ii NAVY NEWS – PALESTINE PATROL, MAY 2008
Ron had
On alert
to run
for ticking
with half
sacks of
a haircut
potatoes
RON Stoneham has vivid
memories of his time in Haifa FRANK Barnes, on board
– he returned to his ship destroyer HMS Chieftain for
on one occasion with half a
much of the Patrol period,
haircut.
recounts vignettes which
Ron served in Algerine-class
sum up the time for him.
minesweeper HMS Welfare, and
“Memories include the
after a period of patrolling along
collection of tinned food and
the Palestine coast the ship put in
American K rations from the
to Haifa for supplies, giving some
upper deck of the ships after
of her sailors the chance of a run
the illegals had bombarded
ashore.
us on our attempted run-
“We were given just two hours
ins,” said Frank.
and warned that we must stay in
“They threw anything to
groups of three,” said Ron.
hand – our skipper was safe,
“Haifa was under the military
as he had wire netting spread
and the Palestine Police at this
over the bridge; not so the
time, and we had to post guards
boarders or observers.
on our upper deck as look-outs
“Still, it made a good
● Illegal immigrants are deloused with DDT on the cruiser HMS Phoebe as the Commanding Offi cer, Capt G Colville, looks on
with orders to shoot at anything
contribution to our canteen
Picture supplied by C Martin
that moved in the water around
mess bills.
the ship.
“Then there was dear old
“Oil drums, orange boxes
‘Buster’ Crabb and his gang,
and so on were all given close
attention and were sent to the
bottom.”
Ron and his two mates set off
at 2pm, having been given strict
Wartime promises led
who swept the bottom of
our boats (I say boats being
a destroyer man) when we
left Haifa after refuelling.
“And Jimmy the One
bending down and listening
instructions to follow orders
to see if sacks of spuds were
from the Redcaps [Army military
police] and Palestine Police, and
to be back by 4pm.
After a short walk along the
main street of Haifa one of the
three suggested a haircut would
alleviate some of the heat, so they
to peacetime friction
ticking when we had loaded
them from the replenishing
barge in Haifa Bay – they
could have been bombs.
“Also the smell if you got
downwind of an illegal when
attempting to board – phew!
found a small Arab barber shop
“Then there was the panic
and went in. for the Allied cause. to supply additional manpower
when we were observing
The first sailor, Tiny Holt, had The Balfour Declaration of ashore, dealing with arson attacks,
from Tel Aviv Bay on May
his hair cut, then Ron stepped up November 1917 stated: “His providing howitzer and lorry gun
15 1948, the day Israel was
to the chair.
A
PROBLEM rooted
Palestine were brought into Haifa,
in ancient history
and most immigrants eventually
across a region
entered through official channels.
There was no enmity between Majesty’s Government view crews and protecting Haifa, the
founded.
“It was my turn and the barber
riven by upheaval.
boarders and immigrants with favour the establishment in only port of consequence along
“It was payday, and hands
wrapped the towel around me A people scarred by – indeed, sailors felt sympathy Palestine of a national home for the exposed Palestinian coast.
were on the quarterdeck
and ran the clippers up one side industrial-scale mass-murder for the passengers, although the the Jewish people, and will use Ships searched vessels for
awaiting cash. We could
of my head,” he said.
in a continent fractured and
Jewish view was that the Navy was their best endeavours to facilitate illegal arms, while 13 Royal
see lots of movement on the
“Then it happened.
made bitter by war.
placing unreasonable barriers in the achievement of this object, Navy two-man train crews were
shoreline when suddenly an
“In the street outside all hell
Two mutually-exclusive
the way of their journey home. it being clearly understood that selected; within three weeks they
aircraft flew out from shore.
was let loose – whistles blowing,
guarantees made to two peoples
The absurdity of the situation nothing shall be done which may had sufficient skill to run railway
“Action stations – you can
brakes screaming, people
over the same land, both people
was only to be expected when the prejudice the civil and religious
trains, and colleagues manned
imagine the commotion. It
shouting, and someone came in
with the profound belief – and
antecedents are examined. rights of existing non-Jewish
signal boxes to keep the system
was a press plane…
and said it was a raid, so the Arab
sound reasons for believing – that
The politics at the heart of the communities in Palestine, or the
open during a ten-day strike.
“The most memorable
barber disappeared out of the
the land is theirs.
Middle East seethed in the 1930s rights and political status enjoyed
The following two years saw
illegal was the President
back door, leaving me with one
And a flood of resolute
and 40s just as it did in Biblical by Jews in any other country.”
battlecruiser HMS Repulse
Warfield. The boarding had
side of my head shorn.
immigrants in ramshackle ships
times – and just as it does today. But British encouragement to
in Haifa to fl y the fl ag as
to be done by four of our
“My two shipmates rushed
bound for a hostile destination.
The Biblical Diaspora, or Zionists became problematic when
well as supplying boots
flotilla. Chieftain went in
outside to see what was
Not the greatest political hand
scattering, of Jews started with considered against promises made
on the ground – at one
starboard and Charity went
happening and I was left cuddling
ever dealt, but one which fell to
conquests of the ancient Kingdom to the Arabs – that they would rule
point around half the ship’s
in port.
the .45 revolver.
Britain to play out.
off Israel centuries before Christ. land wrested from the Turks if they
company was ashore.
