Page 22 • The HERALD • 16th November 2023 v SAY YOU SAW IT IN THE HERALD v • Re-Skimming • Rendering • Coving • Dry Lining • Tacking • Artex Covered • Floor Screeding www.tbrownplastering.co.uk Call: 07919 183989 Friendly • Reliable • Professional • Free Estimates REFURBISHERS ALWAYS TRY TO MEET YOUR BUDGET RELIABLE! EXCELLENT REFERENCES! INSURED! Catalogue of previous works to view Plaster work • Floor & Wall Tiling • Wall removal • Bathroom Design & Fit • Laminate/Wood Flooring • Painting • Insulation • Decking • PVCu Gutter & Fascia OUR HANDYMAN SERVICES • Rubbish clearance • Gutters • Jet washing conservatories, paths and patios • Flat pack assembly • Van removals • NO JOB TOO SMALL • FIXED PRICES • WRITTEN QUOTATIONS P Strus 07414 779083 Email: p.strus7@gmail.com • Airport & Seaport Specialists • Highly Competitive Fares • Friendly, Reliable Service • Comfortable 6 Seater MPVs • Any Distance - Minimum Fare £10 Before booking your journey please call us for a free quotation 07770 967198 or 023 8194 8754 www.kazcarz.co.uk Send your local news to The Editor, The Herald, 2 High Street, Hythe SO45 6AH or email: editor@herald-publishing.co.uk The Tragedy of HMS Ben-my-Chree: An Aircraft Carrier Anchored Off Ashlett Creek by Marc Heighway, mheighway@hotmail.com Marc hosts monthly local history talks, visit: nfhwa.org/events for details If you walk the shoreline from Calshot to Ashlett Creek, you can’t fail to see a wide range of interesting vessels on the water. is has been the case for nearly 500 years as this local coastline is a fantastic vantage point for witnessing historical maritime events. is includes medieval ships leaving Southampton, the departure of the Titanic, D-Day landing cra enroute to Normandy, through to the modern cruise ships of today. But there’s one vessel that has almost been forgotten about, despite the dramatic events that unfolded in front of the eyes of local people more than one hundred years ago. It was called HMS Ben-my-Chree (meaning “the woman of my heart” in Gaelic) and was anchored just o the shore at Calshot and then Ashlett Creek for a very brief, yet eventful time in April 1915. HMS Ben-my-Chree was an early seaplane tender, in other words, it was an aircra carrier. is might sound incredible given that man had only taken ight in an aircra just twelve years previously in 1903. But aviation technology was advancing at such a rapid rate, so much so, that RNAS Calshot opened in March 1913, for the purpose of testing seaplanes for the Navy. HMS Ben-my-Chree originally started life as a passenger steamer in 1908 with a capacity for 2,549 people, operating between England and the Isle of Man. She was no slouch, being 390 feet long, 46 feet wide, with a top speed of twenty four knots. It was this speci cation that made her so appealing to the Royal Navy, who requisitioned her in January 1915. anchored 1,600 metres o Calshot Beach. is would have been the rst time many people had seen aircra in the esh, let alone an aircra carrier. Here she remained anchored for ten days while the crew performed drills including gun tests. ese rst few days were eventful, with a re being recorded in a baggage area, and one man falling overboard, before he was rescued. On 9th April, she le for Portsmouth Harbour to take on supplies, and then returned to the local area just four days later to anchor six hundred metres from the mouth of Ashlett Creek. She would remain in this spot for the next few weeks whilst testing seaplane ights. But it was here where tragedy would strike. On the morning of 26th April, Seaplane No. 928 was launched from HMS Ben-my-Chree on its rst test ight. It was a Sopwith Admiralty Type 860 seaplane with two crew: Flight Sub Lieutenant Stephen Medlicott, aged 23, and air mechanic Henry Hughes, aged 26. Medlicott had only joined HMS Ben-my-Chree ten days earlier, and the seaplane itself was just two days into service. As the machine was seen ying towards Netley Hospital at a height of 600 feet, the pilot Medlicott turned slightly. e seaplane banked and began to side-slip which eventually turned into a catastrophic nosedive, before crashing into the cold water. Boats went out to give assistance but soon discovered it was to no avail, as both men had been killed by the impact and the seaplane had completely disintegrated. e crew were buried at the Royal Naval Cemetery at Haslar in Portsmouth. A contingent from Calshot Air Station attended, as did o cers from HMS Ben-my-Chree, bearing oral tributes. Verdicts of accidental death were recorded. Two days later, the aircra carrier le local waters, and entered service into the First World War. In August that year, she launched seaplanes that carried out torpedo attacks on Ottoman merchant shipping, one of which became the rst successful aerial torpedo attack in naval history. She was sunk by Turkish guns in January 1917, which led to another rst as I believe she became the rst ever aircra carrier to be sunk due to enemy action. But for just a few short weeks in 1915, one can only imagine the sights and sounds she o ered the people of Waterside, albeit with a tragic ending. She was quickly converted into a seaplane carrier with a crew of 250 and was adapted to have a hangar on the top deck which could accommodate four to six aircra . Seaplanes could be li ed in and out of the water by a crane mechanism, and then placed onto a dismountable sixty foot long ying-o platform, equipped with a trolley and rails. But before she could be put into active service, she needed to travel from Birkenhead where she’d been converted, down to the south coast. She arrived in Southampton Water on 29th March 1915, and was Stern of HMS Ben-my-Chree
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