The Man who Filed his Thumb.
My Father went to sea in 1912 as a Boy on board a Sprits’l Barge owned and operated by the British Admiralty. He was 14 years of age. Three of his brothers were already sailing out of the Medway and William, the eldest Hogan, was already captain of the Sailing Barge “Egypt”. The vessels were all engaged in the carriage of high explosives and munitions to Royal Naval ships and Ports in Europe; Britain had a huge fleet in those days. My Grandfather, also William Hogan, served in H.M. Admiralty Dockyard in the Gun Wharf, Chatham as blacksmith. In 1914 at the dawn of the Great War, my Father was 16 years of age in September and by then he was sailing as seaman/cook. These hard working sailing vessels were manned by 4 men, a Master, a Mate, a Seaman/Cook, and a Boy. The Seaman/Cook worked the sails and cargo with the others and then cooked food for all hands. Hard work but hard work was the way of the world at the start of the twentieth century. This year, 1914, was a terrible ...