Captain Charles Henry Tarr Palmer OBE

Charles Palmer was born at Patea on 16 November 1882. His father was a sailor in the Royal Navy who transferred to the Merchant Marine then settled in New Zealand as a farmer.[i] His grandfather also served in the Royal Navy aboard HMS Powerful. His profession was a manager and owner of the firm Swinnock and Palmer, a supplier to the Engineering trades based in Auckland. After the war he started another firm Charles Palmer and Company which operated until the 1980s.[ii]

 

At the outbreak of the First World War Charles Palmer was a very well-connected Aucklander. He was President of the Ponsonby Power Boat Association, Commodore of the New Zealand Power Boat Association, and was a member of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and the Navy League.[iii] Acting as Commodore of the NZ Power Boat Association he volunteered the services of the Auckland members with approximately forty boats to carry out patrols against enemy minelayers or sea-borne saboteurs.[iv] This offer was accepted by the Officer Commanding New Zealand Forces in Auckland and from 17 August 1914 Palmer in his launch Adelaide[v] and two boats were ordered to proceed on patrol ‘and close N.E. and E. entrance to all shipping during night periods on account of close proximity of German cruisers.’[vi]  He also presented a motor boat for the Hospital Ship Maheno.

 

Subsequently a squadron of sixteen boats was organised as a patrol service.[vii] The duties of this squadron included:

·         tendering to all transports,

·         transporting defence and military staff,

·         tendering warships without motor boats

·         patrolling harbour entrances

·         conveying military forces to training camps

·         patrolling prison camps

·         acting as Port War Signalling Officer

·         all other duties where water passage was required[viii]

 

In October 1914 Palmer was asked by general Godley to form the squadron into a military force ‘as there being no Naval Authority to do so.’[ix] He also offered boats for service at Gallipoli but the offer was politely declined. He acted as Port Captain for the RNVR in Auckland.[x] On 4 June 1915 the establishment of a Motor Boat Section New Zealand Forces was gazetted as part of the Motor Services Corps.  Names of men suitable for commission in this unit were requested to be forwarded to the Commanding Officer of the Auckland District.[xi] Naval training was begun at sea with formation cruising. Charles Palmer was granted the rank of Major in his position as the District Senior Officer of the New Zealand Motor Service Corps, Motor Boat Section on July 1915. He served without pay until September 1916 when he applied for a commission as a Temporary Sub-Lieutenant in the RNVR.[xii] By 1916, in deference to the naval purpose of the Section, the men were issued with a modified naval dress with naval badges and buttons.

 

In 1916, the Royal Navy sought to expand the RNVR to provide crews for the 500 Motor Launches to serve with the Coastal Command. A Commander Armstrong RNVR was sent by the Admiralty to New Zealand in 1916 to recruit men for the RNVR. He arrived to begin his recruiting drive in September 1916. Charles Palmer was the first officer accepted in New Zealand and was granted a leave of absence from the Motor Boat Section to proceed to Britain to take up his temporary commission as Sub-Lieutenant.[xiii] Palmer assisted with recruiting of officers and men like Roy Alexander, a motor mechanic who won a DCM at Zeebrugge in 1918.[xiv] Palmer departed for England on 4 December 1916.[xv]

 

Upon arrival in Britain, Palmer was sent for an intensive four-week RN induction course followed by a four week gunnery course. Upon the successful completion, he was commissioned as a Temporary Sub-Lieutenant in February 1917 and assigned to Motor Launch 93. For three months he swept for mines in the Moray Firth. In July 1917 he volunteered for special service in Northern Patrol trawlers serving on HMT Israel Aldcroft and George Brown serving as the senior RNVR officer in a flotilla of four trawlers. He would serve on George Brown until December 1918 and was promoted to Lieutenant for ‘satisfactory work’. He was awarded the RNVR Certificate of Competency in Navigation and Seamanship (First Class) and a Watchkeeping Certificate. He was at this time appointed to command George Brown.[xvi]

