SS St Julien

The SS St Julien was one of a pair of steam ships built by John Brown of Clydebank for the Great Western Railway's Weymouth to Channel Islands services. She was launched on the Clyde in Feb 1925. Her sister ship was the St Helier. My Grandfather, Charlie Pavey, was the Quartermaster on this ship during the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s. He was born and bred in Weymouth but he must have met my "grandmother to be" on one of his trips to Jersey and after they were married he moved to St Helier and continued to work on the ships from his Jersey base.

GWRSS St Julien just after launch with dummy funnel still in place.

St Julien was originally delivered with two funnels, but the second was in fact a dummy which was removed in 1928.  When war broke out in 1939 the service between Weymouth and the Channel Islands was suspended. St Julien entered Weymouth on at 8pm on September 9th carrying the last holidaymakers from Jersey. 3 days later she left for Avonmouth where she was initially put to use ferrying troops. However. after only two trips to St Nazaire, she was very quickly converted into a Hospital Carrier operating out of Newhaven and Southampton. She took part in the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk, Boulogne and Cherbourg in 1940. On May 29th 1940, during the Dunkirk operation, St Julien was deliberately bombed by the Luftwaffe for a considerable period of time. Although she never received a direct hit, she was damaged by shrapnel from numerous near misses. It was during this raid that my grandfather was hit in the chest by flying debris and suffered the effects of shell-shock. St Julien remained just off Dunkirk for half an hour waiting for an opportunity to land, but when the air attacks started again she sailed back to Dover to offload her injured crew before returning to Dunkirk next morning where she successfully rescued 287 casualties.

SS St Julien with dummy funnel removed.

As I had mentioned earlier, my family were living in Jersey at the start of World War II. Grandad Charlie was sent home to Jersey to recover from his injuries that he had received at Dunkirk, but less than two weeks later the German army began their invasion of the Channel Islands. He quickly arranged for the family to evacuate the Island before the German forces landed, but he couldn't find his youngest son David (my father). Eventually he was found on the beach watching all the activity. My Uncle Dennis grabbed him and dragged him back home. They made their way to the harbour in St Helier with only the clothes he was wearing and a bag that my Gran had packed for him. They boarded a ship that took them to Southampton and from there the family made their way back the family home in Weymouth.

Grandad Charlie contracted TB whilst he was convalescing and eventually lost one of his lungs. He was unable to return to work the ship, but the St Julien spent the remainder of World War II as a hospital carrier and saw service in the Mediterranean as well as the D-Day Landings in 1944 where she pressed into service for the US Navy. She was damaged by a mine on June 7th and had to be towed back to England with her bows well down in the water. Less than three weeks later she was back in service in Normandy assisting with American casualties at Arrowmanches.

HM Hospital Carrier St Julien clearing casualties from Arrowmanches in July 1944

SS St Julien in St Helier Harbour, Jersey 1955. 
This photo was taken by my mother when she went to Jersey to see my Dad's family shortly before their wedding  .

In 1946 St Julien was returned to the GWR at Weymouth and was passed on to British Railways on 1st January 1948 when GWR became part of the British Transport Commission (British Railways). Another member of my Weymouth family worked on the ship during her final years. Alfred John Lanning Pavey was recorded as 1st Engineer on St Julien in 1948. He was the son of Grandfather's brother. St Julien made her last Channel Islands crossing on 27th September 1960 when the two sister ships were replaced by the new SS Caesarea and SS Sarnia. She was scrapped the following year and sold to Van Heyghen Freres, Ghent  in March 1961. She was last heard of being used by Dockyard workers at Walcheren in late 1963.

St Julien with windows plated up on the sides of the main deck and a white forecastle.

Specifications:

Propulsion: 4 Parsons steam turbines SRG two shafts 18kn 4350bhp

Ship Type: Passenger Vessel

Ship's Role: Channel Island ferry

Tonnage: 1885gross tons.

