Group photograph of crew of H.M.H.S. 'China', including John Leask

Item

Title

Group photograph of crew of H.M.H.S. 'China', including John Leask

Identifier

9422.cpd

Subject

Leask, John

Abstract

My Grandfather John Leask served aboard H.M.H.S. 'China' during the 1st World War as a Helmsman (Quartermaster.)
From November 1914 'China' served as a Hospital Ship in and took part at the Battle of Jutland, where smaller Hospital Ships were used to collect casualties from the fighting ships and transfer them to the larger Hospital Ships in the Firth of Forth.
As Helmsman he was in charge of one of the launches and rescued the casualties of battle, amongst whom were some Germans. This did not surprise us as before the war he served in the Merchant Navy and had made several trips to Hamburg, where he made good friends with a German family who visited his family home in Leith.

My Grandfather is in the lower first row, right hand side.

Date

1914 - 1918

Date Created

1914-08-01

Temporal Coverage

1915-12-31

Source

Photograph

Medium

Photographic paper

Type

Photograph

number of pages

2

Contributor

Richard Marshall
Rosemary Leask

Publisher

The Great War Archive, University of Oxford