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| Attack Class Patrol Boat belonging to the Royal Australian Navy. Built
by the Queensland shipbuilders Walkers Ltd., Advance was built on a
production-line system, assembled from pre-fabricated steel sections, the superstructure
being built of light alloy. She displaced 146 tonnes, and was armed with a 40mm Bofors
gun, two 12.7mm (50 Cal.) heavy machine guns and an 81mm mortar.
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| Peter John Brew served on
her from 1983-1988 as a sailor in the Diving Branch (Diving Team 5), and later as a Radio
Operator in the rank of Able Seaman as a member of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve.
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An iron screw steamer, Ajax was
originally built and launched in 1874 as a tug boat for the
N.S.W. Government by Morts Dock & Engineering Company in Balmain, N.S.W.,
Australia. She had one deck, one spar deck and a tonnage of 344 gross and 189
net. She had
a length of 128.7 ft., a width of 21 ft. and a depth of 12 ft. Her 2-cylinder
(20" and 38.5") inverted steam engine
with overhead crankshafts attained some 72hp.
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Her single three- bladed
propeller of 8 ft. 8 in. diameter, afforded her a speed of some 11 knots.
Ajax spent 23 years as a government tug before being refitted and
converted to a pilot steamer
in 1896 for the N.S.W. Port of Newcastle. She came into service in September 1897.
Albert Brew was appointed 2nd Officer, aged
34, on 25 March 1914, promoted to 1st Officer on 1 June 1914, and then to 2nd Master in December
1915. In April 1919, he was appointed Master and in May/June "1st Class
Pilot, Newcastle (on probation)". Albert completed his probationary period,
then continued as a Pilot in the Port of Newcastle until early 1928 when he
accepted an initially temporary position as Pilot in Port Jackson, Sydney.
Ajax was withdrawn from service on 20 December 1927, after more than 50 years service, and
stripped. In 1928 her
hull was run ashore on a mud bank in the Hunter River in Newcastle
near Walsh Island, where her remains
are still visible about 500 metres upstream from Stockton Bridge. Correspondence, logs, and
other information pertaining to the Pilot
Service and Department of Navigation
in Newcastle, N.S.W., are held by N.S.W.
State Records in Sydney.
| Reg. No. 90058, code lettering JWPD, a square
rigged steel sailing ship classed 100A1, Albuera had 2 decks and 3 masts, rigging
of wire and manila hemp, a forecastle of 30 feet in length, a poop 37 feet in length, 3
anchors of 34, 34 and 28 tons, 270 fathoms of chains, 2 lifeboats, a cutter and a gig. She
had a length of 236.6 feet, a breadth of 39.2 feet, a depth of 22.8 feet, weighed in at
1554 gross and 1501 net register tons, and accommodated some 45 seamen. |
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| She was built in
Glasgow in 1885 by J. & G. Thompson, was owned by Capt. J. Hardie of Renfield Street,
Glasgow, and belonged to the port of Glasgow. |
| Albert Brew served
on her as an O.S. (Ordinary Seaman) from 28 January 1898 to 2 February 1899, as an
A.B.
(Able-bodied Seaman) from 4 April 1899 to 19 June 1900, and as a 3rd Mate from 19 June
1900 to 5 June 1901.
The earliest surviving Crew Agreement for Albuera,
for the period in which Albert served, is for a voyage commencing in Rotterdam. This
particular voyage departed Rotterdam 4 April 1899 bound for Samarang and Surabaya
on
Java, and returned via Port Elizabeth in South Africa where several of the crew left the
ship either to be gaoled or because of sickness, and new crew had to be taken on, and
ended in New York City on 19 June 1900. Departing New York on the following day, 21 year
old Albert was promoted to 3rd Mate and sailed for Sydney, Australia, apparently without
further stops, arriving there for a 2 & 1/2 month stopover on 21 November 1900.
On 1 January 1901, Australia ceased being a British Colony and became an
independent country in it's own right. Albert would have been present to see the
celebrations. It seems to have been his first visit to Australia, and one may assume he
was impressed as he returned to Australia several times over the following years,
eventually marrying the daughter of a Scottish immigrant there in 1908, and basing himself
thereafter in Australia. Perhaps with heavy heart, Albert had to leave Sydney to complete
his voyage with Albuera. Departing 1 February 1901, he arrived in London and was
discharged on 5 June 1901. Albuera's Crew agreements for 1886-1887, 1889, 1890-1892, 1894,
1900-1901, 1904, 1907, 1909, and 1911 are held by the Maritime
History Archive in Canada. See also the Crew
List for November 1900. |
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Reg.
No. 148515, code lettering GDVB, a steamer displacing 17,491 gross
register tons and 10,733 net, she was built in 1924 by Fairfield Co., of
Glasgow, Scotland, for the Canadian-Australasian Line, and registered in
the Port of London. Her length was 580.1 feet, her width 72.2 feet, and
her depth 43.4 feet. She was powered by 24 cylinder oil engines.
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| She was employed in the
civil passenger service between Sydney,
Auckland, Suva, Honolulu, and Vancouver. Aorangi
visited
Sydney many times in the years before the war, and
on some occasions was piloted by
Harbour
Pilot, Captain Albert Brew. During
World War 2, she was requisitioned and used as a troopship. Captain
Brew's younger son Bill was shipped to Canada on her in 1940 when
he was sent to continue pilot training in the
Empire Flyer Training Scheme Camp Borden, near Toronto.
Aorangi was
laid up 1953 after 30 years service. |
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Built by the Sun Shipbuilding Co. of Chester, USA, and originally
launched as the motor passenger liner Rio Hudson on 27 November 1940,
she came to Britain under the Lend-Lease programme, and began her conversion to a British
Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier, designated BAVG2, on 1 August 1941. Her conversion was
completed on 1 March 1942, and commissioned the HMS Avenger on the following day. |
A ship of 9700 gross register tonnage, she was 492 feet long and 69.5 feet wide. She had
two 12 cylinder diesel engines, with a total output of 8500 hp, and maximum speed of 16.5
knots. Additionally, she had 15 aircraft, 12 torpedoes, 144 aircraft depth-charges, and 16
anti-aircraft guns. Her sister ships were H.M. Ships Biter, Charger
and Dasher.
| After taking part in the Operation Torch landings of North
Africa in November 1942, she departed Gibraltar with convoy MFK 1(Y) on 14 November,
heading home to the Clyde in the U.K. At 0305 on 15 November, Avenger was
torpedoed by the German U-Boat U155, along with two other escorting merchant ships, Ettrick
which sank, and Almaak, which was damaged. Avenger was hit on the port
side amidships, which in turn ignited her bomb room, blowing out the centre section of the
ship. Her bow and stern sections rose in the air and sunk within 2 minutes, leaving only
12 survivors. |
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Temporary Acting Sub-Lieutenant (E) John Sidney Brew, R.N.V.R., was lost
with her. For further information, see 'The
Sinking of H.M.S. Avenger'.
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