 

He would be in command for the briefest of periods. On 22 December 1918 he was posted to ML 358 for service with the Rhine Flotilla. The task of the flotilla was to proceed up the Rhine to monitor the German compliance with the terms of the Armistice. The flotilla reached Cologne by February 1919 and remained there for two months. He was then demobilised in March 1919 and repatriated to New Zealand arriving in Auckland on 29 September 1919.[xvii] When he returned to New Zealand, he resumed duties with the Motor Service Corp from October 1919 to February 1920 when the Motor Boat Service was disbanded.[xviii] It was this action that drove him to seek the establishment of a volunteer reserve in New Zealand.  He saw the ‘absolute lack of any Harbour Patrols or Water transport at the outbreak of [the First World] War…convinced me of necessity for the formation of a NZ Division of RNVR.’[xix]  

 

Before returning to New Zealand, Palmer had discussed with other RNVR officers the need to establish an Auckland RNVR. One of those men was a Mr W J Connors and it would be these two men who would be the founding fathers of the Auckland RNVR.[xx] As President of the Navy League, Palmer lobbied actively for the establishment of a RNVR in Auckland on a trial basis.[xxi] In 1960 he wrote of his motivation:

 

‘The knowledge and experience gained during the first world war gave the inspiration that an RNVR Division was necessary in New Zealand and after my return from active service…I was determined that an RNVR Division should be formed in this country.’[xxii]

 

After four years, he saw the fruits of his efforts. In 1924 Captain Hotham, Commanding Officer of HMS Chatham advised Palmer that he could go ahead and form an Auckland Division of the RNVR working with Commander Miles of HMS Philomel. Palmer was gazetted as the Staff Officer on 21 February 1925 and in addition as the recruiting officer. He would serve in this position until 1932. There were 200 men formed into the first unit.[xxiii]

 

Working from nothing, Palmer found a HQ, outfitted the recruits, organised training including bringing back from England a copy of the Imperial RNVR regulations. He also arranged competitions for gunnery, signalling, boatwork, and rifle-shooting. He was also responsible for the annual inspections and monthly reports. In 1925 the RN New Zealand Division’s report to Parliament reported that if the Auckland RNVR Division was successful ‘an extension may gradually be made to other ports in the Dominion.’[xxiv] That it was successful and many recruits came forward is due in large part to Palmer’s efforts and determination. He was also fortunate that Jellicoe had identified in his report to the New Zealand government that it would be a cost effective measure to have a RNVR cadre to man a minesweeping force in case of war.[xxv]

 

In May 1925 the first parade was held on the Captain Cook wharf. The first official duty was to form part of the Honour Guard for the Untied States Navy Battle Squadron that was due to visit Auckland in August 1925. Philomel provided two cutters for boat drill and the general seamanship training was carried out in the wharf building. In 1926 the now gazetted Lieutenant-Commander Palmer[xxvi] secured the Navy League’s HQ in what is now the Downtown carpark. This continued until the permanent base for the RNVR was established at St. Mary’s Bay.[xxvii] Due to the demands on his time as an officer, he resigned the Presidency of the Navy League.

 

In Acting Lieutenant Commander Palmer was Second in Command of the Auckland Division of the RNVR. In May 1927, he took a leave of absence and visited Britain. He volunteered at his own expense to visit RNVR HQ and training establishments to investigate methods of training and administration. This offer was accepted by the Navy Board. His report advocated a training establishment on the waterfront.[xxviii]

 

Upon his return from the United Kingdom he was horrified to discover that a new HQ was being considered that was, in light of his report to the Navy Board, inappropriate.  Therefore he pushed for a site that was offered in St. Mary’s Bay by the Harbour Board. Working with the President of the Navy League, Palmer convinced the Minister of Defence and the Prime Minister of the need for the site and obtained a grant of £4,000 to build a home for the RNVR in an ideal location for training purposes.[xxix] Sadly, Palmer did not get the Command of the Division according to McEwan in Auckland Rockies ‘due to his lack of sea going experience in the RN or RNR…time spent with the RNVR on war service in the MLs did not count as ‘Naval’ sea time for promotion.’[xxx] Perhaps too, there was his lack of tact and ‘excess zeal’ when dealing with senior officers.[xxxi] Despite this, he was promoted to 2^nd in command of the Auckland Division in December 1927.

