General News
14 September, 2024
Veterans' Voices: Edward (Ted) James Ribe
Edward (Ted) James Ribe was born in Stawell on June 23 1888.
His parents were Albert (Fred) Adolphus Frederick Ribe and Ester O’Brien (formerly of Geelong).
Fred, a farmer, married Ester in 1874 in Stawell and there they raised their family of seven children.
However, by 1900 Fred and Ester were living in Jandakot, Western Australia, where Fred continued to farm.
Ted’s hometown was Denmark, WA, and he worked as a station hand on Gabyon Station in Mt Magnet, WA.
Ted was a labourer before enlisting in the British Navy as a merchant seaman during World War I.
Post-war, Ted returned to Fremantle in 1922 as a seaman on board Orsova and worked as a labourer at the Lion Mill in Swan, WA.
In 1923 he married Miriam (Myra) Dyson (née Clifford-Thompson, Dyson being her surname from her first marriage).
They were married in Perth.
Ted worked as a carpenter before enlisting on July 7 1942 with the service number F/V96.
His last rank was able seaman.
Ted was attached to HMAS Leeuwin when he was discharged on July 3 1944.
Ted and Myra were licensees of the London Hotel in Albany, WA, until 1945 ,when Ted passed the licence to Myra.
The couple were divorced in 1948 in Perth and Ted settled in the city, where he worked as a cleaner.
Edward James Ribe died on June 18 1956, aged 67.
He is buried in Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, WA.
[CROSSHEAD]Merchant navy - World War I
During World War I the merchant navy, or the mercantile marine, was thrust into the conflict, becoming the supply service of the Royal Navy.
Britain was dependent on imports from Europe and across the Atlantic.
Merchant ships transported cargo, passengers, or both.
In order to win the war, it was vital that the Allies were able to move troops as well as food to the civilian population to keep the country from starvation.
The merchant navy shipped iron and raw materials such as coal and delivered armaments and supplies to the armed forces and other essential goods to keep factories in production.
German U-boats (submarines) were used against British warships but they also deliberately targeted merchant ships supplying Britain from February 1915.
U-boats laid mines in the water in busy shipping lanes in the hope that ships would run into them.
The British responded to the U-boat threat with a naval blockade which aimed to prevent supply ships reaching Germany.
The US condemned the German actions, and this eventually contributed to the US’s entry into the war in 1917.
Wilson Line lost 43 steamers - about 50 per cent of its effective pre-war capacity - and more than 800 Hull merchant seamen died due to enemy action during the four years of the war.
The final toll included men on 2479 British merchant vessels and 675 British fishing vessels that were destroyed by enemy action, with 14,287 and 434 lives lost, respectively.
Many of the crews have no grave but the sea.
Foreign seafarers are mostly memorialised in their home countries but in Britain their role is largely unrecognised and unsung.
The Merchant Navy Memorial in Kings Park, Parkes, ACT, commemorates those who died while serving with the merchant navy during both world wars.
It symbolises the merchant navy and the sea and consists of seven columns, a dais, concrete drums and a flagpole.
The central granite column symbolises remembrance.
The Merchant Navy Memorial in London has a main dedication that reads: “TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND TO THE HONOUR OF TWELVE THOUSAND OF THE MERCHANT NAVY AND FISHING FLEETS WHO HAVE NO GRAVE.”
The work of merchant seamen was arduous due to coal dust and intense heat and dangerous due to enemy mines and torpedoes that could explode without warning below the waterline, fatally flooding the engine room and blowing up high-pressure boilers and steam pipes.
[CROSSHEAD]HMAS Leeuwin Base – World War II
HMAS Leeuwin is a former Royal Australian Navy (RAN) shore establishment in Fremantle.
Leeuwin was commissioned into the RAN on August 1 1940 as the naval depot for Fremantle and remained in use until 1984.
Between August 1942 and March 1946 the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club property at Keane’s Point was commissioned as HMAS Leeuwin II.
This establishment was commissioned to meet the requirements of the Naval Auxiliary Patrol, which conducted harbour and coastal patrols from Fremantle.
A number of new buildings were added to house personnel and for the care and maintenance of service craft.
Leeuwin was decommissioned from naval service in 1986 and the base was later reopened under the control of the Australian Army as Leeuwin Barracks.
With thanks: Sally Bertram, RSL Military History Library. Contact Sally at sj.bertram@hotmail.com or call 0409 351 940.