A Guide to understand SPRINGHALL’s naval papers.

1. At the top left, note his RN Service number of K56348 and over to the right, below the word Arethusa, his “Late J55425” official number as a Telegraphist or was it a Seaman ?.
2. His 12 year engagement starts on his 18^th birthday and is timed to expire 12 years later on the 28 March 1930. The age box is signed with somebody’s initials probably meaning that that person has seen a bona fide birth certificate. He was a small man, and he had a hernia scar on his right side.
3. Looking first to the ‘ship’ block, we see that he joined the following ships and training establishments.
1. HMS Vivid II, the RN Barracks at Devonport Plymouth, now known as HMS Drake. Here he was shown to be an Act Sto I [acting Stoker I] which was the case throughout his remaining career. The ‘list’ and ‘no’ columns refer to Branch/Department within the ship and the number showing him a numbered member of the ships company which was used mainly for pay purposes and general admin within that ship. The number K56348 was used for pan-navy purposes outside the ship. He was here from 19^th April ’19 until 1^st July ’19.
2. HMS Columbine came next, 2^nd July ’19 to 31^st January ‘20. Columbine was a naval shore establishment at Port Edgar, on the River Forth near Edinburgh, latterly known as HMS Lochinvar. Whilst there, he would have worked and performed general naval duties on two elderly destroyers, the Wakeful and the Scimitar.
3. On 1^st February ’20 he returned south to the west country back to HMS Vivid II and stayed there until 17^th February ’20.
4. Then off to a very old cruiser HMS Crescent, on the books from 18^th February ’20 until 10^th August ’20. During this time Crescent was associated with a naval tug HMS St Cyrus.
5. On 11^th August ’20 until 20^th October he was back in familiar surrounding in deepest darkest Devon, when, on the 26^th October ’20 he was drafted to the mighty battleship HMS King George V.
6. He lasted for a whole 9 days in the flagship after which he was arrested and jailed, and sent to Portsmouth DQ’s [Detention Quarters] to serve 10 days in cells; quite harsh in those days.
7. On the 14^th November ’20, Springhall was tried for crimes in HMS Victory II, the main Queens Street naval barracks in Portsmouth, and found guilty – HMS Victory [proper] was and is still, Nelsons flagship. The next day, the 15^th, he was discharged ‘SHORE’ as SNLR [Services No Longer Required].

4. In the next section just to the right, you will see columns for Character and Ability. These have been endorsed VG [Very Good] and Sat [Satisfactory] as at the years end namely 31.12.1919. Immediately below, you will see CLASS FOR CONDUCT, shown as Good – Sat. In naval terms, this is not good, but a lowering from the norm of Very Good. A drop to good [and sometimes Fair] controls the LIBERTY given to the man when LEAVE is granted; second class for conduct is a naval punishment in itself.
5. Finally, over to the right, you will see that Springhall received his share of the War Gratuity - See text in the main story page for what the War Gratuity is. Below is a reference to his court case NL20761/20, a Punishment Warrant ordering that he be Discharged SNLR [IN DISGRACE] from His Majesty’s Service, in reality a life sentence then, although today, with ever plummeting personal standards and almost couldn’t care less attitudes to society standards, many would blame the Service as much as the man.