Ship ahoy (1)
[1] Ahoy is a signal word used to call to a ship or boat. It's derived from the Middle English cry, 'Hoy!’. The word fell out of use at one time, but was revived when sailing became a popular sport. 'Ahoy' can also be used as a greeting, a warning, or a farewell.
Les escribo estas líneas pues acabo de regresar de mi viaje a Europa con motivo de la reunión anual de la Asociación de veteranos del HMS Ajax para la cual fui invitado hace mucho tiempo. Aproveché también para visitar a dos de mis hijos en Alemania, y a los nietos. El meeting fue en Londres, en el Union Jack Club, un enorme hotel y centro de reuniones, conferencias, etc., para veteranos de las guerras. En la mañana del 8 de octubre se juntaron todos para tratar temas de organización, de eventos, de las membresías, de presupuesto y de otras cuestiones, entre ellas aprobar una nueva constitución. Yo era el único invitado externo, lo cual me agradecieron. Hace mucho tiempo atrás, uno de los miembros, Malcolm Collis, me había pedido si yo me avenía a dar un discurso. Por supuesto, le dije que sí, y lo preparé a lo largo de muchos meses, y lo practiqué intensamente. Anexo, encontrarán el discurso en inglés, tal cual lo expuse, tras la cena de gala. Hubo muchos aplausos. A continuación entregué al presidente Nigel, un cuadro conmemorativo que un artista pintó, y que verán en las fotos, donde figuran el HMS Ajax, el Highland Monarch y un faro en el río Elbe, en 1946 cuando llevaban a los marineros de vuelta a Alemania. Al dorso estaban las firmas de nuestros miembros del Graf Spee. También ofrecí un cuadro del Graf Spee con la firma de Hans Eubel y copias de la pintura titulada "Ship ahoy".
Ich schreibe Ihnen diese Zeilen, da ich gerade von meiner Europareise zum Jahrestreffen der HMS Ajax Veterans Association zurückgekehrt bin, zu dem ich vor langer Zeit eingeladen wurde. Ich nutzte auch die Gelegenheit, zwei meiner Kinder in Deutschland und die Enkelkinder zu besuchen. Das Treffen fand in London im Union Jack Club statt, einem riesigen Hotel und Zentrum für Meetings, Konferenzen, Veranstaltungen, usw. und für Kriegsveteranen. Am Morgen des 8. Oktober kamen alle zusammen, um Organisation, Veranstaltungen, Mitgliedschaft, Budget und andere Themen zu besprechen, einschließlich der Verabschiedung ein neuen Statut. Ich war der einzige externe Gast, wofür sie sich bei mir bedankten. Vor langer Zeit hatte mich einer der Mitglieder, Malcolm Collis, gefragt, ob ich bereit wäre, eine Rede zu halten. Natürlich habe ich ja gesagt und mich viele Monate darauf vorbereitet und intensiv geübt. Im Anhang findet Ihr die Rede in englischer Sprache, wie ich sie nach dem Galadinner ausgestellt habe. Es gab viel Applaus. Dann überreichte ich Vorsitzender Nigel ein von einem Künstler gemaltes Gedenkgemälde, das Uhr auf den Fotos sehen können und das die HMS Ajax, die Highland Monarch und einen Leuchtturm auf der Elbe im Jahr 1946 zeigt, als sie Seeleute nach Deutschland zurückbrachten. Auf der Rückseite waren die Unterschriften unserer Mitglieder der Graf Spee. Ich habe auch ein Gemälde der Graf Spee mit der Signatur von Hans Eubel und Kopien des Gemäldes mit dem Titel "Schiff ahoy" angeboten.
El menú de una magnífica velada
El discurso, the speech
SHIP AHOY
SCHIFF AHOY, in German
An inspiring story about the saga of the Battle of the River Plate
And how, old adversaries engaged in a cruel war, greeted each other at sea.
By Enrique Dick
Head of the Admiral Graf Spee Comradeship Circle in Argentina &
Honorary Member of the HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans Association
Buenos Aires, Argentina - London, U. K., 2022.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honour for me to address to all of you in this annual meeting of the HMS Ajax’s veterans’ relatives’ ceremony to which we have been kindly invited.
Before going further, I find it convenient to tell you about some of my personal and professional background, which may explain why I am here and why I am so fond of the sea. As Major General (Retired) of the Argentine Army, many of my friends and comrades insist on the fact that I should have been a seaman due to the close relationship to all the seamen. Secondly, I am the son of a crew member of the battleship Admiral Graf Spee and I have written books and stories of the saga of the German and British ships. I am also the Head of the Circle of the Admiral Graf Spee Association, which like you do; we try to keep traditions alive. Thirdly, a quarter of my blood is English as my mother belongs to the Andrew family, from Whitby, Yorkshire. My great-grandfather was a sail maker, my great uncle Alfred learnt everything about naval machines in Stockton-On-Tees, and back to his country, he joined the Argentine Navy as a machinist officer, and sailed on a large number of ships. His younger brother, Edgar, drowned in the Atlantic Ocean when the Titanic sank in April, 1912. Finally, I have always loved reading books about the Royal Navy, its ships and crews, biographies, stories, journals, memoirs and novels, some of which are fictional but fully respect traditions and history. All of that caught my entire attention.
The HMS Ajax story is like as the Royal Navy, a story about professional men whose career it is. I stress the word professional because it is significant. A profession is neither an enthusiasm nor a hobby. It is not something embarked upon in emergency, however necessary at times that may be. A profession is something to which you give your life.
