Faunce, Bonham de Laune

We have no photograph as yet.

In 1963 Midshipman Bonham Faunce was one of ten survivors of Jutland who recorded their recollections for an episode of the BBC programme the Great War. Bonham is audio clip number 2 at https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/voices-from-the-battle-of-jutland.

There is also a 23 minute audio clip at https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/voices-of-the-first-world-war-jutland.

I was frightened, yes, I make no bones about it. The worst part was before we opened fire, there were all these guns going off, shells were landing all round. I don’t think any of the shells were aimed at us but there were ships on either side of us. They were landing in the water with a large crash and an explosion. Great columns of white foam going up and I really didn't know what was going on. Once our own ship’s guns were answering back, it seemed to be alright. There's quite a considerable difference not knowing, not being able to see what was going on or who was hitting you.


 * 1) HMS Hercules Crew List (Photographs)
 * 2) HMS Hercules Crew List (updated in Real-time)