H.M.T. 602 WW1

[Tony Walker]

There's a great deal going on on this PC, and I'm not getting to the bottom of it, and would appreciate help from the experts.

The censor mark is not in Gould.

This is what I have to date, with ? when in doubt :

FRONT :
Initials G.M. of censor identified as G Mais Commander of HMT Braemar Castle - agree?
The red crown in squared censor No 2573 allocated to the Portsmouth Btn. RND
The Base Army Post Office dr datestamp Y said to be from HMT Arcadian, dated 23 April 1915 at Lemnos
Addressed to Mr Melville / 14 Sudborne Rd / Brixton, London SW
Censor mark in blue : CREW H.M.T. 602 / CENSORED G.M. MASTER

BACK :
Top line : Transport 602  N?  c/o GPO London - what is the N? mark, any ideas?

The message looks to be :

Mr Melville / Sir
Just rec'd stamp???? for March / & by same mail rec'd letter from front? with / "on active service" / Note : Correspondence in the envelope need not be censored / Regimentally. The contents are liable to examination / at the Base.
The certificate on the flap must be signed by the writer / on the flap "I certify on my honour that the contents of this / envelope refer to nothing but private and family matters" / Signed :
Sent me? by a L. Serg't at the Horse Depot
Yours G Mais J.P.S.? Commander

So there you have it, can anyone unravel the sequence of events ?
Scan of the item attached

Tony

[Alan Baker]

First pass - the addressee is Fred Melville, founder of the Junior Philatelic Society (later the NPS). The message refers to receipt of the March edition of Stamp Lover, magazine of the NPS, edited by Mr Melville

Braemar Castle was owned by the Union Castle line, but was used as a troopship at Gallipoli and in 1915 was converted to a hospital ship. She was built in 1896 and scrapped in 1924. She was originally owned by Donald Currie & Co, later Castle Line. This company merged with Union SS Co in 1900 to form Union Castle.

The signature on bottom has the suffix JPS, indicating the sender was a member of the Junior Philatelic Society.

I think the sender was E Mais. He was Chief Officer of the Harlech Castle, another Union Castle ship used as a troop transport during the Boer War

I'll keep looking...

[Alan Baker]

Interesting that the censor is attributed to Portsmouth Bt RND as, in Feb 1915, she embarked the Plymouth Bt among others for Gallipoli. They were landed by ship's boats on 25th April, two days after this card was franked. Perhaps Daniel got it slightly wrong (Plymouth is noted by him as 2574)

There is a lot of interesting info on the ship on the Great War Forum (greatwarforum.org/topic/23597-braemar-castle), including reference to the landing from "N2"

[Tony Walker]

Hey Alan - that's great !  You cleared up a number of queries - many thanks

I'll wait a while before I write it up in case anything else turns up

Cheers

[Alan Baker]

Probably needs Frank to check him out in his navy lists

[Alan Baker]

I have found a reference (ADM156/117) to an entry in the National Archives regarding a Court of Enquiry into the loss of HM Hospital Ship Braemar Castle, Captain E Mais. In November 1916, she struck a mine in the Aegean but was beached, later refloated and repaired at La Spezia

I'm afraid I do not have access to this document.

[Frank Schofield]

Tony / Alan

The Braemar Castle was an Army Hospital Ship and therefore not in the Navy Lists

Frank Schofield

[Alan Baker]

How about when she was a troopship? Would she have been under naval control then?

[Frank Schofield]

Alan

Yes, but still not listed, I think the rank Commander is Merchant Navy

Frank

[Tony Walker]

Many thanks Frank and Alan, for your time and triouble.

I may not be seeing the wood for the trees, but  don't we have a PC from HMT 602 censored by the Master G. Mais, who was in fact Captain of the Braemar Castle.  Mais has written the postcard to Melville, which has also been censored by an Army mark, so where did the HMT 602 censor mark come from?

We are venturing into Army territory here, so maybe our knowledgeable Journal editor Chris can shed some light on the Army censor and the date.

Alan, you say Mais was a junior member of the JPS (later NPS), this implies there was a Senior Society of which I would have thought he would have been a member ?

Today's a day for staying in and writing up, here on Tyneside anyway!

