| The only work I have found that describes service on HMS Teal is, "A
Naval Career", by H.C. Guernsey. Guernsey served on HMS Teal as she
patrolled the Upper Yangtze in 1921. A chapter of the aforementioned work
is devoted to his time on Teal and he notes HMS Widgeon as also being present.
One fascinating thing he mentions is that HMS Teal prepared to sail from
Chungking to Chengdu, but unfortunately the trip was thwarted due to low
water levels. This is significantly further up the Yangtze than I knew
any gunboat to travel. The only crew he mentions from the gunboats are
Commander Jukes-Hughes (senior officer on HMS Widgeon) and Lieutenant Commander
Henderson (senior officer on HMS Teal). |
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| ABOVE: HMS Teal in trials on the Thames before being taken apart and shipped
to China (c. 1901). |
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| ABOVE: HMS Teal at Chungking in 1921. |
HMS Teal. Copyright 2007 - Donald Whiting. All rights reserved. |
| ABOVE: HMS Teal (probably seen very close to the end of her service in
the Royal Navy). |
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| ABOVE: HMS Teal seen anchored at east Ichang in 1909. For a high resolution
version of this image type in "Teal" at the Harvard Visual Information Access Page (then look for the image in the results). |
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ABOVE: Percy Clapperton on HMS Teal (circa 10/26 to 04/28).
I was very fortunate to be contacted by David Potterat regarding his Grandfather,
Percy Aubrey Clapperton, who served on HMS Teal from October 22, 1926 to
April 30, 1928.
Percy Clapperton is unusual in that he not only served on the Teal in China,
but also on HMS Aphis while she was in the Mediterranean during WWII (from
March 1, 1940 to December 31, 1940). I was even more surprised to see the
huge range of other vessels on which he served, from battleships (such
as HMS Royal Oak) to submarines (such as HMS Regulus).
I wish to thank the Clapperton family for the submission of photographs
and information about Percy Clapperton as so little exists about those
serving on the ships discussed on this site.
|
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| ABOVE: "Outside a Pagoda at Wanhsien". A number of the Teal's
crew. Percy Clapperton, the source of this photo, is seen center row, right. |
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ABOVE: This is HMS Hawkins funeral procession at Wei Hei Wei taken in 1926
for L. Simmons Sto. The "X" on the photograph indicates Percy
Clapperton in the procession. This shot was taken during Percy Clapperton's
service on the cruiser HMS Hawkins, which immediately preceded his service
on the Teal.
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| HMS MOORHEN |
All rights reserved. Copyright 2004 - Ian Sloan.
HMS Moorhen arriving at Canton. |
All rights reserved. Copyright 2004 - Ian Sloan.
HMS Moorhen at Canton. |
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| ABOVE: I bought a lot of photographs of HMS King Alfred (Drake Class cruiser - flagship of the China Station from 1906-1910) and this shot was in the group. It is definitely HMS Moorhen and the shot was taken in 1906. The shot contains no identification but I came across the following shot here of HMS Sandpiper in the same dry dock. HMS Sandpiper (1898 version) only
ever operated in the Hong Kong/West River area and as the only Teal class
vessel to also operate in that area was HMS Moorhen, it must be her. Click
on the following link for a high resolution version (this shot is 300k in size and may take some time to see with a telephone
internet connection). |
| HMS WIDGEON |
Above: HMS Widgeon beside HMS Suffolk in Shanghai, 1928. |
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| Above: Crew of HMS Widgeon (probably from late 1920's). Looking at a higher
resolution scan of the image all of the cap tallies (except one) read HMS
Widgeon and the shot was mostly likely taken on the fore deck of the ship.
The non-Widgeon cap tally reads HMS Despatch. To view a very high resolution
scan of the image click here (shot is 600k). |
Above: Either HMS Widgeon or HMS Teal on the Yangtze (obviously around
Christmas). |
HMS Widgeon was part of the flotilla that attempted to retake the merchant
vessels Wanhsien and Wanliu from the Chinese army on September 5, 1926
(this occurred at Wanhsien - the same name as one of the vessels). She
was involved in heavy fighting during the incident and the action was partly
successful. A description of the Wanhsien incident can be found here
I recently discovered that, "Destroyer Man", by Rear-Admiral
A. F. Pugsley (published in 1957) contains a first hand account of the
Wanhsien Incident. Pugsley. then a Lieutenant, was posted to China around
1925 to serve onboard HMS Widgeon as she patrolled the Upper Yangtze. Unfortunately,
Pugsley's description of his time on HMS Widgeon is very brief (about 15
pages), mostly describing what happened during the incident.
I was recently contacted by Jean-Pierre Malsagne who runs a truly excellent
website in France about French gunboats www.canochine.com (it is really the French version of this site). The site is in french
and he has an excellent shot of HMS Widgeon at Ichang. To view it it, go
to the "click here" at the end of this paragraph and look for
the "Canonnieres britanniques" section on the page that comes
up. You'll find "Le Widgeon" listed and click on the postcard
icon to the right to view the picture. CLICK HERE |
