HMS Royal Oak (1892) well as the Cruiser Squadron. In April 1904, while operating with the Home Fleet off the Scilly Isles, "Royal Oak" and her sister ship "Revenge" had their bottoms lightly damaged when they struck a sunken wreck. On 9 May 1904, "Royal Oak" became flagship of the Home Fleet's second-in-command, relieving her sister "Empress of India", and took part in annual maneuvers in July and August. On 7 March 1905, "Royal Oak" paid off at Portsmouth into the Chatham Reserve, and her crew transferred to the battleship "Caesar". The following day the ship recommissioned with a skeleton crew for service with
Oak Apple Day some parts of the country as a "shick-shack") or sprigs of oak leaves, in reference to the occasion after the Battle of Worcester in September 1651, when Charles II escaped the Roundhead army by hiding in an oak tree near Boscobel House. Anyone who failed to wear a sprig of oak risked being pelted with bird's eggs or thrashed with nettles. In Sussex, those not wearing oak were liable to be pinched, giving rise to the unofficial name of "Pinch- Day"; similarly it was known as "Bumping Day" in Essex. In Upton Grey, Hampshire, after the church bells had been