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You are here: Home / Article topics / Publications / Naval Historical Review / The First England to Australia Submarine Voyage

The First England to Australia Submarine Voyage

Marsland, J · Dec 31, 1974 · Print This Page

Author
Marsland, J
Subjects
Ship histories and stories
Tags
None noted.
RAN Ships
HMAS AE2, HMAS AE1, HMAS Sydney I
Publication
December 1974 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

The next land sighted was on the coast, called Mocha and was passed at midnight. At 5.30 a.m. we were passing Perim Island, a British Possession and a good coaling station, the main inhabitants were a detachment of Indian troops.

We are now drawing near the end of the Red Sea, and had quite enough of it, nothing of interest, same faces to look at onboard, and a few yards to stretch your legs when you are not closed down.

Sunday morning came along, just like an ordinary day to us except that the captain reads the prayers, etc. We are now clear of the Red Sea and in the Gulf of Aden, and the submarine running well and about 90 miles from Aden when the largest liner sighted passed us with the British mails on board, she was called the Maldavia, and had barely got out of sight when misfortune befell us again, for the boat began to vibrate, that we knew at once that we had lost another blade off our propeller, this time it was the starboard propeller, so we completed the remaining 60 miles to Aden on our port engine and arrived 2 hours later than the ship. A diver was sent down and reported that we had struck something and a blade was missing so arrangements were made to take off the old one and fit the spare propeller; there happened to be a floating dock at Aden but it could only lift 750 tons and the submarine weighs well over 800 tons, so the captain of the Eclipse decided to try to put the spare propeller on at sea. So myself being a diver and three others commenced the task. Drawing-bolts and heavy plates had to be made to force the old propeller off, and staging rigged up, and with good and hard work and perseverance the new propeller was securely fitted and keyways cut, etc., in two days, under great difficulties, the hammer used weighing 56 lbs and the spanner for the propeller nut over 1 cwt, and the propeller 7 cwt 10 lbs, not very easy things to juggle with underwater and in hot weather.

An internal view of a 1914 era submarine, similar to AE1.

The work completed, I had only two hours on shore, but what I did see was of no importance, nothing but military barracks and barren hills.

During our short stay, the ship took in coal, and the submarines fuel, the Arabs doing the work for one penny per hour, and earning only 8d for the whole day’s work, there were about 150 of them and they are the ugliest and skinniest men I have ever seen, got lovely hair and teeth and then you have said all in their favour, they are also all branded on their chests or arms.

At 6 o’clock p.m. April Fool’s Day we left for Colombo, a run of over 2,000 miles, the longest run on the journey, passing two small islands and one very large one, called Sokotra, it is 70 miles long and inhabited by about 12,000 although there may be many more, owing to so many living in caves, etc.

It is around this part that you encounter the dreaded monsoons, which turn the sea into a raging tempest, in a very short time. However, we got safely through and arrived at Colombo at 11.30 on Thursday night the 9th of April.

Here the Yarmouth, our next escort, was already waiting for us to take us to Singapore. The next day all was hustle and hurry onboard, each ship changing her crews, there being an enormous amount of spare gear belonging to the submarines. There were also many happy faces, especially on the ones that were going home to England. On Monday the final transfer took place, and the men began to settle down and pick up their part of the ship, the ship’s barber hunting around to find a nice convenient place with plenty of light, these chaps usually make a fine payday by the end of a two-years’ commission, then there is the goffer man, who buys a tin of sherbet and makes the price of three out of it.

The next morning we did a few odd jobs and by noon we were ready for sea again. During the afternoon we had the usual visitors onboard selling jewellery, removing corns and tattooing anyone who wishes to become a picture gallery, they are very clever at that particular business. At last the jeweller gets to work and produces a necklet composed of 100 moonstones set in a fine gold chain setting, it looked very pretty and worth the £4 he asked for it, and he finally sold it for £3, reminding the buyer that he could easily get double for it in Sydney. A little later it was drawing near time for the submarine to weigh anchor, so he had to make a move, and then I saw him call one of the crew over, who had previously been trying to make a deal with him, and he sold him a similar necklet for £1, I told him to say nothing, so the puzzle is how much was the first man done for?

The time having arrived for leaving, we got the submarines ready, and proceeded out of Harbour at 6 p.m. on the 14th, for Singapore, the Yarmouth taking AE1 in tow just outside that Harbour, we were soon travelling at eleven knots with a beautiful calm sea and moonlight night, hoping if all goes well to arrive at our destination on the evening of the 20th, the distance being 1,505 miles.

We sighted nothing of interest until the morning of the 17th, when on our port bow and about 400 yards ahead, there were three distinct water-spouts shot up in the air, and then a large whale appeared for a few seconds, but was not seen again.

The following morning at 7 a.m., AE2 was taken in tow, having run 826 miles comfortably. We had hardly got fairly going, before we ran into a violent storm, which soon abated. At noon we were passing the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, and everyone onboard were getting sick of the quietness and dullness of the run, nothing to brighten you up at all. So the captain asked the coxswain if he would arrange a sing-song.

The next morning we altered course to south-east, keeping the island of Sumatra in sight. During the day we ran into tropical showers, which cooled the air down. At 8.30 p.m. we passed the SS Udometus, who wished us a good voyage and informed us that Sydney, our next escort, was already at Singapore.

The heat in the submarine was now almost unbearable, and thoughts of sleeping in our hammocks was out of the question, some of the crew slept in their hammocks on deck, but you cannot depend on the weather, for almost every night, just as you had got off to sleep, the air would become cool, and down would come a perfect deluge of rain and out would scramble the men, but never before they were soaking wet, bedding, blankets and clothes were thrown down the hatch, and we were soon closed down, we then made an attempt to furl our after awning, which spans from the bridge to the stern, but it was useless, a great gust of wind carried the lot away, taking mast as well. Nothing very serious happened and it was soon quite calm again, and the hatches opened.

Nothing more was sighted until Sunday at 5 p.m., when we passed Pulo Berhala, a small island inhabited by a few Malay fishermen.

We arrived at Singapore early on Tuesday the 21st and anchored about two miles from shore. We had a fairly good run and after getting the submarine cleaned up, the majority of men able to go on shore were soon off, all night leave being given.

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