“What we did not know
“If the catch had been off I’d
And if there’s a thankless task
Through expulsion and
rose against the Ottoman regime.
was that the illegal had steel
have blown a hole in my foot.
to be done with humanity and
migration, displaced Jews spread
The policies were incompatible,
At the outbreak of the war
girders mounted below the
“The next thing I recall was
efficiency, then the Royal Navy is as
across the world, setting up
leading to bitterness on both sides.
patrols off the Palestine coast were
waterline, and they took a
a 6ft 6in tall Redcap standing
well-qualified as any organisation vibrant, thriving communities in
Indeed, the Arabs objected
undertaken by Palestine Police
lot of our port side away, and
by my side saying ‘What the
to shoulder the responsibility. Europe, Asia, Africa and beyond.
strongly when the British, having
craft, whose crews were given
Charity’s starboard side.
blankety-blank are you doing
The Senior Service has fulfilled
captured Jerusalem in late 1917,
temporary RNVR status and their
“We spent two months in
here? Outside, Navy!’
Meanwhile Muslim Arabs
many such tasks for its political
were in a position to facilitate the
launches commissioned as HM
dry dock in Malta after that,
“Then two more military
dominated the population
masters over the centuries.
Jewish drive for nationhood.
ships – which led to the unusual
but we did stop the ship.
police came into the shop with
of Palestine; in 1820 the
Blockading the Dutch.
In 1920 a strict quota was
sight of the White Ensign fl ying on
“When on patrol we
guns at the ready, and my chums
Jewish cohort was around
Blockading the French.
introduced allowing 1,000 Jewish
vessels on the Sea of Galilee.
always, well, nearly always,
returned and let me know the
12,000 in a land of 500,000
Blockading the Spanish.
immigrants a month; that same
Illegal immigrants continued to
had a week in Beirut,
score.
Arab Palestinians.
Policing deadly, disease-ridden
year it rose to 16,500 per annum.
head for Palestine, but the dangers
Lebanon, as a kind of rest
“As the raid was a search for coasts in Africa and Asia. Persecution in Europe and Russia But Arab unrest continued,
were now manifold, as the sinking of
– wonderful; you needed a
arms etc, we deemed it wiser to Long, tedious, often dangerous saw Jewish numbers swell to 50,000 through 1922 when the League
the Struma by a Russian submarine
week before going back on
return to the ship.” patrols, usually carried out with by 1900, by which time Zionists of Nations formalised British rule
in 1942 demonstrated; only one of
patrol to get over it.
With paratroopers and professional skill and tact. were planning the establishment of under a Mandate which required a
the 769 passengers survived.
“When coming into Haifa
Redcaps swarming around the The Palestine Patrol pretty much a Jewish nation; attempts to deflect preparation for self-rule.
Another casualty, the 11,885-ton
harbour for provisions or
place, the three matelots swiftly fitted the pattern – the exception them to other areas, such as Africa, Churchill, then Secretary of
liner Patria, sank at her moorings in
fuel we generally picked up
headed back to the dockyard being that this time there was came to nought. State for Colonies, issued a White
Haifa, killing 260 passengers after
some pongoes and took
and the security of their ship no enemy, no war to be won, no With the outbreak of war Paper calling for Jewish immigra-
saboteurs from Haganah, a Jewish
them out for a day to give
– although Ron, still sporting honours to be gained but plenty of in 1914, British policy was to tion based on “the economic ab-
defence organisation, used too
them a rest.
his half a haircut, had some opprobrium to be garnered. encourage Zionists – apart from sorptive capacity” of the area.
much explosive in a bid to prevent
“We victualled them in
explaining to do, and more than It was not even a question of genuine sympathy, there was also Article 6 of the Mandate stated:
her from sailing to Mauritius.
various messes, which
a little mirth to contend with simply turning away boats – most a hard-nosed recognition that “The Administration of Palestine,
Jewish persecution by the Third
meant a tot each – how we
before the haircut was put right. of those intercepted off the coast of Jewish financial clout was essential while ensuring that the rights and
Reich prompted Britain in 1943
prayed for roughers, or the
position of other sections of the
to decide that illegal immigrants
rum bosun did, anyway.
population are not prejudiced,
would be permitted to stay and
“The snag was, if we got
shall facilitate Jewish immigration
admitted as part of the quota
diverted to chase an illegal,
under suitable conditions and
system – setting a precedent that
the soldiers were stuck on
shall encourage, in co-operation
would cause serious problems in
board until we finished.”
with the Jewish agency referred
the aftermath of the war.
to in Article 4, close settlement
by Jews on the land, including
State lands and waste lands not
required for public purposes.”
Jewish immigration gathered
pace, and by 1929 Jews formed
20 per cent of the population.
In the 1930s persecution
across Europe further stimulated
immigration, though the Royal
Navy maintained a passive role
in the Med, spotting suspect
ships during normal exercises and
patrols and reporting sightings to
the Palestinian authorities.
By 1936, with Jews forming 30 ● ‘Clandestine immigration ship’ Paducah, an ex-cross Channel steamer of 915 tons carrying nearly
1,400 passengers, seen from HMS Mermaid in September 1947
Picture supplied by Bernard Akerman
per cent of the population, the
Arabs rose in revolt, creating a
problem which the small British
● Front page: A Royal Navy boarding party – possibly from HMS St Austell Bay – attempts to seize
control of the San Miguel, carrying more than 900 immigrants in February 1947
Army presence could not handle. ● John Roche (front right) with colleagues from the HMS Whitesand
Picture supplied by R Davies
Two RN cruisers were sent Bay boarding party
This supplement, compiled by Mike Gray, describes the events of 1945 to 1948 and the Palestine Patrol through Royal Navy sources and eye-witness accounts. The
most comprehensive source of information is the Naval Staff History, The Royal Navy and the Palestine Patrol, by Ninian Stewart, published by Frank Cass in 2002
(ISBN 0-7146-5210-5), which is drawn from official documents and reports, while personal accounts published here are the recollections of participants in the Patrol.
002-003_Palestine_may.indd 1 22/4/08 11:02:28
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56