大象传媒

My father, John Trevor Liney, was the telegraphist covering the 鈥淒istress鈥� frequency at the R.N. W/T Station on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic at the time. The main role for such a station was that of receiving and relaying bulletins etc. in code or cypher and using the advent of the day 鈥� taped Morse. The beneficiary being Allied shipping, it was done in conjunction with similar stations in Freetown, Accra and Takoradi on the West African Coast. In addition, a 24-hour 鈥渨atch鈥� was maintained on 500 KCs 鈥� the Distress frequency 鈥� using manual equipment.

As it seemed that the less experienced personnel were those earmarked for that duty and this being my father鈥檚 first draft from Signal School in England, he found himself to be the chosen one on this occasion.

During his stint of 4 hours on the morning of 10th October 鈥� he cannot remember the precise time - he heard the whisper of an S.O.S. On making contact with his opposite number, he learned that the signal was from a lifeboat 鈥� one of over 20 鈥� and using batteries already failing badly, my father, realising he was the only recipient of the distress call, after repeatedly verifying the position and ship鈥檚 name 鈥� 鈥淒uchess of Atholl鈥�, notified his superiors.

With no news of an early rescue, there followed many hours of anxiety for my father. He began to question both his hearing and Morse. Then the HMS Corinthian, fortuitously close by, docked and was despatched with my father鈥檚 log details finding the survivors, some 28 hours after the sinking. One can imagine his relief!

Considering the heavy shipping losses and successful rescues occurring at that time, one might have accepted that the 鈥淒uchess of Atholl鈥� outcome was almost routine. However, lingering in my father鈥檚 mind all these years have been the true circumstances surrounding the event.

On the morning in question, installed in the isolated wooden cabin that housed the 500 Kcs receiver/transmitter, and becoming bored with the W/T silence on this occasion, with some sense of guilt, he wandered several K鈥檆s from the distress band. He was then surprised to hear strains of dance music - since the nearest radio station must have been Brazilian based and at least 1400 miles west. After listening for only a few seconds and about to return to 500 Kcs, he then heard the faintest stutter of the S.O.S. from behind the music.

As aforementioned and after fine tuning, he established contact with his opposite number before the lifeboat鈥檚 batteries faded completely. The sobering thought that he had broken the rules for those few seconds on this occasion, the lifeboats may never have been located - certainly not in time 鈥� has stayed with him for 62 years.

In fact we now learn that, as a result, the lives of 821 people were saved! It is quite a miracle...

After sending his story to 鈥淭he Navy News鈥�, we have received letters from the grandson and son respectively of two survivors 鈥� both thanking my father for his part in their rescue. He would be very happy to hear from anyone connected with this event. Contact details are as below:

He would also very much like to contact again the radio operator on the lifeboat with whom he had contact that day.

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