Dear All
I have two trios to Stokers Percy and Phillips ,both lost on E18.
Submarine E18 was lost to a Mine or Q Ship ,depending on which
account you read ,in the Baltic in 1916.
In his book "Baltic Assignment" (p141),Wilson." The Tsar sent Cromie
a letter of sympathy for the loss of the Submarine , awarded Halahan
the Cross of St George,the other two Officers the Order of St Vladimir
and a Medal for each of the Crew".
I know of Halahan`s group and he did receive the Cross so it is
Possable that the others did ?.
Has anyone got or know of a Group to E18 with a Russian Medal on the end ?
or any ideas ?. I have tried the on line L Gaz` without any thing (that
may have been me though.) I have also checked out other books on the
Baltic,but nothing.
Any help or thoughts would be much appreciated.
Colin

Colin, here's one with Rusky `gong'.

PRITCHETT HORACE EDWARD AB C/J 4417 CSTG RN
SM E.18 11.06.16 Z 23 120393 F CHATHAM 16 CHATHAM 3 - 287
Son of Charles and Susannah Pritchett, of 79 St. Mary's Rd., Barking, Essex.
Killed in loss of vessel in the Baltic.
Awarded Cross of St. George 4th Class (Russian).
Chatham Memorial is open 0830 - 1700.
For entry Telephone Guard Room at Brompton Barracks, 01634 - 822442.
HMS MAIDSTONE. ADM 188 / 655. A.G 568 / 16.
P.o.B ; Barking, Essex. Occ ; Milk Boy.

KOKO Sadsac

Colin, yet another re Rusky gongs to E.18 crew ;

POWELL WILLIAM GEORGE AB P/ 182354 CSG RN SM E.18
11.06.16 Z 47 181270 F PORTSMOUTH 13 PORTSMOUTH 5 - 359
Husband of May Louisa Powell, of 123 Toronto Rd., Buckland, Portsmouth.
Killed in loss of vessel in the Baltic.
Awarded Cross of St. George 3rd Class - Russia.
HMS MAIDSTONE. ADM 188 / 304.
P.o.B ; Soho, London. Occ ; Seaman.

Good Hunting, Sadsac

Have you looked for the original Admiralty file dealing with the awards or in the meda roll in ADM 171/61l?

See the thread on ADM 12 http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...showtopic=70047. I would expect Percy and Phillips both to have entries in the indexes as well as E18 and Halahan. You could also check Powell and Pritchett's service registers to see if anything different is written on those to Percy and Phillips; plus of course the former 2 should also have entries in the same indexes leading to the Admiralty file.

Hi
Thank you for your replys,
odd that Powell received the cross 3rd class and
Prit chett the cross 4th class ?.
I will also try the ADM file.
Many Thanks
Colin

Colin, info for these gongs comes from Submarine Service Record Card ; note, these card are not definitive docs, so it MAY be that they both received 4 / 3 Class of award !

Sadsac

Hi Colin

I have the scroll/plaque/letter signed by Cromie to his wife forwarding his effects to ERA 3rd class CW Holland who was killed aboard E 18 on 11th June 1916. I have done some research into his background (not got his service record yet) and have found no mention of Russian award, but I will now follow this up.
There is a book by Leslie Ashmore called Forgotten Flotilla which has a good write up on E 18 with crew photos. Ashmore was the navigating officer on E 18 from Sept to November 1915. He was then appointed first Lt on E1, thus not suffering the fate of the rest of the crew.
Powell was not in the original crew which took E18 out to the Baltic in Sept 1915. He transferred from E9 later.
Regards
Andrew

Andrew, herewith C W HOLLAND Record Card detailes ;

HOLLAND CHARLES WILLIAM ERA 3 C/ 271983 NE RN
D.o.B ; 280390 240415 DD E18 110616 JOINED RN 290308
SENIOR IN RATING 310313 AGE 26 CHATHAM 17 - 3 - 266
Son of George Holland , of School House, West Wycombe, Bucks ; husband of Agnes Sarah Holland, of Mid Town, Rosgill Shap, Westmorland.
Killed in loss of vessel in the Baltic.
Chatham Memorial is open 0830 - 1700. For entry Telephone Guard Room at Brompton Barracks, 01634 - 822442.
HMS MAIDSTONE. ADM 188 / 436. A.G 568 / 16. P.o.B ; West Wycombe, Bucks.

