HMS Defiance: The Floating Torpedo and Submarine Mining School of the Royal Navy, near Plymouth in the early 1900`s.
(click to enlarge)
another Steve Johnson Cyberheritage "content over style" webpage
These photos have remained unseen for many, many years in an old photograph album. All taken by this man. believed to be a Petty Officer in the Royal Navy they provide what may be a unique insight in to the day to day workings of the British Royal Navy from the sole viewpoint of one individual. I believe that I have found an early photo of him, before he took most or all of these photos here. This is a photo of the Photographic Club of the Royal Naval Engineering College, Keyham in 1891. It looks to me if our man is seated, hands clasped, and second from left. How I would like to know his name! One man we do know however is also in this photo, standing in the back row, second from right, next to the camera. At this time seemingly a student, or a junior instructor, a youthful Henry Bradwardine Jackson, who one day would become Captain of HMS Defiance. I am not good with faces, but Henry appears in many of the photos on this page.
Ships and Submarines
a Picket Boat...looking at the headgear, not Plymouth! 18
the Admiral`s Flagship HMS Exmouth
HMS Sentinel on torpedo trials
a vessel of the "Furious" class 21
HMS Triumph firing a salute...not Plymouth looking at hills in distance
looks like a "Dhow" in this shot, must be overseas 24
mines, not yours...being towed by a tug, and a tug on it`s own
HMS Confiance carrying "libertymen"..that is men going on leave
"Spitfire" Class vessel off Saltash
Afloat!
this photo is entitled "Spick and Span Sunday"
HMS Defiance - afloat...different
this is a LIVE!! mine exploding in the Lynher estuary, what would Heath and Safety Exec. make of this now?
hauling in practice mines: the fourth man (dark dressed) standing from the left features in a lot of these photos. He rose to become the C.O. of HMS Defiance. Captain Henry Bradwardine Jackson appears in a lot of naval images of this time.
Henry adjusts a torpedo, or "Kipper" as nick named
torpedo on the road note nose ring for retrieval
and BANG! as it hits the rocks between Rame Head and Penlee Point and explodes (if live) but makes a splash anyway!
hauling inboard a retrieved practice torpedo 1........2..........3........4.....
Quoits - a throwing game using a coil of rope
Quoits - a throwing game using a coil of rope close up
on board...is that our photographer in the middle wearing waders?
the figurehead of HMS Defiance
three on board photographer in the middle
sailors love their clay pipes, see also Plymouth, Forder & Trematon and it's Town Dung
the crew of Defiance, our photographer is sitting in front row, third from left with hands clasped
ship divers and air pumps, look at all that gear, would look great polished and on my mantelpiece! 1......2........3.......4.....
the view from the sea off Bullpoint
Row, row, row the boat! 1....2....3...
lowering the boat 1.....2......3......4.........5.....is it a race?
getting in to the boat...the easy way?
"A" Class submarines tied up alongside depot ship in tidal River Lynher, the submarine boat on the outside is the ill fated A 8
a tug tows a load of wooden barrels attached to mines as floating buoys after a submarine mining warfare exercise
three men in lifejackets, our photographer on right
men, or boys aloft in this shot of a "hulk" moored close to Defiance
the "Terra Nova" Shackleton`s vessel for his polar expeditions
Ashore!
the Admirals "seat" - Hamoaze House at Mt. Wise
"oars up" as this cutter comes alongside the quay as a watertaxi from HMS Defiance moored just offshore
view from the shore, this area is known as Wearde Quay today
a view of Barn Pool and the entrance to the tidal Tamar and Hamoaze from Mt. Edgecumbe
the landing jetty at the shore side of Defiance at Wearde Quay, close to Saltash, note large dummy sea mine on quayside
sailors wait for the "Saltash Motor" train at St. Budeaux Victoria Road station
the train pulls in at "Defiance Platform", the railhead for those joining HMS Defiance
sailors walking up the lane from Defiance to the rail station
a large group of sailors pose for the camera by the railings close to the station
Romance
a picnic for two...I believe the photographer is the man in this shot. Note the Codd bottle with the label on.
Site of HMS Defiance in 1998
site of railhead of Defiance Platform
perhaps these flowers are all that now remains of the station`s or signalman`s garden
the gate from the road down to the old station "platform" and the steps down
the path up from HMS Defiance to the rail stop, as seen in one of the old photos above, and where it crosses the railway line
the shore side of Defiance today.....1......2......3.....4......
this small slipway on extreme right is visible in one of the old photos above
all the sea is empty now, once this would have been jam packed with craft of all sizes and the dominating hulk of HMS Defiance. The small low island in the distance is "Rat" or "Beggars" Island and is seen in one of the photos above as being "Ground Zero" for the explosion of a live mine!
this cave seems to be man made, it could well have been used as a range observation post as live!! torpedoes and mines were used in this estuarine area
this is an Admiralty Boundary stone, that marked the limit of "War Department" or Admiralty land, it has an anchor cut into it
in earlier times the original "broad gauge" railway ran behind the area of Defiance, this hidden pathway and after running through dense vegetation leads you to this superbly constructed retaining wall that once would have carried the old broad gauge railway. At the end of the path, a tunnel leads under the trackway enabling pedestrians to walk under the railway and get back up via the stairway at the end. This must have been the track of an ancient "right of way" that those who built the railway had to respect and preserve.
