Dardan-Hells, 1915. Being the Unofficial Log of a Battleship which took an Active Part in the Exploit from Start to Finish of the Dardanelles and the Gallipoli Campaign Adventures [an unpublished typescript manuscript prepared for publication circa 1960]
by [Gallipoli]. ARLINGTON-BURKE C de G, Frederick
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- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good
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Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
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About This Item
'HMS "Swiftsure" was the name ship of the Swiftsure class of battleships, designed for Chile, but purchased by the Royal Navy in 1903. After spending her early career in home waters, in 1913 she was made the flagship of Admiral Peirse, commander of the East Indies station.... [In November 1914] she was posted to the Suez Canal. The defence of the canal had been added to Admiral Peirse's duties, and on 1 December he arrived at Port Said to raise his flag. On 3-4 February 1915 the Turks attacked the Suez Canal. During this attack the "Swiftsure"'s assigned station was just north of Kantara. This area was the target of a subsidiary Turkish attack, which was soon repulsed. "Swiftsure" fired at the retreating Turks until 1.00 pm when they were finally out of range. At the start of 1915 the "Swiftsure" was allocated to the fleet at the Dardanelles after the "Euryalus" arrived to take over as Peirse's flagship. Her first action came on 2 March, when she entered the straits to attack the Turkish forts. In early March "Swiftsure" and "Triumph" were detached to attack the forts defending the port of Smyrna. This attack was intended to prevent the Germans from using the port as a submarine base. The forts at Smyrna proved no more vulnerable to naval gunnery than those at the Dardanelles, but the Turks then sank blockships in the harbour entrance. The "Swiftsure" and the "Triumph" returned to the Dardanelles to take part in the failed attempt to force the narrows on 18 March. They were given the task of supporting the main battleship squadrons by attacking the Turkish barrage guns. "Swiftsure" came in with the second line of battleships, relieving the "Triumph". During the Gallipoli landings on 25 April HMS "Swiftsure" was the flagship of Admiral Nicholson, covering the attacks at the tip of the peninsula. Her primary role was to bombard the Turkish positions around "W" beach. During the Gallipoli campaign she had two brushes with U-boats. On 25 May she fired on the U-boat that later sank her sister-ship "Triumph". On 18 September, while sailing from Mudros to Suvla, she was attacked by an unidentified submarine, becoming the only ship to be attacked in the British Aegean Zone during this period of intense submarine activity. In September 1916 the "Swiftsure" was part of the 9th Cruiser Squadron ... In that role she took part in the hunt for the German raider "Moewe" in late 1916' ('Military History Encyclopedia on the Web').
A significant omission in the above account is the pivotal role played in the landing at Suvla Bay in early August 1915. This 'was an amphibious landing made at Suvla on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula ... as part of the August Offensive, the final British attempt to break the deadlock of the Battle of Gallipoli. The landing, which commenced on the night of 6 August 1915, was intended to support a breakout from the ANZAC sector, five miles (8 km) to the south. Although initially successful, against only light opposition, the landing at Suvla was mismanaged from the outset and quickly reached the same stalemate conditions that prevailed on the Anzac and Helles fronts. On 15 August, after a week of indecision and inactivity, the British commander at Suvla, Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Stopford, was dismissed. His performance in command is often considered one of the most incompetent feats of generalship of the First World War' (Wikipedia). As Arlington-Burke puts it, 'Re-writing from my faithfully kept day to day diary, I am in an unassailable position to record, not what might have been, but what actually occurred during the momentous days August 6th to 12th inclusive. An almost incredible period of hesitant ineptitude, with dire results. I now quote ...'. The extensive manuscript incorporates large amounts of his contemporary diary entries, not just as a witness, but also as a participant in the events he records. At 3.45 am on 20 December, as the final evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula is taking place, he writes: 'I'm sitting here alone on the Nebrunessi Point. The cutter is only about fifty yards away, quietly swinging to its kedge anchor, I can see the boatkeeper sitting in the stern sheets, the other three men are wrapped in blankets and are sleeping. What an extraordinary experience to find myself undergoing, to be here absolutely alone on enemy territory which for four months at Suvla, and nearly nine months at Anzac, has witnessed some of the bloodiest fighting in history'.
His exploits after Gallipoli (briefly described on page 226) would appear to be sufficient to fill another volume. He returned to England in late 1919, after he had 'found himself in the arctic regions of Russia, as junior convoy naval officer on the river Dwina, helping to evacuate forces hemmed in by ice and snow.... In January 1920 my peripatetic wanderings found me leaving London for Australia, where I arrived in Melbourne, St Patrick's Day, March 17th. To my astonishment, I soon found myself earning a reputation as an orator and broadcaster, with a little free lance journalism'. Digitised newspaper archives mention Frederick Arlington-Burke a few times, in roles as diverse as a crusading anti-Prohibitionist in the 1920s and 1930s, and president of the St Kilda Football Club in the 1930s. He was born on 1 February 1892 (see pages 219-220); we have not been able to discover the date of his death.
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- Bookseller
- Michael Treloar Antiquarian Booksellers (AU)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
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- Title
- Dardan-Hells, 1915. Being the Unofficial Log of a Battleship which took an Active Part in the Exploit from Start to Finish of the Dardanelles and the Gallipoli Campaign Adventures [an unpublished typescript manuscript prepared for publication circa 1960]
- Author
- [Gallipoli]. ARLINGTON-BURKE C de G, Frederick
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
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