大象传媒

On the Italian landings we had many Spitfires, Tordfish (Torpedo Carriers), Baracudos and Marklets. In one period, we had about 50-60 aircraft, 2 hangers. They used to fold up. There was about 2000 crew on the ship. We鈥檇 go on these Norway sweeps with the battleships then we鈥檇 go back in Scapper, all the Yanks and they were enjoying themselves. The US Sagatoga joined us and she鈥檇 been in the Atlantic with us. She鈥檇 be going away and it was really rough in the Atlantic. She鈥檇 send signals over - all the ship鈥檚 crew was seasick. We called them cowboys, and her 鈥楾he US Useless鈥�. She used to dip up and down. She鈥檇 send us a signal asking if we could trail in behind and we鈥檇 break in the waves for her. They were first sailors at that time. The Royal Navy was the biggest fleet in the world; we had everything. The Americans used to enjoy themselves with us in Scapper Flow. They used to call us 鈥楲imeys鈥� (and the later the Australians would call us 鈥楶ommies鈥�). We used to go to sea with them. They sent us a few of these French ships that weren鈥檛 too clever at all. We coped with them. We鈥檇 go to Scapper and then we鈥檇 get orders to go down to Greenock. We鈥檇 be in the harbour at Greenock, just outside waiting for the convoy. One night they were bringing Americans over and there was the QE and Queen Mary and we were on the Anchor just outside Glasgow in the Clyde. It was a really rough night. We were in our hammocks outside 6.30pm and all at once the regulating chief came on, 鈥淕et down below quick!鈥� We wondered what was happening. We were all swinging in our hammocks. We got down the engine/boiler room. The QE was coming straight for us. The wind was driving her into us. We had the searchlights on her and she just passed the stern. We would have all gone, the lot of us. There was 2000 of us.

We鈥檇 clear all the mess and shoved all the hammocks. When the Regulating Chief came back, there was still a lad in his hammock. The Chief Regulator swung his hammock and he jumped off. We were all at sea on this convoy and there was another lad that had been at drift (McGlochlan). When he got on board, they put him in cells. By then, we had done this Russian convoy. We got back and then we were doing a Gib鈥� {Gibraltar} convoy to Malta. When we were passing the rock, we got round the Bay of Biscay. As we were getting around the Bay, the Germans attacked us, bombing us. We had a few near misses. I was down the engine rooms at this time and Commander Graham said, 鈥淔ull speed ahead鈥�. We shot ahead and this torpedo just missed us and she hit the Formidable, another aircraft carrier. They dragged her into Gib鈥� and there was about 30 in the side of her. There was a big hole in the side of her. We managed to get her into Gibraltar. We carried on into Malta and we put the blokes that were under punishment off and bunged them in the rock, digging, where the monkeys were. Then we went to Malta with the rest of the convoy. When we came back, we picked them up again. It was like punishment. It was like that in the Atlantic, doing the Med鈥� convoy.

Then we finally did the Italian landings, 7 days at Selano. I was on the Catapult then and the Accelerator, and the rest of the gear. I worked all over the ship because I was a welder I did maintenance a lot. Mostly, I was day work, the engineer鈥檚 coppersmith shop. There was one period when I was hanging out at the outer end, securing the aircraft lighter. The outer end of the ship, that鈥檚 a burial at sea if you鈥檝e ever seen one, the padre on the deck. On the outer end we had a lighter and I was welding it at sea. We were loosing it at sea. I should have got a VC but the Regulating Chief got it (the senior man). I was all over when we were in the Atlantic. We had several defects such as the steam liners had condensation, pot holes, extra drains in the steam lines and I did all sorts of jobs. I did more welding there than what I did at Magnesium Alloys!

When I鈥檇 passed my auxiliary certificate to be a leading stoker, I was 21 and they asked me to leave the ship. I thought no, we鈥檝e had a lot of near misses on this mission. And my mates were on it, the lads that went. I thought I would stay on. I did the rest of my time in the Navy doing repair work (18-21 years old). I was under the ship in Australia putting closing pads on because most of their welders were in the services, like me. This is why I could have got VC because this aircraft lighter used to carry aircraft on it. I was on one point, welding these cleats. We would have lost this lighter in the heavy sea as it was breaking loose. The engineer said you鈥檇 better get back and repair the lighter or we鈥榣l lose it. There were no other welding points so we went across the quarter deck with these welding cables and John Avery (Padre Officer) told us to get down from the upper deck as the Commander had just come out and was strolling around the quarter deck. 鈥淕et them cables of my deck!鈥� It was all red tape. Me and John (was like my labourer) were under arrest for doing this welding. John spoke to the Engineer Commander. We always had overalls on, doing our work but he was dressed up. The Engineer Commander came upon the deck and shot him down, told him where to get off. I was always up and down while the ship was going, getting burnt. I did a lot of maintenance work.

