News
Far Eastern Travels
Andrew Negus
gave a fascinating talk to Sarum Probus Club on 13th
February 2026. As a young man Andrew had ventured as far as New
Zealand backpacking. Therefore, in 1991, after the death of his
wife, to find some peace after a time of grief, he set out to make
a second journey there and meet up with old friends. This time he
would go by train.
His talk told us
the first part of his venture, the journey to China. He took his
backpack and a small pouch of money strapped carefully to his
chest. He decided to use the Trans-Siberian Railway stopping en
route to see many historic cities. He was travelling alone but soon
found travel companions from a variety of countries.
Warsaw was one
place he stopped and he was surprised at how anti-Russian the
people were in those early years following independence from the
Soviet Union. Travelling on to Moscow he was impressed by how
colourful the city was. Living on a very low budget Andrew was
pleased too, that food, although not of great quality, was
relatively cheap. The Russian travellers on the train were very
hospitable.
In Mongolia
passengers had to alight while wheels were changed to fit a
different gauge and then, when leaving the country alight again
while the wheels were changed back.
Finally Andrew
reached China. In 1991 there were almost no cars in the country,
people mostly used bicycles or buses. He was also thrown because
all signs were in Chinese and Andrew knew very little. There was no
European food and foreigners were only allowed to stay in
designated hotels.
At first it all
seemed rather drab and disappointing. Andrew decided to stay as
planned and he began to see China through new eyes. He visited the
Great Wall and the Emperor’s Palace, both great feats of
engineering.
This was only
the first part of Andrew’s Venture and members look forward to
hearing more some time in the future.
Battle of Hampton Roads
Lt Col James
Porter spoke to us on 8th May about the first sea battle
where iron clad ships clashed. It took place during the American
Civil War in 1862. The Southern Confederacy had as its capital
Richmond and its access to the sea was via James River and
Chesapeake Bay. The Unionists were blocking the river with a force
of wooden hull ships which their industrial superiority had enabled
them to build.
The Naval
Commander at Norfolk, adjacent to Chesapeake Bay had skuttled the
Virginian fleet when Virginia opted to join the South. The ships
had been burnt but Confederacy salvage teams had rescued the hull
of the Merrimack and decided to relaunch it with iron cladding.
They renamed it the “Virginia” and it duly set forth in March 1862
to attack the Union’s ships blockading the river at Hudsons Roads.
It managed to inflict
considerable damage on several of the ships using guns and also, in
one case, a metal ramming beak. Meanwhile an Iron clad ship which
had been built in New York was being towed down to join in the
battle. It was called the “Monitor” and, due to the speed with
which it had been built and the urgent need, arrived untested. It
was particularly unable to cope with rough seas and it was a
miracle it reached the Hudson Roads in tikme to engage. But the
ship had one new feature which was to
become a mark of the future.
It had a gun turret which enabled guns to be swiveled for attack
rather than the fixed guns of previous ships. The battle ensued.
After several skirmishes neither ship was able to penetrate the
armour of the other and eventually the “Monitor“ had to retire to
upload more ammunition. The captain of the “Virginia” took the
opportunity to withdraw claiming victory. The clash was in fact a
stalemate. James Porter’s account was very detailed and gave almost
a blow by blow account of the incident which one can’t include in a
brief summary. It was very fascinating especially to those of us
who hadn’t realized iron was used to clad ships as early as the
middle of the 19th century.
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