Unused RPPC of big guns on HMS Bacchante taken by Noah C Draper, 1917
Author of Letter: Noah C Draper, 30 yrs old
Dated: Feb 9, 1917
Mailed from: Chatham, England
Attached to: HMS Pembroke (Royal Naval Barracks)
Profession: Farmer, Temporary Sailor
Rank: Ordinary Seaman, Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve
Addressed to: Mrs. N.C. Draper, Keswick, Ont.
Relationship: Wife
Writing instrument: Fountain Pen with Black Ink
Writing Paper: 1 sheet 9" x 6" medium weight, smooth, linen-look, folded into 3 page booklet form, with the inside page written across and then down the length like foolscap. The pages are not numbered.
People mentioned in this letter:
Ethel** - Ethel Isabel Draper, 27 yrs old, (Noah's wife of 5 yrs)
Mildred** - Noah's daughter, 3 yrs old, aka Midge
J.D.** - Noah's son, James David*, 9 months old aka Jay in early months
Alice - Alice Alma Prosser*, born June 1915, daughter of Ethel's sister Sadie
Places/things mentioned in this letter:
- Sentry duty
- the hut - Noah's barracks
- gunnery school and big guns**
Word or Phrase Use:
- "feast or famine" - referring to either lots or nothing
- degrees - shown in Fahrenheit
Legend:
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this
person/place/thing, or use the search box in the header at the top of this page
** see History Notes below
| Feb. 9/1917 Mrs. N.C. Draper, Keswick, Ont. My dear wife;- Well Ethel I received two letters from you yesteraday and as you say it is either a feast or a famin they were dated jan the 21st & 25th. suppose they came over on the same boat. but ('that' scratched out) you are the only one I have heard from, you said you supposed there were others I had just as leave hear from as you, but there is no one I would like as well to see, so the next best |
| thing is to hear from you as seeing is impossible, so dont think I get tired of reading long letters. Ha Ha. Well it is 3 P.M. & I am on sentry duty, the sentry is divided into 2 hour watches during the night & I am on from 2 untill four so thought I would write to passthe time, We just have to keep the 3 fires going & see that no one comes into the hut only what has a right to come in, we have never had any trouble in that way yet. I have been on sentry 3 times since we got here so do not lose much sleep over it. Well we are in the gunnery school now learning to work the big guns but I dont expect we will ever have it to do as they would put more experienced men on them even if we were put on a ship of the grand fleet. & we do not expect that, even if we |
| are not sent to Canada we will be sent to some foreign station. Well I hope J.D. & Mildred are bothe welland also Alice it would be an awful blow to them to lose her but we do not know what is best always It is still cold here about 12 to 30 degrees of frost & you feel that in this country worse than 10o below zerro over there but there is no snow here to speak of I guess they never have sleighing, Well I guess I will close for this time Love to all. xxxxxxxxx N.C. Draper |
History Notes
There are 2 History notes for this letter of February 9, 1917:
History Note 1 - The Big Guns
History Note 1 - The Big Guns
No 1346 Printed In England by Gale & Polden
In this letter , Noah mentions that he's attending gunnery school while at HMS Pembroke. He doesn't give any information or description on the type of guns, however, he brought back, or sent back to Ethel, these 2 unused postcards printed in England by Gale & Polden, Ltd..
No 1340 Printed In England by Gale & Polden
History Note 2 - Noah's Family Photo
This photo was taken in Toronto, Ontario, in November 2016 just prior to Noah leaving Canada after volunteering for the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve. At the time, Ethel was 27, Mildred(Midge) was 3 yrs, and Jay(JD) was 6 months old.
