Berwick

[shipstamps]

Original article by Ernest Argyle.
At first glance there would appear to be nothing unusual about the design of this rather attractive stamp. To the naval man it must have been something of a puzzle. He would wonder how a cruiser could find accommodation for a contingent of troops, and why such a vessel would be employed trooping. For that is what seems to be happening in the picture on the stamp. The explanation is simple. Actually, the appearance of the cruiser on the stamp is incidental, for the British West Indies contingent returned by transport and not by warship. The troops disembarked and had to pass the cruiser on their way to the demobilisation camp. While passing the warship the photograph was taken from which the stamp is reproduced.
Identifying the warship was the next problem. There were certain definite details shown clearly on the stamp which could be found only on a County class cruiser of the First Great War. The stem of the ship slopes forward; she has three straight upright funnels; she has a mainmast with a "starfish" for the topmast stays; the shape of the bridge is that of this class of vessel; and quite a number of similar technicalities leave no room for doubt about the type of ship, a County class cruiser.
But here I struck a snag in my investigations. I could find no record of such a vessel being on Jamaica station in 1919 at the time of the B.W.I. Regiment's return in July. Further enquiries eventually revealed that H.M.S. Berwick was in the Pacific in May, 1919. She is shown in the records as being under orders for home in June and reaching Devonport towards the end of August or early September. In view of this, and the fact that everything in the photograph tallies with the photographs of H.M.S. Berwick, to the very smallest detail.
I do not think there can be the slightest doubt that she is the vessel shown on the stamp, and that the photograph was taken when she called at Kingston, after passing through the Panama Canal.
H.M.S. Berwick, an armoured cruiser, was launched in 1902 and completed in 1904. She carried fourteen 6 inch guns and had a speed of 23 knots. Her gross tonnage was 9,800 and dimensions:length 440ft, beam 66ft, draught 24.5ft. She was built by Beardmore's at a cost of £740,984.
Among her lighter armaments were eight 3in guns and eight machine guns.
Shortly after the stamp had been released for sale it was pointed out to the authorities that there had been an error in the design, the Union flag on the left margin appearing with the broad white band below the arm of the diagonal cross instead of above it. This was redrawn and corrected and a new frameplate was made, but was, I believe, used only for stamps printed on the script CA paper.

Jamaica SG82a

[john sefton]

On April 2, 1908, the BERWICK, commanded by Capt. W.C.M. Nicholson, collided with and sank the destroyer TIGER off the Isle of Wight, during night manoeuvres. Unhappily the lives of 36 men were lost in this unfortunate accident. The BERWICK appears on this stamp by accident. She called at Kingston, Jamaica, in June, 1919, on her way home from the Pacific, via the Panama Canal, and was at the quayside when the West Indian Regt. arrived home, their transport being tied up behind the Cruiser. On some of these stamps there is a misplacement of the St. Patrick's Cross on the flag on the left hand side of the stamp, giving the appearance that it is flying upside down. BERWICK was sold on July 1, 1920, and was towed to Hamburg on August 28, 1922 for breaking up.