Ice Climbing on the North Yorkshire Moors 2018

The Beast From The East has brought winds of 50mph or more, stripping the snow off the fields and moors into large drifts.  It also brought the temperatures down to around -4c...

Time to head up to Great Fryup Head.   There are extensive ice falls at the head of the dale on the west, but there are also a small number of routes right at the head of the dale between Yew Grain Scar and the George Gap Causeway.  NZ 715018.  If snow permits it is possible to access these from the Cut Road path at Trough House to the west, or where it joins the Lealhom to Rosedale road at 729028.  Alternately park at opposite the outdoor centre in Great Fryup Dale and walk up.   

Just to the east of the George Gap Causeway are three or four routes.  The one on the left is probably around 15 to 20 ft in height.  Ice axes are on the ice.  Probably grade III.  There's an excellent belay at the top - a large wooden stake securing a game keepers trap.

The largest of the waterfalls is this longish slide which is probably around the 50ft mark, with an easy angled extension continuing out of view below.  There's also a little bit of mixed climbing to the immediate left in the picture..  If you are walking in from the dale this is a pretty obvious feature.

A mixed route probably grade ii/iii 

The Smear.  This feature was the result of a change in stream drainage a few years ago.  The brown stain is the result of it flowing off ironstone strata.  I've often wondered if it would freeze up, but it obviously needs slightly colder temperatures than the -4c we've been having.  However there's still enough for a little sport.

Captain Walter Masterman Carter

Walter Masterman Carter was born in Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire in 1892.
He joined the merchant navy around 1911, and by the following year was serving as a 3rd mate.  By the time the 1st world war started in 1914  he was serving as a 2nd mate.

Captain Walter Masterman Carter

He lived in Brook Cottage, Thorpe.

By 1915 he had volunteered for service and was serving as a temporary Sub Lt. in the Royal Naval Reserve.

On the  9th August 1916, he was appointed to  commence duty as the Navigating Officer on board HMS Moth.

An account of the action he took part in on board HMS Moth can be found here:-
WW1Battle1408Mesopotamia.htm.  Suffice to say that  whilst his ship and some others were proceeding up the river that they were fired on by the Turkish army.  During this action the ship, a small gunboat, was hit 9 times and was badly damaged.  3 crew were killed and he was "shot in the neck and hand", according to Winifred (Née Wedgwood), his wife.

Following this action he lost all his possessions and only had the binoculars he carried around his neck.  I have these.

His binoculars from HMS Moth.  According to my grandmother these were his only possessions from the ship. The rest were destroyed in the action.

I have a letter from the Admiralty dated 8th May 1918 expressing their appreciation , "be conveyed to Lt. Walter M Carter of HMS Mistletoe, who was in charge of Lighter 171 for the good seamanship he displayed in bring his vessel safely into Peterhead".

I have his Continuous Certificate of Discharge (Discharge Book), from the merchant navy, several original admiralty documents and his Master Mariner Certificate, issued  12th May 1919 after he left the RNR where he returned to the merchant navy.

Here's a photograph of him taken with one of his two daughters.  This probably is Freda, the oldest.  (She was the oldest = my Aunty)  

He died in 1929 on board his ship at Hartlepool after swallowing laudanum  to help him sleep.  His wife, my grandmother, Winifred (nee, Wedgwood) was with him at the time.

Read the .press cutting published following his death.

He and one of his brothers, Ernest Carter are buried at new St Stephen's Church Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire.

He had three children.  My mother Jeanne Carter, (Later Perry) and  Freda Carter b. 19.03.1922 & William (Bill) George Carter b 17 April 1919..D at Cleethorpes in 1973.

W E Wedgwood Chief Officer of the SS Copeswood

On the 22 December 1916  my Great Grandfather, W E Wedgwood,  a master mariner, was the Chief Officer on board the SS Copeswood in the North Sea when they sighted a Barque, dismasted and flying distress flags in horrendous seas. Unable to rescue the crew, they stood by during the night and eventually the next morning rescued the crew with exceptional difficulty. Both the captain (Albert Perrin) and WE Wedgwood received silver medals from His Majesty King Haakon of Norway. Bill Wedgwood has the medal and for some reason I have the citation. 

