大象传媒

I joined the Royal Navy as a musician in the band. I left school at Christmas 1936, and on 21st January 1937 my father took me to the admiralty to join up! I was fourteen and three months. I went to the School of Music at Deal, and joined my first ship two days after my eighteenth birthday.

It was the HMS Edinburgh. She was a wonderful ship. We were on the Arctic convoys. I remember the time we loaded up with millions of pounds worth of gold. It was packed in ammunition crates. I know there were two bars to each box, because one got dropped and broke open! The first we knew about it was a call to assemble on deck. When we got there, there were armed marines all over the place. We were at a place called the Kola inlet near Murmansk. Anyway, we loaded the gold into the ammunition stores down inside the ship.

It was the end of April 1942. It was a Thursday, and I had just come off my shift when we were hit by torpedoes. I later found out it was two of them. One went through the ship into the compartment next to mine, making a large hole in the armour plating. The other torpedo blew about 60ft off the stern. It was funny in a way, because the blast caused the quarterdeck to curl up and over the guns. We were right up near the Arctic ice shelf at the time, and called on the rest of the convoy for help. Two minesweepers tried to fix a line to us to tow us back, but when you remember that the daily temperature was about 40degrees of frost, you can imagine how hard it was to manoeuvre a thick rope. We were eventually taken off the ship and back to Murmansk while they waited for spaces on ships to send us back. We stayed in an old schoolhouse. I think they issued us with a blanket, but we only had the clothes we stood up in. No-one shaved, washed, or cleaned their teeth in the three months we were there.

We lived on a diet of Yak Meat and Barley. We had to walk three miles through the snow to reach the village where we were fed, and then back again. We did this twice a day. I remember we also had a hot drink called Chai, which was made from pine needles. It was hot and sweet.

I think I was lucky that I was one of the last to go back from Murmansk. Many of those who went earlier didn鈥檛 make it back.

We had a message to collect our pieces together, and were put on a lorry to Murmansk. From there we had a three day train journey to Archangel. When we got there, we were put aboard a converted banana boat. They loaded gold on her as well actually! She was so slow that she was never going to make it back. In fact, I鈥檓 sure the only reason we did get back was because we had thick fog, and so no-one could see us.

When we got back I transferred to HMS Belfast. We did more Russian convoys. I was at sea on Boxing Day 1943. I remember it was totally dark. We heard that the Sharnhorst was at sea, and found her on the radar. We tracked her, and then joined up with the home fleet to attack. It must have been hell for the Germans. We picked up 26 of a crew of about 2000.

We went on to cover the D-Day landings, and claim to be the first ship to open fire. We were there for about six or seven weeks, and had to keep popping back to Portsmouth to restock with ammunition.

I left the Belfast after D-Day and joined HMS Ocean; a Light Fleet Carrier with 25 planes. We went with her to Malta for a Mediterranean 鈥渉oliday鈥�! We were there about eighteen months, before picking up more craft and heading for Singapore via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. We spent 10 days in Hong Kong before coming home.

I remember I had a short spell on either the Rodney or the Nelson, though I can鈥檛 remember which now. She had nine sixteen inch guns, which we had to paint. Well, they were so large that you had to sit on them to reach properly. My mate started at the muzzle, and I started at the breach. He painted all the way down to my backside, and so I found myself sat there surrounded by wet paint!

I stayed on at the School of Music. They collected a days pay from every sailor, and bought a set of twelve fanfare trumpets. I was chosen to play one when they were dedicated.

A final note! I went down to London with a friend to see HMS Belfast. They have changed all the insides since I was on her, and I couldn鈥檛 find my way round. It was quite disappointing at the time.

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