New Acquisition: J. W. Webster’s Diary
The museum was recently the grateful recipient of a fascinating piece of maritime history: a diary containing a record of the exploits of the Grimsby trawler Minoru II in the Dardanelles Strait during the First World War.
The Minoru II was one of thousands of British trawlers requisitioned by the Admiralty to serve as a minesweeper during the First World War. British trawlers and their civilian crews were requisitioned as a cost effective alternative to building a new fleet of vessels to seek out and destroy mines. Trawlers had the benefit of already being seaworthy and sturdy, and having experienced crews ready to sail. It was dangerous work and many of the crews were unhappy to be put into active theatres of combat when they were not members of the armed forces. The Minoru II was part of an Allied armada deployed in the Dardanelle Strait between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. This was an area heavily mined by Turkish vessels. According to the diary, the Minoru II’s activities included regular patrols of the strait, sweeping the Channel and running ferry trips with supplies, messages and officers.
The diary was kindly donated by Grimsby local, Dennis Farrow, and written by his relative, J. W. Webster, seen below.
Webster began the diary on 5th July 1917 and continued making entries until 5th March 1919, four months after the war had ended. In the diary Webster gives examples of slice of life moments during an extremely difficult time. He talks about watching a polo match between the crews of the trawler HMT Whitby Abbey and Monitor 17, waving to British battleships HMS Lord Nelson and HMS Agamemnon as they sailed to missions. He recounts witnessing fights and arguments between members of the crew, the feelings of the crew when their cook transferred to another vessel, and reluctance to feed rescued survivors from their supplies.
An exert from Webster’s diary
On one occasion towards the end of the war Webster notes that their ‘ship’s mascot’ had fallen overboard.
‘our mascot fall overboard and we were lucky in saving it because it swam around the stem to the weather side.’
Who or what the mascot was is not included in the diary. They were only mentioned once, although vessels at that time were known to have carried a variety of animals as mascots. Whether a pig, dog, cat or monkey, the Minoru II’s mascot thankfully knew where to swim to be rescued from the water.
The diary also records the life and death missions the crew of the Minoru II would face during the war. On Boxing Day 1917, the Minoru and fellow trawler, the Arthur, swept in front of the HMS Endymion towards Enos Bay where the battleship was going to destroy an Allied drifter vessel that had run ashore in enemy waters. The incident led to a prolonged battle between the Endymion and Turkish guns on the shore. After the Endymion succeeded, they ‘turned around and steamed out, pleased with our days work’.
On another occasion, on 29th May, the Minoru II became the target of Turkish aircraft. It was very nearly lost when a Turkish bomb punched through their deck, but fortunately, the device failed to go off.
‘anchored in Dimitri and took [illegible] guns on board also Capt. Taylor and left for Mavro. When we got just around Ponente Pt when a [airoplane] was reported but we went in and anchored. About ten minutes after loading guns we heard strange banging in the air and on looking we saw this big bombing seaplanes and making straight for us we fired 12 pdr shrapnel at them and the biggest came in and bombed us while at anchor but was so hopelessly wide so we got under [weigh] and then small one had a go and proved to be a better marksman than his chum and he started in real earnest dropping three very close round us and the last of all hit just in the duck pond but never exploded although it went right through the deck. All the time this little battle was taking place Lueit. And signalman were ashore and as soon as they came off we steamed to Tenedos to land Capt. Taylor then patrolled to Cape Baba.’
On 1st August 1918, in another feat of bravery, the Minoru II was able to rescue the crew of the MV Columbia. The Danish Cargo vessel had been attacked and sunk by the German U-boat, UC-34. One engineer was lost when the Columbia sank, having been separated from his mates.
An image of J. W. Webster himself
Interestingly, there is no mention of how the end of the war affected the crew as diary entries pause in August 1918 and resume on Christmas Day of that year. After the war the Minoru II and its crew were ordered to transport Russian, Turkish, and German soldiers from Constantinople and oversee the disabling of enemy vessels and their weapons.
One entry on New Years Eve 1918 details a harrowing human experience in what should have been happier times for the crew:
‘Whilst at Poti – Tow many Russians and Germans leaving by steamers then went and visited Armenians who were living in a shed and were dying of starvation so we returned to ship and got them something to east and then watched the destroyers crew playing football. After we had got to our teas we packed some more food up for the Armenians and whilst we were giving it to them an old man died and they arrived out after they had lapped him up in a potato sack and buried him. All was peace and quiet so we turned in but were soon awakened by shots being fired by the Germans who had overtoasted their stomachs with cognac as our sentries disarmed the Russian Sentries.’
The final entry was written on 5th March 1919, five months after the war had ended and several years after the Minoru II began its time as an instrument of war. The Grimsby trawler had spent five years destroying Turkish mines, avoiding bombs and bullet fire, and watching their fellows sunk or burned. Finally able to relax, the final entry marking the Minoru II’s transition to peacetime simply reads ‘visited Turkish baths.’
Thank you to Dennis Farrow and Tracey Townsend for their assistance in researching this diary.
Written by Alistair Eachus
I’m the Dynamic Collections Project Officer for the North East Lincolnshire Museum Service. I coordinate projects that bring members of the community face to face with our collection, affording them new skills and the opportunity to unearth the forgotten stories of our region.
If you would like to contribute to the museum’s blog please contact Chloe, our Community Curator, at chloe.james@nelincs.gov.uk