Good Hunting, Sadsac

Thank you for that sadsac.
Andrew

Here's the link to his service register, or you can download for free at Kew
Name Holland, Charles William
Official Number: 271983
Place of Birth: West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Date of Birth: 29 March 1890
Catalogue reference ADM 188/436
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...p;resultcount=1

Hi Andrew
I have copy of Ashmores book ,pity there is no Index and the
paper is of such poor quality the photos seem to suffer ,still a good
read though,but no mention the Russian awards.
Colin

Able seaman H. Prittchet
receive cross 4th class 2/06/1916
Order of Admiral of Baltic Fleet #401
(in russian archive)

Leading Seaman W. Powell
receive cross of st. George 3rd class
15/ 06/ 1916
Order of Admiral Kanin # 804
(russ. archives)

and
Leading Seaman W. Powell
receive cross of st. George 4th class
16/ 03/ 1915
Order of Admiral von Essen # 375

TWO CROSSES !!!

If your Philips -
Able seaman A. Phillips -
receive cross 4th class
2/ 06/ 1916
Order # 401 of Admiral Kanin

Hi Colin,
Is Stoker Phillips, Arthur Percy Phillips, service no 309511?

He is recorded on my village War Memorial which I am researching. I have a little biographical information on him which you are more than welcome to and I would love to include any more information on him in the information sheet I compile for each man named.

Mary

Hi Mary
Yes this is Arthur Percy Phillips that i am researching , and i am more than happy
to share my research with you .give me a few days as i am away from my records,
I purchased his medals some years ago.they came with his Brothers pair and two
Photos of his brother and his wife and child + group of wounded men on a hospital
steps his brother was in the RE, i think he servived the War.
I do not have to much info on Arthur,mostly on the Submarine, if you could spare a Photo
of the War Memorial that would be great.
Colin B

Hi Colin,
I'll PM you with the photo and the information I have.
Many thanks
Mary

Medals group with Russian Medal ?

Purely for info I attach a photo of the skipper of E18, Lt Cmdr R C Halahan, RN. He is commemorated on a Roll of Honour in Christ Church, Cheltenham, though I have not as yet been able to establish his connection with the town.

Also aboard the submarine when it was lost (24th May 1916, officially 11th June 1916) was Cheltonian Lt Walter Luke Landale, RN.

I have a copy of their service papers. It is recorded that Halahan was awarded the Order of St Vladimir 4th Class and Landale was "granted permission to accept and wear insignia of 3rd Class of Order of St Anne with Swords".

Regards

Jimmy

Thank you !
May be you have more photos ?

Hi all,

thi is my first use of this site so here it goes. For those who have the book Forgotten Flotilla their is one name missing from the crew of E18. You will notice that E18 when lost was unusual in that she carried two British telegraphists. George Gaby was actually the telegraphist from E8. In October 1915 Gaby was found guilty of stealing vodka from E8 and was sentenced to 90 days in the cells, when released he didn't rejoin E8 and went to what was known as spare crew. Before sailing on her last patrol E18 was short of crew and Gaby was taken from spare crew to fill the role of the British signalman. That signalman was my great grandfather, Albert Edward Robinson. He had been with E18 while she was being built and only missed this last patrol, we have no idea why he missed this patrol but he became known as a good luck charm. I have his medals which for obvious reasons don't contain a Russian one. He remained unknown to the story of E18 until i recently made contact with the submarine museum.

