大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War Site by Wendy Young on behalf of Bernard Ashton and has been added to the site with his permission. He fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

After spending nine months on the ship I signed off and went on leave.
By this time there was a Federation Pool of Seamen, which I joined at Tilbury, which was in my area.,I had to report to the Pool once a week , where I got unemployment money because I wasn't on a ship.
In the late October I joined an oil tanker called the Melpomene as an Ordinary Seaman.It was November 1941, we sailed North in convoy round Scotland to Loch Ewe. We sailed to America and proceeded down the coast, on the 6th of December we arrived at Key West Florida, to take bunkers.
That evening we sailed through the Florida Keys with a Pilot. It was 12.30 am I was on watch when the news came through the radio about Pearl Harbour, and the Americans were at war with Japan.
In the January we docked at Falmouth, and i went home on leave. After a week I signed articles, And rejoined the ship at Falmouth. We went to Bangor Bay, and Captain Henney and the Radio Officer went ashore for orders.
We sailed in a convoy of 30 to 40 ships heading South and didnt know where we were going until we heard from the Galley Wireless that we were heading for Baton Rouge Mississippi. After two days sailing we had cleared the Bay of Biscay- we had orders to turn to starboard on a westerly course, and we were told we were on our own. So we continued across the Atlantic making for the West Indies and steering west.
I was on the 8 to 12 watch and twice we received mayday messages from ships being attacked. As I took over from the other Helmsman I was told to go into a zig zag. The moon came up at twenty five to nine, as the course altered the hand on the clock touched the stop, and the buzzer went, and we altered course, which was checked by the Officer of the watch, after four minutes as we were steaming along the buzzer went again, and as we altered course, there was a terrific bang, we had been hit by a torpedo on the portside infront of the bridge. the second mate was alongside of me when the torpedo hit, all the glass windows on the bridge came in, and the engines were stopped.At that time my whole life went before me. The Captain left the bridge and went aft to organise the lowering of the after 2 lifeboats and gave orders to bring her head round to the north east because the ship still had way on her., leaving the 3rd mate and myself on the bridge. The port one midships had been damaged by the blast
The Chief Officer dropped the starboard lifeboat and the engines were stopped ,twenty minutes later we were ordered by the Captain to leave the bridge.By that time both boats were in the water, with additional provisions which had been put into the boats. we were still 1000 miles from land in the atlantic and well south.
The 3rd mate and I had to make our way across the bridge across the top of the tanker(known as the flying bridge) with hand rails.We had to make our way down from the bridge deck along a run way. The 3rd mate and I went down the Jacobs ladder into the starboard boat, as we pulled away from the ship she gradually sank stern first and disappeared. As she was going down we heard a bang, just like gun fire, we saw a puff of smoke rising above the far side, she was going below.
Across the sea was so many feet of sea mist, 49 men were distributed amongst three boats.The Captain was in charge of one boat the 1st Officer in another ,and the . Chief Engineer in the third boat.
Each boat set sail on a westerly course making for some part of the West Indies.We didn't keep together, the idea was whichever boat got picked up could tell within the radius where the other boats were.
The weather was fine, North East trade winds, and doing 5 knots. We had a storm cover just in case, this consisted of hooped iron bars which fitted into slots with a canvas cover so no one would suffer from exposure.
The following morning we saw an aeroplane it seemed to see us but it turned and disappeared, the following morning we saw a ship, when that saw us it turned tail and went,on the third day we rationed ourselves out for 32 days, we had 2 biscuits with one and a half fluid ounces of water in a beaker in the morning, , 3 biscuits midday, and a meat extract like Bovril, and a hard tak biscuit ,we also had Horlicks tablets ,and Glucose.
When I was torpedoed all I was wearing was football shorts, a dungaree jacket, a pair of boots, and a vest. We all had rubberised suits
I was in the stern which was small, diagonal, and open, we took it in turns to sit there.When the Captain sat next to me we talked about the stars, and he told me he had been educated at Dover College, it was the first time we had had a conversation. On the third day we spotted a Merchant ship, as it approached it pulled alongside of us, we could hardly get up, being so weak after 3 days in the boat.
It was a Naval merchant Ship under the American U.S. Navy, with Naval Ratings, and Merchant Seamen on it. Within three hours the other boats had been picked up.
We'd never seen a ship like this before, in the alley ways there were drinking fountains. we steamed for two days and were dropped off at San Juan Puerto Rico.
We finished up in a hotel in the old quarter. The Red Cross organised free travel ,and we were given 15 dollars out of our wages to spend.
My mate Peter and I bought clothes, a suit shoes and a panama hat, also underwear and a razor. we were given 2/6d a day pin money to buy cigarettes.
While we were at the hotel two people came up to me and asked if I was a survivor of a ship, and could
I give an accountof what had happened. An article went into an English speaking paper.Two F.B.I. men came to the hotel to interview me ( after reading the article). I went to their Office and they asked me about the plane I saw, they took down everything I said
Eventually we were taken to New York, and stayed at thi following day we made our way down the coast, and on the Saturday we were on the watch system , we doubled up on the watches, so there were two look outs, and two men doing the wheels, and one man relieving the man at the wheel, four hours on and four hours off.
On the Sunday morning I was in the Galley, and the other watch keeper had gone along to call the hands for the second time, when there wqas a terrific explosion, a torpedo had hit just abaft, the Galley and the no 4 hatch. The whistle and alarm sounded to abandon ship. I put on my lifejacket. The Able Seaman was lowering the boats when I got to the boat deck, there were already 2 men in one of the boats, while this was happening I saw one of the men fall back into the afterwell deck, one of my watch mates and myself managed to drag him up the accomodation ladder on to the embarkation deck.
by this time the ship was tilting, there was a massive bang and another torpedo hit the ship on the portside. The other Able Seaman and I went over the side, also the chap we pulled up the ladder. We lost some hands on the portside.The man the on watch had gone down to call the other hands, he disappeared and I didnt see him again.
