Poem ~ Jutland Bravery - Monday, 14 August 1916 - Wednesday, 16 August 1916

Source: File: Frederick Joseph Rutland, who was to play a role in WWII, for the Japanese. See an original image at: <https://acidhistory.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/rutland-sempill/> [Accessed 14 August 2016]

Source: File: Rutland of the RNAS photographed returning to HMS Engadine, after "his valuable reconnaissance at Jutland",1916. See an original image at: <http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=143000> [Accessed 14 August 2016]

Parallel to war overland, came

Equal encounters for navy’s at sea,

1916 - the Royal Navy's Grand fleet

Encountered the imperial German

Navy - by full-scale encounters

Of battleships in intensity of tactics,

From May into June.

Among the naval crew, Lieutenant

Frederick Joseph Rutland, took

Part in North Sea action at Jutland -

Close to a peninsula of Denmark.

An experienced officer, he began

His career as `Boy Seaman’ aged

15 in 1901.

By age of 28, 1914, Rutland was

A Flight Sub Lieutenant in Royal

Naval air force, becoming lieutenant

At time of Jutland, on HMS Engadine.

Then a craft carrier of hangers

And seaplanes, in reconnaissance

And bombing missions.

Taking orders to take on a search

Of North Sea, 30 May 1916 - along

With an observer, Rutland made

Flight - within 23 minutes sighting

German cruisers and destroyers -

Signalling his discovery, to continue

Until a fault forced them down.

Making repairs ready to take off,

An order came to taxi seaplane

Across to the carrier - this he did

Though the reports made failed

To reach Battle squadron flag ship,

Rutland's actions, by flying close

To enemy gained him DSC.

Being a member of the grand fleet

HMS Warrior, along with HMS

Defence, was in the midst of battle.

Closing in on SMS Wiesbaden that

Had suffered damage, becoming

Stuck between fleets; in a vulnerable

Position was then spotted.

SMS Derfflinger who, with four

Other battleships, turned attack

On Naval ships - with intense

Fire German salvos hit Defence

To rupture magazines - a fire

Spread in detonations of other

Magazines; the ship exploded.

THe crew of 900 men were lost -

HMS Defence was still a target

Of shells, until Derfflinger and

Others turned towards to HMS

Warspite - now Warrior was

Under severe damage, with fires

And flooding.

Yet Warrior held on as engines

Kept going westward - heavily

Crippled into the evening 31 May.

HMS Engadine came to assist - 

The seaplane carrier struggled

To tow Warrior, due to jammed

Rudder, to lay alongside.

From evenings light into dark,

Engadine continued to tow

The disabled ship - slowly

Across the sea the smaller

Engadine pulled Warrior

Into the early morning hours,

Until situation worsened.

Flooding of warrior increased,

Quite evident that within time

She would sink - 8 a.m. orders

Were made to abandon her -

Engadine closed the gap ready

To take crew onboard - a transfer

Of 675 succeeded.

Egadine's crew observed and

Assisted in such a tricky task.

Lieutenant Rutland provided

Assistance, as the most seriously

Wounded conveyed by stretchers,

To number 30, began.

Any transfer in rough waters was

Hazardous - a sinking unstable

Warrior could collide with Egadine.

One by one the stretchers passed

Over - then one wounded sailors

Stretcher tipped, throwing him into

Water - Rutland reacted.

Two officers under command

Of the Warrior were ordered

Not to jump after him - effectively

The man was lost - Lieutenant

Rutland had other thoughts -

As he got numbers of men

To hold a rope.

Discarding cap and coat, with

A bowline about waist, Rutland

Had no hesitation to go over

The rail - down, down between

The ships that channeled rough

Waters - into the moving gap

That threatened to crush both.

He saw the man in the water -

Lost sight of him briefly, then

He reappeared - from the ships

Forepart, Rutland hit the sea

And began to swim aft, fighting

Against swelling, resistant water,

He reached out.

He held the man as those above

Took his signal and heaved

Them both free of the thrashing

Water, to reach deck in safety.

Versions of reports of the time

Told how the sailor had been

Crushed and died.

An announcement some months

Later, from The London Gazette,

Told How King George awarded

Lieutenant Rutland for bravery

And determination, in the rescue

Against great odds - decorated

With the gold Albert medal, first

Class for lifesaving.

By Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Magnificent Bravery - Hero Of The Jutland Fright. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 7 August 1916. P.8. Col.3. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212591/Daily-Telegraph-August-12-1916.html> [Accessed: 14 August 2016].

Source: File: Frederick Rutland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Rutland> [Accessed 14 August 2016

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 14 August 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212591/Daily-Telegraph-August-12-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Jutland

Poem ~ Alien Aviators Saved at Sea - Monday, 1 March 1915

Source: File: http://flyingmachines.ru/Images7/Putnam/German/377-2.jpg, 2015. Their Flying Machines. 1 March 1915. [online] Available at: <http://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Crafts/Craft30197.htm> [Accessed: 1 March 2015].

i

Two young German Pilots -

Who might for this purpose,

Be called Otto and Heinrich -

Climbed into their air craft,

At the German held port

Of Ostend. About them other

Pilots took to flight, on a cool

February evening of Sunday

The 21st - this flying fleet

Set their course for England,

To attack the area of Essex.

