The Royal Navy on the Home Front, 1914-1918. Stokers shoveling coal into the enormous boilers of a British battleship.
Author of Letter: Noah C Draper, 30 yrs old
Dated: Feb 23, 1917
Mailed from: Liverpool
Attached to: HMS Bacchante
Profession: Farmer, Temporary Sailor
Rank: Ordinary Seaman, Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve
Addressed to: Mrs. N.C. Draper, Keswick, Ont.
Relationship: Wife
Writing instrument: Pencil
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)
the babies:
- Mildred* - Noah's daughter, 3 yrs old, aka Midge
- J.D.* - Noah's son, James David*, 9 months old aka Jay in early months
Places/things mentioned in this letter:
rod - old English measure of distance equal to 16.5 feet (5.029 metres
mess - dining hall
stokers** see history note below
Word or Phrase Use:
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
| Liverpool Feb. 23/17 |
| Mrs. N.C. Draper, Keswick, Ont . My Dear Wife & Babies Well we are still in dock & will be heresome days yet I expect, but will be glad to get out to sea. Hope you are all well as this leaves me at present but am looking for that box hope it gets here before we leave for if it dosent there is no telling when I will |
| get it. Well it is raining again to day & was so foggy yesteraday you could not see 10 rod. Just heard we are going to get four days leave hope it is so as I would like to see Liverpool & mabey go up to London for a day or so. Well there is not much to tell about when I do not get leave ashore. but expect to go out to night but can not be shure untill you hear it piped at noon. it is just 10.30 am now so you see we are not worked to hard. Well Ethel we are still in messes and I did not give you my mess no. it is Mess 15 you had better put that in the corner of the envelope as it saves trouble in sorting the mail on the ship. there is 18 men to a mess here but the tables are all in |
| one room, that is for the ordinary seaman we are on the main deck the stokers are on the next deck & the officers in a mess of their own it seems funny not to see a woman around but we are in a place where they would be in the way of the men unless they were cooks or something, & strong as a man. Well I guess I will close for this time so Bye Bye. Love to all xxxxxx N.C. Draper |
History Notes
There is 1 History note for this letter of February 23, 1917:
History Note - Stokers in WW1
Basically, a stoker was someone who worked in the engine room with the goal of keeping the ship moving. Stokers were extremely important to the running of ship as they shoveled coal into the boilers that created the steam that kept the engines running. Over the years, as stokers became more experienced with the boilers and engine systems, they became the mechanics of the engine room. The stokers had their own deck to eat and sleep, worked their own shifts, and received more pay than the sailors.
In The Battlecruiser HMS Hood: An Illustrated Biography, 1916-1941, printed in 2008, the author, Bruce Taylor, says that stokers didn't have the attachment to naval traditions due to their lack of naval training in seamanship. He states, "Whereas boy seamen joined the Navy at sixteen, the stoker was often recruited in his twenties from the industrial and mining centres of Britain and consequently possessed a very different outlook and mentality."
History Note - Stokers in WW1
Basically, a stoker was someone who worked in the engine room with the goal of keeping the ship moving. Stokers were extremely important to the running of ship as they shoveled coal into the boilers that created the steam that kept the engines running. Over the years, as stokers became more experienced with the boilers and engine systems, they became the mechanics of the engine room. The stokers had their own deck to eat and sleep, worked their own shifts, and received more pay than the sailors.
In The Battlecruiser HMS Hood: An Illustrated Biography, 1916-1941, printed in 2008, the author, Bruce Taylor, says that stokers didn't have the attachment to naval traditions due to their lack of naval training in seamanship. He states, "Whereas boy seamen joined the Navy at sixteen, the stoker was often recruited in his twenties from the industrial and mining centres of Britain and consequently possessed a very different outlook and mentality."
Royal Navy Stoker Recruitment Poster, 1914.