In the crew photo of E18 in the Forgotten Flotilla he is sitting on our right next to the one that is marked as Charles Sexton. Of interest is the man named Sexton is wrongly marked, this is actually Powell who had come over from E9 and the Russian medal he's wearing was won on E9.

As for the confusion of dates on E18's loss, i have carried out some very intense research both from British and German archives. E18 departed Reval on the 25-5-1916, torpedoed V100 on the 26-5-1916, sighted by an aircraft of Memel on the 28-5-1916 and i have looked into the log of UB-30 which did sight an enemy submarine on the 1-6-1916 at 1500 hrs north west of Steinort, all other allied submarines were back in Reval at this time. E18 was due to report into the Dagerort coastguard station but didn't get there, she was due into Reval on the 2-6-1916. There is no evidence to support her being sunk by a German ship, no evidence to say she radioed a report of her attack on V100 and you can see the date of her loss as the 24-5-1916 is wrong as she was still in Reval.
You just need to view the diary of Lt Cdr Francis Goodhart who give all the correct dates that all match up with the Germans dates.

Does anyone out there realise that when E18 was lost she also had three Russians as part of her crew, a navigating officer, a telegraphist and a signalman, all i have is the surname of the navigating officer at this stage.

Hope this is of some help.

Hi Darren
Some very good research, a lot of which i did not have , I have a crew list
i am not sure from where it came, i always thought it came from the Museum ?, it has
Gaby listed and not Robinson, as you say,but mention of any Russians ?. I have a copy
of the crew photo,do you have the Names of any of the other un-named crew ?.
Colin

Hi Colin,

yes i have the name of another of the un named crew in the E18 crew photo. In the very back row on our left is Telegraphist Edwards. I was able to identify him because the submarine museum has a photo of the 4 British telegraphists and 5 British signalman in the Baltic. E9 didn't have a wireless when she first went to the Baltic thats why there were only 4 telegraphists. Only one of these telegraphists survived the was, Benson of E19, E1's being killed in the Battle of May Island when on a K class sub.

E19's telegraphist left his memiors with the Royal Navy Sub Museum. He said when they arrived in Russian they took on a Russian Navigating Officer, a telegraphist and signalman. From this point the main role of the British telegraphists and signalman were to keep the equipment in working order. The British subs were operating in the Russian system, this is why they also had Russian crew. It was a well sort after gig for the Russians as they shared in any Medals, blood money, and had better conditions, when E8 sank the Prinz Adalbert the crew received 3000 pounds in blood money, Goodhart had to set up a trust fund for the money. The surname of the Russian Officer on E18 was Polycarpoff. A photo in Baltic Assignment clearly shows the Russian crew with E19.

On page 192 of the Forgotten Flottilla, it clearly shows four member of E18's crew, compare with the crew shot, the only one of the four i can pick out of the is John (Paddy)Ryan on our left. Also the photo of E18 and E8 in the Gulf of Riga, page 110 i believe is wrong. E18 and E8 were never in the Gulf of Riga together, this is the E1 taken i believe on the 29-4-1916. On this day they were tied up alongside the battleship Slava but had to move away because of drifting ice. I believe that is Slave off E1's bow.

cathydarren@optusnet.com.au

Hi ALL,

just a quick follow up to those looking into the crew of E18. Able seaman Charles Sexton and Stoker Percival Stevenson were part of the original crew of E18. They were both thrown in the cells for 90 days punishment on the 19-11-1915 and didn't return to E18, not sure what they had done but in the end it saved them from the same fate as their crew mates on E18.

I think stoker Percy Duffield must have then replaced Stevenson as he wasn't an original crew member.

I believe that William Powell must have relaced Sexton as Powell had come over from E9. Powell is in the crew photo of E18.

So who had Petty Officer John Paddy Ryan replaced? He certainly wasn't an original crew member and had come over in the September draft and had been in spare crew. It is now known that Ryan was sick on shore with measles when E18 left for the last patrol. This only leaves Able Seaman Horace Prichett as the likely person to have replaced Ryan as Pritchett was not in the original crew.. So maybe there is still someone that Ryan replaced un accounted for. Ryan is in the E18 crew photo.

This was certainly the case with Gaby replacing signalman Robinson. And of corse Lt Colson replaced Ashmore.

cathydarren@optusnet.com.au

Hi all,

page 109 of Forgotten Flotilla, crew photo of E19 clearly show the Russian navigating officer, telegraphist and signalman that were part of the crew. Goodhart state that the mother of E8's Russian navigating officer was trying to pull strings to have her son moved after the loss of E18. They are just not mentioned on the British list of casulties for E18. Ben Benson of E19 states their crew was around 33 due to having the Russians on board.

Darren.

Dear Igor
I was just going over the replys to my E18 thread and noticed your reply, which i totaly missed the first time i read them, i am very sorry for not replying and thank you very much for clearing up at least one of my mysteries.
Colin

Hello all,

for those interested in E18's lost date the Royal Navy Submarine Museum has now updated their website to reflect recent research into her loss.

HMS E18

2 June 1916

Lost in Baltic (unknown cause)

A torpedo attack by HMS E18 on 26th May resulted in the bows of the Destroyer V100 being blown off. Even though severely damaged the destroyer managed to limp back to port. E18 was sighted by a German aircraft off Memel on 28th May, and then by UB30 off Steinort on 1st June 1916. She was probably mined on or about 2nd June 1916 on route to Reval. The sighting was verified by German sources, namely the UB30 log book and the German naval history of war in the Baltic.

Hope this is of some help. They will always keep the official dayes as lost between 24th of May and the closing of the books on the 11 of June 1916.

Darren.

Darren,

Very nice research. So we're at the usual if you will for missing WWI submarines: mines or operational loss. The next step is to understand the mine environment at the time. The German official history series is quite handy and among the most useful features are the maps. I honestly don't know the answer to this as I haven't seen/used the Baltic official history series, but it might be worth checking to see if the associated maps include a map showing German minefields in the areas were E 18 may hve been about June 2, 1916. Minefields laid just before that date would, obviously, be of particular interest.

Best wishes,
Michael

Hi Michael,

thanks for the compliment, i have spent alot of time on this project. The Germans did lay U mines West of Osel in April May 1916. The commader in charge of the operation rightly assummed that the Russians and British were reading their wireless transmissions. He arranged for the minelaying operations to be conducted with strict radio silence, thus the British and Russins wouldn't be aware of them. The trap for E18 was set. On the night of the 30th of May E8 was returning when they received a report of new minefields, Goodhart stopped ans waited for daylight. This must have been west of Osel as he sighted Dago in the early morning. The German offical history books don't have this map for 1916. I do however have one from a German publication from 1922. As we speak i'm arranging to get a copy of the original map from the German archives. There are now two groups interested in finding E18 now we have cleared up the events leading up to her loss. On her return E18 would always report in to the Dagerort coastguard station and check for new orders. So from the last sighting by UB-30 northwest of Steinort to the tip of Dago Island she was lost as she didn't report in to Dagerort. These minefields were in her direct path home.

Hope this is of some interest.

cathydarren@optusnet.com.au

Hi All,

Has anyone ever seen any Patrol Reports for E18's time while attached to Maidstone at Harwich before leaving for the Baltic on the 28-8-1915? In Forgotten Flotilla Ashmore talks of such patrols and even E18 being bombed by a Zeppelin. It's very hard trying to date much of Ashmore's memoirs from this period.

Her logs only start on the 28th of August.

Cheers Darren.

Darren,

as in my post re. E 4, here are the TNA-files for MAIDSTONE in 1915:

ADM 137 / 2068 = Comm (S) War Records, Maidstone (1915)
ADM 137 / 294 = 8th Flotilla, Reports & Orders (1915)

There you can find out, if there was any patrol made by E 18 before leaving for the Baltic.

