Lives of the First World War

The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. It was formed by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve created in 1859 and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) created 1903. It has seen action in World War I, World War II and the Iraq War. The RNR has its origins in the Register of Seamen established in 1835 to identify men for naval service in the event of war - just 400 volunteered for duty in the 1854 Crimean War out of 250,000 on the Register. This led to a Royal Commission on Manning the Navy in 1858 which in turn led to the Naval Reserve Act of 1859. It established the RNR as a reserve of professional seamen from the British Merchant Navy and fishing fleets who could be called upon during times of war to serve in the regular Royal Navy.

Tracy was promoted to acting Lieutenant in December 1914. This photo is labelled 'E6' which was a British submarine commissioned 17 October 1913. On 26 December 1915 HMS E6 left to carry out an anti-submarine patrol and was mined in the North Sea off Harwich.

Tracy was promoted to acting Lieutenant in December 1914. This photo is labelled 'E6' which was a British submarine commissioned 17 October 1913. On 26 December 1915 HMS E6 left to carry out an anti-submarine patrol and was mined in the North Sea off Harwich.

Tracy was promoted to acting Lieutenant in December 1914. This photo is labelled 'E21' which was a British submarine commissioned July 1915 and sold 14 December 1921. Records show Tracy served on HMS E21 from April to November 1917.

Captain Tracy was a cadet on the Training School Ship HMS Conway from 1900 to 1903. In 1876, HMS Nile was loaned to the Mercantile Marine Service Association as a training ship at Liverpool and renamed HMS Conway. She replaced the previous Conway (ex HMS Winchester) which had proved to be too small. The third HMS Conway remained at a mooring off Rock Ferry Pier in Liverpool and was home to up to 250 cadets. She was refitted twice during this time. In October 1940, Conway was struck by SS Hektoria, a 13,000 ton whaling factory ship, and moved to a dock at Birkenhead for repairs. During the Liverpool Blitz there was concern that there might be considerable loss of life if the ship were hit and she moved to Glyn Garth Mooring on the Menai Straits Anglesey in May 1941. In 1953, it was decided to return the Conway to Birkenhead for a refit. On 14 April, the ship under tow was driven ashore by unexpectedly strong tides and wrecked.

This image shows Tracy’s Place and Date of Birth as ‘Sheffield Yorkshire’ on ‘16th November 1886’. He was appointed a Sub Lieutenant on 30th March 1914, Lieutenant on 3rd January 1916 and a Lieutenant Commander on 7th April 1924.

This image shows Tracy’s posting on 16 September 1915 to ‘HMS Maidstone’ a Submarine Depot Ship which was part of the 8th Submarine Squadron/Flotilla. He served on Submarine C6 in September 1914 and E21 in September 1915. His final appointments as a submariner were in K6 between March and August 1919 and K14 between August and October 1919. Tracy was Mention in Despatches (MiD) ‘for Services in Submarines between 1 July and 11 November 1918’.

This image shows Tracy died on ‘17th March 1961 at the Maine Medical Centre in Portland Maine USA’.

Tracy was Mention in Despatches (MiD) ‘for Services in Submarines between 1 July and 11 November 1918’. The MiD is awarded for gallantry during active operations.

Captain Tracy’s RNR medals were sold at auction by Dix Noonan Webb of Piccadilly London on 16 December 2003 (Lot 791 Hammer Price £410) comprising: 1914-15 Star (Lt RNR); British War and Victory Medals; MiD Oak Leaf (Lt RNR); Defence and War Medals; Royal Naval Reserve Decoration & G.V.R. (Georgivs V Rex - Long Service Decoration).

Sub Lieutenant Tracy was posted to submarine HMS C6 on 24 September 1914. C6 was laid down on 24 November 1905 by Vickers at their Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, launched on 20 August 1906 and commissioned on 21 January 1907. In 1918 she was attached to HMS Vernon at Portsmouth being used for coastal defence and training. C6 was sold for scrap on 20 November 1919.

The National Museum Royal Navy (NMRN) 'Tracy Collection' Neg 3253 records Tracy as serving on HMS E6. E6 was built by Vickers Barrow-in-Furness, laid down on 12 November 1911 and commissioned on 17 October 1913. On 5 August 1914, she was towed by the light cruiser ‘Amethyst’ to Terschelling along with E8 which was towed by the destroyer ‘Ariel’. E6 and E8 then made the first Heligoland Bight Patrol. On 28 August 1914, E6 and E8 plus other boats took positions in a planned raid against the German Heligoland Bight Patrol. On 25 September 1914, E6 fouled on two mines in Heligoland Bight but escaped. E6 was mined on 26 December 1915 in the North Sea off Harwich and all 38 crew were lost.

