'Disaster: Herbert Henry HALL (senior)

It Was Almost a Disaster.

This is an abridged version  of part of Herbert Henry Hall's story, my maternal grandfather. The full version of his story is on this blog entitle 'In Search of Granddad'

According to family tradition Granddad was sunk at least twice during the First World War

What I learned when I was able to locate a copy of the crew list was that Granddad was a 'donkeyman', and the only crew member described this way. As such he was the operator responsible for looking after the donkey engine in the ship’s engine room. In the early days of steam donkey engines powered the deck equipment like cranes and capstans. I’ve discovered that his skill as a gas fitter (1901 marriage) would have transferred fairly easily to a 'donkeyman’s' duties. When he wasn’t working on the donkey engine it is quite likely that he would have had other duties in the ship’s engine room.

The Port Kembla called into Wellington NZ at least twice, its last visit was in July 1917. It next appears in my record in Brisbane, then on to Williamstown, Victoria where it spent at least ten days loading frozen meat, jams, and wool.

When the Port Kembla left there on September 12 1917 the 59-member crew thought they were headed home probably via Durban. The Captain knew otherwise though as he had orders to sail to Wellington and then head back to England, It was as well that they did for just 5 days later in the last minutes of September 17th and only 11 miles from New Zealand’s Farewell spit there was an explosion and the Port Kembla sank. If she had gone directly back to England they would have been in the open ocean when it happened, and with the radio mast gone and no way to summons help the outcome might have been decidedly different.

At least that’s the story that I was brought up with. The reality was a little different, and this is how I know.

One evening as I came in the door from work I heard the words Port Kembla mentioned on the TV news, and there on the screen was a group of divers actually swimming down to the wreck. They retrieved the ship’s bell and some dinner plates which positively identified her as the Port Kembla. She had been located using the charts from the German Admiralty of positions of mines laid by the Wolf.  Was this then a case of propaganda because it appears that the New Zealand government knew the real reason and obviously did not want the general public to know that the ‘enemy’ had come so close to its shores. Since then a book about the exploits of the Wolf has been published. The links below are to the  TV news Item and the dive on the Kembla


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toLl3V_WJuk

https://divenewzealand.co.nz/travel-165/

The real story is an interesting one. In June 1917 the German mine layer Wolf was in New Zealand waters and laid a string of 35 mines just off Cape Farewell. The mines, set too deep for small craft to activate, lay in wait for larger quarry. In the wee small hours of the morning of 18 September 1917 Port Kembla heavily loaded with cargo from Australia fell victim. The explosion blew a hole in the right side of the the hull

When it was obvious that she was taking on water Captain Jack ordered the crew to take to the lifeboats and when he was sure that the ship was definitely sinking, he and the last two officers jumped from the ship and swam to the waiting lifeboats. Within half an hour the Port Kembla was gone. Fortunately, the Steamer Regulus, on a routine run to Westport along the West Coast of New Zealand, discovered them and took the lifeboats under tow. There was great excitement in Nelson when the steamer returned unexpectedly towing the two lifeboats. I still find it hard to associate these much younger images of him in his flat cap with the elderly grandfather I remember.

This picture postcard (above) of Granddad and his crew mates has always been in the family collection. It was taken on the steps of New Zealand’s Nelson Cathedral.