Oubreak of war

The following story is based upon a real life account written by Forrest Frank based upon a story by Captain John Helm Gibson. These appeared in the Scarborough Daily Post in 1920 as part of the 'Sea Dogs' stories by Forrest Frank.

The suspense of the first few weeks of war was very great. There was no trade, and no touch with owners. We were in the country of our ally, but the Azov and Black Seas have only one way out - through the Bosphorus - and three or four of us masters in conference decided to get out before the Turks blocked the way. The Russian Black Sea Admiral vetoed the plan, informing us that the Turks would seize us. At this we began to make up our minds to wintering in the Azov, if indeed, we had not to stay longer; but after what seemed an interminable time the Vice-Consul gave us instructions from the British Ambassador at St Petersburg that we might proceed - the Embassy at Constantinople having intimated that the Turkish Government would not detain us. We wasted no time in getting away, for the Goeben and Breslan affair had taken place, and the situation was intense. At Constantinople I was ordered to attend the British Consulate, and informed that I would have to take passengers - four ladies and three young men, members of the family of some of the Embassy staff, other ships having to take other British subjects, according to their accomodation. This I did, but told the Consul to see that they brought what provisions they could, or they would have to live very crudely on the passage. Fresh food was plentiful, but flour and preserved provisions were scarcely purchasable. I was told that on the Monday before our arrival there was not one bag of flour on the Constantinople docks.

We left Constantinople without trouble, and got down into the Narrows, when I, in company with thirty other allied merchant ships, was held by the Turks for seven days. Their excuse was that the channel was blocked. As a matter of fact, they were mining the Dardanelles. The first day we were not particularly suspicious, but as the days passed, and I saw them practising with the big guns on the Fort at Tchansk, which I had often seen before but never in use, I began to get anxious, especially as my Embassy passengers, who presumably had better information than I had, kept pestering me with the inquiry "When are we going to get on Captain?" and expressing a dread of being made Turkish prisoners, a dread which I also shared, and especially as I had seen what the lot of a prisoner of war was in Mariupol. On the seventh day the fort made signal that we could proceed, and I can tell you there was a hustle on that day to get the anchor up and steam on. I did not know then, what what I soon saw, and that was what a very formidable British fleet there was anchored off Tenedos. When I had got through I was stopped by an officer of HMS Gloucester, who made the closest inquiries as to whether we had received any ill treatment and the cause of our delay. It was during our seven days' detention that I witnessed the mobilisation of many thousands of Turkish troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The naval officer, in departing, instructed me to proceed no further than Malta without further instructions. At Malta I was told to report at Gibraltar before proceeding further and at Gibraltar was given Admiralty orders for Falmouth, where we arrived safely, though interrogated every single day on the passage by either a British or French warship. At Falmouth we landed the Embassy passengers, and released four naval ratings who were members of my crew. Here I got in first touch with my owners, who sent us round to Cardiff to load coal on Admiralty requisition.



OTHER ARTICLES
• What was on board a ship in the North Sea in 1520
• The port of Scarborough in the late 15th Century
• World war one outbreak. The war effort in Scarborough
• Tommy Rowley - stories about loss of life at sea
• The U-Boat campaign in the First World War
• The need for canals in the scarborough area - discussions in the late 1700's
• The early years of the Scarborough Lifeboat
• William Cammish - log book of the Aurora - a Scarborough merchant ship
• Trawling During WW2 around scarborough and the North - East coast
• The Coronia, Regal Lady and Dunkirk in World War II
• Dennis Allen - stories from the sea
• The loss of the Sincere in 1968
• The national RNLI and the Scarborough lifeboat of 1861.
• Food rationing during The Second World War in Scarborough
• The history of the herring fishing in the North Sea
• Harwood Brierleys description of Scarborough harbour at the opening of the 20th century
• Sea bathing was pioneered at Scarborough in the late 17th century.
• Sailing ships - a true ghost story
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI

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