 

This snub to his war record and service to the RNVR did not deter him for giving his all to the Auckland Division.  He organised a football and cricket club amongst the reservists and funded the costs of equipment and trophies out of his own pocket.[xxxii] The Naval Board did not think it was right and proper that a man of Palmers energy, service and talents be overlooked by the hidebound RN. At the beginning of 1929 Palmer was sent for sea training aboard HMS Dunedin[xxxiii] and in May the Commodore of the New Zealand Station wrote to the Naval Board recommending that Palmer be promoted to the rank of Commander. This request was grated on the basis of a ‘reward for the interest and energy which he has shown in the development of the RNVR at Auckland’ and the rank was gazetted on 20 June 1929.[xxxiv] On 1 June 1929, the Headquarters for the Auckland Division RNVR at St Mary’s Bay was opened by the Governor General.  Commander Palmer served as Executive Officer to Commander Hull the CO of the Auckland Division.

 

On 16 November 1932, Commander Palmer was forced to retire from the RNVR due to his age but was placed on the retired list and allowed to keep his rank and wear the prescribed uniform.[xxxv] However, he kept up the support for the RNVR and Navy through the Navy League as he resumed the position of President.[xxxvi] As the Great Depression spread to New Zealand, Palmer thoughtfully provided travelling expenses for the reservists to enable them to attend the parades. He also ensured that a supply of food basics was available to the men who were either unemployed themselves or had family and friends in the same situation.[xxxvii] This kindness shown by Palmer for his men was remembered with great affection.  In 1935, after a decade of its existence, the strength of the RNVR was 88 officers and 1,250 ratings.[xxxviii]

 

The Royal Akarana Yacht Club in 1938 began classes to train members to form a Yachtsman’s Volunteer Reserve so they could be commissioned as RNVR officers in the event of a war. Palmer obtained a lecture programme from the Admiralty. This programme produced many men who in 1940 joined the Scheme A and Y for direct entry as commissioned officers to the RNVR. [xxxix] At the outbreak of the Second World War, Charles Palmer once again put himself at the service of the Navy. Unfortunately, the Navy could not find a berth for him in the service.[xl] served on the Auckland Patriotic sub-committee for the Navy and Merchant Navy. This committee supplied gifts and amenities to New Zealand Navy personnel serving worldwide and providing a welcome for naval vessels visiting Auckland. He carried this task out while at the same time running his own business.[xli]

 

After the Second World War, Palmer once again put his efforts into the reformation of the RNVR as President of the Navy League.[xlii]  He argued for the provision of an adequately trained and equipped volunteer reserve. He also worked very hard to provide for the Sea Cadets and amenities for the men of the RNZN. On 9 November 1948, the commissioning ceremony for the Auckland Division of the Royal New Zealand Navy Volunteer Reserve was held at St Mary’s Bay. It would be called HMNZS Ngapona officially in December 1951 some 26 years after the Auckland Division RNVR had first paraded.

 

In recognition for his efforts in establishing the Auckland Division of the RNVR, he was promoted to Captain on the retired list in 1957[xliii] and in 1946 was awarded a civilian OBE for patriotic services.[xliv] Sadly, he passed away aged 91 in 1974 before the 50^th anniversary of the unit that he had so much to do with establishing and leading during its early history. In recognition of his work, the Navy Board kept his name on the retired officers list until his death.[xlv]