Length: 282.2 feet

Breadth: 40 feet

Draught: 13 feet

Owner History:

Great Western Railway Co, London; 1925-1939 and 1946-1948

British Railways Southern Region; 1948-1961

St Julien is towed out of Weymouth harbour for the very last time in 1960.
Photo supplied by Weymouth resident David Bishop. David's father also worked on board the St Julien.

Donald Poore Pavey & HMS Delight

One of the more sobering parts of my genealogical research, is finding the names of my relatives and ancestors on War Memorials. There are two Pavey's on the War Memorial on Weymouth promenade. The first is Thomas Lanning Pavey, my Grandfather's uncle. Tom was a veteran Merchant seaman , who just happened to be on leave when a German bomb landed directly on his house in St Nicholas Street in 1942. He is recorded as a "Civilian" casualty... It's so ironic that he died at home where he should have been safe, but had been involved in such a risky occupation during two world wars. 

The second Pavey on the Weymouth War Memorial has fascinated me for a while, that of Donald Poore-Pavey. My father had told me that he had a cousin who had been killed when his ship sank off Portland during WW2, but I never knew for sure who he was talking about. Could this be him? Nobody else in my immediate family knew anything about Donald and the double-barrelled name was a bit of a mystery too?

I can now reveal that Donald was in fact my father's cousin. He was born as Donald Poore in Weymouth in the second quarter of 1919. The index of Births in England & Wales reveal that his mothers maiden name was Diplock, but something must have happened to his parents along the way as the next time I find his name mentioned is when he was adopted by my Grand Uncle Alfred George Pavey and his wife Edith (nee Penn). Donald grew up at No 60 High Street, overlooking the harbour and all its maritime activity. They later moved to the new council estate at Westham.

His adoptive father, Alf Pavey had been a sailor for most of his life. During WW1 he served aboard the "secret" armed trawlers Clyne Castle and Balmoral Castle that operated out of Portland harbour. It was dangerous work as these trawlers were both minesweepers and U-Boat hunters. Prior to joining the Royal Navy, Alf had worked on Cosens Paddle steamers. With so many more members of the Pavey and Penn family involved in harbour trades, it was no surprise that Donald chose to join the Royal Navy at the outbreak of WW2 when he was just 20 years old.

He was an able seaman aboard HMS Delight, a "Defender" class Destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the 1930s. During the Abyssinian crisis she had been deployed in the Red Sea, but returned to the home fleet at the outbreak of WW2 and played a major part in the Norwegian Campaign. 

On June 29th 1940, under the command of Mark Fogg-Elliott, HMS Delight sailed out of Portsmouth harbour to undertake escort duties in the busy English Channel on her way to the Clyde. This action itself put the ship in grave danger and contravened local orders preventing ships from sailing in daylight. The Royal Navy had already lost a large number of its Destroyers during the Norwegian campaign and at the evacuations of Dunkirk, so in order to preserve the remaining fleet, Destroyers were only supposed to sail at dusk or under the cover of darkness. Why Commander Fogg-Elliott chose to ignore this order is unclear, and it didn't take long before the newly installed Freya radar on the Hague peninsular detected HMS Delight and alerted the Luftwaffe of a target in the English Channel. At 6.35pm 16 German Junkers Ju87 dive bombers attacked Delight when she was 20 miles south of Portland Bill. Capt Fogg-Elliott used all of his experience and skill to twist and turn the ship avoiding any direct hits from the dive bombers, but a bomb exploding underwater caused a fracture in the forward fuel tanks, which caught fire. The fire caused ammunition in the magazines to explode and a sudden large explosion destroyed the fo'c'sle and B gun was blown high into the air.

 

As soon as the SOS was received, destroyers HMS Vansittart and HMS Broke were dispatched from Devonport to her aid, but four high speed boats from Portland were first on the scene. ML102, ML105, MASB 1 and MASB 5 arrived to find HMS Delight burning furiously. Captain Fogg-Elliott ordered that the injured crew be transferred immediately to ML105 and the Motor Launch sped away with 70 survivors. Motor Anti Submarine Boat 5 rescued a further 50 crew members while MASB 1 recovered the body of a sailor floating some 300 yards from the ship.

