The Log of Lt Cdr E C Roden RNR
HMS Caronia
1914-15
THE LOG OF LT CDR E C RODEN RNR – HMS CARONIA 1914-15
This ARTICLE features the private log kept by Lieutenant Commander Edward Charles Roden RNR (later Commander E C Roden RD RNR) for the period 3 August 1914 to 15 May 1915, while he was serving in the armed merchant cruiser HMS Caronia.
Roden was unusually well connected professionally and socially. A member of the Cayzer family, he was a former Clan Line master turned shipping manager: Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet, and Rear Admiral Sir Charles Madden, Jellicoe’s Chief of Staff (and brother-in-law) were both uncles by marriage. The log provides a fascinating insight into this lesser-known aspect of the Great War at sea with occasional glimpses of social attitudes of the period.