Appledore

Christmas Eve at the Front

An interesting letter has just been received by Mrs Packer, of Broadclyst, from her husband, Corpl Packer of A Company, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, who is serving with the Expeditionary Force in Northern France. In the course of a letter he describes a remarkable incident which occurred on Christmas Eve between the British and German trenches.

Capt William J Harris OBE of ‘Fernlea’, Appledore, Commodore of Sir William Reardon Smith’s fleet of cargo vessels, is shortly to take command of the new ship which was to be manned by eight British officers and by the forty Lascar seamen who were killed in the recent Alpine air crash.

Capt Harris is the eldest son of Mr John Lang Harris and the late Mrs Harris, of Highfield, Appledore.
During the war, Capt Harris was awarded the OBE for ‘good service on the ss New Westminster City when in action with the enemy’ at Murmansk. Five other members of the crew were also awarded medals for their part in this action.
An Old Boy of Bideford Grammar School, Capt Harris left during the 1914-1918 war to become an apprentice to Sir William Reardon Smith and Sons, Cardiff, and has remained with them ever since. He became master of the ss Vulcan City when he was only 28.
Capt Harris is a great nephew of the late Capt John Lang, Commodore of the Yeoman Line, to whose memory there is a screen in St Mary’s Church, Appledore. Erected by the late Mr P K Harris, former chairman of Northam Urban District Council, and Capt William Harris’ grandfather, the screen is made from the timbers of the tea clipper, Marco Polo, broken up in Messrs Harris’ shipyard at Appledore.

Lifeboat on Rescue Call

The work of one of the crew of the Appledore lifeboat which this week towed a 45ft long former trawler to safety has been praised by the branch secretary, Mr Ivor Wickersham.

The lifeboat was called out by Hartland coastguards on Sunday after the vessel had been observed in distress near the Fairway buoy.
On board the vessel, the Dorothy, was her new owner, Mr W Lewis of Ramsgate, and his two sons, Clifford and Colin. They had left Appledore earlier the same day on the first leg of a trip to Ramsgate but the adverse weather conditions persuaded them to turn back after passing Hartland Point. In Bideford Bay, first the Dorothy’s two engines failed, then she started taking water, and then her steering packed up.
The Appledore lifeboat took her in tow and because of the weather conditions on the Bar, it was decided to take her to Ilfracombe. One of the crew, Mr Michael Bowden, went on board and using a short tiller, hand steered the vessel the whole way. ‘He did a very good job’ said Mr Wickersham this week. Because of the weather the Appledore lifeboat remained at Ilfracombe for the night.
The Dorothy had been lying at Appledore for about two years since putting into the harbour after getting into difficulties off the North Devon coast while on passage from Ireland to the South Coast.

‘Will Mr Tiffen..’

‘Will Mr Tiffen of Appledore please come to the inquiry desk – there is a message for him’ said the loudspeaker announcement at Exeter railway station.

But when Mr George Tiffen, a taxi driver, of Sunnyside, Appledore, who was waiting for a train to arrive, made his way there he found another man in front of him.
‘I’m Mr Tiffen of Appledore’ said the man. ‘Excuse me’ said the second Mr Tiffen, ‘but I’m Mr Tiffen of Appledore’.
To both men’s amazement they discovered that while one came from Appledore, Devon, the other came from Appledore, Kent. They found out that they were born some dozen miles apart, the Kent Mr Tiffen in Suffolk near the Essex border and the Devon Mr Tiffen in Essex near the Suffolk border.
Now they’re going to check whether they are distantly related.