Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte
Because of the shortage of coal, steam was not raised until 1 March, but following a further two weeks of battle against the ice, the Aurora cleared the pack - in celebration Stenhouse ‘spliced the main brace’ and blew three blasts of farewell to the ice with the ship’s whistle. He now had a long voyage back to New Zealand with a battered ship and only a few tons of coal left in the bunkers. There were times when they made little progress and even when the replacement rudder could be lowered for use, it needed constant nursing. In addition there existed a shortage of crew, and one or two of the men were creating difficulties.
Despite all these serious difficulties, the Aurora safely reached Port Chalmers in April 1916 - an achievement which was largely made possible by the outstanding seamanship of Stenhouse. Shackleton later wrote: ‘He accomplished successfully one of the most difficult journeys on record, in an ocean area notoriously stormy and treacherous.’
Stenhouse was awarded the O.B.E. “Mystery Ships”
Having been appointed a probationary Sub. Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve in August 1914, Stenhouse now commenced a distinguished career in “Mystery Ships”, when he was appointed to the “splendid Penshurst”, under Lieutenant Cedric Naylor, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N.R., in May 1917. And he quickly saw action, Penshurst having a protracted duel with an enemy submarine in the Western Approaches on 2 July. Narrowly avoiding a torpedo, Naylor ordered out the ship’s “panic party” and waited for the enemy to close - alas, the latter chose to stand off at 6,000 yards, and then 4,500 yards astern, delivering a positive storm of fire - luckily inaccurate fire - from the submarine’s forward gun. At length, Naylor lost his patience and closed the enemy:
‘I gave orders first of all for ‘dead slow’ and then, as the ship began to answer the helm, ‘full speed ahead’, in order to bring all guns to bear on the port side.
At 4.13 p.m. we opened fire at a range of 4,500 yards with common pointed shell, the engines then being stopped. At this stage hits from all the guns were observed, and after the second or third hit a dense cloud of white smoke issued from abaft the conning tower, and then rolled away leeward, where it hung low down in a dense cloud for a considerable number of minutes. No more smoke was observed to issue from the submarine. Then her stern settled down and her bows rose slightly out of the water and she continued in this trim until 4.45 p.m., when she appeared to regain her natural trim. At this stage we observed 16 hits, 11 on the conning tower and five in the hull.
All this time the submarine was under weigh and crossing our bows. Eventually, as the 12-pounder could no longer bear on the submarine, I went full speed ahead and brought all guns on the port side to bear, and at the same time attempted to close the submarine. However, she began to draw away from us, and finally passed out of range and ultimately, at 5.30 p.m., sight.’
Stenhouse was mentioned in despatches and, five days after the action in question, removed to P-61, under Lieutenant-Commander F. A. Worsley, R.N.R. And, once again, he was quickly in action. Worsely takes up the story:
‘Lieutenant J. R. Stenhouse, R.N.R., was on the Bridge with me, when he sighted an object through the thick mist. This object was bearing on our starboard beam about half a mile distant. The helm was immediately put hard a port and engines full speed ahead, and, as we turned towards the object, it was observed to be an enemy submarine on the surface distant about half a mile away and heading westward, steaming at nine knots.
Action stations had previously been sounded and immediately the submarine was properly sighted, fire was opened from the port 12- pounder gun, and one round of common shell at point-blank range was fired into the submarine, striking her just before the conning tower.
Engines were now being worked at full speed and course being shaped to ram the submarine.
Both engines were stopped to permit the bows to drop deeper in the water, and make a better hit as the ship sinks down aft at full speed.
The orders to the engine room had just been obeyed when P-61 struck the enemy stem on the port side just abaft the conning tower at a speed of at least 20 knots. Just before the impact, I gave orders to ‘Stand by to ram’ and a severe shock was felt. I believe the submarine turned over as we passed over her.
When our stern was over the enemy vessel a very violent explosion took place and I thought for a moment that we had been torpedoed by another submarine.
Engines which had been stopped were now put ahead again and the ship circled under starboard helm taking a position at the place of the explosion.
The sea round this spot was boiling with foam and rushes of immense air bubbles were coming to the surface for some minutes after the explosion. Oil was also observed floating on the surface of the water.
As I circled back I saw two men struggling in the water and life belts were immediately thrown to them. One managed to secure a hold and was afterwards brought on board P-61 in the second whaler. The other was drowned.
The survivor was Alfred Arnold, who proved to be the Commanding Officer of the submarine.’
Stenhouse was awarded the D.S.C. and, in early October, assumed command of another Q-ship, the Ianthe, in which capacity he remained employed until 1918.
North Russia 1918-19
In the autumn of 1918, Shackleton, then a Major, was sent to Murmansk as a Director of Equipment and Transport for Syren Force, and, in order to strengthen his position, he requested four members from his earlier Antarctic expeditions to join him - thus the arrival of a brace of recently employed Q-ship C.Os: Stenhouse and Worsely.
Given German ambitions to use Murmansk as a U-boat base, Shackleton declared to his new arrivals, ‘I’d like us to finish up with each of us driving a dog-team over the snow into Berlin’, a wish never granted in the light of the Armistice, and the growing distractions of equipping our land forces for the fight against the Bolsheviks.
For his own part, Stenhouse was actively employed alongside the Finns, leading a flotilla of small craft on Lake Onega - among them his own command, the Jolly Roger. Such duties aside, he was from time to time asked to partake in operations of a more clandestine nature, akin to the type of work carried out by Agar, V.C., in his
C.M.Bs from Terrioki.
Thus what was described as ‘a curious mission’ - with a Royal Marines’ detachment drawn from H.M.S. Glory - to the Finnish border at Knaja Ghuba, in March 1919, where delicate negotiations were under way to repatriate some Finnish Red Guards and their ex-Prime Minister, Mr. Tochoi - the “Reds” wanted to remain armed, but the “Whites” were having none of it. Meanwhile, Stenhouse and his men, having travelled over two days in cattle trucks, holed up in a pine forest to await developments - snow was thick on the ground and Finnish scouts on skis were all around them. In the event, however, a successful conclusion was negotiated between the two factions and Stenhouse returned to Lake Onega.
He was awarded the D.S.O.
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