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JOHN RING, ROYAL MARINE : 1914 - 1918 WW1 ORIGINAL HANDWRITTEN JOURNAL OF A ROYAL MARINE STATIONED AND PATROLLING IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND EAST INDIES, CONTAINING BOTH DETAILED AND FASCINATING DIARY ENTRIES OF AND COMPREHENSIVE LISTS OF NAVAL FACTS AND FIGURES

Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. On offer is a detailed and eclectic book, made by John Ring, a Royal Marine (Number 1520) during World War 1, on the H.M.S. Fox and H.M.S. Proserpine. The book contains journal entries of Ring’s time on the H.M.S. Fox, in active duty and experiencing naval warfare. His entries are presented in a fairly matter-of-fact way with few sentence breaks. For example: “H.M.S. Fox, 9th June 1915. Join H.M.S. Fox at Ismailia on the 9th and stayed at at Ismailia from June 9th until the 1st of August and went from thier to the (Great Bitter Lake) and remained their until August 20th and then sailed for Suez and arrived in Suez on Aug 22nd and stayed their until Aug 31st and then left Suez for the Great Bitter Lake, and remained their for a week, and while we were their we captured two Turkish mines, and kept them on board our ship for a night or two and about two mornings afterwards Sept 4 we towed them 4 Hundread miles from the Ship, and about one hour after, The Signal was made from our ship, to press the Button, and about two days later we found another Turkish mines, and also did the same to that...” For the rest of 1915, Ring is one the Fox as it patrols the area Suez Canal area, from the canal to Port Said. From the Fox, Ring moves to the H.M.S. Proserpine. On the Proserpine, Ring does much of the same as he did on the Fox, patrolling the Suez Canal, rescuing ships that have run aground, and occasionally coming into combat: “The natives fired back to us, and in their firing, about the fourth round, it was reported that the gunner (?) was blown over, and killed and another man had his arm blown off.” The ship stays on the Shatt-al-Arab River for 4 months, than leaves for India, first docking at Bombay and then moving on to Colombo. “While we were at Colombo we went to the Royal Naval Camp at Diyatalawa Ceylon, and their are some interesting places to go at Ceylon, about 200 years from the camp were were at, was the Camp while the Boer War was on they sent the prisoners to Ceylon and another place was Little England.” After this last diary entry, the book takes on a less narrative identity. The rest of the journal consists of page after page of incredibly interesting and comprehensive lists of things concerning military casualties and other matters. The lists contain headings such as “Norwegian Ships, Sunk,” “Enemy’s Lost Airships,” “British Steamers Torpedoed and Sunk,” “British Ships Sunk by German Raiders,” “Soldiers Deaths in Quelling Rebellion” (concerning the 1916 Irish Rebellion, commonly referred to as ‘Easter Rising’), “These are Marine Officers lost in the Battle” (he does not write it, but he is referring to the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first naval battle of WW1), “H.M.S. Ships Lost and Sunk in the Great War,” and many other lists of naval ships lost in the war, usually containing the name of the ship, the size in tonnage, the date commissioned and/or destroyed, and occasionally the crew size, type of guns used and/or the name of the Captain. There are long lists of ships sunk from almost all the Allied Power countries. There are also news stories, about the hanging of Sir Roger Casement, the sinking of the Dreadnought Leonardo Da Vinci, the H.M.S. King George VII, and other stories related to the war, copied down, probably word for word from a newspaper. Though Ring was born in Essex, the stories of Sir Roger Casement and the entry about the deaths in the Irish rebellion make it seem that Ring might have had some Irish sympathies, or was possibly just interested in the Rebellion as a military matter. There are also about two dozen loose pieces of ephemera include with the book dealing with John Ring’s entire life and career, the earliest dated 1896, and the latest 1955. Included are: A Naval Marriage Certificate (of John Ring to Margaret Carr) from 1920 on board the H.M.S. Hercules; 2 certificates of service, detailing Ring’s entire military career from 1905-1932 with the earlier certificate showing a complete list of the ship’s Ring served on from 1905 to 1924 (both certificates contain much personal information including Date and Location of Birth, Religion, Next of Kin, and physical characteristics); many newspaper clippings concerning WW1 and WW2 with quite a few political cartoons as well. The book is in very good condition, without any noticeable signs of wear and tear. For an unknown reason the cover reads, “O.R. Wace H.M.S. Swiftsure, East Indies.” Ring’s service record has no record of him stationed on the Swiftsure. The handwriting is clean and easy to read. It is 84 pages in length.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

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