大象传媒

Mention in this column (April 4) of a Union-Castle reunion brought me in touch with a Mr Einon Edwards Rees, holidaying here with his wife from their home in Essex.

Mr Rees joined his first ship, the freighter Roxburgh Castle in 1941 as a deck boy aged 15陆. Sailing for Rio de Janeiro, his first three days were marked by chronic seasickness. In the early morning of the fourth his ship was torpedoed.

Four boats were successfully launched and the ship sank half an hour later, bows first, in an almost perpendicular dive.
A little later the U-boat 鈥� with four aces painted on her conning tower 鈥� surfaced and came alongside the boats. Her commander apologised for sinking them, 鈥� 鈥淚t鈥檚 the war you know鈥� 鈥� asked if anyone had been hurt (there were no casualties), dispensed food and water and told them they were about three days sail from Ponta Delgada in the Azores. He then wished them luck and made off.

Whilst in the boats it was the turn of the rest of the crew to become violently seasick while, much to his surprise, young Rees remained totally immune 鈥� even to the extent of adding their meagre rations to his own. The boats made it safely to shore and, landing on shaky legs, the crew were welcomed and hospitably treated by the Portuguese.

Their stay promised to be a long one, but in the third week HMS Berwell, one of the 50 old four-stacker American destroyers landed to Britain in exchange for naval bases, arrived in port and the survivors fraternised with her ship鈥檚 company; to the of being invited to take passage home with her. This, however, was against international law.

This fact meant nothing to young Rees and his fellow deck-boy and they stowed away in the destroyer. In this they were aided and abetted by the crew, although they steadfastly denied any connivance when eventually hauled before the destroyer鈥檚 captain a day after sailing. They were put to work and a few days later having encountered heavy weather, Berwell put in Londonderry with a heavy list. There followed the usual immigration formalities and the lads were issued with survivor鈥檚 certificates and sent home on leave.

His next ship was the Dunottar Castle and on joining her in Liverpool he, quite by chance, encountered the Roxburgh Castle鈥檚 crew only then arriving home. From them he learned that his former captain had been hauled over the coals and severely reprimanded by the Portuguese Governor for allowing the boys to escape.

Einon Rees spent an adventurous period in the Llangibby Castle during the invasion of Sicily. He recalls, as an Oerlikon gunner, having no proper sleep for months, and nothing at all during the two days they spent off Sicily.

He remained with Union-Castle until 1952 serving as an able-seaman in the mail ships Winchester Castle and Stirling Castle along with his brother Evan whose story I hope to tell in next week鈥檚 column.

How the Rees family spent the war

IN last week's column I told the story of young Einon Rees who survived the sinking of the Roxburgh Castle in World War 2.

An elder brother, Evan Alcyn Rees, was already sailing in Union- Castle ship; the main reason for Einon being persuaded to join the' same company. Evan had been serving for some 18 months in the intermediate steamer Gloucester Castle. She had been withdrawn from service in 1938, but re-employed due to the exigencies of war. She was old and slow, and her passenger licence, formerly catering for two classes, had been revoked, thereby reducing her compliment to only 12 berths. In view of what happened this was perhaps just as well.

On the night of July 15 1942 she was off Ascension Island when she was attacked without warning by the German raider Michel. The first shell crashed into the bridge killing the radio operators and most of the ship's deck officers. The second demolished the dining saloon and petrol stowed on deck went up in flames.

Within minutes Gloucester Castle sank and of the 154 on board 93 perished, including her captain and all the senior officers but one. Of her 12 passengers only four survived, woman, a girl of 18 and two young boys. Those rescued by the raider were later transferred to a German supply ship, Charlotte Schliemann. In her they were taken to Singapore where some 40 of their number, including Evan Rees, were landed. The remainder were taken on to experience further humiliation Japan. Back home again bearing the physical and psychological scars of ill-treatment, it was full two years before he was able to resume work with Union-Castle Line, where he was to serve as quartermaster he in the mail ships, with in his younger brother Einon, as a fellow crew member.

The four Rees brothers certainly saw their share of war. We have seen how Einon survived the sinking of the Roxburgh Castle and Evan the shelling and sinking of the old Gloucester Castle. The eldest, Louis, was taken prisoner by the Italians in their Abyssinian campaign early in the war and was later transferred to a German prisoner of war camp. Another brother, Tommy, was captured whilst serving in the RAF.

The dreaded wartime telegrams, 鈥淢issing, believed killed in action鈥�, were received by the sorrowing family with regard to both Evan and Tommy and a joint memorial service was held for them. However, they both survived to return home.

They must surely have been vastly entertained on learning of the eulogies delivered at the service 鈥� a privilege granted to very few of us!

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