Next in sequence         Previous in sequence       Home         Pastel index

Sailor
Quartermaster Devereux (Irish)

English sailors, so cheery, so cordial, so similar to the image we have of them. In their dark uniform, with nothing to relieve its severity, they represented an immense force, silent, but whose strength influenced all aspects of the war. The Home Fleet on the lookout from secret harbours, was holding, without needing to be seen, the infinite empire of the sea. It only needed the German fleet to risk leaving their boltholes and trying a furtive raid, for the plumes of smoke from the funnels of the tall battlecruisers of Jellicoe and Beatty to immediately appear on the horizon. In a few hours the business was done, the enemy repulsed, forced to flee to the shameful shelter of its ports. It cost the English navy several ships and the lives of many brave people, the lives of these "blue jackets", who knew how to die so well for their flag and for their King.

Charles H. Devereux wrote to Burnand after the war and gave his address as 152 Upper Luton Road, Chatham, London.