Anyway, we did these Italian Armys. We went to the Suez Canal, Columbo and Bombay. We were helping the Americans out then after the Italians finished, the Mediterranean finished. We had to go through the Suez Canal. Then we had to go through South Africa for leaves; Johannesburg, Piermalaxbury, Derman, Capetown. Then we used to go down and do Columbo, Bombay, Java Sumatra. We did 2 years in the India Ocean. That was keeping the Japanese off India. After that, we got orders to go into the Pacific; Lady Strip, the Philippines, up to Papa New Guinea, New Britain. We were off Lady Strip when the Americans were practicing bombing. One day, a tanker up was in the Philippines and we got order to go back to Sydney, Australia (that鈥檚 where we used to dock for repairs etc - just like when we were in Bombay). Every so often they had the bottoms of the ships repainted etc. When we were on our way back to Sydney, the Japs had wrapped up. Finished. All the celebrations were over. Then we were out there, we had gone to the Suez when the Germans had finished. So we didn鈥檛 see any of it 鈥� I was at sea most of the time. When the Germans finished and the European War was over, we got a double shot of rum. Then on our way back to Australia we got a double shot of rum and celebrated that way. Everything was over (VE Day) and everyone was around the streets. VJ Day, all the Aussies were dancing in the streets there. The only part that got bombed in Australia was Darwin. We kept the Japs at Bay. The Japanese used to come diving down on us all the time. The gunners were going off, they鈥檇 come straight into you. The Japanese were suicide bombers.

When it finished, we came back down to Sydney and they ripped all the hangers out. We ditched all the planes and they built bunks in the hangers (the upper and lower deck). Our job was going up to all the Islands and bringing all the Aussies to Australia. Then we used to go down to Durban and bring all the South Africans back. We got little bits of leaves in-between. I was there doing this until 1946. Eventually, we got most of the personnel out what we鈥檇 left on the Island. Trained them up, fleet air. We became like a trainee ship there in the Pacific. Training fleet air arm, putting them through their paces. Most of the time, when we were in the Atlantic and in Mediterranean, we were an operational ship. The Unicorn was built as a fleet replenisher. We supplied all the other carriers but we got that short we had to go operational.

We were going around the Bay of Biscay and one of our Destroyers sank a submarine and we had them as prisoners aboard us. We had these Germans walking up and down the deck e.g. one was a big marine about my age, 18 or 19. We were in the Bay of Biscay then and this young German asked me what the ship was called. They were looking over the side to try and see. We weren鈥檛 supposed to tell them. Some time or another they must have had the Arch Royal when they sank it. There was also a middle-aged German there who spoke English. He said to me that they didn鈥檛 want to attack us 鈥� I said, 鈥淣o, I鈥檝e worked with some of you guys (Magnesium Alloys).鈥� We were talking. Being middle-aged, he didn鈥檛 want to go to war and I told him I didn鈥檛 want to either. I told him that鈥檚 why he was here, that he was in the Royal Navy now, because he would have give the position away. If someone starts sending torpedoes out, you could feel every bit of it. It was well below water. We didn鈥檛 take many German prisoners because there weren鈥檛 many survivors, only 4 or 5 of that particular submarine. Some of the survivors were always put in a capital ship, like us, they transferred them on these smaller Destroyers to the bigger ships. We鈥檇 always put them ashore after, e.g. at Greenock. We often went ashore at Greenock to beat the convoys up. We also used to go into Scapper Flow, up in the Orkney Islands, to Russia and then the Battle of the Atlantic after the Med鈥�. Then it was the India Ocean for almost 2 years then it was the Pacific.

