"WRENS" IN THE HUMBER.

DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR: MISS M. ISEMONGER

The Humber "Wrens" have been singularly fortunate in being associated with one of the most interesting naval bases in the kingdom, a centre of the anti-submarine offensive, and of the convoy system, the home of a large auxiliary fleet of mine-sweepers, and, since March, 1918, of the famous mine-laying squadron, the 20th Destroyer Flotilla. Most fortunate, too, in their privilege of serving under naval chiefs of outstanding ability and unfailing kindness, who gave them, from the first, a place and a share in their own great service.

The East Coast Command was somewhat ahead of the Admiralty with regard to women's service. As far back as the spring of 1917 the naval authorities then engaged in creating an effective patrol base out of scant material, recognised the necessity of the organised employment of women to replace and supplement men in every branch of non-combatant work on shore.

In the naval offices at Hull and Grimsby girl clerks were already employed - the service of one, now a decorated Deputy Principal of the W.R.N.S., dates from November, 1914 - a few more were engaged for duty at Immingham Dock where, on ground reclaimed from the river swamps, the naval depot was built, and the Admiral made his headquarters.

But from the first it was determined, before women were brought in, in appreciable force, to organise their service, and thus give them a recognised position, and further, to provide fully for their comfort. The Fish Profits Fund gave a certain independence to the Vice-Admiral Commanding the East Coast in the provision of buildings, etc., and personal interest gave me a share in the scheme. I was made responsible, under the Flag Captain, for all arrangements concerning women's service in the Humber stations.

I keep among treasured souvenirs of the war the Flag Captain's rough draft of the terms of my commission, and the Fleet Paymaster's list of the names of girl typists and telephonists borne on the books in 1917.

The first department to be filled by women was the Telephone Section of the Signal Station at Immingham Dock. Four watches of six - afterwards increased to nine - members each, take duty in turn for eight hours, and have carried on, night and day, for nearly two years now without a break. Air raids were frequent in the summer and autumn of 1917, but were never allowed to interrupt the passing of messages at the Signal Station. The windows were heavily shuttered to show no light, the air inside grew hot and heavy, the watch on duty could seldom be relieved till the next day, but no one minded, and there was never the slightest panic.

In close connection with the Signal Station was the Coding Office, in which women gradually replaced naval officers. Here again, for over a year, work has gone on day and night in women's hands, and in times of stress the same Coders W.R.N. S. have taken 24 hour continuous duty without failing.

By Christmas 1917, women were also at work in the Torpedo Shed in charge of the W/T store and on humble jobs of oiling and cleaning torpedoes, and in the first weeks of 1918 a few picked girls were chosen to train in delicate mechanical work. The first women who ever learnt to adjust naval gyroscopes were taught in the Torpedo Shed at Immingham by an old artificer, whose existence seemed bound up in his wonderful machines.

Others followed as apprentices in various branches of technical work required for the maintenance and repair of the different mechanisms used in naval war, from searchlight lamps to hydrophones. More again, of rougher type, who had been engaged during the winter, to construct the wire nets that brought so many enemy submarines to destruction, and to clean the mines attached to the nets, and the casings of depth charges.

WRNS Mending Nets

Eventually some of the women undertook the priming of depth charges, and many learnt to splice as neatly as any sailor. They were quite the most picturesque of the Navy's women workers at our base; they hailed, for the most part, from the fish docks of Grimsby, and their customs and mode of life - those of the quay-side - unfitted them for the terms of enrolment.

But they worked, on and off, with the best of goodwill, and were most attractive to watch as they sat about the Mining Compound in their gaily coloured shawls and caps, weaving nets from coils of wire, or wrapping glass floats in long bags of unbleached calico and tying them securely in place. Often as they worked they sang, in parts, and the chorus would be taken up in the drifters alongside in the basin.

All through the naval offices of the Humber district, women clerks more and more replaced men, a few rising to posts that would otherwise have detailed naval paymasters on shore. At Grimsby, where the establishment of H.M.S. Pekin comprises the offices dealing with mine-sweeping and other auxiliary operations, the W.R.N.S. officers have come in for a share in the administrative responsibility that usually rests with executive officers of the Royal Navy, in dealing with skippers and men of the Trawler Reserve. Those on who this duty has fallen have done it admirably.

Naturally when the W.RN.S. was launched, the Humber contingent of women was merged into it, and thenceforth wore the pretty Service uniform with pride. But they were already "Wrens" in all but name and dress, and joined as a compact and fairly efficient body of over 100, not counting the mine net workers.

This, together with the fact that local conditions compelled the employment, almost exclusively, of women whose homes were on the spot, gave them a special esprit de corps. They were very proud to be the first "Wrens" to appear on parade beside the men of the Royal Navy before the King and Queen, this was on the occasion of Their Majesties' visit to the East Coast in April, 1918.

Lack of space forbids details of other departments in which women work at this base, but one small domestic triumph is perhaps worth recording. A naval officer of some standing, who was heard to say, when the subject was first broached, that only over his dead body should women servants come into the Ward Room Mess, is among the most openly appreciative now, of the services of the maids who tidy his quarters, wait at table, brush his uniform, and mend his socks.

It has been a strenuous service in the Humber, more especially from March to August, 1918, when naval officers who directed operations seldom got two hours unbroken sleep, and "Wrens" ranks and ratings had to do their utmost in all departments, as unobtrusively as possible. But we were happy that it was so, and every women of us among the 250 "Wrens" - yes, and the other 120 "irregular auxiliaries," will have a proud remembrance to the end of the chapter, of the days of the Great War, when we shared the service and the comradeship of the Navy in the East Coast Command.

M. ISEMONGER.

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