Local historian discovers the history of a Bridport Great War hero

Richard Carpendale spoke to the Bridport News about about Frederick Hubert Reginald Travers.

Frederick Hubert Reginald Travers was born on September 22, 1889, the eldest son of Ernest Edgar Travers and his wife Mary Ann Elizabeth, nee Harris. He was baptised in Loders Church on October 27,1889. His father was an agricultural labourer, born in Uploders on August 23, 1864 and when he died in 1910 aged 46 he had been living in Nettlecombe.

His mother was born and baptised in Bridport in 1868 and Frederick's parents were married in 1886.

They produced four daughters and four sons; one of the latter died aged three. Mary Ann died in Melplash in September 1908, aged 41.

We only know from the census of 1901 that he went to school and it is assumed that the school would have been Loders School. He followed his father in becoming an agricultural labourer.

It was probably on joining the Royal Navy that he nominated his sister Myrtle, then aged six, as his next-of-kin. She died in 1992.

So the search for artefacts and memorabilia concerning Fred has centered on Myrtle.

With the help of Bridport Museum and Geraldine Gasparelli, among others, Mr Carpendale believes Myrtle was born in 1904 at a house called Crooked Oak in Melplash.

On the 1911 census she and her elder sister Lilian (now both orphans as their mother died in September 1908 and their father in June 1910) are shown as living with a Richard and Bessie Clapp at 132 North Allington.

Mr Carpendale has just met with Richard Clapp and his sister Judy Tozer, whose father Ted and his family once lived at 130 North Allington.

They think Lilian and Myrtle were adopted by Richard and Bessie Clapp.

In their father's archives Judy discovered the photographs we show here and some of the post cards Fred sent to his sister Myrtle.

* Fred's story: Aged 20, Frederick joined the Royal Navy on April 15, 1910 as a Stoker 2nd Class on a 12-year engagement.

On entry he was described as 5ft 6 ½ inches in height, with a chest of 35 ½ inches, having brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion. There was a mark on his right hip.

He started his initial training when told to report to HMS Victory II, which was the ship's name for the Royal Naval Barracks at Portsmouth, giving new recruits shore-based training. After three weeks of learning how to wear his uniform and how to march and keep a tidy kit he was drafted to HMS Renown, his first sea-going ship, on May 8, 1910.

Fred served for two months on board, learning the ins and outs of his job, almost certainly in the engine and boiler rooms.

Frederick Travers would by now have become accustomed to many of the tribulations of service in the Royal Navy. He would have been a proficient junior stoker and ready to join an operational ship. So he went back to Victory II for some leave and joined his next ship, HMS Albemarle, on August 24, 1910.

He left her on December 14, 1910 and was drafted to HMS Prince of Wales on December 15, that year.

Having been a Stoker 2nd Class since joining the RN, he was rated up to Stoker 1st Class after one year in the navy.

He joined the HMS Prince of Wales and served from 14th December 1910 to May 12, 1912 during which time the ship transferred to the Atlantic Fleet and was Flagship to a Vice Admiral.

In 1911 she underwent a refit in Gibraltar so Frederick would have had the experience of the Mediterranean climate and the pleasures of Main Street, Gib.

She transferred to the Home Fleet the day after Stoker Travers left to join HMS Victory II again; he was probably due some leave.

Frederick Travers joined HMS Bulwark on June 30, 1912. On April 14, 1913 Frederick Travers was awarded his first Good Conduct badge. On August 23, 1914 he was rated up to Acting Leading Stoker.

To reach that rank he had to have two years' service as Stoker 1st Class, taken a course of watchkeeping at all classes of auxiliary machinery in the ship, to show a fair knowledge of one of the following trades:- fitter and turner, boilermaker and smith, coppersmith, moulder. He would also had to have knowledge of the first four rules of arithmetic, do simple sums in money involving addition and subtraction only, and be able to read and write fairly.

From the beginning of WW1 in 1914 Bulwark and the 5th Battle Squadron, assigned to the Channel Fleet and based at Portland, carried out numerous patrols in the English Channel under the command of Captain Guy Sclater.

