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Walter Arthur Charles Harvey
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Walter Arthur Charles Harvey 1 2 3
- Born: 1901 2
- Christened: 14 Sep 1901, St. Michaels and All Angels, Stoke Newington, London 2
 Noted events in his life were:
• Occupation: Ship's Captain. 2 4
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1
Escaped British Freighter at Malta. QUIT BENGHAZI WITH CREW OF 6
CAPTAIN TRICKED ARMED GUARD
VALLETTA, Malta. Thursday. •
The British Ministry of
Transport freighter, Empire
Chub, 716 tons, under Capt.
A. W. C. Harvey. 55, of Hull,
steamed into Malta's Grand
Harbour late last night with 16
of her crew of 22 missing. They
had been enticed by members
of the Egyptian Embassy staff
at Benghazi to leave the ship.
Egyptian efforts to make major
propaganda out of the incident
were frustrated by Capt. Harvey,
who triclced armed guards to get
' ills sliip out of port. He then
sailed the Empire Chub, loaded
with British Army supplies, with
only six of his crew to Malta.
Capt. Harvey had to manoeuvre his
ship from her berth and out of
tricky Benghazi Harbour without the
usual pilot and tugs. Sitting in his
cabin here to-day he described his
experience. He said:
" We arrived i n Benghazi on Sunday
night on what looked like'being
' just another trip.' The next day
we took on our cargo, British Army
vehicles destined for Tripoli, and that
evening I made-flnaJ preparations for
sailing next morning.'
PAY-OFF REQUEST
Signs of Conspiracy
" The first signs of trouble came
when two ship's officers, one Greek
and one Egyptian, appeared in my
cabin. The Egyptian, 2nd Officer M .
Hassan, and the Greek, a 2nd engineer
named Dilberis, said they wanted
to be paid off i n the morning. I told
them the ship was already under
sailing orders and would discuss the
matter again in the mornmg.
'• Later that evening signs of a
conspiracy became evident when
three Sudanese members of the crew
came to me. They said they did not;
wisl to have anything to do with '
the rest of the crew and were re-
maining loyal. ]
" The full story now began to •
take shape. I learned from the
few people who remained aboard
that 17 of the crew were ashore and
at the Egyptian Embassy In Benghazi.
They sent a message saying they,
would come back to the ship to collect
their gear in the morning and
were then awaiting a special Egyptian
plane to fly them to Cairo.
'• One of these 17 men, a Sudanese,
later made an excuse and slipped out
of the Egyptian Embassy and rejoined
the ship. - The others who
remained were five Sudanese, four
Egyptians, three Greeks, two
(Continued on Back Page, Col. 5)
EMPIRE CHUB
(Continued from P. 1, CoL 3)
Jordanians, one Somali and one
Yemeni. • •
" At nightfall a Libyan armed
guard was posted on the quayside at
the end of the gangway. It seemed
evident that the local authorities
were in connivance with the
Egyptians. '
" I now had to take stock of the
situation. All these outrageous
actions seemed aimed at trying to
control the movements of my ship.
" At three o'clock on Tuesday
morning I told my boys to start ' buttering
up' the Libyan guards with
tea and cigarettes.- Then I told the
Libyans that we had to move out into
the miiddle of the harbour as the
berth was wanted for another ship,
which was arriving in a few hours'
time.
" They seemed to accept this, so
we started casting off our lines; in
fact we got the guards to help us.
Then, hardly daring to breathe, I got
the ship out.
ANXIOUS TIME
Expected Guards to Fire
" It had taken two tugs to get us
in, but I managed to get out with a
combination of seamanship, luck and
sheer desperation. I kept on thinking
all the time how silly we would
look with Egyptian cameramen taking
our pictures if we got stuck on
the mud and I suppose that helped.
"We edged our way casually to
the harbour entrance. I thought the
guards would start shooting at any
minute.
" There was a last anxious
moment at the thought that our
propeller might foul the mooring
cable of an oil tanker near the harbour
entrance. But we cleared.
Then' we felt the open sea under us.
I rang down for * full ahead,' set
course for Malta and mopped my brow.
told how, with Chief Officer Stanley
Thorp, of Farnham, Surrey, he kept
up full speed on the 36-hour trip,to
Malta. " We took turns steering,
dumping ashes, i n fact, doing evefythihg
except washing dishes. Fortunately
the weather held and we
made it all right.'.'
" UNUSUAL AFFAIR "
Ship Photogrraphed
The first indication that something
unusual was afoot came when photographers
busied themselves taking
pictures of the Empire Chub on Mon-
''day afternoon. " Not a usual affair
for our ship," said Capt. Harvey,
who has been master for 18 months.
He added that he had received a
message from the Benghazi port
authorities demanding an explanation
why he left port without proper
clearance. ' His comment was:. " It's
a little bit difficult to reply."
The 16 members of the crew who
failed to sail were entertained by.
Egyptian officials, who promised them
jobs i n Egypt, high wages and a free
trip to Cairo. Most of the men have
their homes in Egypt.
The Egyptian Embassy at Tripoli
maintains a chancery in Benghazi
headed by a First Secretary. Tripoli
and Benghazi are joint capitals.