Cheers
Oliver

Hi All,

Just a reply for Michael in regards to the Batic mines and E18. I spoke of having a German mine map of the Baltic from 1922. This map showed all the barriers laid from 1914 to 1918. I have since obtained the maps for the German mining operations solely for April/May 1916. This now shows that only five barriers, marked A,B,C,D,& E were in a position to sink E18. The barrier A consisted soley of 230 anti submarine U mines laid between the 1st to 4-4-1916 south west of the tip of Dago Island and directed by the Germans to be in the path of the returning British submarines. Goodhart speaks on the 9-5-1916 of the submarine operations being delayed by a mine barrier near Dago that was being swept which would make it very tricky for the returning submarines to make Dago. So possibily barrier A was swept?

The next main culprit barriers would be barriers B & C, these were regular E mines and were to the south west of barrier A but still a major problem for a sub returning to Dago Island. Although the maps are very good i'm also now waiting on the extracts from the minelayers logs which will give exact positions of where these barriers were laid.

Will keep you posted and hope this is of interest.

Darren.

Darren,

Thanks for the update. I handle much of the WWI material for uboat.net and also am involved in efforts to locate and identify both British and German WWI submarine wrecks.

I definitely know the desire to get the exact position of a minefield for which you have those maps. Oddly, it may not help that much.

In my experience, the position given for minefields is not always 100% accurate. And usually, they aren't really a minefield -- what was laid was a line of mines. Locations are given from a starting point, with a lat and long position or a distance and angle to a cape. Then a distance and heading between mines or an ending point. And sometimes literally there is just a mine map -- positions aren't given. In any case, I can think of three U-boat wrecks have been located some distance from the supposed (officially recored) location of the minefields that accounted for them. As a practical matter, allow a mile from whatever the Sperrmeldung says.

Best wishes,
Michael

Hi Michael,

thanks for the advice, i've been told that the Germans may have been out a little even when they give positions. When i started looking it was from Memel to Reval, history hasn't been too kind to E18 when you look at what is written about her and her fate. Hopefully we will get close with what being dug up, all pieces of the jigsaw are starting to come together, there are other avenues currently being explored as well. It was the Kaisers brother who had organised these barriers in the Baltic and they were clasified as top secret. He wanted most copies of the maps destroyed to avoid them being circulated, this along with the radio silence shows how serious they were about the submarines. Possibily contact me off site for more info.

Will keep you posted.

Darren.

Hi All,

thought some of you may be interested in this. It's the position of where the German U-boat UB-30 sighted the periscope of an enemy submarine on the 1-6-1916. All other British subs were back in Reval at this time, so were the Russian Gepard, Bars and Volk. The Germans came to the conclusion this was E18 and rightly so. UB-30 sighted the periscope at 1500 hrs, she turned away making out she was leaving the area. Her commander then radioed the sighting into base, UB-30 then intended to reverse course at night and attack the enemy sub while she was surfaced and charging her batteries. This position was also the spot where E18 had torpedoed the V100 on the 26-5-1916 and this was a route the German warships used when leaving and travelling north from Libau, hence why E18 was submerged. UB-30 did return to this position late that night and found nothing as E18 was heading home from Memel and had been passing the area.

Hope this is of interest.

Darren.

A full-color reproduction of an original German grid map (or is it an original grid map?)-- either way, very nice. I've only seen microfilmed versions which are in B&W ; I must say that the colors are quite striking on the original.

Best wishes,
Michael

Hi Michael,

a college of mine had the map copied from the German archives many years ago. We are working with these to come up with the mine barriers that were laid in April 1916 in this area of the Baltic. We have a map that covers the whole Baltic in this format.

Cheers DB.

Hi

Have you thought of contacting the Finnish War Museum, long ago as a kid I once saw a very good exhibit about the British Subs in the Baltic. It might have been on Sveaborg. They are also very interested in the mining of the Baltic, and used intelligence based upon the GW in WW2.

Regards

Mart

Hi Mart,

yes i contacted the Fins some time back but didn't receive an answer, i asked them for certain if the Baltic subs were raised and scrapped as i get conflicting info on this subject. So i still don't know the answer to this.

