Circa Oct. 1939: HMAS BERYL II [ex-HMS BERYL], minesweeper for rent, 111 pounds 12 shillings a month - RAN., originally uploaded by Kookaburra2011.
Just a piece of trivia today. This is the minesweeper my grandfather Stuart Ganley served on during the second world war. Minesweepers needed a wooden hull so they wouldn't set the mines off that bobbed around just under the surface. Their job was to keep the sea lanes open and free of mines so troop transports, aid and the injured could be ferried back and forth between ports. HMAS Beryl doesn't look like it could withstand a summer swell- but it did, bringing Pa back home to his family in one piece at wars end.