The National Museum Royal Navy (NMRN) 'Tracy Collection' Neg 3252 records Tracy as serving on HMS E21. His service record shows him assigned to E21 from 17 September 1915. E21 was built by Vickers Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 29 July 1915 and was commissioned on 1 October 1915. The E Class served with the Royal Navy throughout WW1 as the backbone of the submarine fleet and were eventually replaced by the British L Class submarine. E21 was scrapped in 1921 and all the E Class submarines were withdrawn from service by 1922.

Sub Lieutenant Tracy’s service record shows him posted to HMS Maidstone a submarine depot ship on 16 September 1915. Depot ships were used as a mobile or fixed base for submarines, destroyers, minesweepers and other small ships requiring berthing, maintenance, crew dining and relaxation facilities. HMS Maidstone was built by Scotts Greenock. She was laid down on 9 January 1911 and commissioned on 15 October 1912 joining the 8th Submarine/Flotilla Portsmouth.

Extract from HMS Conway ‘The Cadet’ Magazine August 1932: ‘Commander C H S Tracy RNR is living in a suburb of Boston Mass - 133 Park Street Newton Mass - and will be glad to see any Old Conway’s of 1900-03 who call at Boston. He left the RMSP Company at the end of 1930, his last job being Chief Officer of the cruising ships ‘Araguaya’ New York to the West Indies and the ‘Arcadian’ New York to Bermuda. He was then Marine Superintendent of a new line the ‘Transatlantic Steamship Line’ running from Boston to London and Antwerp, but it closed down owing to trade depression last year. He was married to Miss Lucy Blaine of Boston in October, 1930.’ The magazine was published from 1891 onwards.

A ‘Troughton London’ Double Frame Pillar Sextant c1820 has an inscription inside the lid indicating it was once owned by Lt C H S Tracy RNR. The image shows the polished mahogany keystone-shaped case containing the sextant with a hinged lid, brass nameplate, two securing hooks and a lock.

A ‘Troughton London’ Double Frame Pillar Sextant c1820.

Accessories comprise a pinhole sighting tube, telescope, parallel cross-wire telescope, extra cross-wire draw tube, star telescope (wide angle), red eye shade and adjustment pin.

The inscription inside the case lid reads: ‘Lt C H S Tracy RNR. Chart house was found floating by HMS Baralong in St George’s Channel two days later. 1st Mystery Ship sent out by the Admiralty to hunt German Submarines. This sextant is over 100 years old Pillar Sextant. Obtained from the chart house of the SS Strathnairn torpedoed off Smalls Lt House by German submarine in a gale of wind - 21 killed 5 saved July 1915. 1st World War.’

The inscription inside the case lid reads: ‘Lt C H S Tracy RNR. Chart house was found floating by HMS Baralong in St George’s Channel two days later. 1st Mystery Ship sent out by the Admiralty to hunt German Submarines. This sextant is over 100 years old Pillar Sextant. Obtained from the chart house of the SS Strathnairn torpedoed off Smalls Lt House by German submarine in a gale of wind - 21 killed 5 saved July 1915. 1st World War.’

Edward Troughton patented the double ‘pillar and plate’ frame sextant No: 1644 of 1788. It was a complex and expensive instrument to make, comprising two thin brass frames held in parallel with 24 pillar spacers which significantly increased the rigidity whilst reducing the weight. Traditional sextants using cast bronze frames had the drawback of being heavy which could influence the accuracy of sightings due to hand-shaking as the navigator worked against its weight. In its day, the double frame sextant was the ‘Rolls Royce’ of instruments and prized by many Captains.

Edward Troughton patented the double ‘pillar and plate’ frame sextant No: 1644 of 1788. It was a complex and expensive instrument to make, comprising two thin brass frames held in parallel with 24 pillar spacers which significantly increased the rigidity whilst reducing the weight. Traditional sextants using cast bronze frames had the drawback of being heavy which could influence the accuracy of sightings due to hand-shaking as the navigator worked against its weight. In its day, the double frame sextant was the ‘Rolls Royce’ of instruments and prized by many Captains.

Sextant signed ‘Troughton London’. In the last decades of the eighteenth century, Edward Troughton was the most innovative manufacturer of sextants in Britain. He patented a ‘pillar and plate frame for astronomical instruments’ No: 1644 of 1788, consisting of two parallel frames of thin brass plate that were connected by a series of pillars. By this construction, the instrument was light but at the same time rigid. Troughton’s pillar frame was also adopted by a larger group of manufacturers and was still available in the 1870s.

