INTRODUCTION by Gordon Smith

For some time now, I have been interested in the 580 motor launches built by ELCO - the Electric Launch Company, then at Bayonne, New Jersey for the Royal Navy in World War 1. I collected together the limited published information that was available, listed all the ML's, annotated where possible and published them on www.naval-history.net. I was then contacted by Andy Hunter MD of Ontario, Canada who informed me his father had served on ML.81 at the time of her loss - a casualty not listed in other publications. Andy subsequently sent me more information about his father, himself - he also served in the RCN - and 32 photographs of ML's and their crews that had never been published before.

The detailed story of these ML's, the men who served on them, and the many feats they accomplished in a sea war just as deadly as World War 2 deserves to be told. In the meantime, I hope this story of Lt John Hunter, together with the first, albeit very incomplete listing of all the ML's - British US-built Elco Motor Launches of World War 1 - might encourage others to go on from here.

The Elco ML (both the 75 and 80 foot versions) design was purely American. The chief naval architect was Irwin Chase and his assistant Glenville Tremaine. More about their conception and design can be found at http://www.motorlaunchpatrol.net/construction/design_and_construction.php.

The notes that follow have been extracted from the emails Andy Hunter sent me about his father.

"John Hunter was one of perhaps a dozen or so Canadians who were recruited in 1915 or 1916 to serve as RNVR officers aboard MLs - there was no Canadian RNVR in WW1. His sole qualification for such a role was that he was an avid canoeist and a member of a canoe club in Toronto, Ontario! These young men were given a crash course lasting only a few weeks at the Naval College in Greenwhich. There were some Americans and some New Zealanders in the group. There may have been some South Africans as well.

"As the USA was neutral, orders for the ML's were placed by Canadian Vickers, the parts collected at Bayonne, New Jersey, and carried by rail to Montreal for assembly. For example, frames were cut and bent in Bayonne and joined together in Canada. The completed boats, less the armament which was believed mounted in Britain, were then shipped across the Atlantic as deck cargo, up to four ML's per steamship.

"One of these Canadians was Lt Roland Burke RNVR, awarded the VC for his exploits in ML.276 at Ostend in May 1918. Apart from John Hunter, another was Maurice Shea:

"Lieut. John R. Hunter, only son of Mrs. F. E. Hunter and the late J. D. Hunter, of Toronto, was a salesman on the staff of the Harris Abattoir Company prior to receiving his commission in the R.N.V.R. He went to England in 1916 and after further training was attached to the Motor Patrol Service. He served some months in the North Sea and was later commander of a motor launch on the Channel. He took an active interest in athletics.

"Lieut. Maurice P. Shea, a resident of Montreal, was the first man to enlist in Canada in the R.N.V.R. He spent two years in rnine-sweeping and patrol work, and had many trying experiences while afloat."

ML.81's commanding officer was Lt Hugh Hunter RNVR believed to English or Scottish; Canadian Lt John R Hunter RNVR - no relation - was his second-in-command. Before she was lost, 81 probably made it to the south of England.

In early 1917, ML.81 was destroyed by a petrol fire probably at Aberdeen, Scotland but possibly at Peterhead. John Hunter narrowly escaped with his life in the fire and was ever afterward terrified of fires.