Philips Shipyard pre WW2
Philips Shipyard pre WW2
Dartmouth in the Second World War - The Port
Dartmouth was a port in decline in the 1930s – because of a change in fuel used by most ships.
Dartmouth was a ‘coaling station’ on the shipping routes from the North Sea down to the Mediterranean and beyond. Coal as a fuel was cheap and plentiful but it also had a problem: it was big and bulky.
Ships had to make lots of stops to take on fuel on long journeys. Dartmouth was a convenient stop off before they headed into the Bay of Biscay.
There were boat hulks in the river that held massive amounts of coal. Men were employed to smooth down the coal with shovels and ensure the maximum amount went into each hulk and into every ship refuelling. The ‘Coal Lumpers’, as they were known, were a important part of the community.
Their donations made the creation of Coronation Park from the tidal Coombe Mud possible in 1935. But the decline in steam vessels using mainly coal to make way for oil burning ships forced the port in dire straits. Oil was massively more efficient in terms of weight often providing a 40 per cent saving.
In 1939 there was only one permanent Pilot remaining to bring ships into the harbour and he would have been forgiven for looking for other employment. Then at Regatta an ominous sign came that there might be more urgent need for the port than before. The Guardship for the centenary regatta, the HMS Brazen, two days after its arrival, started to sound its sirens and its search lights swept the harbour from 10.30pm. It was a sign for its crew to return to the ship, before it sailed at 1am. On September 3 war was declared.
That was the start of big changes for Dartmouth.
Suddenly, the strategically important harbour was filling up with ships – before the war there had only been one pilot, at its height their were 11 full time, working round the clock to safely bring ships in and out of port.
A group of evacuees from Acton in London arrived and were billeted around the town – organised by an efficient young woman who would later become mayor and a Freeman of the town, Mrs Irene Scawn.
Ship builders Philip and Son, based at Sandquay and across the river at Noss on Dart, found itself inundated with work, building more than 230 ships during the war years and repairing many more, including those damaged during the debacle of Exercise Tiger.
The Britannia Royal Naval College meant that the river was a hive of activity early in the war and this meant that it became a legitimate target in the eyes of German commanders.
On September 18 1942, six German bombers swooped along the Dart valley and bombed the Noss Shipyard, the coal bunkers moored in the river and the BRNC itself. Twenty men were killed at the shipyard, four coal lumpers lost their lives and a Wren officer was killed at the college.
Noss shipyard was quickly repaired and was fully operational by Christmas 1942. However, the Naval cadets were moved out of the BRNC: first to Bristol and later to Eaton Hall in Cheshire.
This tragedy did little to damage the resolve of Dartmouth people to support the war effort – quite the opposite in fact.
The efforts of the town’s people were nothing short of extraordinary in donating money to the war effort – they exceeded targets for fundraising virtually at every time of asking and in some style.
In 1941 a target was set to raise £2,000 towards a Spitfire for the RAF and £35,000 towards a motor launch for the Navy. The town brought in £135,750. That’s the same as £5million today.
Dartmouth and Kingswear were asked to bring in £50,000 for 16 fighter planes in 1943 – and raised £93,000 – or £3.2 million today.
The town was shaken again by bombings in February 1943 when three planes machine gunned the town and dropped two bombs on Duke Street and one in Higher Street. Fourteen people died and many buildings were ruined, including the Tudor House, a historical ‘gem’ according to reports that had to be pulled down. The Butterwalk was also damaged but was repaired.
Kingswear became a home for the Free French, who used the harbour as a base for their Motor Torpedo Boat missions. General de Gaulle’s own son Philippe and future French President Francois Mitterand were among the men stationed at Brook Hill in the village. The Secret Services also saw Dartmouth as a convenient starting point for clandestine missions on the continent and many a small boat slipped out in the dead of night to deliver brave men to the beaches of France.
The coastal forces used the Royal Dart Hotel in Kinsgwear as a base – it was code named HMS Cicala so it could be mentioned in reports without giving away its location. This didn’t stop the notorious Lord Haw Haw from declaring it ‘sunk’ during one of his infamous broadcasts.
Dartmouth and Kingswear faced hardship and suffering during the war years, as many towns did around the country. Their resolve and determination to remain steadfast in the face of this, is the perfect example of the attitude which allowed Britain to ‘Fight On Alone’. •
by Phil Scoble
First Published July 2013 By The Dart