[Royal Navy] 1923-24 Special Service Squadron - A Series of 13 Letters Home Written By a Sailor on H.M.S. Danae

An interesting series of 13 letters home written by Walter to his parents whilst serving aboard H.M.S. Danae as part of the 1923-24 Special Service Squadron. All are well-written accounts up to 10 sides in length, breathlessly documenting recent port visits from various parts of the world in a style you would expect from a young wide-eyed sailor. A warning also that some of his views and expressions are probably not consistent with modern day terminology and thinking! A brief summary of the letters follows:

(7/12/23, twelve hours from Sierra Leone) the first letter home starting with the news that he had been inoculated against typhoid. He notes that they had left Sheerness a day late (on Nov. 26th) due to fog and they proceeded to Spithead where they took on mail and equipment.  The weather in the Bay of Biscay was pretty good compared to the swell that followed. He takes part in a ships entertainment show donning a ginger wig, watched and enjoyed by the Captain and Commander. (20/12/23, steaming towards Cape Town) a colourful description of their recent five day stay in Sierra Leone and a rough transcript of the “Crossing the Line” ceremony in which he participated (4/1/24, at Durban) he has been able to spend several nights ashore at a friends house and has been given a gazelle skin to bring home, he remarks about his host’s wife  that “she is a very fat woman & a jewess” and informs his parents of the strict regulations the black population lived under including not being able to walk on the pavement (11/1/24 - though mis-dated “23”, at Zanzibar) Walter appears smitten by the beauty of the Island and mentions that the animal skins have been posted home. He expresses his desire to one day live in South Africa (14/1/24, at Dar-es-Salaam) a short letter about shopping and the necessity of sunglasses (25/1/24, at sea off Southern Ceylon) he arrived as Trincomali half-way through the letter, describing the local flora and fauna, also conditions during the monsoon season, more shopping, a couple of tall tales and the news that the captain has been given a mongoose (10/2/24, at Singapore) he remarks that it is “not a very well developed place” and had recently been on an unproductive fishing trip. He notes an “unfortunate accident” which happened on shore leave in Ceylon - one of their Stoker’s losing his life in a charabanc accident. They had just been in Penang for four days and he recounts a trip on the “new Hill Railway” which he enjoyed very much, as well as tea in the hotel at the top. Other topics include the Chinese houses and an amusing story of getting caught in a tropical thunder storm whilst in a rickshaw, getting flung into the road and the driver who feared for his life (26/2/24 en route to Freemantle) he details events from their 8 days stay in Singapore including a visit to “the Squadron Club” which involved lots of food and free beer, he marvels that they are waited on by senior members of the business community and is rather surprised that everyone behaved themselves given the free alcohol. On the only day without tropical rain he and a few others are invited on a trip to the far side of the Island by the Police Inspectors Club, noting the acres of rubber plants and the new causeway to the mainland. At the time of writing they had been steaming for ten days with the ship continually rolling, though there were arriving in Freemantle the following day. (27/3/24 at Hobart) The letter starts with events from the earlier part of the Australian trip, an overnight visit to a farm, the incredible wealth of produce which included seeing so many grapes that they had to be buried as they were so plentiful. A visit to Perth and he is offered a “tame kangaroo” to bring home - he naturally declined the kind offer but is told that it could be driven down to the docks the following day in his car if the necessary permission was granted! They do however keep a wallaby which was presented to the ship and there was a good deal of sorrow from the locals when the ship sailed for Albany and on to Adelaide where they were met by thousands of local people. The reception in Melbourne was even greater with 10,000 people on the pier where they were alongside with the Hood, Delhi and Repulse, and notes a sightseeing trip inland to the mountains (11/5/24 at Auckland) he expresses regret at the lack of letters since the last (on March 27th) during which time they have been in Hobart, and Jervis Bay (for Canberra) where a fishing trip included a jelly fish a yard in diameter. The next port was Sydney followed by Brisbane where he witnessed “a wonderful display of boomerang & spear throwing by the Maories. There is a long and interesting description of the spear throwing which involved throwing them at not only targets but also at a member of their own tribe, which were expertly deflected by means of a thin stick, any misjudgement would have meant death. He draws a diagram of the spear and seems genuinely fascinated by the whole display. At the time of writing they were in New Zealand after a choppy crossing from Australia, and there is a description of the beauty of the country (25/5/24, at Fiji) where he starts by noting that he had just returned from a Fijian Mission Service taken by a Rev. Small [Rev. A.J. Small, Missionary from 1879 until his death in 1925]. Walter describes the difficult work that the missionaries carried out on the Island after 1875 which seems to have involved most of them being killed by disease, a heavy club to the head or being eaten by cannibals. He is taken by the beauty of the place and enjoys a native dance of over 1000 locals (10/6/24 at Honolulu) a marked change in tempo with many motor cars about and his curiosity at seeing “Surf-bathing” at Waikiki and describing the difficulties in staying on the board. They were guests of the Americans and were packed up at Pearl Harbour where a nice supper was prepared for them (5/8/24 at Coquimbo, Chile) A mention of the visit to San Francisco where they were met by about 200 cars for a sightseeing trip of the city and Oakland, this is followed by visits to Callao (Peru) where he sees a bull fight and gives an extremely gory description of events which is not for the faint hearted “whoever calls it sport must have a depraved mind” (well said Walter), and finally notes the rather exotic local bird life.

In addition, there are four earlier letters from Walter whilst serving aboard HMS Danae, three are dated between January-March 1923 and detail a trip whilst the ship was on manoeuvres in the Mediterranean, from a rough passage down from Portland to Gibraltar. There are the usual port visits and dramas, getting incredibly lost in the mountains in Palma resulting in having to bribe a fishing boat to get them back to the ship, football matches and crew training. The fourth letter is dated in June 1923 whilst at Lamlash (Isle of Arran) and follows a recent positive inspection by the Admiral. There are also a few other letters written to Walter from various people around the world that Walter met whilst on the trip. Some of the letters mention photographs which he had taken, which are sadly no longer together with the letters (and location unknown).

The Special Service Squadron was formed in 1923 as a flag-waving exercise to show the might of the British naval fleet around the globe. It left on November 27th 1923 and returned on September 28th 1924 and comprised the battle cruisers Hood and Repulse and the First Light Cruiser Squadron (Delhi, Danae, Dauntless, Dragon and Dunedin). They sailed over 38,000 miles and the ships were visited by over one million people in the ports in which they visited - 725,000 people alone visited the mighty Hood. It is sometimes referred to as the Empire Cruise, and (at the time) jokingly known as the “Booze Cruise”.

All letters approx. 195x250mm., the letters are in very good condition, well written and easy to read. An interesting documentary of the Special Service Squadron World Cruise.