Steam whistle, Torpedo Boat 064

Thick-walled bronze tube, capped with a domed fitting at one end, and with an internal screw thread at the other. A pair of rectangular cut-outs are sited at the lower part of the tube; a valve plate, slotted at the sides, is bolted within this space, sitting level with the bottom of the cut outs. A scratched inscription on the whistle reads “Torpedo Boat 064 wrecked [Lemn]os Is” .

Bronze steam whistle salvaged from Torpedo Boat 064 (TB.064), which was wrecked off the island of Lemnos in March 1915, and souvenired by an Australian soldier on Lemnos during preparations for the Gallipoli landing.

The whistle was given to the Australian War Records Section 31 October 1917 by an unnamed soldier. In their registers it was incorrectly recorded as coming from the British transport SS River Clyde. It was on almost constant display for nearly 100 years by the Memorial in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra as being from that ship, before the real identification was made in the late 2010s.

The River Clyde, a 4,000 ton collier built in Glasgow in 1904, formed part of the British landing strategy for Cape Helles, at the southern end of the Gallipoli Peninsula on the morning of 25 April 1915. The plan was to run it ashore under the guns of the Turkish fort, Sedd el Bahr castle at V Beach (so designated by the British), then disembark over 2,000 men from the Royal Munster Fusiliers and Royal Dublin Fusiliers through 'sally ports' cut into both sides of the ship's hull, where they planned to assault down gangways and onto a walkway of small pontoon boats linking it to the shore.

The ship successfully beached, but that was about the only successful part of the plan. Men were slaughtered in their hundreds as they attempted to exit the sally ports or negotiate the machine-gun swept gangways. Many who survived this section either drowned under the weight of heavy equipment close to the beach or were pinned down behind a small ledge at the waterline. Such was the confusion and losses that despite three costly attempts, the assault was abandoned until darkness, when the survivors were able to land.

For the duration of the Gallipoli campaign, the beached River Clyde served as a field dressing station, a breakwater and temporary dock, while its condensers were used to supply fresh water to allied troops.

Torpedo Boat 064's history was far less dramatic or iconic, but it was a well known feature for many of the soldiers heading to Gallipoli from Lemnos. TB.064 was one of several, nearly 30 year old boats initially used for examining vessels entering the Suez Canal. When the Turks attacked the canal in February 1915, the torpedo boats fired on the enemy, destroying their pontoons. In March, when the threat to the canal had eased, it was decided they would be of more use for the Gallipoli campaign.

Six torpedo boats sailed from Egypt on 17 March 1915, escorted by HMS Doris and the collier Kasala to Lemnos. Stopping on the way there to take on more coal, TB.064 for some reason only took on half the amount required.

When they arrived at Lemnos, Doris missed the entrance to Mudros Harbour and had to alter course, this put the following torpedo boats in danger as they had to turn into the rough seas to follow Doris back to the harbour. Doris was able to get four of the torpedo boats into the harbour with HMS Phaeton guiding them, but two vessels were missing. Doris went to find TB.064 and TB.070. TB.070 had lost its steering gear in the rough seas but was found and towed to the anchorage off Tenedos.

TB.064 ran out of fuel and during very rough weather, the captain, Chief Gunner James Cottrell sought shelter off the east coast of Lemnos. Initially they were safe but with a change in wind direction, and being unable to move to another location, the northerly gale caused the boat's anchor to drag and she was driven on shore and wrecked on the night of 21 March. The crew were saved when a Maltese crewman, Angelo Muscat, swam to shore with a line for the crew to escape. The 9th Battalion, AIF was camped near Mudros, a few miles across from where the wreck of TB.064 was located and at midnight some of the unit were sent out with blankets to help the crew.

TB.064 became something of a tourist attraction and many Australian soldiers visited the site. Some went out to the boat itself and collected souvenirs. The best pieces were taken early on and it is possible that this whistle was taken during this early period, before the landing at Gallipoli, by one Australian, possibly a member of the 12th Battaion. Some men from the battalion are known to have visited the site soon after the wreck when they souvenired parts of the vessel.

The whistle's incorrect association with the River Clyde, rather than with the almost unknown torpedo boat, shows something of the resonance of the River Clyde story with the troops and is one of the earliest examples of Gallipoli myth-making held in the Memorial's collection.