Admiralty Records Mediterranean

[Paul J Ballard]

Hi,

One of my gt gt uncles Henry Alfred Ballard, born 19 Oct 1889 Hastings, Sussex, stated in a press cutting (n.d. possibly 1944) "I was in the Eastern Mediterranean during the best part of the last war, on special duty for the Admiralty,..." According to his grandson Christopher Ballard "I enjoyed the 1944 quote by Henry, saying he was on “special duty with the Admiralty.” He was busy reverse-engineering a captured German submarine (I have a piece of it on my mantel), and in his “spare” time building gasoline bombs to drop on Turkish wheat fields (I have his sketches), and, according to family lore, adding sugar to drums of German diesel hidden in sandbars meant to refuel submarines. He always was a tough old bugger."


I can find no trace of any information on WWI captured U-boats & haven't been able to track down his service record through Discovery for the TNA or via Ancestry. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to where I might pursue this further please?

Paul

[MaxD]

WW2 records are not on line.  His record will still be with the MOD and can be applied for.  This will give (perhaps) more detail as to dates/units.
https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records
MaxD

[Paul J Ballard]

Sorry, should have been clearer, he served in the First World War.

[MaxD]

Similar lack of success as you in WW1 records unfortunately.  Googling "Mediterranean U Boat campaign" doesn't seem to bring any references to captured boats.

Not helpful, sorry

MaxD

[ShaunJ]

Is there any evidence that he was in the armed forces?  "Special duty with the Admiralty" could possibly be a civilian role.

[Paul J Ballard]

I can find no evidence amongst Naval or Military sources that he was enlisted so he may well have been a civilian. If that is the case though wouldn't he have had to have had some recognition of his exemption from enlistment?

Maybe he worked for "Q" & I'm looking in the wrong place ;-)

[Paul J Ballard]

A little serendipity! Whilst researching his brothers I uncovered a press photograph of them all together in which it states that he was an Engine Fitter on HMS Reliance which Wikipedia says was a repair ship, previously the civilian ship Knight Companion. She was purchased in 1912 and was sold in 1919.

[ShaunJ]

She was in the eastern Med for most of the war

To Scapa Flow to replace FISGARD II 10/1914. Dardanelles 1915, Mudros 1918-02/1919. RFA Stores support 1916-02/1919, then to Devonport.

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/122171-repair-ship-hms-reliance/

[ShaunJ]

Reliance was RFA so would have had a civilian crew. Day by day log extracts here:  http://www.historicalrfa.org/rfa-reliance