondered if perhaps he would have got a pension for instance.
Feel free to put me in the correct forum.

 

I take it you have this. I will take a look and see if there is anything else to find.



Regards
Hugh

 

Yes! That’s him, we never knew what he looked like until I found his CR10 forms (he has 2) lucky us, 2 pics.

 

He’s right down the bottom, I think he joined the ship last minute. What would cards received mean? Would that be when he deserted or are they referring to some time after?

 

I would like to read the whole passage for context - cant read the writing to the left of it. If he left the sea in 1927 after New Zealand then there is no further tracking via MN records and there are none. I doubt very much he received any pension. Looks like he was Royal Navy rather than Army 1904-1905 albeit different birth month of 1886 on record.

Regards
Hugh