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HMS M33: last surviving Gallipoli ship restored to former glory
‘Small ship with a big history’ once not deemed important enough to name will open to public this summer after Heritage Lottery-backed project
The restoration work allow the HMS M33 emerge from the shadows of its illustrious neighbours. Photograph: National Museum of the Royal Navy
Steven Morris
Thursday 19 February 2015 15.00 GMT Last modified on Friday 24 April 2015 11.29 BST
For years it has languished in a dry dock, ignored by the masses visiting Nelson’s magnificent flagship HMS Victory or gawping at the hi-tech might of the Royal Navy’s modern warships anchored nearby.
But a century after gamely battering away at enemy positions during the first world war, a modest but hugely characterful ship called HMS M33 is about to emerge from the shadows of its illustrious neighbours.
Teams of workers and volunteers are working hard to conserve M33 – not deemed important enough to have a proper name – and tell the extraordinary story of life on board the vessel, the only surviving British ship from the Gallipoli campaign.
She doesn't have the glamour of ships like HMS Victory – she’s a workhorse
Matthew Sheldon, NMRN
“She is a magnificent little ship,” said Matthew Sheldon, head of strategic development at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. “She does not have the glamour of ships like HMS Victory. She’s a workhorse but she gives a real insight into what life must have been like for the thousands of sailors who fought on board small ships during the first world war. M33 is a small ship but with a big history.”
Before its opening to the public in the summer, the Guardian was given a tour of the vessel. It is certainly small and very basic, a metal box of a boat that must have felt cramped when 72 officers and men were on board. At this time of year it was colder on board than on the dockside; in warmer weather it must have been almost unbearably hot below decks.
M33 was one of five “monitor” vessels designed, legend has it, on the back of an envelope by Winston Churchill, then first lord of the admiralty, and the naval architect Sir Eustace Tennyson d’Eyncourt. It was built – in just seven weeks – with a flat bottom so it could get close in to shore and with two oversized guns to allow it to pepper coastal defences and troops.
The main men’s mess is only about 20 sq metres. More than 40 sailors would have lived and slept on hammocks in the tiny main men’s mess. The boat’s flat bottom meant it was rocky – and liable to be flooded in rough seas. Directly above the main mess is one of the powerful guns. When it was fired anyone below would have been shaken to their core.
The ship is one of five ‘monitor’ vessels supposedly designed on the back of an envelope by Winston Churchill and the naval architect Sir Eustace Tennyson d’Eyncourt.
Sheldon said the size of the vessel – just over 50 metres (164ft) long – meant it was a tricky target to hit but, actually, if it had been lost, it would not have been seen as too much of a loss to the navy. “She was cheap, she was expendable,” he said. It was not even important enough to be given a name.
The idea of the project, supported by £1.75m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, is not to restore the ship but conserve it. So while workers are grinding and welding away to make it safe for visitors they are trying not to remove the patina of age, the peeling paint, the signs of corrosion.
Diaries of some of the men who served on M33, spending more than three years away from home, help paint a picture of life on board. Leading seaman Henry Mulligan describes it as a “whippet” in his journal, though he was probably referring to the size and personality rather than speed: it was not fast. “I’m more accustomed to a small ship but this beats anything I’ve ever been in,” he wrote.
The diary of a Royal Marine called Richard Chapple is packed with details of encounters with the enemy. One entry reads: “A heavy Turkish battery gave us a very hot time, shells falling all around us for 20 minutes then we had to put on full speed to get out of it and we all say what a miracle it was that they never hit us.”
But the most vibrant passages of Chapple’s diary concern food – an indication that rations were not always up to scratch. “The captain shot a wild boar in the water,” he wrote. “We picked it up and the ship’s company ate it.” On another occasion the crew set off on a “cattle-raiding expedition” and “fetched back about £6,000-worth of cattle from Asia Minor”.
The main men’s mess, which is only about 20 sq metres, would have been home to at least 40 sailors.
The culture secretary, Sajid Javid, who was also given a tour of M33, said he was impressed. “I think it’s really important we not just remind this generation about what happened, the sacrifices that were made and the importance of it to Britain and the world, but also future generations,” he said. “This is what this restoration project will achieve.”
M33 is expected to be a big draw for visitors from Australia and New Zealand, who sustained heavy losses in Gallipoli, as well as from across the UK. An exhibition at the dockyard will also help tell the story of the ship and campaign.
After the first world war M33 saw action in the Russian civil war and in the 1920s became a mine-layer and was finally given a name, Minerva. It was later used as a fuelling hulk, workshop and floating office before being retired from service in the 1980s. One of only three surviving first world war ships, it will be open to the public on 6 August.
