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Painter1. Percy Bathe
Royal Navy HMS Penelope 1915
from:Sydenham, SE London
Percy Bathe was born in Deptford, SE London, in 1881. On 9 August 1900, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry as a Private, No 11713, a member of the Chatham Division. He was at the depot at Deal until 20 March 1901 during which time he passed his musketry drill and proved his ability to swim. He then transferred to Chatham where he was at the time of the 1901 census. However, he was invalided out and discharged on 12 June 1901. A little over a year later, on 4 July 1902, he re-enlisted as a Private, No 12862, still with the Chatham Division. He was based at Chatham until November that year when he joined HMS Bacchante and served with the Mediterranean Fleet, headquartered at Malta, until February 1905. During his sea service, he passed various other musketry and gunnery drills and was awarded a good conduct badge in 1904, on the second anniversary of his re-enlistment.
On his return to the UK, Percy was based mainly at Chatham although he did have a couple of months with HMS Wildfire, the Sheerness depot. On 13 January 1907, he joined HMS Acheron, the stoker’s training ship at the Nore, and then, on 15 May 1908, having served as a private in the RMLI for more than six years, he joined the Royal Navy as Painter 2nd Class. He spent a further two weeks on Acheron and a month at the shore station at Sheerness, before joining HMS Crescent with the Home Fleet at Portsmouth. His new service number was M318. He was with Crescent, an Edgar-class cruiser, for three months before joining HMS Clio, a Cadmus-class sloop, on the China station. On 11 October 1910, Percy joined HMS Royal Arthur, the sister ship of the Crescent, and part of the 4th Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet at Portsmouth. At the end of the year, he was back at Sheerness and then, from 17 February 1911, he was a member of the 224-strong crew of HMS Pelorus for two months, before moving on to HMS Merlin, a sister ship of the Clio. On 5 November 1913, Percy Bathe was posted back to HMS Pembroke II at Sheerness. While with Merlin, Percy passed as Painter 1st Class (23 January 1913). On 15 February 1914, Percy joined Cruiser Force C based at Harwich serving on three outdated Cressy-class cruisers – HMS Aboukir (to 31 May 1914), HMS Cressy (to 24 July) and HMS Hogue (to 5 August). These ships were, coincidently, sisters ships of the Bacchante, on which Percy had served as a Marine in the Med. In fact Bacchante was the flagship of Cruiser Force C, also known as the Live Bait Squadron.
Family legend has it that, while Percy was at home on leave, he injured himself by sitting on his mother’s knitting needles. His injuries were said to be severe enough to prevent him sailing with his ship which was then “lost with all handsâ€. In fact, he was on the strength of HMS Pembroke II from 6 August to 9 December 1914 while the Harwich Squadron saw action, first as support in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, and then, when on patrol in the North Sea on 22 September 1914, all the three cruisers he had served on earlier that year – each with a crew of 760 – were sunk by U-9 in the space of two hours with the lost of 1,379 ratings and 62 officers.
Percy joined his next ship on 10 December 1914. HMS Penelope was a new vessel which was just completing. She was an Arethusa-class light cruiser with a crew of 276 under the command of Captain Hubert Lynes, and, upon completion in August 1915, she was assigned to the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron of the Harwich Force guarding the eastern approaches to the English Channel. On 25 April 1916 off the coast of Norfolk, Penelope was damaged by a torpedo from the German submarine U-29, fortunately without loss of life. Between 19 May and 16 September 1916, while Penelope was being repaired, Percy Bathe was again on the strength of Pembroke II before rejoining Penelope which, in March 1918, was reassigned to the 7th Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. Percy was serving with Penelope when the Armistice came, and he stayed with her until 4 March 1919 and during his time on this ship, in 1917, he was awarded a Long Service & Good Conduct Medal.
In October 1918, Percy was promoted to Instructor Painter 1st Class. Then, in the wind down from a war footing, much of the Navy’s fleet was placed into Reserve, and many ships were subsequently scrapped. Percy Bathe seems to have had a role in this activity, being posted to the battlecruiser HMS Indomitable, then in Reserve, and remaining with her until March 1920, when she was paid off before being scrapped. He then went to HMS Erin, flagship of the Nore Reserve, for two months in 1920. His record puts his old ship Penelope in brackets alongside both Indomitable’s and Erin’s names, and his War Gratuity was paid on Indomitable’s list 14 Penelope. Percy completed the 12 years he had originally signed on for in May 1920. He signed on for a second period and remained with Erin until the end of June 1920, then to Pembroke II where he was for three months before going to sea again with two more light cruisers – first HMS Cleopatra for 10 months and then HMS Caledon for the last two years of his service. He was pensioned on 28 August 1923 after over 15 years in the Navy.