Motor Launch 102 lay with her bows against the burning ship to take away the remaining 8 crewmen, 6 officers and finally Captain Fogg-Elliott himself. ML102 circled the ship one final time and dropped a depth charge to try and sink the ship more quickly, but the charge only damaged the fittings and did not appear to damage her hull. At 10.10pm MASB 1 reported that only the bows of HMS Delight could be seen above the surface and she sank below the surface later that evening.

It was reported at the time that there was only minimal loss of life. Most newspaper reports say that 6 crew members were killed during the attack, but there were actually 8 crew members confirmed killed, another 4 crew were "Missing Presumed Killed" and a further 7 men died from their injuries later. Sadly, Able Seaman Donald Poore Pavey was one of those "MPK". There were also 60 members of the crew injured during the attack, some quite seriously. 

Report from the Times - August 1940

Following the sinking, there was an enquiry into the loss of HMS Delight, but very little was ever reported in the newspapers at the time and I have found very few reports or findings from that enquiry. Admiral Sir William James of Portsmouth is alleged to have said that he had no hesitation in sending out a single destroyer in daylight if the situation required it, but Admiral Sir Dudley Pound (First Sea Lord) and A.V.Alexander (First Sea Lord) were both of the opinion that a serious error of judgement had been made in sailing her by day.

There are several conflicting stories on the internet regarding the actual event and there has also been some debate over where the wreck of the ship actually lies. Some stories say that she sailed from Portland, some say that she suffered a direct hit from one of the dive bombers. There are suggestions that she struggled back to Portland harbour, but was so badly damaged that she was later taken out to sea again and scuttled off Portland Bill. I am confident that she sank where she was attacked as the report of the rescue attempt was researched using information from the log books of the Motor Launches that were sent to her aid. She now lies 22 miles south of portland Bill at a depth of about 55 metres, her bow is broken off, her sterrn is upright and the central section of her hull is upside down. A silent grave to those who died in the attack. 

Donald Poore-Pavey is also remembered on the Royal Navy Memorial at Portsmouth, (Panel 31, Column 1). It is also worth noting that Alfred John Lanning Pavey, named his second son Donald George Pavey in honour of his adopted brother, who tragically died so young.

Lives lost on HMS Delight, July 29th 1940.... 

Thomas Barton; Stoker.

George E Benford; Petty Officer Stoker. 

Andrew Bennet; Engine Room Officer.

William J Dennett; Able Seaman.

Frank C Hammond; Able Seaman.

Sidney Holdsworth; Stoker.

Frank Lawton; Chief Engine Room Artificer.

George A Morgan; Engine Room Artificer.

William Gibbons; Ordinary Seaman, (Missing Presumed Killed)

Donald Poore-Pavey; Able Seaman. (Missing Presumed Killed).

William Semple; Stoker. (Missing Presumed Killed)

Cyril H Storr; Able Seaman. (Missing Presumed Killed)

Cyril R Day; Leading Seaman. (Died from Injuries)

Harold Miller; Able Seaman. (Died from Injuries)

Leslie J Atkins; Ordinary Seaman (Died from Injuries)

Ernest S Homburg; Ordinary Seaman (Died from Injuries)

Ernest Jenkinson; Able Seaman (Died from Injuries)

Henry C Dickinson; Chief Petty Officer Stoker (Died from Injuries)

Richard E Morgan; Able Seaman (Died from Injuries)

Information taken from "The Royal Navy at Portland Since 1845" by Geoffrey Carter ; ISBN 0-907771-29-7.
The Times; 1 August 1940.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Delight_(H38)#cite_ref-e8_6-2
http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-19D-Delight.htm
http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4370.html
http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?78242 

Charles Lanning Pavey - Shipwrecked on the Brayes

I have recently been reading The Great Western At Weymouth by J.H.Lucking, a history of the Railway Steamers that operated between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. Members of my family have sailed on many boats on this route, including my grandfather Charlie Pavey, who worked on the "St Julien" and "Roebuck II" prior to WW2, but until I read this book, I hadn't realised that at least one of my ancestors had been shipwrecked on this route.