Cheers DB.

Hi All,

firstly thankyou Lörscher as your advice has led to finding E18's patrol report for July 1915, this was her only patrol in the North Sea prior to heading out to the Baltic. For those who have the book Forgotten Flotilla Lt Ashmore talks of a Zeppelin attack on E18. This patrol report covers this, i can now set the date for this attack as the 14-7-1915, Halahan certainly didn't write that he had surfaced to go to the toilet as the reason he was spotted and attacked. Due to this, the fact a sub could be seen so easily from the air, alarm bells rang out with the 8th Flotilla and this led to E18 being painted in the camouflage scheme she took into the Baltic.

Are there any Zeppelin/Airship experts out there that can shed any light on which ZEPPELIN carried out this attack?

Cheers DB.

Hi Darren,

well, I'm realy NOT an Zeppelin expert, but my notes on E 18 told me, that she "sighted" an Zeppelin on 13.07. and 14.07.1915 and this should have been L 6 (possibly the only Zeppelin out those days).

Have you details what's meant with "attack" against E 18 - bombs dropped or so ???

This incident is NOT reported in the german "Krieg zur See" volumes...

Oliver

Hi Oliver,

E18 arrived off the Ems on the 10-7-1915 and been testing her new 30 ft wireless masts up until 20 minutes before diving in her patrol position off the Ems. She was the first of the E CLASS fitted with these and could read HMS Maidstones messages 220 miles away. The Germans may have picked up that a sub was threr due to this. A steamer was noticed with a german Merchat Flag patrolling this area for days. On her first day there E18 tried to attack the steamer but ran aground as the ship was operating in only 3 to 4 fathoms. On the 13th a German bi-plane with large floats flew over, then a Zeppelin/airship was seen over the steamer. At about 1150 hrs on the 14th is when the attack on E18 started and until 1530 hrs when it stopped. She had bombs dropped on her at intervals and couldn't escape as the Germans could make out her outline against the sandy background, at first Halahan took E18 to 60ft but the bombs kept landing very close, he then went to 70 then 80 but still they could see him. It was when he went to maximum depth of 85 ft and altered course and finally got away. The last bomb landed directly over the top of E18 but they all exploded on impact with the water. Halahan chose not to mention he was surfaced at the time he was sighted, so a panic went through Maidstone which led E18 to be painted in those colours. Halahan stated the water was so clear he could see his bow through the periscope at 70 ft.

So it would be a navy Airship/Zeppelin, going through the German archive may be the answer to my own question i guess.

Cheers DB.

Darren,

thank you for additional information, most welcome !

Well, it looks as if I might head to the german archives in November or so. I should prefer to visit TNA for my researches, but I'm afraid my money doesn't allow for that :-(

I had made an note to have an look into L 6's war diary or in the war diary of the BdA (Befehlshaber der Aufklärungsstreitkräft). I have already seen the war diary of the Seeflugstation Borkum up to 24.06.1915 (!), which covers the seaplane operations off the Ems and also mentions attacks by Zeppelins, but I missed to have a look at the next volume which includes the 14.07.1915 :-)

I'm sure it's no problem to find out E 18's attacker, I keep you informed !

Oliver

Hi Oliver,

thankyou for that, i will see what you turn up. Now E18's patrol has report for July has been found, do you know of any other avenues to pursue things such as when E18 arrived at HMS Maidstone? The crew papers all change from HMS Dolphin to Maidstone on the 27-6-1915 so i guess this is a good guide. Of the document you told me to look at with E18's patrol report, it covers all the patrols from Maidstone of all subs but not of arrivals of E18 and E19 and their departures, i do have their secret orders though.

Also do you know of any documents that would cover things like her trials while with Dolphin? Or of crew movements such as the Draft sent out folowing E18 and E19 to the Baltic.

Cheers Darren.