J & E Troughton Trade Label. Mathematical, Optical & Philosophical Instrument Makers, No 136 Fleet Street, London. During the first quarter of the nineteenth century Edward Troughton c1753-1835 F.R.S. 1810 was the foremost mathematical instrument maker in England. In the last ten or fifteen years of the eighteenth century he and his older brother John Troughton c1739-1807, then in partnership, ranked second only to the celebrated Jesse Ramsden c1735-1800 F.R.S. 1786. Many examples of their work exist in museum collections.

Lieutenant C H S Tracy’s sextant was recovered by HMS Baralong from the chart house of the SS Strathnairn. Records show she was torpedoed 2 miles west of Ramsey Island (in the vicinity of the Smalls Light House) off the Pembrokeshire coast. She was sunk by German Submarine U-22 commanded by Bruno Hoppe at 9:30pm on 15 June 1915 with the loss of 21 crew including its master John Nelson Browne age 39. The Strathnairn was carrying a cargo of coal from Penarth Wales bound for Archangel Russia.

John Nelson Browne Master, SS Strathnairn. Remembered with Honour and Commemorated in Perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at Tower Hill Memorial.

Some of the 21 SS Strathnairn crew who died on 15 June 1915 are listed on the WW1 Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill London. Namely, the master John Nelson Browne age 39, second engineer James Lionel Pemberton age 29, third engineer Peter Whitehall Houston age 30, fourth engineer George Fleming age 21 and third mate Benjamin Bruce Evans age 19. Other crew are listed on the Hong Kong Memorial.

Some of the 21 SS Strathnairn crew who died on 15 June 1915 are listed on the WW1 Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill London. Namely, the master John Nelson Browne age 39, second engineer James Lionel Pemberton age 29, third engineer Peter Whitehall Houston age 30, fourth engineer George Fleming age 21 and third mate Benjamin Bruce Evans age 19. Other crew are listed on the Hong Kong Memorial.

Some of the 21 SS Strathnairn crew who died on 15 June 1915 are listed on the WW1 Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill London. Namely, the master John Nelson Browne age 39, second engineer James Lionel Pemberton age 29, third engineer Peter Whitehall Houston age 30, fourth engineer George Fleming age 21 and third mate Benjamin Bruce Evans age 19. Other crew are listed on the Hong Kong Memorial.

SS Strathnairn was torpedoed by German Submarine U-22 commanded by Bruno Hoppe at 9:30pm on 15 June 1915 with the loss of 21 crew including its master John Nelson Browne age 39. The force of the blast burst the ship's steam boiler and the ship itself soon began to list to port. The ship's four lifeboats were immediately swung out, but with the ship still having forward momentum, the first lifeboat was smashed against the ship's sides. The occupants were thrown into the water, drowning the Master, Chief Officer and 19 men. Two other lifeboats capsized after being cut from their davits. The last was launched as the ship slowed to a halt and the remaining of the crew got safely into it. They managed to rescue some of the Chinese crew from the water. Although the attacking submarine U-22 was never seen, her periscope was observed moving around the stern of the vessel to ascertain the ship's name. The lifeboat remained in the vicinity until dark, by which time the Strathnairn had sunk.

Lieutenant C H S Tracy’s sextant was recovered by HMS Baralong from the floating chart house of the SS Strathnairn two days after her being torpedoed on 15 June 1915. HMS Baralong, also known as HMS Wyandra was a Royal Navy warship that was active during WW1. She was a ‘Special Service Vessel’ (also known as a Q-ship) whose function was to act as a decoy, inviting attack by a U-boat in order to engage and (if possible) destroy it. Records show Baralong was patrolling the UK Southwest Approaches for four months from April 1915 after being fitted out at Barry Docks South Wales with three 12-pounder guns in concealed mountings. Baralong was successful on two occasions in her career, sinking U-27 in August 1915 and U-41 in September 1915. However, both these actions caused controversy, particularly the first, being referred to as the Baralong Incidents due to her initially flying the neutral US flag prior to engagement as apposed to the White Ensign.

Image of Lt Cdr Godfrey Herbert (later Capt DSO and Bar) Commanding Officer of HMS Baralong and Lt Gordon Charles Steele (later Capt VC). Based on photographs and records held by the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) Portsmouth Library plus observations from their Archives Collections Officer, it’s possible that Lt C H S Tracy RNR obtained his ‘Troughton London’ Double Frame Pillar Sextant from Lt Steele. They both served in the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) and are pictured together in a photograph from the NMRN Tracy Collection not yet digitised. Lt Steele served under Lt Cdr Herbert who commanded HMS Baralong from April 1915. Records show Baralong was patrolling the UK Southwest Approaches for four months from April 1915, so would have been in the vicinity when the SS Strathnairn was torpedoed off the Pembrokeshire coast on 15 June 1915.