HMS M33: last surviving British Gallipoli ship restored to former glory | Culture | The Guardian
‘Small ship with a big history’ once not deemed important enough to name will open to public this summer after Heritage Lottery-backed project
The restoration work allow the HMS M33 emerge from the shadows of its illustrious neighbours. Photograph: National Museum of the Royal Navy
Steven Morris
Thursday 19 February 2015 15.00 GMT Last modified on Friday 24 April 2015 11.29 BST
For years it has languished in a dry dock, ignored by the masses visiting Nelson’s magnificent flagship HMS Victory or gawping at the hi-tech might of the Royal Navy’s modern warships anchored nearby.
But a century after gamely battering away at enemy positions during the first world war, a modest but hugely characterful ship called HMS M33 is about to emerge from the shadows of its illustrious neighbours.
Teams of workers and volunteers are working hard to conserve M33 – not deemed important enough to have a proper name – and tell the extraordinary story of life on board the vessel, the only surviving British ship from the Gallipoli campaign.
She doesn't have the glamour of ships like HMS Victory – she’s a workhorse
Matthew Sheldon, NMRN
“She is a magnificent little ship,” said Matthew Sheldon, head of strategic development at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. “She does not have the glamour of ships like HMS Victory. She’s a workhorse but she gives a real insight into what life must have been like for the thousands of sailors who fought on board small ships during the first world war. M33 is a small ship but with a big history.”
Before its opening to the public in the summer, the Guardian was given a tour of the vessel. It is certainly small and very basic, a metal box of a boat that must have felt cramped when 72 officers and men were on board. At this time of year it was colder on board than on the dockside; in warmer weather it must have been almost unbearably hot below decks.
M33 was one of five “monitor” vessels designed, legend has it, on the back of an envelope by Winston Churchill, then first lord of the admiralty, and the naval architect Sir Eustace Tennyson d’Eyncourt. It was built – in just seven weeks – with a flat bottom so it could get close in to shore and with two oversized guns to allow it to pepper coastal defences and troops.
The main men’s mess is only about 20 sq metres. More than 40 sailors would have lived and slept on hammocks in the tiny main men’s mess. The boat’s flat bottom meant it was rocky – and liable to be flooded in rough seas. Directly above the main mess is one of the powerful guns. When it was fired anyone below would have been shaken to their core.
The ship is one of five ‘monitor’ vessels supposedly designed on the back of an envelope by Winston Churchill and the naval architect Sir Eustace Tennyson d’Eyncourt.
Sheldon said the size of the vessel – just over 50 metres (164ft) long – meant it was a tricky target to hit but, actually, if it had been lost, it would not have been seen as too much of a loss to the navy. “She was cheap, she was expendable,” he said. It was not even important enough to be given a name.
The idea of the project, supported by £1.75m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, is not to restore the ship but conserve it. So while workers are grinding and welding away to make it safe for visitors they are trying not to remove the patina of age, the peeling paint, the signs of corrosion.
Diaries of some of the men who served on M33, spending more than three years away from home, help paint a picture of life on board. Leading seaman Henry Mulligan describes it as a “whippet” in his journal, though he was probably referring to the size and personality rather than speed: it was not fast. “I’m more accustomed to a small ship but this beats anything I’ve ever been in,” he wrote.
The diary of a Royal Marine called Richard Chapple is packed with details of encounters with the enemy. One entry reads: “A heavy Turkish battery gave us a very hot time, shells falling all around us for 20 minutes then we had to put on full speed to get out of it and we all say what a miracle it was that they never hit us.”
But the most vibrant passages of Chapple’s diary concern food – an indication that rations were not always up to scratch. “The captain shot a wild boar in the water,” he wrote. “We picked it up and the ship’s company ate it.” On another occasion the crew set off on a “cattle-raiding expedition” and “fetched back about £6,000-worth of cattle from Asia Minor”.
The main men’s mess, which is only about 20 sq metres, would have been home to at least 40 sailors.
The culture secretary, Sajid Javid, who was also given a tour of M33, said he was impressed. “I think it’s really important we not just remind this generation about what happened, the sacrifices that were made and the importance of it to Britain and the world, but also future generations,” he said. “This is what this restoration project will achieve.”
M33 is expected to be a big draw for visitors from Australia and New Zealand, who sustained heavy losses in Gallipoli, as well as from across the UK. An exhibition at the dockyard will also help tell the story of the ship and campaign.
After the first world war M33 saw action in the Russian civil war and in the 1920s became a mine-layer and was finally given a name, Minerva. It was later used as a fuelling hulk, workshop and floating office before being retired from service in the 1980s. One of only three surviving first world war ships, it will be open to the public on 6 August.
HMS M33: last surviving British Gallipoli ship restored to former glory | Culture | The Guardian
