大象传媒

At the start of the War.
I was sixteen years of age when War was declared. I was then living in Newcastle and working in the furniture department of Messrs Binns, a large local department store.
In 1940 I went to night classes to obtain my Maritime Post Master Generals Certificate as a Merchant Navy Radio Officer.

First voyage on the S.S.Reynolds.
In January 1941, I commenced my first posting as a Radio Officer on the S.S. Reynolds,an old 8 knot ship. I joined her in Newcastle and we then sailed to Loch Ewe, being the first Atlantic convoy to use this base. We then set sail for the U.S.A. with about five corvettes as escort. Two days at sea we got the order to disperse and then sailed solo to America. Nearing the coast of America we got a radio signal in secret code that our destination was Boston. After about two weeks there, we sailed for England.

First attack while on S.S. Reynolds.
The crossing was good until we joined up with our escort, a destroyer and 4 corvettes. We were then attacked for two nights by about five submarines which sank around 16 ships. The escort sank two German submarines.
We landed at Cardiff and then had a quiet trip to Nova Scotia, Canada and returned to Liverpool.
On all the voyages to Canada or the U.S.A. we hit dense fog off the coast and so guided the ship by direction finder.

Second trip and attack on S.S. Reynolds.
We set sail again for the U.S.A. and were near the battle of the Bismark with an enormous escort. The Bismark was sunk and we carried on our voyage with a much depleted escort, only to be attacked again by submarines in the fog off Newfoundland. It was here that a stricken tanker crashed into us and we were directed to Boston for repairs. In Boston we encountered the battle ships and cruisers from the battle with the Bismark.
We were in Boston for 6 weeks for repairs. There I met a wonderful family, the Greenlands who took me and two colleagues into their home. I have been friends with the family ever since. They have since come over to see me in England and I have visited them in America.

Third trip on S.S. Reynolds.
On arriving home we went back to sea to Baltimore, U.S.A.. Then with a cargo of various war machinery and tanks on the decks, we first stopped at St. Lucia in the West Indies, then Durban in South Africa and eventually to Alexandria in Egypt. This was a solo trip. We then went back round the east coast of Africa, solo, to Freetown, Nigeria to meet the convoy.
I received many distress signals of ships being torpedoed. When that happened, if they were near, I had to immediately advise our Captain of their location (longitude and latitude) so that he could change course and direct our ship out of danger.
On arriving home I left the S.S. Reynolds. I subsequently learned that, on her next trip, the Reynolds was sunk by a German raider ship and went down with all hands on 31st October 1942.
I had to inform the Greenlands that Mac (William Duff), my friend on that ship who had also stayed with them, was lost. I also felt strongly for the loss of William Young, the Second Officer, who was a wonderful man, Bob Adamson, the Chief engineer, and two young cadets,Norman Butler and Peter Warner who were only eighteen years of age when they died.

A trip on S.S. Balfe
My next trip was on the S.S.Balfe which I joined at Liverpool. We had a wonderful voyage to South America with prize cattle and a civilian cattleman on board to look after them.
First we went to Montevideo, Uruguay, where I particularly recall the sight of the wreck of the German raider, "Admiral Graf Spee", sticking out of the water from when it had been scuttled by its Captain in December 1939. We continued on to Buenos Aires, Argentina, then went back up the coast to Santos, Rio de Janiero and Kingston, Jamaica where we picked up twelve passengers, and then on to New York for Christmas 1942. It was the coldest Christmas they had experienced for eight years. We were made Commodore ship and left New York in one of the worst storms I can remember. Thankfully we arrived home safely.

Trips on S.S. Omega and Fort Steel.
My next trip was on the S.S.Omega to Gibralter. In the Bay of Biscay I experienced the worst weather of my time at sea. Because of the bad weather the whole convoy was split up and we all went solo.
On returning home I then joined the S.S. Fort Steel and travelled to Algiers in support of the North African landings. This was an uneventful trip until we reached Algiers. Then we came under heavy attack from around ten German bombers. One bomber hit and destroyed a barrage balloon put up to deter such attacks.

Trip back to Canada.
On returning home I was sent as a passenger to Halifax in Canada to pick up an invasion tanker. It was being built in Duluth, Lake Superior. I spent three weeks in Toronto and then six weeks in Duluth while the tanker was being finished. We brought it home via the Great Lakes, St Lawrence and the Atlantic.

The Invasion.
Next I joined the Mammy, a Norwegian ship, and sailed around the U.K. coast until the invasion commenced. My first trip was D-Day and we reached the Omaha beaches on D-Day plus one. The whole horizon was a mass of battleships and cruisers pounding the enemy.
We had our cargo of bombs, shells and detonators taken ashore by amphibians, small landing boats. We were anchored there for about six days.
We made continuous voyages to the continent with mostly shells, bombs, etc, until we got to Amsterdam, Holland. We made two trips there. Here we were only about 60 miles from the launching pads of doodlebugs and rockets, aimed at Holland and London.They were landing about every ten minutes and we could see their trails across the sky above us.

The end of the war.
In March 1945 I left the S.S. Mammy and joined an American Liberty ship. We sailed for Canada and were going up the St. Lawrence river in May when V-E Day was declared. After running aground in Nova Scotia and spending 6 weeks in Louzon for repairs we eventually delivered our cargo of wheat to Rotterdam.
V-J Day was announced in August 1945 and, like many ship's Radio Officers, I celebrated by signalling "VJ", until we all got told to stop by central control.
I was then sent on the Empire Boswell to Singapore. There we spent 12 months with a de-salination plant on board ship which was used to supply other ships and places with water.
By then the war was over and I wanted to get back home and join the police force. My request was granted and I was allowed to travel home on a P and O line passenger ship, the Orontes, travelling first class.

Looking back.
At the beginning of the war, when I was sixteen and a half, I applied to join the RAF. They turned me down because I was too young, but told me they would be very pleased to receive my application again when I reached 18 and a half. By then I was settled into the navy and, although the RAF did write to me and ask me to reapply, I explained that I was content with what I was doing. Although I did not know it then, I doubt that I would have survived the war if I had joined the RAF.
I am also always aware of the loss of all those on the SS Reynolds immediately after I had left the ship.

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