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On 9 November 1942 I sailed from Liverpool on the tanker Comanchee on the staff of Commodore Magee Convoy ON145, bound for New York.
The staff consisted of Yeoman Ben Hills, Leading Signalman Ralph Lancaster, telegraphist ‘Florrie’ Ford, two other signalmen and myself.
The Convoy proceeded without incident until the night of the 20/21.

I had just come off watch at midnight when there were two or three explosions, so back to the bridge. It was a clear, moonlit night with only a slight swell and at first the only sign of damage was one ship emitting what appeared to be a cloud of steam.
It became clear two tankers, British Promise and British Renown, had also been hit but were still afloat.
The Commodore was particularly concerned about Empire Sailor, and asked me if it had been hit.
I said that a ship in that position had been hit, but I was puzzled because it appeared to have been hit in the boilers, whereas Empire Sailor was a motor vessel.

Just then, the Yeoman spotted a U-boat on the surface just ahead of us and the Captain ordered full steam ahead in an attempt to ram it, but the U-boat submerged too quickly.
There were no further incidents but the three damaged ships were falling back.

At first light, the SOE in HMCS Minas reported that the two tankers were still afloat and could probably catch up, and the corvette HMCS Timmins was standing by the Empire Sailor, which was afloat but had been abandoned.
Most of the crew had been picked up by Minas and Timmins, many of them suffering from phosgene gas poisoning.
Subsequent reports revealed that 23 of the crew had died from the affects of the gas, and three others were missing.
At 0800, the ship was still afloat so it was re-boarded by the Chief Officer and three others to see whether or not the ship could be salvaged, she was eventually sunk at 10.20.
Unknown to us, Empire Sailor had been carrying a cargo of mustard and phosgene gas, and what I thought was steam escaping was, in fact, phosgene gas.

We reached New York without further trouble and the two tankers reached port safely.

We arrived in New York on 24 November 1942 and, until we left, we were showered with hospitality and generosity.

The day after we arrived, we watched basketball at Madison Square Garden.
The following day was Thanksgiving and Ralph.
I started the day as guests of an Italian restaurant for a full Thanksgiving lunch.
After lunch, we saw a film at Radio City Music Hall, in the evening, we attended a dinner and party at the Lambs Club - all this was free by invitation received through the Union Jack Club.
The Lambs Club is a club for the theatrical profession, the members waited on us at dinner and entertained us afterwards.
The concert was very impromptu and when the War Veterans Quartette led community singing, Ralph and I joined them on stage to lead some English songs.
This went down very well and when the entertainment finished, the Veterans took us to the Dugout Club, where we continued until the early hours.
Next day, feeling rather jaded, we were up early to take the train to Old Lyme, Connecticut, where we stayed for a few days with a local family in their beautiful white, clapboard house.
Ralph and I also stayed a couple of days with in nearby Essex, we really crammed in a great deal during our stay.
On12 January 1943’ Bob Potter and I sailed on SS Maplewood as Vice Commodore in Convoy ONS160.
The Commodore was Admiral Brownrigg on the Ville de Tamatave.

There were 29 ships in the Convoy and we were in the -section bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The SOE was the destroyer Niagara.
The winter of 1942-3 was notable for a succession of violent storms and on 23 January we ran into such a storm the hurricane-force winds creating mountainous seas.
Just before dark, we received an RIT message from the Commodore’s ship to say that they had lost a rudder and, shortly after, a funnel, we sent messages requesting immediate assistance.
The conditions were so bad rescue was impossible, and the last we heard was that the ship was sinking.
The following morning there was not a single ship in sight.

We attempted to make the next rendezvous but the weather was so fierce it was impossible to make any headway and we never saw another ship and so proceeded independently, eventually reached Halifax.
As Vice- Commodore, we should have taken over as Commodore of the Convoy but, in the event, Captain Dobbie as Rear Commodore in English Monarch took over and the following is his report:

Towards evening on 21 January, the Convoy experienced winds of hurricane force with mountainous seas and swell. A message was received from file Commodore saying rudder carried away.
About an hour later, another message received saying his Ville de Tamatave required immediate assistance as the ship was sinking.
Nothing more was known of this ship.

The following day, I contacted two vessels and in company with them, proceeded on the voyage.
The next day I sighted a ship at 0100 (rescue ship Perth) and at 1500 joined up with the escort and 10 other vessels.
On 26 January, I was appointed Commodore at 1600 and from then until the end of the voyage the Convoy kept very good station and arrived at Ambrose at 1300 hrs on 5.2.
One signalman would be of great assistant to Rear-Commodore and he should also have D/F.

We eventually heard that Ville de Tamatave went down with all hands including Admiral Brownrigg, the most senior officer on either side to be lost during the War.

When we reached Halifax towards the end of January, we reported to NCSO and gave an account of our Convoy.

After a few days ashore, we were detailed to join the Virginia Lee to assist the Master to lead a small convoy of about seven ships through the Cape Cod Canal to New York, leaving 2 February 1943.

The Virginia Lee looked like something straight out of Showboat, it had about six decks, ornamental wooden rails’ and a stove-pipe ‘ funnel - the only thing lacking was a rear paddle wheel
We learned later how we happened to be aboard this unlikely-looking vessel.
Apparently, in anticipation of opening the second front, the Ministry of War Transport had acquired around a dozen shallow draft Long Island and Chesapeake Bay passenger steamers and the Virginia Lee, which was owned by the New York Philadelphia and Norfolk Railway Company.
The ship had about a hundred or so cabins and used to do weekend cruises up the rivers and was known as a brothel boat.
On 21 September 1942’ eight of these ships sailed from St John’s, Newfoundland’ in Convoy RB1 for Britain.

Four days later, they were attacked by a pack of U-boats and three were sunk, together with the destroyer HMS Veteran, with the loss of many lives, including several convoy signalmen.
Because of the high superstructure of the ships, the U-boat captain thought he had sunk two troop-ships.
The Virginia Lee should have sailed with that Convoy but was held back due to defects and remained in Halifax harbour until 22 February 1943.
The crew had been recruited from the Montreal pool and they were a motley crew: the Captain was a Welshman, the Chief Engineer Estonian and the Chief Officer French-Canadian.
Because it wasn’t really a sea-going ship, the crew was paid $100 danger money but, of course, we didn’t get any extra.

The first night out there was a tremendous row from below decks - the cook was chasing the steward with a meat cleaver!
On the second night, the Chief Officer didn’t turn up for his watch and was found in his cabin blind drunk.
In spite, of these problems we arrived safely in New York on 6 February 1943.

For the last week or so, Bob had been suffering from a badly swollen arm and, on arrival, he was taken straight to hospital.
I reported to the Routing Office and was closely questioned about the Convoy from the UK and the loss of the Ville de Tamative.-
The tone of the questioning seemed to indicate that several ships were unaccounted for, but when i read the official report years later didn't appear to be so.

Slightly mysterious!

'Duke' Thompson

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