T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 44

Hytho 20.1.32 Dear F/Lieut. Beauforte Greenwood, 202 has now done 15 hours with the Hyland gears. Too To-day was/foggy to ..ick going out, so we passed the day trying to invent some means of protecting the reverse from sudden engagement. We had not realised the need for this till yesterday, when for the first time I got the crew from Calshot and took her down an exhibition. W/Gndr. Watkins "bumped" the reverse eight times, stalling the engine one time in two. His F/Sergt bumped once, his first try, and after that did 68 changes beautifully, and said that there was no difficulty whatever in it. Wt. Corporal Jarrett drove for 35 minutes without a single bad mark, though he had had only the normal 10-day course on 200 previously. Walsh, the civilian instructor did 4 bumps, but seemed confident, and said he liked the gears; as did W/Cmndr Watkins, who admitted outright that he had not mastered their operation perfectly. I was able to agree with him. It is clear to me that the instructional boat, at least, must have some spring preventors to save the reverses from becoming scrap iron in a month. After training there will be no need for it. Neither Leonard nor I have "bumped" a gear in for ten days. I have found a sort of "rolling change" method that gets the