The Ship's Musician

 

Some call it a life ring or a lifebuoy. 
Other names better describe its purpose,
a life-preserver or a life-saver.

But no matter what you call it,
everyone onboard a boat or ship
should know where it is and when to use it.

Your life may depend on it.

Royal Navy Protected cruiser H.M.S. Doris, circa 1910
Source: Wikimedia

This lifebuoy came from the H.M.S. Doris, one of nine second-class protected cruisers of the Eclipse-class built for Britain's Royal Navy in the mid-1890s. A protected cruiser had only an armored deck and was a lighter version of an armored cruiser which was protected by armored plate on both the deck and the ship's belt, i.e. the hull sides. I'll skip over the distinction between the other battlecruisers, heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and scout cruisers.  

Construction of the Doris, the fourth ship of the Eclipse-class, began on 29 August 1894 at the naval shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England and was completed on 18 November 1897. Six of the nine Eclipse protected cruisers were finished that same year.

Royal Navy Eclipse class cruiser diagrams
from "Brassey's Naval Annual" 1896
Source: Wikimedia

The ship was 350 ft (106.7 m) long with a beam of 53 ft 6 in (16.3 m) and displaced 5,600 long tons (5,690 t). Its twin propellers were powered by two triple-cylinder vertical engines which used steam supplied by 8 coal-fired boilers. The engines were capable of 8000 horsepower, giving the Doris a top speed of 18.5 knots. Its normal stockpile of coal was 550 tons, but there was reserve capacity for almost twice as much fuel at 1075 tons. The ship also had two masts for sail rigging, though I don't know how often, if at all, sails were used. Perhaps it was insurance for an emergency if the steam engines should fail.

As seen in this schematic of Eclipse-class cruisers, H.M.S. Doris positively bristled with guns on all sides of the ship. As originally built it had five 6-inch (152 mm) quick-firing guns, six 4.7-inch guns, six 3-pounder guns, and three 18-inch torpedo tubes. In 1905 it was refitted with six more 6-inch guns and nine 12-pounder guns in order to reduce the number of different size munitions. 

The ship's complement originally consisted of 393 officers and sailors, though, like most ships, this varied over time depending on its assignments. The reason for my interest in the H.M.S. Doris is that I found a postcard featuring just one serviceman from the cruiser. He was described as the ship's musician.

His instrument is not one usually associated with a navy, or the sea, for that matter.

He is a Scottish piper wearing full highland dress with feathered Glengarry hat, jacket, cross belt, plaid, kilt, dirk, sporran, stockings, and buckled brogues, not to mention a set of bagpipes too. The piper stands on the bottom step of a removable set of stairs that lead to a very odd, short doorway on the ship. 

From what little I have been able to discover, it was not uncommon in earlier times to have a piper assigned to a warship in the British Navy. It was likely a choice of the captain, who was presumably Scottish, to add musical color to the ship's daily rituals. Usually bugle players and drummers were used on warships as their sound could carry in the heat of battle and convey orders from the commander. In the age of sail a ship's musicians was often a fiddler who played tunes that helped the sailors toiling at a capstan while pulling lines or weighing anchor. I imagine a piper could do the same on a battleship whenever the crew was hauling coal or heavy rigging.

But compared to bugle calls I'm not sure the sound of bagpipes triggers the same level of warrior zeal in sailors, though its squeal can be pretty bloodcurdling. At least when played with gusto. 

This colorful postcard of the H.M.S. Doris, 2nd Class Cruiser shows the ship on a placid teal sea. The Doris did service during the Second Boer War (1899 – 1902) and later joined the Channel Fleet. In WW1 it was sent to the Mediterranean as part of the Allied forces opposing Turkey. In 1915 it was part of the naval support for the attack on the Gallipoli peninsula. From March 1917 to November 1918, the Doris was stationed in India, where she served as a hulk–a floating troops barracks. Following the end of the war, in February 1919 she was sold for scrap in Mumbai.

This postcard was sent from Weymouth, England to Mr. A. Slade, a Porter (?) in Chipping, Sodbury, England. The postmark is unclear but the green, half-penny stamp of King Edward VII puts it sometime pre- WW1.   

                                                        2 Charles St

                                Dear A.  Many thanks for P.C
                                I was surprised to hear of your
                                being at C. Sodbury, and am
                                glad you are on alright.
                                Are you going to have a trip
                                down here in the summer.
                                No doubt you have heard I am
                                back at Weymouth again. Hoping
                                you are quite well  I remain yours truly
                                                                            Jezlipr (?)

As I was preparing this short post I discovered a colorized version of the Ship's Musician from H.M.S. Doris, so I bought it. An unknown artist has given the piper's uniform beautiful detail, bringing out his tartan's color. But I can't decide which unit he is from, the two black tassels and green plaid are either the Gordon Highlanders or the Seaforth Highlanders. Or maybe some other clan. To be honest, Scottish plaids look like camouflage to me as it makes my eyes blur. However until I saw this colorized image I had not noticed the photo bombers in the picture.  

So what did the piper play on H.M.S. Doris? Did he perform regular hours or only on special occasions? Where did he practice? The sound of the pipes likely could be heard from ship's bilge to its crows nest. And how did he keep his kit clean? I don't think wool and seawater are a good mix.

But unlike the other sailors who needed to keep track of all the lifebuoys on the ship, a piper had the benefit of carrying his own personal flotation device.   

To best demonstrate Scottish bagpipes
here are two young Scots playing pipes and drum  
at a farmers market in Perth, Perthshire. 

The player blows air into the pipe bag
through a mouthpipe that has a small flap valve
where it connects to the bag. 

It is the pressure from the left arm on the bag
that propels the air to vibrate the reeds
of the chanter and drones.

It is not easy. 

For more pictures of pipers,
all sober and landlocked,
check out
The Sinister Piper
Four Well-dressed Pipers
The Piper and the Auld Brig o'Earn

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where boating safety is always first.