There were 3 boats, as we pulled away from the ship we watched it go down, the mast was still sticking up. We were about half a mile off Cocoa Florida, as we started to row ashore we saw a ship steaming towards us it was a Dutch ship. Weiss Muller, the Captain shouted out "What do you want to do boys, do you want to be picked up?" we said "no ", we wanted to be put ashore. we were half way there when a small motor boat came out and took the lifeboats in tow
We were taken to Cape Canaveral, a small Naval place, given second hand clothes, then we were taken to the United Services Canteen where they made big urns of tea not realising that most Seamen drank coffee.
the next morning we went on the Sante Fe express which took us to Pennsylvania railway station New York. We stayed in the South Street Mission, where we had stayed a few weeks before we had been torpedoed.
There wre over 1000 survivors in New York. All of the 1000 were put on a special train going to Nova Scotia.We were put on to different troopships going to England, there were Canadians on our ship. It was a fast convoy doing between 17 and 18 knots.
In the August of 1942 I had two months survivor leave, after which I was transferred to Dock Street Aldgate East in the East End of London
I went to join a ship in Sunderland, it was a Collier, running down to the Sraits of Dover, carrying coal to Shoreham Power Station. We laid off Southend and had small barrage balloons put up. During the night several small ships all under 1000 tons came to join us. The following day we saw some of the wounded being brought back from Dieppe. We went to Southshields and loaded up with coal again, and went down to Southend again. I injured myself. There were no steel hatches in those days, and it required two men to lift them. I ruptured myself, and saw the Doctor in London, and had to go to Canterbury Hospital to have an operation.I stayed there for a week ,and then went home.
In the November I went on a lifeboat course, to get an E.D.H. which is called an Efficient Deck Hand. I had to go aboard the Trident which was in dock to do boat work in lifeboats.. Then I signed on to go to North Africa
They started a Federation Shipping Pool in Algiers to supply seamen to the north African campaign to ships that were operating down the coast from Algiers to Bone ( which was on a peninsula) with ammunition stores for the Eight Army.
We went out on the Monarch of Bermuda to North Africa with American troops aboard.
I joined a ship in Algiers called the Alpero, a small steam ship just over 1000 tons, we carried army supplies and flimsies ,crated tins of petrol ,there were so many in a crate.We would often come under attack. The Aurora cruiser was on the quay near us she could put up a shore barrage as well as a barrage with her anti aircraft guns so we felt quite safe. I signed off again.By now the German army was being driven out of North Africa.
The ship I was sent to join was one of the Curry line it was an ammunition ship, we could discharge the ammunition into ack ack invasion barges at night in Bougie. We returned to Algiers and I signed off.
I went to another job with another Able Seaman called Roy Parkes he was from our group,. We went aboard this ship which had been used as a troop ship when it had been captured by the Aurora off the Italian Coast, when it wasn'.t being used as a hospital ship, she had been in dry dock and had been fumigated. Parkes and myself were cleaning the windows when there was a terrific bang. There was a small ammunition ship about 300 meters away ,being loaded in the corner of the dock, she blew up, the blast ignited a ship which was close by called the Fort Confidence ,which was unloading Jerry cans, causing a huge explosion. The windows we had been cleaning were blown in and Roy was lying flat on his back with glass in his face , with blood everywhere. Within ten minutes, a boat from a Hospital ship with Medics aboard came alongside and took Roy off to a Field Hospital.
We went home in the August and I went home on leave
The next ship I went on was the Empire Simba an American ship built in 1919. She was loaded with army lorries, all this for the mock invasion of September 1943. I'd never seen so many guns before,we made our way to Southampton from the Royal Albert Docks, and within two days we were anchored off the Isle of Wight, together with 20 other ships, they were also loaded with lorries. A high ranking Naval Officer informed us that we were going on a special operation, we were going to cruise off the French coast, have escorts and planes , which would be marked with a white band underneath. However the exercise was abandoned, so we went to Cardiff discharged the army lorries and sand ballast, loaded up with coal and went to Sierra Leone,. barges came alongside, and we discharged the coal into barges. Went to Gambia and loaded up with iron ore, which was a dangerous cargo, and returned to England.
I was sent to Grennock to join a ship called the Pachesham, it was going to Newfoundland with ballast, and returned picking up paper and pulp. After that trip I signed on special articles for the liberation of Europe.
Just after the D Day landing we went in with Polish troops To Aramanche, Juno beach -head. On the ship itself we had assualt crafts which carried 28 personnel. The crafts were on gantries hanging over the sides of the ship which were lowered with the troops already in them. The last trip was in the August when we were drawn off the beach -head . We went to Montreal Canada, where we loaded up with grain, boxed lorries,and aeroplane parts, which was for the Canadians. We returned to England and discharged our cargo in the Victoria docks. We went up to Swan Hunters on the Tyne, we had no 4 hold lined out for carrying ammunition. we started out from Immingham, a seaport in the north of England, and went to Antwerp, where they were getting Doodlebugs, we spent Christmas there and returned to England for another load of army supplies then back to Antwerp.
I signed off in the March, war finished in the June. I signed on the Avon Moor in the London docks. She was loaded up with American stuff going out to the Pacific. I never got there because I was taken ill with pneumonia and went home.Soon after that it was V.J day.

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