Moonlight Head Cemetery The Gable Track Wattle Hill VIC 3237
Cemetery Address
Wattle Hill, VIC
Grave Type
Burial - Grave
Notes
He was the commissioning Commanding Officer of HMAS Nestor in Scotland. When the ship was due to sail for workup, the crew refused to take the ship to sea as the CO, XO and Engineer were all paralytically drunk, and were of the habit of regularly getting drunk together.
The crew insisted that the Ship's Doctor report to the Admiral that the three were drunk and they were subsequently arrested and Court Martialled. Stewart lost a years seniority and was dismissed his ship, the XO Reprimanded and dismissed his ship and the Engineer, Frederick Hodgson was immediately transferred to another N Class. Interestingly Hodgson was in the intake before Stewart at the RANC so he and Stewart would have been well aquainted with each other, before their posting to Nestor.
Stewart later commanded HMAS Quiberon during the war but resigned in 1947, around the time his he had been divorced from his first wife.
Post discharge he became a Grazier at Krambruk in the Corangamite Shire in Victoria.
Sources
Service Record - Australian National Archives
Nominal Roll - Department of Veteran Affairs
Court Martial Record NAA A471, 24239