The conditions on the ship were very cramped. We didn鈥檛 have a lot of room because of the hammocks. I always used to get on the Mezzanine Deck and swing my hammock on the boat deck. I鈥檝e been at sea and have been swinging out over the ship鈥檚 side and the waves were going and I鈥檝e looked out and thought, 鈥業 wonder how long I鈥檝e been adrift?鈥� Then I heard the engine going and realised I was still there.

I was a non-smoker. I hated cigarettes. They鈥檇 be smoking on the decks. Everyone had tattoos. My father had tattoos in WW1 and told me not to get any because I鈥檇 be marked for life. I wouldn鈥檛 get tattoos. My father died in 1946 and my mother died when I was about 7 years old. I lived with my eldest sister 鈥� I was an orphan. I don鈥檛 know why I didn鈥檛 stay in Australia to tell you the truth, or Johannesburg. Someone said to me, 鈥淵ou鈥檝e not come back to a place like Pendlebury have you? A place like this, dirty and falling down {from the war}?鈥�

My sister joined up and went to America. She was a couple of years younger than me and married an American. She went over on the Q boats to the North America. Later on, she went down to California, where she died. Actually, she lost a leg with thrombosis. We have got relations in America; nephews and nieces who write to us.

At war, we never got on with the Americans because they always had more than what we had. I joined up for about 14 shillings a week. My next of kin got half of my pay (the eldest sister). If I had lost my life, she would have got compensated for me, which my father or my mother would have done. My eldest sister was an ARP.

All the cooks on the Atlantic were helping the gunners out with shells and the galleys were shut down. All we had were action rations (what they called 鈥渄og biscuits鈥� and barley sugars on the Russia ship and on the Norway Sweeps. Everyone was at action stations 鈥� they were no galleys, all the way to Russia and back. Then, when we did get in the harbour in Scapper, they carried us up and we were on normal rations again (which weren鈥檛 a lot). A teatime we got one piece of jam and bread, or something. We were rationed with everything e.g. cigarettes. From 18-20, we were under age so we got limejuice and that鈥檚 why the Yanks called us 鈥榣imeys鈥�, most of us. When you were 20 you got your shot of rum. We were in the Indian Ocean by the time I was 21. The older lads used to give us their rum if we had the afternoon, and we used to get drunk. It was really rough. It was in harbour, we鈥檇 be sweating. Once, we were in harbour. I was 21 and we鈥檇 had all this rum. I thought I wasn鈥檛 going to get up there so I went through the Porthole and I was going down. The orgy (the sea) and I took loads of sea water into me. It all came up. Oh my head. I got on board and I was drunk for days after. It was like pop.

When we were at sea, we had a burial (he was a leading stoker like myself who had had his 21st birthday). I was on watch and he was sick. He was coming up out of the engine room (the small hatch) and I put my hands on him and my hands burnt. Your blood boils in there! I took him up the bay and I went down the engine room. At 8pm, I came up and sat on the Mez鈥�. I was doing day work and he was buried at sea. They put him over the side as he died of heat exhaustion. I was the last one to speak to him. They used to pack ice on them (in the engine room) to bring their temperature down. You can die, even in a coma. Many times people used to collapse with the heat. It was the opposite of the Russian convoys, who used to belt cold air out with their fans. It was freezing. Everything was iced up. You only had one blanket.

When we were in the tropics, an officer and I had to put extra ventilation in. We put a hole into the galley. It was for the cooks who were getting heat exhaustion. We did quite a lot of work. We had to put ventilation in the operator rooms. There were loads of deaths from heat exhaustion. We also had heat rash, we called it chinky feet. I suffer with my feet now.

I did one of my legs when I was going over the ship鈥檚 side {to do engineering work}. I was doing motorboats at that time. I went down the broom and down the Jacobs, stepping down on the motorboats. I was in the Australian sheets being a stoker. When we were in the Atlantic, I had to go into the hospital in Scotland because when I stepped out on the motorboat, it came up and hit my leg. They had to drop me over the ship鈥檚 side with a crane and I went into hospital. I鈥檝e always had problems with that leg. There were all sorts of accidents, as well as people getting killed. We were very fortunate on the Unicorn {ship}. The repairs and near misses we had. I was over the side off Gib鈥� and an ERA and me were practicing on the Portside. We had to lift her up whilst we were welding it up. We dropped the welding torch over and I was welding, patching her up from when we were dive-bombed.

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