Hi,

Crew movements - no, sorry

I know that's not so easy to find out the movements of british subs apart from her war patrols, but in your case you should have a look at MAIDSTONE's log books:

ADM 53 / 47897 = june 1915
ADM 53 / 47898 = july 1915
ADM 53 / 47899 = august 1915
etc.

Usually you will find entries like "14.20 E.18 came alongside" - "17.00 E.18 cast off" - "05.30 E.18 left" or so...

You also can try VIII. Flotilla's destroyers LURCHER, FIREDRAKE (might have escorted her in from Portsmouth, Dover)...

Also the other Depot ships at Harwich that time: ADAMANT, ALECTO...

There seems to be no surviving log book for DOLPHIN !?

Oliver


PS: I'm sure you have already seen E 18's log books ADM 173-1245 and 1246 ?

Hi oliver,
yes it is hard, i have Maidstone's log for when they left, but no mention of any subs. E19 did cast off from her but E18 cast off from HMS Pandora on the 28-8-1915. Most books you read say they left on the 29th which is wrong For some unknown reason Cromie put there departure down for the 29th from Harwich and everyone has used that date since. E18 and the escorting destroyer Lurcher both have the 28th.

I have yet to have a look at Pandora's logs. You are right with Lurcher and Firedrakes logs, on the 13-8-1915 E19 was carrying out torpedo practice with them and on the 18th E18 was with both destroyers and this seems the date for when Ashmore recalls Halahan they'll get 4 days leave due to them going off somewhere. On the back of a family photo they have the date as the 21-8-1915 which i believe is when they last saw him as this date means nothing to the actual photo of him which was actually taken while serving on HMS Forth from Nov 1914 to Jan 1915.

I'll look further into their logs especially around the 27-6-1915 when i believe E18 arrived at Maidstone, well if the crew papers are anything to go by.

From what i can gather Alecto was at Yarmouth, the subs would leave Harwich and go there, then head off to their patrol area, this is what E18, E13 and D7 did in July 1915. Logs are a funny thing as they truly seem to depend on the enthusiasm of the originator, out of those three subs only D7's survives for this period but E18 and E13 don't get a mention where as other logs do mention boats in company.

Cheers DB.

Hi Darren,

according to online catalogue there are no logbooks from PANDORA at TNA !?

With regard to the submarines logbooks: you are right, I have seen an couple of them. You also can't compare logbooks from 1915 with those from 1918, the last mentioned usually are very detailed (position, sightings), the early ones often just mention "arrived at billet"

Another possibility to track down the movements of the submarines are the "homewater telegramms" as I call them, f. e. ADM 137/127, which covers the period 26.06. to 30.06.1915, here you can find literally EVERY telegramm/message from EVERY station in Britain...

B U T it's a large box containing an thick book, full of messages, often this ugly thin paper, I'm sure you know

Well, have a nice time while searching

Oliver

Hi All,

just a quick note to say possibily one of the last links to the submarine E18 has left us. My grandmother Caroline Alexander Brown, nee Robinson, passed away this morning aged 91. Her father was of course E18's signalman Albert Edward Robinson. Her parents met while he was with C20 in Dundee, they married on the 30-5-1915 in Dundee, just before E18 was commisioned. She didn't want to marry him at this time as she was convinced she would be left a widow as what he was doing was too dangerous, a fair point i guess. Just before E18 left for the Baltic he found his wife pregnant with my grandmother, she was then born on the 21-4-1916. My auntie has told me the reason he wasn't on E18 when she sailed in May 1916 is that he had an appendicitis attack just before they sailed and he became gravely ill. He came back from the Baltic in Jan 1917 with the first draft home and joined E4 in May 1917. The family came to Australia in 1929. Carolines father passed away in 1956, her mother passed way in a house fire in 1964 and her brother passed away in 1979.

Below is a photo of Caroline with her parents circa 1918.

Darren.

Darren,

My condolences for your Grandmother and may she RIP, a nice story and one most certainly to be proud of.

Regards Charles