Bantry Bay gigs As a followup to Bantry, the unknown invasion (Newsletter 65, June 2006 pp 24-27) Tom de Voil learned “quite by accident” at a local Rotary Club meeting about an exciting modern twist to the original story. Two apprentice Gippsland Lakes shipwrights participated in the 2006 Atlantic Challenge, sailing Bantry Bay gigs, last […]
HMAS Creswell and the RAN College, heritage jewel in the defence crown by Tom Lewis For 90 years the Royal Australian Naval College (RANC) has educated the RAN’s naval officers. In that time, it has built up a unique and precious collection of artefacts to complement the beautiful buildings set alongside Jervis Bay’s pristine waters. […]
Diver blown up, Sir By Bob STEVENS Another distinguished entry in the Naval Officers Club Literary Prize competition, 2001, this essay was published in the Naval Officers Club Newsletter No 48, March 2001, pp 4-5. I had often wondered what it would be like to put on one of those – now old fashioned – […]
Duyfken (Little dove) by John Ellis Indonesian spices have been important ingredients in Middle Eastern food and drink for over 3000 years. They were imported to the Persian Empire from as early as 1000 BC and Rome imported Moluccan spices 2000 years ago via the Silk Route that terminated in Constantinople. By the Middle Ages, […]
RAN Helicopter Flight Vietnam memorials By Robert Ray Gloria Shipp, widow of LACM Noel Shipp, and Sue Marschaulk, widow of WO I Glen Moore, unveiled a monument at the US Army Aviation Museum, Fort Rucker, Alabama on 27 May 2005. The memorial records the names of the 32 Americans and five Australians killed in action […]
John Paul Jones “letter” to the “Naval Committee” Since about the turn of the last century USN midshipmen training in their Annapolis Naval Academy were encouraged to learn and recite about 500 words from a reputed 14 September 1775 letter sent by John Paul Jones to the “Naval Committee of Congress” listing the attributes required […]
Taff Jones, a sailor’s sailor. Idwal Morris Jones, was born 22 September 1924, the son of Janet and John Morris Jones of Treddafydd Isaf, Bodorgan. Educated at Gwalchmai and Llangefni County schools. This is his story: I joined the RN as a Boy Seaman in January 1940. If the war had not started my ambition […]
The passing of the port by Ron Robb This essay was awarded third prize in the Naval Officers Club Literary Prize competition, 2001, and was published in the Naval Officers Club Newsletter Number 47, 1 December 2001. Ron Robb receives his prize for this essay from Vice President John Da Costa at the 12 July […]
The Pusser and his men By Ron Robb This article was another distinguished entry in the 2001 Literature Prize competition. The RAN’s Supply and Secretariat Branch has a proud and very long history. Its progenitor was the Royal Navy Supply Branch and nowadays it is an amalgam of several former specialisations. Originally, a range of […]
Naval Officers Club Prize: Reserve Entry Officers Course (REOC) At the Naval Officers Club’s 51st Annual General Meeting, 3 April 2007, the President, RADM David Holthouse, announced the resolution of a long search for a suitable way for the club to demonstrate its support for the naval family of which we are so proud […]
