He left the Nottingham home of his parents for the last time on Monday 5 February 1923, by nightfall he found himself in Portsmouth as a signed-up recruit of the Royal Marines. He was 17 years and 5 months of age. Until the preceding Friday he was a 'Puller on Hosiery' in a Nottingham factory producing stockings and socks. Life had certainly moved on for the young William Ernest 'Bert' Cross.
A period of in-house education and training followed for Private Cross, Po.21787 B Company, at his new 'home', the Royal Marines Portsmouth Division.
His full acceptance into the Royal Marines was secured upon reaching the age of 18, in August 1923 and the term Private gave way to the rank of Marine.
The first embarkation onto a ship, HMS Barham, for Marine Cross, occurred in May 1924. Life at sea as a Royal Marine saw him deployed to the Mediterranean, Mid and Far East over the next 20 years, serving on various ships. All will be told as this story progresses.
He finally returned to England in the summer of 1942 from his single longest deployment lasting three years. He was released from service in December 1945 and his commission of Lieutenant in the Royal Marines terminated in November 1950.
HMS BARHAM - Queen Elizabeth class battleship
12 May 1924 - 11 November 1925
Embarkation was in May 1924 and he witnessed his first 'Review of the Fleet' at Spithead in July, which for a newcomer to life at sea would have been a huge eye-opener. The Barham's records show that it sailed for the Med on 9 Sept 1924 and arrived in Malta 7 Oct 1924.
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HMS BARHAM at Scapa Flow in 1917
(Credit: Wiki)
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Mne. Cross Malta 1924/5
Watermark reads Grand Studio Malta
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HMS BARHAM
At speed looking aft across a pair of 15" guns
The Med 1925
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| Visiting dignitaries. It is thought that the officer with the dark jacket between the two Royal Navy officers could be a member of the Greek monarchy, flanked by possibly Capt. Richard Hill on the left and Rear Admiral William Fisher on the right, both of whom served on HMS Barham in 1925. |
The following photo is also part of his collection. It is documented that the Barham underwent a major refit from 1931-1934, unfortunately this picture has no date inscribed.
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| HMS Barham in dry-dock |
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| A rare picture - HMS Barham c1924 The sign says "Orders taken now for boots or shoes made to measure. Boot stretching carried out at any time. Any requirements not in stock will be obtained as soon as possible. The Old Firm" |
It is clear from the many pictures in his album that he was fortunate in those early years of his career to do some comprehensive 'sightseeing' sailing the Med. Place names inscribed on photos and postcards show Gibraltar, Malta, Lecce province in southern Italy, Palma Majorca, Valencia Spain, Sicily, Greece and the Greek Islands, Gallipoli and the Dardanelles etc. One has to remember that these were the inter-war years and much flying-the-flag would have been done by the Royal Navy as it sailed the Med.
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| Gibraltar as seen from the New Mole (South Mole) c1930 |
'Fleet Regatta' at Corfu (Greece) July 1925
The following three pictures from his album point to this event. Naval sources indicate that Royal Navy 'regattas' was a regular event whereby ships' crews and personnel would compete against each other in various physical activities - ship against ship so to speak. Sources indicate that in July 1925 there were four of the "Iron Duke" class battleships in the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet (Iron Duke, Benbow, Emperor of India and Marlborough). After the regatta BARHAM, on which he was embarked at the time, and Emperor of India visited Argostoli, Mudros, Thasos, Malta and then Gibraltar.
The inscriptions are as found on the pictures.
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| An Iron Duke class battleship off Corfu |
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| Rowing competition with seven boats |
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| A mid-summer swim in the Med |
The next picture is more evidence of their visitations all over the Med during his time aboard HMS Barham cruising the Med during the summer of 1925. The white border and sepia colouring of the picture is the same as the three pictures above, indicative of a family of pictures taken during the same timeframe. The picture has the inscription 'Port Pogon' on it which is the old name of the current Poros, an island to the east of the Peloponnese peninsula, Greece.
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| Looking south towards Port Pogon (Poros), with the hills of the Greek mainland in the background. |
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Zoomed in from the above;
the Greek Navy at Port Pogon (Poros) c1925. Moored are what is thought to be three Greek coastal defence vessels of the Hydra class of ironclads, probably Spetsai, Psara and Hydra.
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| Looking north towards modern day Poros, taken in 2014. |
Fast forward to 2014
We travelled via Galatas on the eastern Peloponnese along the stretch of coastline that separates mainland Greece from Poros and the beauty is quite striking. Of course at the time we had no idea that I would be researching the military life and times of Lt. Cross, my father-in-law whom I never met. The modern day picture sadly showing the increasing mankind generated litter, in this case wrecked cars, spoiling the coast.
And without the litter ....
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| Poros 2014 |
