• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Naval Historical Society of Australia

Preserving Australia's Naval History

  • Events
  • Account
  • Members Area
  • Volunteer
  • Donate
  • Contact us
  • Show Search
  • 0 items
Hide Search
Menu
  • Home
  • Research
    • Where to start
      • Research – We can help!
      • Self help
      • Naval Service Records
      • Library
      • Related Maritime websites
    • Resources
      • Articles
      • Videos
      • On This Day
      • Podcasts
      • Australian Military Ship Losses
      • RAN events on a  Google Earth Map
      • RAN Vessels – Where are they now?
      • Related Maritime websites
    • Other
      • Newsletters: Call The Hands
      • Occasional Papers and Historical Booklets
      • Books
      • HMAS Shropshire
      • Book reviews
    • Close
  • Naval Heritage Sites
    • World Heritage Listings
      • Cockatoo Island
    • National Heritage Listings
      • HMAS Sydney II and the HSK Kormoran Shipwreck Sites
      • HMVS Cerberus
    • Commonwealth Heritage Listings
      • Garden Island NSW
      • HMAS Watson
      • HMAS Penguin
      • Spectacle Island Explosives Complex NSW
      • Chowder Bay Naval Facilities
      • Beecroft Peninsula NSW
      • Admiralty House, Garden and Fortifications
      • HMAS Cerberus
      • Naval Offices QLD
      • Garden Island WA
      • Royal Australian Naval College ACT
      • Royal Australian Naval Transmitting Station ACT
    • NSW Heritage Listings
      • HMAS Rushcutter
    • Close
  • Naval Art
  • Tours & Cruises
    • Navy in Sydney Harbour Cruise, East
    • Navy in Sydney Harbour Cruise, West
    • Anniversary Cruise: Sydney under Japanese Attack
    • Rose Bay Naval History Walk
    • Tour Bookings
    • Close
  • About us
    • About Us
      • What we do
      • Our People
      • Office Bearers
      • Become a volunteer
      • Our Goals and Strategy
    • Organisation
      • Victoria Chapter
      • WA Chapter
      • ACT Chapter
    • Close
  • Membership
  • Shop
  • Become a volunteer
  • Donate
You are here: Home / Archives for Article topics / Naval history / Biographies and personal histories

Biographies and personal histories

Book Review: A Merciful Journey

Francis, Richard · Dec 3, 2005 ·

Merciful Journey – Recollections of a World War II Patrol Boat Man – by Marsden Hordern – The Miegunyah Press – imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Ltd., 2005. The distinguished ...

Sinking of HMS Peterel – Shanghai 1944

A.N. Other · Dec 3, 2005 ·

HMS Peterel – built Whampoa 1927 (sister ships of Bird Class China River Gunboats – Tern, Gannet, Falcon, Robin, Sandpiper). Based in Hong Kong 1927-1941, but employed on patrols up the ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Obituary: Lieutenant W E Allen RAN (Retd) 1899-2005

A.N. Other · Dec 3, 2005 ·

Lieutenant Evan Allen, who died aged 106, was the last veteran to serve in the Royal Australian Navy in both world wars, and the last man to have seen both ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Offensive Minelaying – Pacific 1944 (Part 2)

Dowle, Ron · Dec 1, 2005 ·

(Ron Dowle continues this account of his service in the fast minelayer HMS Ariadne in the Pacific war 1944-45 – Part 1 is in September 2005 Edition of Review) In ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Book Review: The Biography of Captain Sir Richard Spencer RN

Book reviewer · Sep 27, 2005 ·

Title: The Biography of Captain Sir Richard Spencer RN, Government Resident at Albany, Western Australia 1833 – 1839 (Napoleonic War naval hero and Australian pioneer) Author: Gwen Chessell, 2005, Publisher: ...

Aviator or Seaman or Both?

van Gelder, Commander John RAN (Rtd) · Sep 1, 2005 ·

It is now comparatively rare for a naval aviator to also qualify as a seagoing watchkeeping officer, but in previous generations it was relatively straightforward and kept one in the ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Nelson’s Coat and the Bullet that Killed Him

A.N. Other · Sep 1, 2005 ·

Horatio Nelson’s “Trafalgar Coat”, the uniform he was wearing when he was shot, has been reunited with the French musket ball that passed through it and killed him in 1805. ...

HMS Nabob – Survival after U-Boat Attack in the Arctic 1944

Mackinlay, Gordon Angus · Sep 1, 2005 ·

HMS Nabob started life in Tacoma, Washington shipyard as a merchant vessel, converted to a Lease-Lend escort carrier, and the first flat-top to be manned by Canadians. On August 22, ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Offensive Minelaying – Pacific 1944 (Part 1)

Dowle, Ron · Sep 1, 2005 ·

After surviving the sinking of the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious in the Norwegian campaign in 1940, and a long and painful recovery from acute exposure, the author was posted to a ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Captain John Cooke, HMS Bellerophon

A.N. Other · Jun 10, 2005 ·

Captain John Cooke, HMS Bellerophon || Killed at Trafalgar 1805 In a small column of the Sydney Morning Herald on 14-15 May 2005 ((Community RSVP)) a plaintive request was noted ...

