The Training Ship Exmouth

The Training Ship Exmouth.

The First Training Ship Exmouth in February 1895.

"The 'Exmouth' Shown is the first training ship to bear the name Exmouth and be anchored in the Thames, off Grays, between 1905 and 1942.

The first training ship Exmouth was a former Royal Navy 91 gun 2nd rate ship built in 1840 and named after Edward Pellow, Viscount Exmouth, Admiral of the Red She came to Grays, in the role of a training ship for boys, in 1876 and remained until 1903 when she was found to be unfit for service.

The second Exmouth was a purpose built training ship built by Vickers Sons & Maxim Ltd and launched at Barrow-in-Fumess in 1905 She was rigged as a three masted Barquentine and had accommodation for 750 boys and staff The Exmouth was owned by the Metropolitan Asylums Board and used as a Poor Law Training School to provide nautical training to boys in it's care to enable them to enter a life in the Merchant Navy or Royal Navy.

The Exmouth was run on strict military grounds by ex Royal Navy officers and Petty Officers, with PT drills, instruction classes in signaling, knots and seamanship as well as general schooling With up to 700 boys on board discipline was strict with misdemeanors being punished by either forfeiting shore leave and spending the afternoon marching and drilling instead or scrubbing the deck, or caning, often in front of the entire ships company as a warning to others The punishment being dependent upon the misdemeanor.

Every Sunday morning was Captain's inspection, with the Captain carrying out an inspection of all boys dressed in their number one rig followed by him making his rounds below decks to inspect all the messes In military fashion the Captain wore white gloves for this inspection, rubbing his finger under the edges of tables, forms and lockers to find hidden dirt The mess that was considered to be the best was rewarded with extra rations.

Despite the Exmouth being run as strict military grounds, it appears from accounts from former boys who served on it, that the regime was considered fair Each year about 200 boys from the Exmouth left to enter either the Merchant Navy or Royal Navy.

With the outbreak of war in 1939 all the boys and crew of the Exmouth were evacuated on Government instructions and were sent to Bumham-on-Crouch The ship then became the headquarters of the river fire floats In 1942 the Exmouth was converted in Tilbury docks as a minesweeper depot ship and became a Royal Navy ship She was towed to Scapa Flow and remained there until 1945 when she was towed back to the Thames and fitted out in the East India Dock basin as a school for potential Mercantile Marine Officers In 1946 she was renamed Worcester and moored in the Thames at Greenhithe, remaining there until at least the 1960's".- Text taken from the 2002 Thurrock Beer Festival Programme.