H.M.S. ROYAL OAK.
Joppa to Jericho.
Rare Holy Land travelogue printed in Malta
A rare and attractive account of a Holy Land tour undertaken by the crew of HMS Royal Oak whilst serving with the Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. Printed in Malta it was surely issued in a small run as keepsakes for the crew and their families.
The 330-person crew was split into four groups for the tour and each followed the same itinerary, moving inland from Jaffa to Jerusalem, further East to the Dead Sea then back to the Holy City before heading North to the Sea of Galilee. The book combines their experiences into one narrative.
Written in short bursts it describes every location and stop-off, mixing historical notices with the leisure activities of the men. Though somewhat breezy in tone several descriptions have the unmistakable freshness of first experience. We hear of melancholy at passing the British cemetery at Ramla, laughter at divers receiving “the bitterest drinks of their lives” (p.25) in the Dead Sea, and wonder at the “supremely good” (p.35). architecture of the Dome of the Rock.
Rare. We cannot locate any copies in LibraryHub and only one in OCLC, at the National Library of Israel.
