大象传媒

The ship was the HMS Mauritius, a Crown Colony class cruiser of 8000 tons,with 4 turrets with three 6 inch guns in each, and eight 4 inch AA guns. I was 16 years of age, a boy sailor, serving on board.

We arrived at Singapore on 6th. November 1941. We were due for a refit as we had spent the time since the ship's commissioning on convoy duty in the Atlantic and the Far East. We had done thousands and thousands of miles.We were on convoy duty all the time. We were always at sea. We used to go into port and see the big battleships lying there and we had to keep going out all the time. We used to get very annoyed! We got our own back as we went out, the Royal Marine Band playing, "Colonel Bogey" and the ship's company singing the words - the rude version!

So we unloaded all our stores and ammunition as soon as we arrived. Singapore was impregnable so we had nothing to fear. Singapore town was all lit up. It was great to be in a town with no blackout. The war hadn't touched Singapore.

In dock we were lying astern of HMS Prince of Wales. On board were Admiral Sir "Tom" Phillips and Captain Leach. By a strange coincidence his son, Midshipman Leach,(later Admiral of the Fleet) was on board the HMS Mauritius. I was his Hammock boy. I was also a Sideboy and, as such, took messages around the ship. Midshipman Leach gave me a letter to take to HMS Prince of Wales with strict instructions to deliver it to no one but the captain. On arriving on board the Prince of Wales I was stopped by the Corporal of the Gangway, a big,tall, burly Royal Marine, and no one argued with the Corporal of the Gangway! He demanded I gave the letter to him to deliver. I was skinny, undersized and a mere Boy seaman. But I stood my ground. I had been given instructions to deliver the letter to on-one except the Captain and that's what I intended to do. I still remember his look of disgust when I refused to give the letter to him! Very reluctantly the Corporal of the Gangway escorted me to the Captain's cabin where I was finally able to hand over the letter.

The next day the battleships, Prince of Wales and Repulse, two ships that were the pride of the navy, regarded as invincible, left the harbour to "Show the Flag" to the Japanese. Both ships requested air cover but were informed that none was available. But as no big ship had ever been sunk from the air before they were not too concerned. The world had yet to experience Pearl Harbour.

The ships sailed out to the China Sea as we settled ashore to our life in barracks. The Mauritius continued with it's re-fit, expecting to be in Singapore for some time. Nothing prepared us for what would happen.

The next morning there was utter disbelief. Over Singapore radio came the news that both the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse had been attacked by Japanese aircraft and both sunk. We could hardly believe it. It was something that just could not happen. Among those who went down with the ship were the Admiral and Captain Leach.

It was realised immediately that the HMS Mauritius had to get out of Singapore as soon as possible. The ship had RDF, the forerunner of RADAR, on board. Neither the Germans nor the Japanese had RDF and capture of the ship would have given them access to the equipment with devastating results. We were all in the barracks one minute and the next minute all ordered back to the ship. We were told to re-ammunition and re-store the ship. We were leaving immediately. Throughout that day, and night, all the ship's company, including officers, worked tirelessly re-storing the ship and by the next morning, under cover of darkness, we had slipped away.

We were still under repair and had no guns with which to protect ourselves. We made our way to Ceylon, then to the Cape to head for Plymouth. As we were crossing the Bay of Biscay the Captain made a special announcement to the look-outs over the tannoy system. He warned them to be particularly vigilant because two German battleships, the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau, were on the lookout for us - "the cruiser that had no firing power"! But finally we arrived safely in Plymouth on 11th. February 1942.

During this episode HMS Mauritius was known as HMS X which has led to some confusion as to whether she was ever at Singapore.

Returning home on leave the conversation went something like this.

"Where have you been, Johnnie?"
"I've just come back from Singapore"
"Don't be silly. You couldn't have been. You're too young and you're still in training."

I felt so silly when they wouldn't believe me.

It was several years before they finally believed my story.

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