Old travel Blog photograph of the Christening of a child on the Orkney Islands, Scotland. The father of the child was a Chief Petty Officer, who sadly died, not long after, on HMS Hood the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. When war with Germany was declared, Hood was operating in the area around Iceland, and she spent the next several months hunting between Iceland and the Norwegian Sea for German commerce raiders and blockade runners. After a brief overhaul of her propulsion system, she sailed as the flagship of Force H, and participated in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Relieved as flagship of Force H, Hood was dispatched to Scapa Flow, and operated in the area as a convoy escort and later as a defence against a potential German invasion fleet. In May 1941, she and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which were en route to the Atlantic where they were to attack convoys. On 24 May 1941, early in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Hood was struck by several German shells, exploded and sank within three minutes, with the loss of all but three of her crew. One tradition that followed an Orcadian birth remains strong today. Wetting the child’s head, was an inescapable custom that ensured the infant was brought luck. A bottle of whisky was brought out for the occasion and hastily consumed by the new father and the menfolk of the area.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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