Sailor in the Desert

David Gunn, Sailor in the Desert: The Adventures of Phillip Gunn, DSM, RN in the Mesopotamia Campaign, 1915, Pen & Sword (2013).  

The Mesopotamian Campaign is an interesting one.  The Royal Navy, having made the decision to move from coal, it was necessary to protect the oil supply through the Persian Gulf.  To this end, three Royal Naval sloops were sent to the Gulf, supported by Indian Army contingents (in those Suez Canal days, the Gulf falling within the remit of the Indian Government as far as British policy was concerned) with the aim of  removing Ottoman troops from the Shatt-al-Arab and occupying Basra.

Initial operations in 1914 and '15 were so successful that mission creep developed and the Indian Government and the army sought a way to capitalise on these successes.  Accordingly, an over-ambitious plan to advance (some 500 miles) up the Tigris as far as Baghdad was developed.  More-and-more troops were sent up-river despite limited transport, resulting in over-stretched supply-lines.  After capturing Kut, the expeditionary force failed in the final 100 mile push to Baghdad and were besieged until they were forced to surrender in April 1916.  Some 23,000 British and Indian soldiers died in the attempts to relieve Kut, and over half of the surrendered force died in captivity.

This book isn't the one you want to read to get all the details, facts and figures of the navy's role in the campaign - that's Wilfred Nunn's Tigris Gunboats, reprinted a few times since it's first publication in the 1930s.  Nunn was the Senior Naval Officer, Mesopotamia, during the campaign, and to be frank, his book is a dry read.  On the other hand, Sailor in the Desert is written from the view-point of an 19 year-old Ordinary Seaman.  Gunn* wasn't particularly ordinary though. 

*'Nunn' and 'Gunn', it's annoying, I know!

After serving on HMS Clio during her defence of the Suez Canal and in the occupation of Basra, he volunteered for 'hazardous duties'.  He then, quite literally, found himself at the pointy-end of the advance up the Tigris - ahead of the main force in a steam launch taking soundings to check that the river was navigable for the vessels commandeered down-river to act as troopships. 

Later in the war, the Fly Class of gunboat was developed for these riverine operations, but at this time, two steam launches each towed horseboats which carried antiquated naval ordnance.  Gunn lashed a ladder to his cabin to accommodate a Royal Artillery spotter.  The launch also served to ferry senior officers up- and down-river.

For his services before he was invalided out, Gunn was awarded the DSM.  His obvious merit is reflected in the fact that he ended his career as Captain, RN.

All in all, this is a good read, but I found it slight and a little disappointing.  I gave it Three Stars out of Five.

I am a Character from an HP Lovecraft Story!

I'm sure that there is a genre of fiction (meta-fiction?) in which characters in a story realise that that's just what they are.  I'm equally sure that there is a psychological disorder (The Matrix syndrome?) in which people think that they and everything around them are fictional constructs.

As I've been lying in my bed (it's now 3am) I have come to the conclusion that heads this post, and which compels me to write (while I still can!).  Let me provide the evidence:

1. For many years I practised the profession of archivist.
2. During that time I worked in the archives of a (notorious) religious order; a university; a 300 year-old bank that had interests in the Caribbean and Africa; and the museum of a port town that contained the records of many seafarers and the artifacts they brought back from their travels.
3. Following a sudden collapse and almost three weeks in a coma, I withdrew from the profession and now trade in rare and hard-to-find books.

Madness and the void surely await me!

This line of thought was initiated by an interesting Kickstarter - 'Welcome to Miskatonic University', which sets out to publish an anthology of short stories inspired modern life in that ancient establishment.

One of the features backing is that one is invited to submit one's photo and up to three key details about oneself.  On the basis of this, the creators will have a pool for designing characters to populate their Arkham, incorporating the character into My Miskatonic, a guidebook to Arkham and the university.  

From such innocent requests can darkening realisation grow...