Royal Navy Research Archive Forums
Photographs => Members Mystery Photos => Topic started by: HarbourM on 03 July 2025 04:52:12 pm
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We have some old photographs which have been passed down in the family, a few of which must relate to numerous ancestors who served in the Royal Navy but we are not sure what the connections are.
This photograph is one of about 4 which are mounted on cards with a photographers name Eymundsson, Reykjavik. Another photograph shows crew members on what look like Icelandic ponies. I would be interested to know what anyone makes of this group photo.
So far I haven't found a family service record which includes the HMS Bellona. A great uncle's service record shows he was a boy on the St Vincent in 1901 which I believe was a training ship at that time. Would that have involved going on other ships?
Would the HMS Bellona have been around Iceland?
Could the 1901 relate to something other than the year?
Any pointers or directions for research etc would be appreciated as I am new to this!
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Bellona was a small [3rd class] Cruiser and in 1901 under the command of Captain Hubert Grant Dalton, was on Fishery Protection duties and was based in Iceland between April and October of that year, to oversee the large number of fishing trawlers that used the waters between Iceland and the Faeroes.
As an aside, she visited the isolated community of St Kilda to carry out the Census of that year....
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How might I go about finding a crew list for that period?
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Unfortunately no such thing as a 'crew list' exists for RN warships. An individual's Service Record should show the ships they served on
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I may have found the connection.... A Great Uncle is listed as serving on the Bellona in 1901 (Service record attched). I've also attached another photograph from the set. If my great Uncle was a 2nd Writer could he be one of these gentlemen with regards to uniform?
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Yup, that fits. He will be the seated figure.
Writers were the ships administrators - responsible for pay, correspondence and administration. As such they were [at this time] allowed to wear jacket and shirt etc, not the ‘sailor suit’.
From his service record, in 1901 he was a Second Class Writer and had been awarded one good conduct badge – the anchor shows the rate and the chevron is the GCB. He would have had a star with the letter W, on his right arm.
The standing figure is a Chief Writer – he has the star and W badge on his jacket lapels.
The Writer branch is still in existence in today’s Navy, see:
https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/roles/writer
His service record is interesting – several short periods on ‘big ships’ – battleships and cruisers, with a spell in China [1904-08]
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This is so helpful, thank you for this information and help with solving this photo mystery.