From November 5-9, while anchored at Portland, Bulwark hosted the court martial of Rear-Admiral Sir Ernest Charles Thomas Troubridge for his actions during the pursuit of the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau in the Mediterranean Sea in August 1914.

On November 14, 1914, the 5th Battle Squadron transferred to Sheerness to guard against a possible German invasion of England.

When she reached the River Medway, HMS Bulwark moored to No. 17 buoy in Kethole Reach, almost opposite the town of Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppy, Kent.

She had been moored there for some days - it is believed that the ship had to take on coal from the airship base at Kingsnorth on the Isle of Grain brought to her by lighter.

Many of her crew had been given leave the previous day. They had returned to their ship by 7 o'clock on the morning of November 26 and it was believed the full complement was onboard.

The usual ship's routine was taking place. Many officers and men were having breakfast below, others were going about their normal duties. A band was practising while some men were engaged in drill. At 0750 disaster struck.

A huge explosion ripped Bulwark apart. A roaring and rumbling sound was heard and a great sheet of flame and debris shot upwards.

The ship lifted out of the water and fell back. There was a thick cloud of grey smoke and some further explosions. When the smoke eventually cleared the Bulwark had apparently sunk without trace, but sometime later a portion of the vessel could be seen about 4 ft above water.

Out of the complement of 750, no officers and only 14 sailors survived, two of whom subsequently died of their injuries in hospital. Frederick Travers was among those who lost their lives and his body was not recovered for burial.

The only men to have survived the explosion comparatively unscathed were those who had been in Number 1 mess-deck amidships. They were blown out of an open hatch.

One of these, Able seaman Stephen Marshall, described feeling the sensation of 'a colossal draught', being drawn 'irresistibly upwards' and, as he rose in the air, clearly seeing the ship's masts shaking violently.

The explosion was heard in Whitstable, 20 miles away, and in Southend where the pier was shaken by the explosion but not damaged.

Ships anchored off Southend holding German civilian prisoners claimed they saw “a dense volume of greenish smoke which lasted for about ten minutes”. The nearby areas of Sheerness and Rainham took the brunt of the blast with reports of damage to property being made.

Rumour began to run wild amongst the residents. Some claimed it was the expected and feared Zeppelin raids commencing, others said that a periscope had been sighted and the Bulwark had been sunk by a submarine.

Others thought that espionage had taken place and were on the look out for suspicious people in town. All these rumours were later discounted.

That afternoon, Thursday November 26, Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, made the following statement to the House of Commons:- “I regret to say I have some bad news for the house. The Bulwark battleship, which was lying in Sheerness this morning, blew up at 7.35 o'clock. The Vice and Rear Admirals who were present, have reported their conviction that it was an internal magazine explosion which rent the ship asunder.

There was apparently no upheaval in the water, and the ship had entirely disappeared when the smoke had cleared away.

An inquiry will be held tomorrow which may possibly throw more light on the occurrence. The loss of the ship does not sensibly affect the military position, but I regret to say the loss of life is very severe.

Only 12 men are saved. All the officers and the rest of the crew, who, I suppose, amounted to between 700 and 800, have perished.

I think the House would wish me to express on their behalf the deep sorrow with which the House heard the news, and their sympathy with those who have lost their relatives and friends”

On November 28, a naval court of enquiry established that it had been the practice in Bulwark for ammunition for her six inch guns to be stored in cross-passageways connecting her total of 11 magazines.

It was suggested that, contrary to regulations, 275 six-inch shells had been placed close together, most touching each other, and on the morning of the explosion some touching the walls of the magazine.

At the Kent coroner's inquest into the tragic loss of the crew Rear-Admiral Gaunt stated that there was no evidence to suggest an external explosion and no evidence of treachery or of loose cordite. However loose cartridges had been found in the 'cross ammunition passages' but this had no relation to the cause of the explosion. A Commander Wilton confirmed that every cartridge onboard had been traced (by divers) and no evidence of loose cordite had been found. Although the jury were not fully satisfied with this explanation, a verdict of accidental death was returned.

Frederick Hubert Reginald Travers No 6012 Acting Leading Stoker was awarded the Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.