Lyr Req: Jarvis Bay?/Jervis Bay

Subject: Lyr Req: Jarvis bay
From: GUEST,Fasteddy
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 01:18 PM

Does anyone know of this song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jarvis bay
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 01:53 PM

Know anything else about it, Eddy? The only Jarvis Bay I can find is a provincial park in Alberta, but there's a Jervis Bay in New South Wales in Australia.
There's a song about a World War II ship called The Jervis Bay (click).

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jarvis bay
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 01:58 PM

Sure it isn't Jervis Bay?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jarvis bay
From: GUEST,Fasteddy
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 02:02 PM

Only that someone asked me about it and recited three lines,sounds like a war song,something Mr.Bogle would write.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jarvis bay
From: Lighter
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 05:58 PM

From "rich r" on a 1998 thread:


The Jervis Bay

It was a bleak November morning/ With a convoy under way/ When they sighted a German raider/ From the tops of the Jervis Bay

'Clear the decks for action'/ Was the order of the day/ And that gallant Captain Fegen/ Then sailed into the fray.

She was only a merchant cruiser/ Against a battleship,/ But she took that noble action/ Just to let the convoy slip.

On her decks lay dead and dying/ For them the day was won/ When they heard the convoy scatteed/ They knew their job was done.

Why do we weep, why do we pray?/ Those sailors sleep so far away/ They gave their lives that November day/ Those heores of the Jervis Bay.

from: The Oxford Book of Sea Songs

The Jervis Bay was a pasenger ship that had been "converted" into an armed merchant cruiser by sticking 7 guns on it. On Nov 5, 1940 the Jervis Bay was escorting a convoy of 37 merchant ships in the north Atlantic when the German battleship 'Admiral Scheer' appeared. The captain of the Jervis Bay ordered the convoy to split up, and then proceeded to attack the German ship in a suicidal encounter. In the half hour or so before the Jervis Bay was sunk, most of the convoy was able to escape. Captain Fegen was awarded the Victoria Cross in death. "The Jervis Bay" was apparently sung to a number of tunes including "Suvla Bay" and "Kevin Barry"

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jarvis bay
From: GUEST,Observer
Date: 02 Sep 18 - 02:11 AM

Jervis Bay

Thirty-eight vessels with food for you,
Thirty-eight vessels that must get through.
Atlantic dawn, and dusk of day,
And a shell screamed over the Jervis Bay.

Thirty-eight vessels full steam ahead
Off with their needed cargoes sped.
But over there, where the warship lay,
Guns ablaze went the Jervis Bay.

That was the end her captain knew.
Fegen knew it and all his crew,
For the time they bought the price to pay
Was the blazing wreck of the Jervis Bay.


Notes:
The above was published in the Liverpool Echo during the early days of World War II, shortly after the events described below took place.

The 37 freighters and tankers of Convoy HX84 were seven days out of Halifax, Nova Scotia - halfway home but still in mid-Atlantic - when the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer was sighted on the horizon. The convoy's sole escort, an ancient converted cargo ship armed with obsolete guns, turned to meet her.
What followed was one of the most heroic actions of the Second World War, as the crew of HMS Jervis Bay prepared for a battle that could have only one outcome. Outgunned, and with no hope of survival, they sailed head-on for the German ship, feebly returning the broadsides of her 11-inch guns.
Crippled and sinking, the Jervis Bay held the Admiral Scheer at bay, allowing the convoy to disperse into a winter storm. All but nine ships escaped. More than 190 of the 256 Jervis Bay crew died.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jarvis bay
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Sep 18 - 02:58 AM

So, is this the song, Fzsteddy?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jarvis Bay?/Jervis Bay
From: GUEST,Fasteddy
Date: 03 Sep 18 - 03:33 AM

Yes that's the song. Thanks all...Eddy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jarvis Bay?/Jervis Bay
From: Tony Rees
Date: 04 Sep 18 - 04:23 PM

From info in Wikipedia, the British (i.e. Commonwealth) ship was named "Jervis Bay" after the place in Australia (a special territory of its own, but nestled within New South Wales), which is well known and popularly pronounced "Jarvis" although spelled "Jervis". According to WP, "Jervis Bay is named after Sir John Jervis, Admiral of the Fleet, Earl of St. Vincent, and first Viscount St. Vincent."

Apparently as far back as 1928, relatives of the "Jervis" family were complaining that the bloody natives were mispronouncing the family name, but hey that's just progress (?) :

see https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/4390294/you-say-jervis-i-say-jarvis-is-the-debate-over/

According to other sources, the "Jarvis" pronunciation was also used in the navy for the ship in question.

However the matter is still a source of some disagreement:

"When controversy raged on the subject during 1972, the State Member for South Coast, Jack Beale (who was also Minister for Environment Control) sought to have it clarified by the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales.

While not giving a definitive answer, the GNB’s response in January 1973 was that once a place name had been established in this State, it’s pronunciation would be determined ‘by popular usage’ which said it was ‘Jarvis’.

However, during that month Shoalhaven Shire confirmed a previous resolution that the correct pronunciation was “Jervis”. "

- Tony Rees, Australia