A Letter from Trafalgar 1805

Grose, Kelvin · Jun 10, 2005 ·

Dr. L.H. Halloran was an orphan and was educated at Christ’s Hospital School and in the Royal Navy. He was admitted to the former on 22 April 1774 aged eight ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Able Seaman Harry Mason

Hordern, John · Mar 10, 2005 ·

Those of us who were fortunate in knowing him will be saddened to learn of Harry’s death earlier this year, aged 93. Harry was an Englishman, obviously from a good ...

The Naval Staff in Retrospect

van Gelder, Commander John RAN (Rtd) · Dec 31, 2004 ·

Why did it always seem to happen? There I would be, thoroughly enjoying myself either flying somewhere or swanning around the Far East in a nice frigate, when out of ...

Leadership: Louis Antoine de Bougainville

Dank, Matthew, MIDN · Dec 10, 2004 ·

The Naval Historical Society Naval History Prize for 2004 was awarded to MIDN Matthew Dank, Jervis Division. RANC students were required to write an essay on the subject of a ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Operation Pedestal and the Tanker Ohio

Morton, Ray · Dec 10, 2004 ·

In August 1942 British Merchant Navy veteran Ray Morton was an eyewitness to one of the most celebrated Allied achievements of World War II – Operation Pedestal, or the Convoy ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

HMAS Vendetta WW2

William F. Cook, MVO, Captain, RAN (Rtd) · Sep 30, 2004 ·

This is part 3 of an hitherto unpublished personal account was given to the Editor shortly before the death of the author, together with several other brief accounts of his ...

Commander J.M. Alliston DSO, DSC*, US Legion of Honour, Royal Navy

Captain Peter Hore, RN · Sep 30, 2004 ·

Commander John Alliston, who has died aged 94, was one of the Second World War’s most highly decorated destroyer captains, who afterwards brought up his family on a remote island ...

Torpedo Firings in Port Shelter, Hong Kong 1964

Francis, Richard · Sep 30, 2004 ·

As a junior officer, the author enjoyed a great variety of memorable experiences in a destroyer of the Far East Fleet, including several live firings of torpedoes and A/S weapons. ...

HMAS Perth Part2 – Outbreak of war

William F. Cook, MVO, Captain, RAN (Rtd) · Jun 30, 2004 ·

This is part 2 of an hitherto unpublished personal account was given to the Editor shortly before the death of the author, together with several other brief accounts of his ...

The Amethyst Incident Recalled

Captain Peter Hore, RN · Jun 10, 2004 ·

VICE-ADMIRAL SIR PETER BERGER, who has died aged 78, was awarded a DSC after the Yangtze incident. On April 20 1949, as the civil war between Chinese Communists and Nationalists ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

By Dawn’s Early Light

van Gelder, Commander John RAN (Rtd) · Jun 10, 2004 ·

IT IS DOUBTFUL if there is anything in the world more complex than the human mind. In our passage through life we are all subjected to experiences which have an ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Middle East Patrol (HMS Mermaid)

Jarrett, Hugh · Jun 10, 2004 ·

In 1951 the destroyers and frigates of the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet were rostered for the Middle East Patrol which was based on a requirement to have a ship within ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

HMS Viscount 1940

Taylor, Buck, Lt. · Jun 10, 2004 ·

Lt. Taylor is a former Supply Assistant and this is  an account  of his service in a V&W destroyer. Contributed by Old Hands of Ballina Maritime Museum. I ‘VOLUNTEERED’ FOR ...

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

In Some Corner of a Foreign Field

Jarrett, Hugh · Mar 30, 2004 ·

ON 25TH APRIL 1915, Lieutenant Rupert Brooke RNVR of the Royal Navy Division was buried in ‘Some Foreign Field’ on the Greek island of Skyros to the south-west of Gallipoli. ...

The Commissioning of HMAS Perth, 1939

William F. Cook, MVO, Captain, RAN (Rtd) · Mar 30, 2004 ·

This is part 1 of an hitherto unpublished personal account was given to the Editor shortly before the death of the author, together with several other brief accounts of his ...

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 11
  • Page 12
  • Page 13
  • Page 14
  • Page 15
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 21
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Categories

Latest Podcasts

  • The Fall of Singapore
  • HMAS Armidale
  • Napoleon, the Royal Navy and Me
  • The Case of the Unknown Sailor
  • Night of the midget subs — Sydney under attack

Links to other podcasts

Australian Naval History Podcasts
This podcast series examines Australia’s Naval history, featuring a variety of naval history experts from the Naval Studies Group and elsewhere.
Produced by the Naval Studies Group in conjunction with the Submarine Institute of Australia, the Australian Naval Institute, Naval Historical Society and the RAN Seapower Centre

Life on the Line Podcasts
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories.
These recordings can be accessed through Apple iTunes or for Android users, Stitcher.

Video Links

  • Australian War Memorial YouTube channel
  • Royal Australian Navy YouTube Channel
  • Research – We can help!
  • Naval Heritage Sites
  • Explore Naval Art
  • About us
  • Shop
  • Events
  • Members Area
  • Volunteer
  • Donate
  • Contact us

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Members Area
  • Privacy Policy

Naval Historical Society of Australia Inc. Copyright © 2025