The air fleet moved at varied

Height and speed, leaving

Land for sea – Perhaps sited

At the back of the fleet Otto -

The youngest pilot aged 20 -

Indicated to his senior pilot

Officer Henirich - aged 25 - 

The shaking of a support rod.

By then they were well over

The sea, as Heinrich saw

The concern –the rod began

Vibrating more. Realising

The wing would imminently

Collapse, he waved to Otto -

They would land on the sea

To carry out a needed repair.

They dropped from height

Through cloud - the tilted wing

Causing more shuddering -

Heinrich steered at a sharper

Angle to get to land quicker.

Otto held on as the water

Came faster – Heinrich pulled

Level, ready to touch the sea,

When the rod collapsed,

Under the weight of the wing.

In sudden skimming of water

Speed was too much for one

Float, as they jarred the surface.

Hard water causing the craft’s

Lurching – In the sudden tipping

Motion, Otto lost his control

To fall sideways into the water.

Spying his co-pilots struggle,

To flounder in the sea, Heinreich

Clambered out quickly, onto the

Undamaged float, to reach out.

Made heavy by the weight

Of wet clothes, Otto kicked and

Gasped in the cold water - trying

To grasp Heinrich’s hands.

ii 

21 February, a Tuesday, found

The North Sea quiet and calm.

William Dunett, the skipper 

Of New Boy, a sturdy trawler -

Stood atop the deck of the boat

Passing the early hours on watch.

Seawater lapped lazily against

The sides of the smack vessel.

With her sails folded down,

New Boy might have been

In harbour - and not in middle

Of the North Sea. Down below,

The crew slept – It was still

Necessary to maintain watch

For war hazards - watching for

German Navy or submarines. 

In lying too, New Boy was yet

To make quota of fishing, before

Going home - The Skipper looked

Into the dark, bitter cold of night.

A dull lamp sat on the deck

Beside him - weak light hardly

Passing beyond the boat's edge.

A frost had formed upon the

Boat's sides - he saw the exhale

Of his breath, matching drifting

Slow passing fog - they awaited

For the wind to rise when they

Might drag out the trawl for

A good day's catch. Another

Man sharing the watch, stared

Outwards, in his silent thoughts.

Both watchmen were aware

Of sudden light - the other came

To the skipper as they saw it curve

Into the sky – ‘Something Going

On there.’ The skipper made skilled

Judgment of direction, the flare

Died out - Skipper Dunnett felt

Sure that it was a distress flare.

With the crew awoken and sails

Raised, they decided on a course

In duty of rescue - with virtually

No breeze New Boy made sail

Drifting through fog for a slow

Heading in the distress direction.

Hours had passed between

Sighting and arriving, the time

Was just nine in morning,

As they reached the area.

With daylight the New Boy crew

Spotted the source of the rocket,

A damaged German seaplane –

With a broken wing and float,

Sitting lopsided on the still water.

 iii

With some vital hours passed

And a bitterly cold morning, they

May have expected to find

Only frozen bodies of some

Disaster – But found, clinging

To some wrecked air craft,

Were two German aviators.

In launch of a small boat,

They rowed out to the plane -

To assist the two German’s

From the craft  - the youngest

Man had suffered most from

Severest exposure - wearing

A look of grey, frozen death.

As the men climbed safely onto

A fishing trawler safe into

The hands of British one aviator

Asked what they would do

With them? The trawler Skipper,

William Dunnett, reassured

Them that they would be fine.

How they would be taking them

To the port of Lowestoft.

Given other clothes, food and

Placed in a warm cabin, one

German who did speak good

English, told of how they had

Come to be in the English sea.

After taking flight from Ostend,

A support rod of a wing broke

Forcing them to land on the sea.

With only one undamaged float

They could not lift off again -

So periodically they fired rockets,

To sit on the less damaged side.

The reason for his companions

Severe exposure had been that,

On landing he had fallen from

The craft  - quickly getting Otto

From the water, only to suffer

From soaked, cold state.

The first night passed in long,

Slow freezing hours – morning

Began with drifts of snow –

They had all but given up hope,

When their vessel appeared.

He realised they had spent over

Thirty hours in the bitter cold.

On return to Lowestoft ,some

Days later, the two German

Aviators were handed to Naval

Authorities. Both men were very

Appreciative and shook hands

Solidly, with each crew member.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. German Aviators in the North Sea – Picked up by Trawler.. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 01 Mar. p.2. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11432667/Daily-Telegraph-March-1-1915.html [Accessed: 01 March 2015].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 01 March  2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11432667/Daily-Telegraph-March-1-1915.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered