大象传媒

Part four of an edited oral history interview with Mr. Herbert. Luscombe conducted by Jenny Ford on behalf of Bedford Museum.

鈥淚t was December 1942 I got married, I was still on the Bideford. It must have been 1942 because on the way back we missed the train, two of us. Because we used to get the train from London to Stranraer but you could never get a seat in Crewe so this Leading Stoker and I decided we鈥檇 go to London and catch the train and then we鈥檇 get a seat. But when we got to London the train was late, our train was late and we missed the train so immediately we were 24 hours late! So that meant we were in trouble but we went to R.T.O. on the station and booked in and he booked the time our train got to Paddington. We caught the train the next day which was 24 hours later. So when we got back we were both in trouble of course because the ship was supposed to sail, I don鈥檛 think they stopped sailing because of us but we caught the ship but it was nearly Christmas then you see. Well in fact it was Christmas week I think when the Leading Stoker and I got back and got on board and we were in the Captain鈥檚 report of course. At the same time I was due to the see the Captain to get made Chief Petty Officer because I鈥檇 passed my Engine Room Certificate. Well, I went up to see the Captain, I went to see him as a requestment and to be made Chief P.O. and then I had to go up as Defaulter and he said, 鈥橸ou as a Chief P.O. should know better!鈥� Laughter! But I鈥檇 only just been made Chief P.O.! But anyway we got away with it because we had this R.T.O.鈥檚 report but we should have stayed in for Christmas and he went to sea. He said, 鈥楴o, we鈥檒l not stay in for Christmas if you can鈥檛 get back on time鈥� so we went to sea on Christmas Eve and we were popular on board of course because everybody else wanted to be in!

Then the Bideford underwent a re-fit in Bristol. We were in dry dock for a long time and we lived on the ship. Actually I was going home every night and then my friend, he was the same, he had his wife were up there. I mean there were only two of us on board for a time. I forget what I did about leave because Margaret was up there so I don鈥檛 know whether I took leave and went home or what happened. Margaret, my first wife came up because she worked in Bath and I was going home every night from there of course. That was before we went to Patrol the Med. I can鈥檛 remember the sequence but we did quite a big re-fit in Bristol and Margaret came up there and so we must have went home, yes we did.

But the last thing I did before I left for the Med was that I went to see her because she鈥檇 had the baby and I got four days leave from Londonderry to come and see her. The four days included travel time and that took 24 hours each way to get home. So I got home at six o鈥檆lock in the evening at Kingsbridge went to my mother and father-in-law鈥檚 place and I had a meal and that. Then they drove me out to the Nursing Home that was about five or six miles away and I saw Margaret and the baby. Then we came back after a while and I stayed overnight and I caught the half past seven train the next morning to come back.

We were on the Bideford and we were escorting from Gibraltar to Malta I think or did we call in at Suez, I can鈥檛 remember. We were based in Gibraltar taking the convoys across the Med. We were out there quite a while on the convoys until I flew home from Alexandria, from Cairo actually at the end of August 1944 due to domestic problems. Then I went into Barracks at Devonport and of course I had no kit with me, nothing because I鈥檇 flown home. So I used to go in and report and one day the Chief said to me, he said, 鈥業鈥檝e got a job for you鈥� so I had a little office job. When they were training the Stokers and the Leading Stokers down in the dock yards I used to go down there with the Chiefs that were teaching them and used to help roster them in the morning and do a bit of office work which was a nice cushy number. No evening duties or anything so I was home every night. I鈥檇 gone to live with my sister and her husband and father-in-law and that.

So that was the end of the Bideford and I was in Barracks doing this job and then I had a couple of Drafts to go to different ships but the Welfare Officer wouldn鈥檛 let me go until my domestic issues were resolved. Then I went up to see him one day as I had this Draft to go somewhere and I went to see the Welfare Officer and he said, 鈥榃ell, I suggest that you take it.鈥� It was a job number, that was all, just a number, I didn鈥檛 know where it was, what it was or anything. But he said, 鈥業 would take it if I were you, Chief.鈥� So I said, 鈥極K.鈥� Because I was Chief P.O. but not a Chief E.R.A., there is a difference. I had my Charge Ticket for a small ships engine room and I had my Charge Ticket to take over a small ship but I wasn鈥檛 qualified as a Chief, I had my Charge Ticket but not my Chiefs Ticket.

By now it was April 1945 and so we went to Liverpool in a big Draft, there were lots of us went and we picked up Louis Pasteur, it was a French liner. It used to run from Brest to Montevideo, I think because in the dining room there was a huge oak panel with the route on it. We were passengers, we were on the Troopship going to Canada on Draft. We got on there and it was a Troopship and I mean this is an internal sort of thing, when we got on there they鈥檇 put us all in the Mess Decks, in all the big Messes you see. Well that was alright but when it came to getting our own food the Coxswain, he was a Chief P.O. as well, he was the Chief. He was the senior bloke on a small ship the Coxswain, he was like the Policeman we talked it over and we said, 鈥楲ook, we are Chief P.O.s, we don鈥檛 do this sort of thing.鈥� It was run by the RAF this boat because they were training the RAF in Canada and so we went, I think we went to the senior chap and we said, 鈥楲ook, we don鈥檛 eat with the Troops, we are Chief P.O.s, we are senior ratings.鈥� 鈥極h, I cannot worry about that鈥� he said, 鈥榳ell we are not having it!鈥� So we finished up in the First Class passenger place, you know the big saloon and we had all this wonderful food. We lived like Lords for a week or so, well we weren鈥檛 aboard that long. We went from there to New York. But on board there they had WRENS that were Coders. Anyway we used to eat and we had wonderful food because they used to get their food over in Canada. I think we were five or six days on there and then we got to New York and we were in a sort of transport ship alongside the jetty in New York for five, six days. They gave us six days there to have a look around.

We were aboard this old ship that was lying alongside and a funny thing happened there. We used to go in this particular pub in Kingsbridge when I was home and we met two sailors there, two Yanks, and they were based in Salcombe. I think we were in the Canteen probably or somewhere having food or something and these two blokes came by and they spoke to me and they said, 'You used to be in the 鈥楲ondon Inn鈥� when we were there, didn't you? And it was the same two sailors. They were in transport going somewhere through New York and they鈥檇 come there and I鈥檇 seen them a week or two before in Kingsbridge, my own town. It was amazing that was, amazing isn鈥檛 it? I mean you鈥檇 hardly believe it but they recognised me. I mean there were hundreds of thousands of sailors there but there was very few of us English people where there.

So then we got to New York and we stayed there five nights or so and had a nice look around and a few shows and things, all free of course. Then we went up to Toronto by train overnight and we got there and reported in and did all the medicals and things like that and then they told us to get somewhere to stay. We said, 鈥榃ell, what are we going to use for money?鈥� He said, 鈥榊ou鈥檝e got to pay like anybody else.鈥� I said, 鈥榃e鈥檝e been in New York for a week, we haven鈥檛 got any money!鈥� So they had to give us some more money so we could find somewhere to stay and then after three or four days we went up to a place called Collingwood in Ontario. That was a little dockyard - they had a little dockyard there where they were building this minesweeper, HMS Rosamund. Then we had to find digs again so we lived ashore, we lived in this place, it was a little bungalow, a wooden bungalow. Well it wasn鈥檛 very little it was big! Ollie was the name of the lady, we used to call her Ollie, I forget the name of the bloke, he was a painter and decorator and they put us up. We lived with them oh, quite a while. Then we, I think we finished building and the trials about September because we were in Canada for their Labour Week as they called it. But that was lovely there, we were right in the Lakes. We were built on Lake Huron and Wasaga beach was within five miles of us and that was a big holiday place. There were all these little bungalows built down there and people used to come in. Before the war they used to fly in because the beaches, there are no tides you see, so the beaches were hard and all these Yank millionaires used to come in there in the summer. We had a lovely time there. We used to go down there and go swimming and all this sort of thing and we got friendly with a couple of girls. I had a girlfriend with a car, so I had the car as well, she used to put the petrol in and I had it. We used to go to work for a couple of hours in the morning, I mean there was nothing to do, they were building the thing. We used to go and have a quick look around to get used to the look of it and in the end we started going in properly you know. We did our trials up there.

Actually I wasn鈥檛 a Chief E.R.A. but I was the Chief of the boat. There was an Engineer of course and I was the Chief and there was only six of us on there I think when we went over first and then they brought the full crew over. Then we went to sea but that was a different kettle of fish because it was a different engine, it was what they called a reciprocating engine. It was the old fashioned one because they were cheaper to build. But that was a bit of an experience because I鈥檇 never had one before, a different sort of engine, all oil fired boilers but they were what were called reciprocal engines I mean the ones with the pistons. It was a nice little boat that was, a good job that was.

So we did that and then we left there and sailed for Toronto, coming down through the Lakes. We went down in the locks past Niagara and it was huge these locks and we went down, just like that and came out in Lake Ontario and down through there. Some of the views there were wonderful. We were in Toronto for about a week I think and then we left there and came down the St.Lawrence to Halifax and that鈥檚 where I sat my Chiefs exam, in Halifax. Passed it there and got made and then instead of going to the Far East we came home, starting working from home.

Then of course the war was over. I was in Montreal on 鈥榁J鈥� Day. On 鈥榁E鈥� Day we were still in Collingwood, there were no celebrations, we went to the pictures I think. But when we were in Montreal we were alongside a jetty shut down on shore leave, on shore lighting and when the news came through of course everybody was in uproar! We were shut down, we鈥檇 been steaming that day and the boilers were all shut down and we were in harbour there. I went and saw the Engineer and I said to him, I said, 鈥業s it alright if we put the steam on the sirens so that we can blow the sirens?鈥� 鈥極h, yes鈥� he said, 鈥榞o ahead.鈥� So I went down and opened up the stops on the boiler and we blew the sirens and that started them all off and the whole lot started. I didn鈥檛 go ashore that night but I was outside the Ward Room and every time they had a drink we used to get one, a couple of us, I think a Coxswain and I were the two there. So we were there for three or four days, Montreal wasn鈥檛 a very friendly place nor Quebec. Anyway we came down to Halifax and I took my Chiefs exam and then we came home. We came down to the Azores and back up from there. I was actually a Chief E.R.A., I got made Chief E.R.A., I鈥檇 seen the Captain and got my rate. From there it was all down hill really!

Then we were minesweeping around England and Norway but by then war was over. We were based back in Londonderry again. That was one of the bases. We went to Stavanger in Norway and we worked from Portsmouth and Londonderry, all round. We did that until 1947.Then we went into Plymouth and she was re-fitted and sold to South Africa. So there was only one commission on her at all. Best thing I ever did was joining the Navy. I mean I liked it! Funny a lot of people hated it, couldn鈥檛 wait to get out. Of course I re-joined up for the final 10 years as well.鈥�

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