INDUSTRY’S DAZZLING EFFECT IN WW1   by   James R Smith RFA 1/O(X) (ret’d)     Merchant ships and in particular large passenger liners had always tried to show themselves off in the best possible light by looking boldly resplendent…

  BAGGOTT OF THE PERTHSHIRE   by  James R Smith RFA 1/O(X) (ret’d)     Chief Steward ALLEN M. BAGGOTT   A little-known fact in the annals of the RFA is that one of the survivors from the sinking of the White…

  Portsmouth‘s unsung dockyard heroes commemorated with Falklands plaque    by Andrew Cave       On display in Boathouse No: 7 in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is a memorial plaque which honour the efforts of the Dockyard staff in preparing…

  The TARPENBEK Incident    by James R Smith     MV TARPENBEK   Over the years, in common with a number of other well-known ship operators, the RFA has suffered a number of unfortunate collisions and one of the…

The WW1 LEAF Group Freighting Tankers   by James R Smith   The outbreak of World War 1 authorised the Admiralty (under the “General Authority of the Crown”) to requisition any completed British-registered vessel and this was later enlarged to…

REMEMBERANCE SUNDAY 2020   RFA DARKDALE   On 21 October 1941 while at anchor off Jamestown, St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean RFA Darkdale was torpedoed, exploded and sank killing all forty one onboard. On Remembrance Sunday, 8 November 2020 off…

  THE RELIABLE ARAPAHO A ‘Lego® Carrier’ Tom Adams MBE   Post the Falklands War in 1982 the UK Ministry of Defence arranged a follow-on charter of T & J Harrison Line’s ASTROMNER for reconfiguring of the Arapaho system. A…