Having said this, I speak to you from the most hidden naval story, its men and women. My first draft was an outline of the connection between the Commanding Officers of the opposing ships. However, I was not convinced. For example, I removed sailors’ testimonies to members of turrets “A” of the ships that they could said how they felt when fighting; such was the case of my father in the Graf Spee. It didn’t work either. In the end, I found out another barely known circumstance that intensely shows the comradeship and professionalism of the men at sea.
Prior to the most emotional sense, let’s remember that on December 13, 1939 in the waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, there was a naval fight better known as “the Battle of the River Plate” between three British ships and a German one. The battle finished with the sinking of the Graf Spee by order of its Commanding Officer, its crew was sent to Argentina, taken and declared prisoners of war in 1944. Thanks to Captain Hans Langsdorff’s decision, many lives were saved. Two years later, sailors were repatriated to Germany. These were the events according to my father and other members of the crew’s testimonies:
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The next morning, we climbed onto the army trucks and set off without further ceremony to the port of Buenos Aires. A company of British Marines was waiting for us at Dock A to pat us down to make sure we weren’t carrying any weapons and check our baggage to verify that anything sharp was removed before we went on board. Moored up nearby was the transport ship that would be taking us back to Germany, the British merchantman Highland Monarch.
In total, 811 men were being repatriated including my father Hein Dick, recently married to Annie. They gradually made their way on board the huge double-funnelled merchant ship that, in an odd twist of fate, the Graf Spee had planned to intercept at the beginning of December 1939. At 14,000 registered tons and with a double bridge, her vast holds packed with frozen meat. The ship’s siren gave a short blast, triggering more shouts of protest and encouragement for them to come back soon. A tug towed the Highland Monarch out of the port. Already their friends and loved ones back on dry land were lost in the banks of mist rising from the river.
In the logbook it is stated that:
Highland Monarch embarked 811 crew members of Graf Spee who had been interned in Argentina and 36 from Uruguay. February, 25th, 1946 Arr. Freetown sailing later same day for Lisbon previous to sailing to Bilbao march 9th, 1946 and took on more German internees.
A sailor of Graf Spee, Kurt Walther, wrote a letter for my aunt Ethel Bousquet, sister of Annie:
On board, February 21st, 1946
We are in Freetown, Africa.
Life on the ship is very good, the English are always gentlemen, they are friendly and the food is rich and sufficient, fresh bread, potatoes, meat, soup and tea every day. The trip is calm and the sailors don’t mess around. There is no wind and it is very hot.
The Bay of Biscay was behind them and as the new day dawned, they were reminded of how cold it could be in Europe at this time of year. At some stage of the journey, by now nobody really cared when, their former adversary, the cruiser HMS Ajax, slipped alongside the Highland Monarch to act as her escort.
At that moment, the veteran cruise came closer the starboard tack and made an unusual manoeuvre. It approached the merchant ship and at one cable of distance away from the stern, the Ajax crossed its wake with a considerable heeled ship to later go back to the port side of the merchant. Once it had been overtaken, it began to go away. Everyone noticed then that the pennants rising in the halyard were a sign of a good sail. In both ships, the crews and the imprisoned sailors, appearing at the deck, when distinguishing the colour and the composition of the signals, raised their arms to wave in hesitation first but in excitement later with a Schiff ahoy to their once adversaries and now prisoners of the Graf Spee; and, a Ship ahoy to the crew of the impetuous HMS Ajax. It was not until an instant of deep silence that from the Highland Monarch, an improvised German signalman informed the other ship the letter AHOY with two cloth banners cobbled together. Once again the Ship ahoy intensified loudly by enthusiastic sailors until they shouted goodbye for ever.
At the mouth of the Elbe River, HMS Ajax handed over her escort duties to two destroyers which accompanied the Highland Monarch as far as Hamburg itself. It also commented that the cruiser still had two members of crew who were veterans of the Battle of the River Plate.
The Highland Monarch navigated her way carefully and very slowly along the river, giving her stunned passengers their first sight of their homeland now razed to the ground. There wasn’t a living soul to be seen the whole length of the leaden grey coast. A thin layer of fine snow covered the twisted beams of what few of the port’s former sheds and warehouses were still standing. In the distance, the spire of the Michaeliskirche, by some miracle still in one piece, was the only sign that anything of Hamburg had survived. Besides the crew on board, many new wives made the journey while sobbing at the scene of devastation and wondering what awaited them, whilst others, like my mother, remained in Argentina.
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In the logbook it is stated that:
AJAX escorted HIGHLAND MONARCH & then sailed to Devonport while the cargo liner went on to Hamburg March 25th, 1946 AJAX ready to sail from Chatham for the Mediterranean 1946 - 1948 1st Cruiser Squadron, Malta.
And the Ship ahoy of the seamen, cried roared out in cracked voices struck by emotion, are nothing but right here, in a faraway today that comes closer. And this is our tribute. This is why we are here, this is why our parents, grandparents and friends vibrate in our nostalgia, those who sailed in those times and that do sail today in the eternity of an endless sea.
Close friends: Malcolm Collis and Enrique Dick and the memories in photographs from 2019.
Nigel Masters aprecia las láminas del cuadro Ship ahoy, de Allan o`Mill.
During the speech from Enrique
Enrique receives from the chairman, Nigel Masters, a porcelain plate, limited edition Nº 00149 D, where the Battle of the Río de la Plata is represented.
Below:
1. The back of the work with its original painting, the signatures of the members of the Graf Spee Circle.
2. For the HMS Ajax Veterans Association, the Graf Spee by Diego Rojas and the signature of captain Friedrich-Wilhelm Rasenack
The other side of the painting, and a from the Admira Graf Spee
After the speech and the gifts, the pleasant conversation.
The painting "Ship ahoy" in the hands of Nigel Masters.
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