Chapter VI: Part III: The Navy at Scapa Flow

THE NAVY AT SCAPA FLOW

The photographs which follow depict various aspects of the work and play of the Grand Fleet and the Auxiliaries at Scapa, and are more or less self-explanatory. Owing to limitations of space, it is not possible to deal adequately with a subject on which so many volumes have been written, but an effort has been made to include as many types as possible of the varied units of the Grand Fleet, and to depict the various phases of the everyday life and recreations of the personnel of the Fleet. Owing to the strict photographic censorship during the war, it was not practicable to take many subjects which would otherwise have found a place in this record, but those which are shown in the following pages will give the reader some little idea of how the Navy "carried on" during the eventful years 1914-1919.

(The more serious cases from the Fleet were sent to the Hospital
Ships--of which there were generally three or four at Scapa one of
which, H.M.H.S. "Agadir," was set aside for infectious cases only.
In addition to the drifter "Coryphæna," shown in the photograph,
two other drifters were detached for Hospital Ship duties, named,
rather suggestively, the "Golden Harp" and "Elysian Dawn!")]

(The "St. Ola" took the place of the "St. Ninian" during the last
few months of the war, and mails were then distributed by H.M.S.
"Victorious.")

For the first three months of the war all mails for the Fleet were
landed and distributed at Scapa Pier. In November 1914, a Branch
Post Office was opened on H.M.S. "Imperieuse," where the mails and
newspapers were sorted and despatched to the Fleet. Some idea of the
volume of business transacted to the date of the Armistice can be
gathered from the following figures: 42 million letters and parcels
sorted and despatched; 85 million letters and parcels delivered; value
of postal stamps sold, £275.500.]

(The Navy is renowned for its hospitality, and the above shows a group of school children and their teachers who were entertained to a cinema show and tea on board. Many of the children had never seen the "movies" before.)]

(The work of victualling the Navy at Scapa was no small task, as the following figures of the monthly Fleet requirements indicate: Meat, 320 tons; potatoes, 800 tons; flour, 6,000 140-lb. bags; sugar, 1,500 120-lb. bags; bread, 80,000 lbs.)]

(The mooring work of the Base was performed under the control
of the Admiralty Port Officer, H.M.S. "Imperieuse." Amongst the
mooring vessels which did useful work in laying and lifting
moorings for the Fleet, in addition to the "Recovery" pictured
above, should be mentioned the mooring craft "Strathmaree," "Ben
Doran," "Ben Tarbet," and "Bullfrog.")]

(The Junior Army and Navy Stores was one of the most popular
"institutions" at Scapa, and from 1914 to 1919 it was the great
shopping centre of the Fleet. Almost every variety of article was
stocked, from "an elephant to a shirt button," and in addition a
hairdressing saloon and a laundry were installed.)]

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF LIFE AT SCAPA FLOW

(The Naval Cemetery at Lyness is situate on some rising ground
overlooking the waters of the Flow. Here lie buried those who died
whilst serving at Scapa, those who fell in the Battle of Jutland,
and those who perished in the "Hampshire," "Vanguard" and other
vessels. Their memory is perpetuated by the memorials which have
been erected by their shipmates, some of which are here shown.)]