The Burscough connection canal to military. Far more to barges in the military sense than we may give credence to. The Ordnance Depot was equipped to offload barges as well as having its own rail sidings moving munitions and ordnance by barge was an accepted form of transport. However there was a need to utilise this means in a military service both on the Western Front as well as in Egypt & Mesopotamia. Transporting stores & ordnance food was the obvious along with forage for horses and mules. Below is another aspect which has many attributes going for it. Hope you enjoy the connection. About the size of a Thames lighter, the ambulance barges were roofed in and fitted out as a ward with 30 beds and an operating table. In the bow of the barge was a kitchen and store-room, and there were bunks for the staff in the stern. Each vessel was staffed by two nursing sisters, nine R.A.M.C. orderlies and three Royal Engineers (R.E.) from the Inland Water Transport unit. The barges were towed in pairs by a small tug operated by the engineers. An onboard medical officer attended to patients in both barges. Transportation by this method was particularly suited to those suffering from head or chest wounds and gunshot fractures of the thigh, as the jolting usually experienced by any other means of transport only resulted in, more suffering for the patient. After stopping a ‘Blighty one’ and laying for many hours in a shell-hole in No-Man’s-Land, a severely wounded soldier described his journey by barge, It was almost as if one had died and literally wakened in heaven. The peace, the silence, were unbelievable. One had glimpses of lovely country, and the scent of it drifted in. The nights moored up were so still - though sometimes one heard the distant gun-fire, but it didn’t matter any more - it seemed so far away. R.A.M.C. men who landed duty on the inland medical barges would bless their luck in being water-gypsies amid a countryside remote from the immediate horrors of war, said one of their number. The nurses shown here are QAIMNS Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service .
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 22:44:56 +0000
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