He died at the Hare & Hounds in 1954 and is buried in plot 10246 Whitby  Cemetery, Larpool Lane.

Captain William Edward Wedgwood  b. 1873 sept 23rd- died 1954 Hare and Hounds Inn, Hawsker.  Brother of Captain John Robert Wedgwood

The citation given to Captain W E Wedgwood for his part in the rescue of the barque, Lovspring of Sandefjord

The wording is similar to that given to Captain A H  Perrin.

To read the rest:-http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/17456

The Captain of the SS Copeswood was Captain Albert Hawkins Perrin and he was awarded this silver cup by King Haakon of Norway.  My grandfather was awarded a medal and certificate which I have.  He died in 1954 and lived at the Hare and; Hounds Inn,  Hawsker, North Yorkshire.

Click on the link below to see more

Here's the Silver Cup presented to the Captain Perrin

Captain John R. Wedgwood & the Prinz Eitel Friedrich

Captain John Robert Wedgwood of Whitby, his wife Eva Née Thompson aboard the SS Aislaby

John Robert Wedgwood, also known as Jack to the family, was born in 1875 lived in a number of different Whitby houses including the Grove on Bagdale.  He also had a house built for himself a at the far end of Mayfield Rd(4 Lane Ends) Whitby - He called it the Willerby after one of his ships.  The house is still there. He was always moving house acording to his niece Winifred (Wedgwood).   He died in 1943 of cancer at "Swainby on Ash Grove Whitby (I have been unable to find the house on Ash Grove). He is buried in Whitby cemetary. (I believe there is no headstone).

On the 20 Feb 1915,  My great great great uncle, Capt. John Robert Wedgwood  of Whitby, was master of the SS Willerby  off the coast of Brazil when his ship was approached by the Prinz Eitel Friedrich, a German auxillary cruiser which ordered the SS Willerby to stop. Capt Wedgwood ignored the order and tried to escape but eventually stopped when he realised the German ship was in a position to ram him. As the German passed astern of the  SS Willerby, Capt Wedgwood realised he had to chance to ram the German!, Ordering the engines reversed at full speed he shouted to the engineer, "Giver her hell", "Give her hell as hard as we can go it!" 

There is also a large article in the Whitby Gazette, 1st April 1915


To find out what happened next read the report from the New York Times:-

NEWPORT NEWS  MARCH NEARLY RAMMED BY HER OWN PRIZE.

AN INCIDENT IN THE EITEL FRIEDRICH'S CRUISE.*' (New York Times.) NEWPORT NEWS, Va., March 11 1915. 

The Odyssey of the Prinz Eitel Friedrich over two oceans, pursued by three of the largest navies in the world, will not be complete until tlie story is told how in the last few weeks of her voyage she was almost sunk by the last of her many prizes. Not once was a shell hurled at the raver by the pursuers sweeping the-seas for her. But the little tramp steamer Willerby, of only 2500 tons, without a gun on board, came near sending the adventurous German to the bottom, and by the tactics of ramming her, stern foremost. For the first six months of her cruise, lurking though she was on th« of the highways .of commerce and waiting for her prey; in constant danger of discovery and capture, the danger was rujver 'visible. To the officers and crew there was "always the straining sense of peril just out ■of sight,. but never once Hid a hostile funnel break the horizon. And only twice was danger audible. Off the coast of Chile, near where Admiral von Spee's squadron destroyed the ships of Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, the Prinz Eitel Friedrich's wireless caught the warning of heavy ships, and because of her puny armament she turned away. Again, halving rounded Cape . Horn, the cruiser heard the wireless exchanges announcing the battle off the Falkland Islands.