Tony

[Alan Baker]

Fred Melville apparently applied for membership of the Royal but was turned down as he was only 18, so he set up the Junior Philatelic Society for younger philatelists. Presumably,as they all grew older, it became apparent that the name no longer fitted, so it was changed to the National Philatelic Society.

The magazine was called Stamp Lover from the early days and continues to this day, I believe. I was a member when their HQ was at Charterhouse Street, which is where the KGVICS held their meetings, so I used the library, but left when they moved out

[Chris Grimshaw]

Afternoon All

A very nice card.  Alan is spot on with the J.P.S.

If memory serves me correctly Gibbons Stamp Monthly? carried a column / report from correspondents who had "Joined the Colours" and were serving in various Regiments etc or the R.N.  They were writing back and the articles carried details of the FPO / APO cancel and Censor No or the RFHMS cancel as applicable.

In this message on the PC he is describing receiving one of the first type Green Honour Envelopes which had provision for a signature on the rear flap.  Probably the first one he'd seen. These journal reports ceased in early 1915, would have to check exactly when.  I have a run of journals from this time.

Base APO Y was indeed at Lemnos on Arcadian at this time, I have details somewhere that her designation was "H" from the Offical History if memory serves correctly.

She would have handled mails from Troop ships etc, mails from units ashore at Lemnos was handled by FPOs ashore with their units.

No detailed records of Censors used by the RND with me at  present.  Note some of the RND units and transports went to Mytiliee on lesbos Island due to water shortages at Lemnos. 

Chris

[Tony Walker]

Thanks to you all for the fine response to my query.

Can I trouble you further.

Frank, you say Braemar Castle was a Hospital Ship, OK.  Yet she was being used as a Troopship taking troops to Gallipoli.  If that's so isn't it contrary to agreed principles of war that hospital ships with their red cross markings were not to be used for military purposes other than transport of wounded?

Presumably CREW H.M.T. 602 was the pennant number for the Braemar Castle?

If the troops were landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and this card is cancelled 23 April 1915 as noted by Alan, would it not have been quite feasible for mail to have been landed/transferred to Arcadian as soon as the ship arrived.  It could take a day or two to get everyone ashore thereafter.

Perhaps both Plymouth and Portsmouth Btns. were on board - Alan again with reference to Daniel.

I like these items with all sorts of tentacles going off in different directions.  They're a devil to write up, you end up with four pages of text and one philatelic item.  Who is going to read all that, except me.  I have some related material, so maybe I can loosen it up a bit.

Cheers
Tony

[Alan Baker]

Looking again at the sources I have found, the Braemar Castle had a long history as a troopship, acting in this capacity in the Boer War as well as the Great War. She was used to transport troops to Gallipoli and was not converted to a hospital ship until later in 1915

I have not found any reference to the Portsmouth battalion in respect of the ship. According to the note I found, she transported RND HQ 3rd Brigade, No 4 Sec Signal Company and Plymouth battalion.

[Chris Grimshaw]

Morning Team

Found this reference to Bramar Castle

On the 6 February 1915 she sailed for Gallipoli with 1041 passengers in the form of the Royal Naval Division's H.Q. 3rd Brigade, No 4 Sec Signal Company and the Plymouth Battalion, R.M.L.l. With her was H.M.T. Cawdor Castle with 1008 members of the Chatham Battalion.

The Braemar Castle took part in the raid of the 4th March, at Kum Kale, a village situated on the Asian shore,

On the question of Hospital ship usage, its likely she was a so called "Black Ship"  used as a Hospital ship but not marked up as such.  Such vessels discharged their troops, horses/mules or stores and then loaded casualties.  If lucky the straw / dung was cleared out, if not at least warm and soft. These "Black ships" had none of the protection awarded to marked Hospital ships.  In the first days following the landings there are numerous accounts of ships boats towing lighters filled with dying and wounded touring the fleet offshore looking for a vessel which would take their casualties.

Interestingly there were rudimentary landing craft available prior to the landings but Churchill forbade their use wishing to keep them as a surprise for any landings on the Belgium Coast.  This meant the landings took place much as had been the policy for the previous 150 years,  ships boats rowed or towed in to the beach.

Chris