A RARE account of wartime in west Dorset tells how suspicion was rampant in the area.
JW Rowson wrote the unique account in 1922 about Bridport and Lyme Regis in wartime, three years after the Great War ended.
Rowson described the contribution made by the people of west Dorset and the surrounding area.
It tells how at the start of the war in August 1914, many villages and towns in Dorset enthusiastically embraced the patriotic cause.
A report made to Scotland Yard says that a German submarine base had been established at Pinhay Bay, west of Lyme Regis.
The witness said that he had stopped to rest on a large rock when all of a sudden he felt a bang on the head, which knocked him out.
He thought that a crew of a U-boat could have attacked him.
Nigel Clarke, who re-issued Rowson's account in 2004, said that although this story does sound far-fetched, during the First World War there were reports of two escaped German prisoners of war living rough in the area.
He previously said: "We learn of one Mr Stevens, of Haddon House, West Bay, who volunteered to patrol the telegraph wires, to check for sabotage.
Women of Lyme Regis in the First World War (Image: Supplied)
Another report, sent to the police by an anonymous informant, accused the local Lyme Regis boatman of secretly taking out petrol to resupply offshore marauding U-boats.
Everyone was under suspicion.
An elderly retired lady carefully watched a Lyme man every day from her cottage on the cliffs.
She noted that most days this man would stalk the shoreline and continually darted underneath the rocks and ledges in a suspicious manner.
She came to the conclusion he was using a secret radio transmitter to inform the German Admiralty of local mackerel boat movements.
Mr Clarke said: "The local elderly man, a certain Mr Curtis, was questioned about his strange behaviour, and no doubt showed the police the buckets of prawns, limpets and winkles which he had been collecting!"
War bonds were sold to finance the war effort,. This special aeroplane bank was set up at 26 East Street, Bridport, staffed by Post Office clerks (Image: Supplied)
Mr Clarke explained: "There were concerns over the possible invasion of the area by German raiding parties. Beacons were erected at Thorncombe, Abbotsbury and East Cliff, which would be lit if an attack occurred, (the same beacons that would have been lit in 1588 to warn of the Spanish Armada).
"Orders were issued that in the event of a landing by German raiders at West Bay, the houses and cottages were to be torched and all items of use to the enemy to be removed.
"A stock of wood and pitch was kept for this purpose.
Members of the Dorset Regiment ended up in Mesopotamia, now Iraq, where they suffered heavy casualties and eventual defeat by the Ottoman Empire (Image: Supplied)
"Panic and rumour spread and was not helped by Captain Granville, the chief constable of Dorset, revealing intelligence that there were reports of plans by the enemy to infect the drinking waters of Portsmouth, Plymouth and Aldershot with the cholera germ," Mr Clarke added.
Early casualties of the area were farms and businesses. The fighting on the front increased the demand for horses for both cavalry and transport. Owners were told to report to The Artillery Parade, which was then at the bottom of St Michael's Lane in Bridport, with their selected animals. Palmer's Brewery was left with hardly any dray horses.
The demands on the local net and rope industry were great. Gundry's and other local manufacturers were producing 50,000 hay nets a week, which were used for the feeding of the horses, mules and donkeys, then in active service.
The loss of horses to the front line caused problems for transport during the First World War (Image: Supplied)
Other items such as tent lines, camouflage nets, lanyards and rope were all manufactured in huge quantities.
Bridport also played a key role in defeating the U-boat threat.
Mr Edwards, a net manufacturer, had a meeting with Winston Churchill and other members of the Admiralty Board in London to discuss the protection of the ports and harbours from infiltrating U- boats. This led to the design and manufacture of the first anti- submarine netting, which was made from twisted metal strands.
William Warr, a soldier from Lyme who died in the First World War (Image: Supplied)
There are many familiar local names mentioned on the war memorial outside St Mary's Parish Church in Bridport such as Bennet, Colfox, Palmer, Fowler, Hallett, Hussey and Hoskins.
Those killed in the war and mentioned on the memorial lie buried in a diverse range of locations, from Ypres to Gallipoli and Mesopotamia, while many have no known resting place.
With thanks to Bridport and the Great War, which was republished by Cobblyme Publications of Lyme Regis as a limited edition in 2004.