大象传媒

my father was in the first World war and when the 2nd World War came along he joined up again but this time he was the Merchant Navy. He used to be on a cargo ship at the start of the war from Heysham to Belfast. He would have liked to go back into the RN but he didn't pass the medical. So he got on the crew of a tanker called the Empire Spencer and she went to America and back carrying benzine - a very explosive fuel. There was a powerful lot of lives lost on oil tankers - the uboats were circling to get them especially as the cargo was so essential but before my father died he told me one of the saddest events of his life was when a tanker he was on was torpedoed - a young fellow from Derry by the name of Okane was helping the other hands into the life boats and lost his balance and fell into the sea which was on fire - he was fried. this young man was a hero. My father had to go up to his parents house and tell them what happened - it nearly broke his heart.
If a tanker was hit there were very few survivors because the ship and sea were ablaze.He was never the same after his wartime experiences and was dead by 1946.
I decided to follow in his footsteps in 1943 and so i too joined the mercahnt Navy. my Father got me on a munitions boat on the quay which used to go from Derry down to Moville carrying ammunition and depth charges for the Merchant ships.Then I graduated onto an oil tanker myself.I did two trips to Nova Scotia.It was my first time away from home. We set off from Ireland at the end of November and arrived in NS on the 22nd of December - it was my first White Christmas. Me and this belfast lad went sledging in the snow and the people in Canada sent the sailors a wee diddy bag as a gift with a pair of socks inside, a bar of chocolate, a writing pad and a wee note from the giver.Would you believe i wrote back to the woman and kept in touch with her for years although we never met.I did once speak to her on the phone.
The tanker was always in dangerof being torpedoed and maybe we didn't realise the danger we were in. I do remeber we took a hit once but luckily it wasn't fatal. The worst injury i got was falling out of my bunk that night.

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