Ordinary Seaman Vivian Reddecliffe, b899, died 1920
1899 Aug 27. Vivian Reddecliffe birn Oct/Dec 1899 at Totnes, Devon
1901 census with his parents in Totnes
1911 with his parents in Plymouth
He got British War Medal, but not Victory Medal
1920 Dec 11. Last time he was seen alive in his ship RFA Volens
AI tells me that RFA Volens (Trinculo-class Mooring Vessel) The primary vessel natively built for Admiralty/RFA service under this name was a Trinculo-class dockyard mooring vessel.
Builder & Launch: Built by William Simons & Co. at Renfrew, Scotland, entering service around 1916. Sister Ships: Part of a class of Admiralty dockyard mooring and boom defence craft including Anchorite (ex-Progress), Steady, Buffalo, and Messenger.
Service: Operations involved laying, maintaining, and recovering heavy harbor moorings, boom defenses, and salvage support. Historical movement records show her working out of naval bases such as Berehaven (Ireland) and Plymouth in the late 1920s. Pennant Number: Designated X 77 (and later X 44 in some service periods). Disposal: Sold out of service in 1947 to the Tees Conservancy Commissioners, where she retained the name Volens for civilian harbor duties.
1920 Dec 23. Seaman Vivian Reddecliffe the victim of drowning was found on 23|12|1920 near Castletownbere,Co.Cork.
The body was washed ashore on 23 Dec
An Ordinary Seaman aboard RFA Volens was a civilian merchant seaman, not a member of the Royal Navy .
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) was owned by the Ministry of Defence to support the Royal Navy, but its ships are registered as merchant vessels and crewed by civilian seafarers governed by maritime merchant navy regulations.Status: RFA personnel were civilian Admiralty/MoD employees (civilian merchant Navy ratings), not military servicemen of the Royal Navy.
Discipline & Law: They were subject to the Merchant Shipping Acts rather than the Naval Discipline Act (unless specifically placed under military law during wartime combat operations under the Defence of the Realm Acts/Naval Discipline Act extensions).
Service Records: Service records for RFA ratings are held within Merchant Navy crew agreements and National Archives merchant seaman records (such as Form CR10/CR2 cards or Board of Trade continuous discharge books), rather than Royal Navy service registers.