Alan Ereira - The Invergordon Mutiny: A Narrative History of the Last Great Mutiny in the Royal Navy and How It Forced Britain off the Gold Standard in 1931

The Invergordon Mutiny: A Narrative History of the Last Great Mutiny in the Royal Navy and How It Forced Britain off the Gold Standard in 1931 — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "The Invergordon Mutiny: A Narrative History of the Last Great Mutiny in the Royal Navy and How It Forced Britain off the Gold Standard in 1931" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...44

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: MILITARY AND NAVAL HISTORY

Volume 11

THE INVERGORDON MUTINY

THE INVERGORDON MUTINY

A narrative history of the last great mutiny in the Royal Navy and how it forced Britain off the Gold Standard in 1931

ALAN EREIRA

First published in 1981

This edition first published in 2016

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1981 Alan Ereira

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-138-90784-3 (Set)

ISBN: 978-1-315-67905-1 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-92757-5 (Volume 11) (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-68242-6 (Volume 11) (ebk)

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

The Invergordon Mutiny

A narrative history of the last great mutiny in the Royal Navy and how it forced Britain off the Gold Standard in 1931

Alan Ereira

First published in 1981

by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd

39 Store Street, London WC1E 7DD,

9 Park Street, Boston, Mass. 02108, USA and

Broadway House, Newtown Road,

Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1EN

Phototypeset by Input Typesetting Ltd, London SW19 8DR

and printed in Great Britain by

Hartnoll Print Bodmin, Cornwall

Alan Ereira 1981

No part of this book may be reproduced in

any form without permission from the

publisher, except for the quotation of brief

passages in criticism

ISBN 0-7100-0930-5

Contents

As soon as the Invergordon mutiny ended, Paymaster Lieutenant-Commander L. C. Duckworth, in HMS Nelson, wrote: The only bright spot is the powerful weapon it places in the Admiraltys hands in future when governments light heartedly propose mucking about with the Navy. A study of the mutiny from the memories of those involved seemed appropriate to the times we live in: it was a mutiny which grew out of a harsh economic climate, with unemployment marching towards three million and with massive public spending cuts being imposed. Britain in 1981 has good reason to be interested in the history of 1931: to see how far the social fabric may be stretched before it starts to rend, and what measures may be taken when the rending starts.

This book originated with an appeal for men who took part in the mutiny at Invergordon to help in the compilation of a radio programme, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the event. To my great surprise, my appeal produced nearly a hundred replies, and it quickly became evident that far more new information was available than could be contained in the scope of a radio feature. My assistants and I have interviewed or corresponded with over seventy men at length, as well as examining a considerable body of documentary evidence, significant parts of which have not been available to previous authors on the subject.

A number of things have emerged which go beyond the straightforward lower-deck account which I had envisaged. One is the startling discovery, from the papers of the then Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, that an armed assault on the mutinous fleet was seriously considered by the Board of Admiralty. Another is the role of apparitions in the making of history.

There are three apparitions in this story. The first is the spectre of mutiny itself: the collapse of discipline in Britains largest warships created a shock which still unnerves the Navy. The second is the spectre of insurrection: a fantasy which grew in the minds of the Admiralty and the Cabinet, and which achieved more for the sailors than the mutiny itself and of which they knew nothing. The third, and strangest of all, is the mystery of Admiral Sir John D. Kelly.

This is not a definitive history of the mutiny; it may be that such a history can never be written. It is, as things have turned out, more of a study of states of mind. What actually happened at Invergordon remains, so far as I can see, a mystery. This is an account of what the people who were there believe took place.

Throughout the text, I have given people the ranks, rates and titles which they held in 1931.

Acknowledgments

Many people worked on the collection of material for this book. Interviews were carried out by Molly Price-Owen, Walter Hall, Alan Cuthbertson, Sean Maffett, Michael Cooke and Mike Hopwood. Thanks are due to Mrs Grace Duckworth for permission to quote from the journal of Captain A. D. Duckworth, and to Commander C. Drage for permission to quote from his papers.

A major part of the documentary research was undertaken by Howard White, and I am extremely grateful for his diligence, clarity and good sense and for his comments on the manuscript. I am also grateful for advice given by Dr Anthony Clayton, Captain Stephen Roskill and Admiral John Bell, and for the help of my wife, Sarah.

I have received valuable guidance from Dr Anthony Carew, from Mr Southern of the Imperial War Museum, Mr Campbell McMurray of the National Maritime Museum, Barry Duncan and Joe Pengelly.

Above all, of course, I am most deeply indebted to the many officers and men of the Royal Navy who took so much trouble to tell me what they knew some, but by no means all, are credited by name. It is to these people that I must dedicate this book.

Any shortcomings in this book are entirely mine. The truth, I have taken from others.

Introduction

Just north of Inverness two hills squat on the edge of the Moray Firth: the North and South Sutors. Between them, the North Sea breaks in to form at their back a large and sheltered harbour, an inland sea that can hold a navy at anchor in safe, deep water. This is Cromarty Firth

At times before 1931, Cromarty Firth was a haven for squadron upon squadron of warships, the big ships lying in the deep-water channel down the middle of this small sea, the smaller ones destroyers, submarines, supply ships moored in pairs up the narrower inlet that leads on towards Dingwall. At the junction, where the sea suddenly constricts, is Invergordon. In those days it was a town that came to life when the Fleet arrived; in September 1931 there were about 1,000 people living in the town, and some 12,000 sailors in the Firth.

Next page

1234567...44

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «The Invergordon Mutiny: A Narrative History of the Last Great Mutiny in the Royal Navy and How It Forced Britain off the Gold Standard in 1931»

Look at similar books to The Invergordon Mutiny: A Narrative History of the Last Great Mutiny in the Royal Navy and How It Forced Britain off the Gold Standard in 1931. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Dudley Pope

Ramage’s Mutiny

Dudley Pope

The Devil Himself: The Mutiny of 1800

Pramod Kapoor

1946 Royal Indian Navy Mutiny: Last War of Independence

Angus Konstam

Mutiny on the Spanish Main: HMS Hermione and the Royal Navy’s Revenge

Great Britain. Royal Navy

Monitors of the Royal Navy: how the fleet brought the great guns to bear: the story of the monitors in two world wars

Great Britain. Royal Navy

The British Sailor of the First World War

Great Britain. Royal Navy

Citizen sailors: the Royal Navy in the Second World War

Great Britain. Royal Navy. Submarine Service

The silent deep: a history of the Royal Navy Submarine Service since 1945

Grande-Bretagne

A history of the Royal Navy - World War I

Great Britain. Royal Navy

H.M.S. Illustrious: further diaries from a warship

Childs

The age of Invincible : the ship that defined the modern Royal Navy

Iain Ballantyne

Warspite Warships of the Royal Navy

Discussion, reviews of the book The Invergordon Mutiny: A Narrative History of the Last Great Mutiny in the Royal Navy and How It Forced Britain off the Gold Standard in 1931 and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.