A British Seadog-"
The Ministry of "Transport in
London has received a full report
from Capt. Harvey. He Is now
awaiting instructions from the
Ministry, which owns, the vessel.
The ship is managed for the
Ministry by Townsend Bros. Ferries
Ltd.
Of Capt. Harvey, a spokesman
said: " He is a typical master
mariner, a typical British seadog. He
has been a master for more than 10
years."
2
Baptismal records, St. Michael and All Angels, Stoke Newington, London. 1898 baptismal record, Annie Marie
London, Hackney, St. Michael and all Angels, Stoke Newington,
1898, Oct 23, Marie Annie, parents: Frederick William and Amy Mary Harvey, 27 Durlston Road,
profession of father: Ship Broker, signed D. H. Creaton
1900 baptismal record, Winifred Amy
London, Hackney, St. Michael and all Angels, Stoke Newington
1900, March 11, Winifred Amy,parents: Frederick William and Amy Mary Harvey, 27 Durlston Road,
profession of father: Ship Agent
1901 baptismal record, Walter Arthur Charles
London, Hackney, St. Michael and all Angels, Stoke Newington
1901, September 14th, parents, Frederick William and Amy Mary Harvey, 27 Durlston Road,
profession of father: Shipping Agent
1901 baptismal record, Dorothy Florence
London, Hackney, St. Michael and all Angels, Stoke Newington
1901, September 14th, parents, Frederick William and Amy Mary Harvey, 27 Durlston Road,
profession of father: Shipping Agent
3
Donald Wilson, April 2015, gleaned from notes by Barbara (Dommett) Simpson. Notes on the family of James Harvey and Ann Lake Lewarn, April 2015
Notes on the Children of James and Ann Lake Lewarn HARVEY
1. Frederick William HARVEY: 1866-1906.
I never heard anything of him or his family except that we have the names of his five children—the last two were twins, Walter Arthur Charles & Dorothea. The following are notes about Walter ( Bobby )“Walter was always known as ‘ Bobby ‘ & was a captain in the navy and the sea was his great love. He, “Bobby “ put his age “ on “ to enlist in the 1914-18 war, during which his ship was torpedoed and wrecked. He had his Master’s ticket & became a Master Mariner, I knew him when his ship occasionally came into Plymouth Dockyard, He was again shipwrecked from a torpedo during the 1939-45 war when he was on the North Atlantic convoys. He famously used hi seamanship to outwit the Egyptian Embassy during the Suez Crisis in 1956. (See attached newspaper clipping).
2. Arthur James F.R.I.B.A. : 1889-1968
He was a very talented organist & music composer as well as being an architect. His music talent led him to compose the march for Queen Victoria’s 80th birthday. He designed several buildings in Plymouth. Later on, he was an architect for London County Council. His hobby, apart from playing church organs was taking clocks and watches apart & repairing them. He died at the age of 99+ years. He married but had no children.
3. Herbert Charles: 1871-1909.
He apparently died in a mental hospital ~ age 38, according to an entry in the family bible. No Children.
4. Annie Blanche: 1873-1959 -was frequently referred to as Auntie Ciss. She married Will Goddard. They had no children.
She and her husband, Will Goddard were tenant farmers of Washwell Farm, Painswick, Gloustershire all their life. Famed for her acid tongue: even dear Joy named her Auntie ‘Lemon’ Annie! As the first girl in the family she had to do all the darning and if any of the children fell down and cut their knees she would say “never mind your knee bleeding—have you torn your socks / stockings?”
5. Lily Kate: 1875-1876...Unfortunately the writer of these notes knows nothing of her....though she died quite young...living only ~ 11 months.
6. Ernest George: 1878 -1962. A dear loving man. His first wife—Ellen Winifred PAYN, died of puerperal fever( sepsis) a few days after giving birth to Ernest Payn HARVEY, ( aka Jim) who is Robin Grant HARVEY’s father. He, (Ernest George) later married Agnes, who brought Robin’s father (Jim) up. Ernest worked long and hard hours as a manager of a grocer’s shop and died of lung cancer having never smoked a cigarette in his life.
7. Ada May (Kathleen): 1879-1959. Barbara Simpson’s mother was a very lovely mother to her. She had beautiful contralto voice and once sang in the Guildhall in Plymouth with Dame Clara Ellen Butt a famous English Opera singer. Ada married Harold Milton DOMMETT in 1910 whose only child was Barbara Ella (nee Dommett) Simpson who is the author of these family notes and early ancestor research, without whom this project would never likely been started.
8. Kate Grace: 1881-1967—Married Ernest Robert VICKERY in 1908, Taber AB.
9. Henry (Harry) Anthony HARVEY: 1885-1977. Married Florence Mary (aka auntie Flo) ________? In ________?
Another side note from Barbara...Ernest George HARVEY’s son, Ernest Payn (aka uncle Jim) who is Robin Grant HARVEY’S Father) was said by Barbara “to be a darling of a man, so quiet & gentle; loved music and Robin is exactly like him in voice and in mannerisms.” Jim had a fine knowledge of antiques and managed a shop in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
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Escaped British Freighter at Malta.
