Catalogue description Manuscript diary kept during his command of HMS HARPY in the Mediterranean and Home waters, including the Dardanelles campaign,

At the outbreak of war Dickens was in command of the Beagle class destroyer Harpy, the senior ship of one sub-division of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla (Captain C P R Coode), which was serving on the Mediterranean Station. On 7 August Harpy sailed from Malta with orders from the C-in-C, Mediterranean, to proceed to the Straits of Messina to look for the German battle cruiser Goeben, but after news of the latter's arrival at Constantinople, Harpy and three other destroyers were ordered to Syra to join the Dardanelles patrol. In anticipation of Turkey's entry into the war, Dickens was proposing as early as 29 August "a dash up the Dardanelles" to his Captain (D), but his aggressive spirit was not to be satisfied until 3 November, when the British squadron carried out a brief bombardment of the forts at the entrance to the Narrows. "It was of course very difficult to judge what damage we did ... I hope this was will be prosecuted with vigour, and that we shall not be content with a 20 minute bombardment occasionally" (3 November). In the event, as his diary entry for 12 November shows, his worst fears were realized and the bombardment was not renewed, although on 19 November Dickens took Harpy so close inshore that one Turkish fort did fire a single shot at her.

Harpy returned to Home waters in December 1914 and was employed until March on night runs across the English Channel escorting transports from Portsmouth to Le Havre. Dickens found this "uninteresting and uncomfortable work" (15 January) even though a regular routine was gradually established for the destroyers. On 26 March orders were received for the Beagle class destroyers to prepare to return to the Dardanelles, on 29 March Dickens married, on 10 April he sailed and on 26 April Harpy joined Rear-Admiral C F Thursby's Squadron off Gaba Tepe. Her duties were predictably varied, including landing troops, minesweeping (2 May), bombarding Turkish positions in support of the troops and, after the arrival in May of some U-boats, carrying out anti-submarine patrols. From time to time Harpy was shelled by Turkish batteries and Dickens notes that their gunnery was increasingly accurate, but even on one occasion when they came under particularly heavy fire while landing troops at Z beach He notes that "my men, altho' a young ship's company behaved with great coolness" (27 May). This entry, together with others referring to Harpy's excellent coaling record and her comparative freedom from engine breakdowns, suggests that Dickens ran a very efficient ship. As Allied progress ashore ground to a halt, Dickens felt that it was vital to call up reinforcements since "the whole thing will have been much better left alone unless we go the whole hog now, and may be a constant source of embarrassment to us" (7 May). On 6 August Harpy carried out diversionary operations to help draw Turkish attention from the Suvla landing, but Dickens was soon lamenting yet another lost opportunity ashore and clamouring for further reinforcements (24 August, 25 September). Harpy continued to provide supporting fire for the troops during the autumn, but she was long overdue for a refit and, shortly after the period of bad weather on the peninsula (1 December), she was ordered home for a long refit.

Other entries of interest in his Gallipoli diary describe a day ashore with a French battalion (21 July), a meeting with the French Admiral Guepratte (12 September) and his view on the supercession of General Sir Ian Hamilton (19 October). Dickens also refers to a discussion with Andrew Cunningham (later Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope) about the best way for a destroyer to attack a capital ship (27 August 1914).

Copy on microfilm, Ref. PP/MCR/93