My Great, Great Grandfather, Charles Lanning Pavey had been born in Melcombe Regis in 1842, the son of Silvester and Lucretia Pavey. Silvester was a sawyer working alongside the harbour on the West Quay, so there was always a chance that their children would become attached to the sea in some way. Charles grew up living on the harbour and by the time he was 18 he was working on the boats. The 1861 census lists Charles as being on board the "Cadmus" in St Sampson's Harbour, Guernsey. The "Cadmus" was a 217 tonne sailing brig, built in 1858 and registered in Weymouth. It's fair to say that she was used to transport potatoes, vegetables and flowers between the Channel Islands into the busy Dorset port. He also worked on a ship named "Vivid" during the 1860s and the Paddle Steamers "Cygnus" and "Brighton".

PS "Brighton" was reputed to be one of the fastest steamers in England, second only to the Dieppe boats. She had been built in 1857 by Palmer & Co and initially went into service with  Maple & Morris Ltd sailing between Shoreham and the Channel Islands. Less than a year later, she was purchased by the Great Western Railway and leased out to the Weymouth and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company. She was immediately pressed into service on the new Weymouth to Cherbourg route, but this venture was short lived and by August 1860, "Brighton" had become a regular favourite on the busy Channel Island service running out of Weymouth.

By 1876, "Brighton" was starting to show her age, The ship was badly in need of repairs to her hull and required an extensive mechanical overhaul. Over the next two years she received new paddle boxes and a turtle-back hurricane deck. Mechanically she was treated to new boilers, cylinder pumps and the addition of surface condensers, giving the steamer a brand new lease of life. In 1878 "Brighton" was back in service sailing regularly to the Channel Islands and occasionally crossing the Channel to France. 

My Great Great Grandfather Charles Lanning Pavey was on board the "Brighton" during the night of the 1881 census, where the steamer was recorded as being in St Helier Harbour, Jersey.

On a particularly foggy morning in January 1887, "Brighton" steamed out of Weymouth harbour on her usual route to Guernsey, and on to Jersey. At 6.30am, in thick fog, "Brighton" hit a dangerous group of rocks known as the Brayes, just off the Northern tip of Guernsey. The ship was reported to have still been travelling at around 11 knots, and her hull was holed badly. Within 20 minutes she had sunk in deep water. All 24 crew and 23 passengers had taken to the lifeboats and landed safely at Bordeaux Harbour, Guernsey. The Captain, Thomas Painter was subsequently found guilty of negligence and had his licence suspended for six months. The exact spot of the wreck has never been determined, so the "Brighton" is still lying at the bottom of the sea, undisturbed. As a result of the loss of the "Brighton", GWR withdrew their financial support from the Weymouth & Channel Islands Steam Packet Company and decided to operate the route in their own right the following year.

PS Brighton in 1886, 

It's quite possible that my Great Great Grandfather did not sail again following the sinking of the "Brighton". Besides his career as a mariner, Charles and his wife had also been publican's, firstly at the Rose & Crown on Crescent Street in Melcombe Regis and then at the Ship Inn on the corner of Maiden Street and the Custom House Quay. The pub was a popular haunt for Weymouth mariners and it has also been suggested that it could have been the inspiration for "The Weeping Woman" pub featured in the novel "Weymouth Sands" by John Cowper Powys. It was here that Charles Lanning Pavey died on Christmas Day 1888, leaving his wife Annie and their 11 children to keep the ale flowing. The Ship Inn still remains today, but has been much modified since Charles Pavey was the publican, however, the exterior facing Maiden Street retains many of the buildings original features.

The Ship Inn on West Quay, as it appears today.