But the little Willerby brought that danger home to the daring cruiser in the simplest possible way. On February 20, just three weeks ago, the Willerby was steaming, in light ballast, looking for a cargo, when the Prince Eitel Friedrich was seen making for her. "Within good eye-shot, the cruiser broke out the signal for the Willerby to stop, and from this point the Willerby's commander, Captain Wedgewood, a slim, dark Englishman, takes up the story. "The Eitel signalled, us to stop," said Captain Wedgewood. "'but I paid no attention to him. At first I thought she was just a merchantman like us, but even when I saw her guns I kept on my course, trying to get by and pass on her port beam. But when she got to a point where it was evident she could ram us amidships we did stop. By that time the two.; ships were so close together that, the Eitel had to pass right across our stern. FULL SPEED ASTERN. " Then I saw my chance. I didn't know all those women and children and citizen men were on board. I only knew she was a German and was trying to capture us. My ship was gone, I knew, and I thought I might just as well send the German down along with me, so I ordered our engines reversed at full speed, backing us straight toward the Eitel, slowing slipping past us. " ' Give her hell!' I shouted to my engineer. . ' Give her hell as hard as we can go it!' " The engineer did his best. The Willerby began to back in good form, and the commander of the Eitel saw the danger. The imprisoned passengers on the Eitel saw it, too, and a panic seized them. Poor chance they would have had if trouble came to the Eitel Friedrich. They were locked up below.at the approach of every strange ship, and there was no escape in sight for them. Their cries of fear as the panic took them first told me that I was not dealing with an ordinary ship of the navy.

" The Eitel's commander was talking to us with all the English he could command. His guns liad been uncovered and imslung as he approached us in the first place and they swung toward us as we backed toward the Eitel. But at that close range they could hardly have stopped us before we did our work. The commander of the Eitel probably knew that, too, for while he threatened to fire many times, he did not do so.

" ' Stop or we fire !'_ he shouted from his bridge, but my engineer merely nursed his engine. The imprisoned passengers on the Eitel were making a loud noise by this time, and it seemed that the end was near, but somehow we could not get -np headway and the Eitel at last slipped past our sterri, missing us by about 15ft. After that there was nothing we could do, and we surrendered.

" When I came over the side of the Eitel, her commander called out to me furiously : 'Do you want to kill these people?' But I told Tlim I didn't know people were there till it was all over."

Water Mills

Over the years I must have passed hundreds, and hundreds of buildings like this and never thought about their origins. Just buildings with few, if any clues as to their original purpose.  Then I bought " Eight Centuries of Milling in North East Yorkshire by John K. Harrison. There are over 150 recorded water mills in North East Yorkshire, and some were working until the 1970,s.  Many have been demolished or turned into homes.  But there are mills which still have all their machinery and are kept hidden and closed to the public.  There is only one working mill open to the public in North East Yorkshire -  Tockett's mill near Guisborough.

 Unlike the windmills in North Yorkshire which are in exposed places and pretty obvious what they are, or were, water mills can be extremely well hidden, small and with no obvious signs of their purpose when viewed from outside.  A few miles west of Northallerton this is Crayke Mill, and it still works and is sometimes open to the public.  (crakehallwatermill.co.uk) There are no working windmills in North Yorkshire.  But there are just over ten  watermills which still have all their original equipment.  

 

Inside, the machinery still turns, mill stones serve their real purpose and not used to fix village signs or farm house names.  Alas for many they have no future.  Too small to operate commercially, or their source of power - water - has been diverted or they are too small to be kept open as a tourist attraction.

Three Excellent Films

Yorkshire Moors 1950  An amateur film about a family visit to Whitby showing the scenery along the way.

watch-staithes-1959   The title says it all - 1956!!

The Children of Eskdale  Filmed in Eskdale in the 1973 of a local farming community.  I remember this being filmed..

Verjuice Press

Quite please with this discovery, I reported it to the national park archeology recorder and it turns out to be previously unreported.  This is at the ruined farm, Grange Head SW of Egton Bdge.  There is no public access.

These presses (There are several in the Esk Valley I believe) were used to extract juice from fruit such as apples, etc.,  A large wood beam was wedged against an imovable object such as a tree root and the beam was pressed downwards crushing and squeezing the fruit.  Not clear on this picture but there is a 'run off' channel on the far side of the square groove.  I suspect the stone in the background was a part of the press as there are some remains of fixtures which I wouldn't normally associate with old yats or gate posts.