大象传媒

My name is Fred and I served in the Royal Navy from 1940 when I volunteered age 18, to my discharge due to ill health in 1944. I served in the North Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. We had no name on our hatbands because of security.
I was first in the North Atlantic when we were sent to fetch a destroyer from the USA to Liverpool. (This was as a result of the Roosevelt/Churchill pact).Then we were sent back to barracks at Chatham. We had a week's leave and then back to Chatham. There were 20 of us, Seaman Gunners; we were told to pack out bags and travel by train to Gourock in Scotland where we boarded a troop ship which had naval ratings,army,airforce and marines on board. We thought we were going out of the war zone. We travelled down to Freetown (W.Africa), and after we left there we heard that Pearl Harbour had been bombed by the Japanese, so we knew that we would be going into the war zone. From there we travelled to Cape Town and changed troop ships - we were the relief crew for a destroyer in Singapore. By the time we got to Java, Singapore had fallen to the Japanese. They landed some of us at Batavia (Java).
I did guard duty. After a few weeks we were told to pack our bags. Two vessels (boom ships) had travelled from Singapore and were in Batavia Harbour.The 20 of us were were split into 10 in each ship. On board were the Captain,2 Chief Petty Officer Engineers, a Chief Petty Officer Seaman, one British stoker called "Lofty", and a civilian Chinese chef. When we got on board the Captain called " Come up on the upper deck", and some local Singapore volunteers (like sea cadets) came on deck. He asked them if they were willing to sail the ship to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) - they refused saying it was suicidal. So we couldn't sail until along came eight Asian stokers who wanted to get home. They fired the ship - it was coal fired.So we got steam up and sailed.
The only place to keep food was a household fridge in the captain's cabin. Three days after we sailed there was no fresh food.When the fresh food ran out after three days the captain told me to look in the food store. It was packed with tinned stuff, but it was all fruit and evaporated milk. For five and a half weeks that was all we lived on- the Asians the same! The other nine lads on board chose me to be in charge. We had been at sea for about a week when the captain called me to his cabin and said that the Asians had refused to go down into the boiler room because it was too hot. I had to get five volunteers to help the one British stoker on board, so along with myself I chose four more. The stoker showed us what to do, how to throw the coal on,scrape the ashes, and fetch coal down to into the bunker. I'd chosen the weakest lad to work with me. I took him and showed him what to do. He was down there three minutes and said he couldn't stand it, he'd have to go back up. I had a chat to him and said "When it's your turn to go down just throw a bit of coal on and come back up - I'll see to the rest." After we'd done the duty we had a shower and about three hours sleep, and then I'd relieve one of the crew on the wheel or on lookout - I never needed much rest.
Whilst I was in the boiler room I felt as though someone was blowing my head up with a pump. I came up on deck and my shipmate told me that I had blood coming from my ear. When I finished my duty I cleaned it with disinfectant and found that I couldn't hear properly.
We pulled in to Colombo (Ceylon), dropped the small lifeboat, took the Asians ashore and then went begging food from other ships. The following day the captain went ashore to see the Commander in Chief, everything was chaotic. They asked him to turn the ship around and go to Australia. He told them that we hadn't the crew or the fuel. He told us that there was a troop ship in the harbour and nobody was checking who went aboard, so we were free to get on if we wanted. My shipmates and I decided that we were going to stick it out together.
At the end of March 1942 the main fleet came in to harbour. On April 3rd they left. Whilst we were in Colombo we'd only seen 4 Hurricanes flying around. On Sunday April 5th 1942, at 8.30am approx. the sirens went. We went up on deck, and the captain stood with us. We all thought it was an exercise. Then we looked down the coastline and saw all these formations of planes coming up. The captain turned to me and said "I wonder where we've got this lot from". The next thing we knew there were bullets flying and bombs being dropped. The first formation flew over - we ran for the anti-aircraft gun and the lower machine gun. I was serving on the right hand side of the gun and the explosions of the shells caused more damage to my left ear. We ran out of shells. The captain looked at me and said "I want a volunteer to go down in the magazine", so I lined the other lads up along the deck, opened the hatch to the magazine, and stated passing the shells up. After fifteen minutes some of the lads shouted "It's all over Fred" so I came up out of the magazine. The submarine depot ship had been hit and some of the lads had escaped through the portholes. Two or three were wounded. We helped them aboard their own ship. Fifteen minutes later a launch came alongside looking for volunteers ( They didn't say what for!). From where we were positioned we couldn't see anything in the harbour, but as we came round the stern of the depot ship we could see that an armed merchant cruiser had had six direct hits and was going up in flames. There were large shells live on the upper deck which could explode and cause further damage to the town. I went aboard first and lined my shipmates up on the ladder. Another launch pulled up alongside ours and we passed the shells across. It took aproximately twenty minutes to clear. The following morning (6th April 1942) more volunteers were wanted. A destroyer was tied alongside the quay, it had been hit and had the stern blown off. They wanted us to remove all the guns on board so that they could be used ashore in case of another attack. On the following morning we went aboard a small freighter that was in dry dock. There was no-one on board, so looked in the food store and told the lads to take the lot and put it in the lifeboat for us!
On the Wednesday the captain went ashore to the C in C's office and when he came back he told me"You've been given an award - a week's leave on a tea plantation in a place called Kandi. Take two shipmates with you". I had to decide which two, I told the lads "I have so much respect for you all". We went on the Saturday on the train to Kandi where we were picked up by a limousine and taken to the plantation. The owner was an elderly scotsman. His wife was years younger than him and had been a Staff Nurse in Colombo. On the Sunday she recieved a call to see if she would help with the wounded and she went on the Monday. The owner said "Right lads, out with the beer!" During the week he took us to see his friends ( the other planters). We had a great week. As we left on the following Saturday tears rolled down his cheeks as if he was losing three sons.
It was at this time that I did'nt know that my parents had recieved a telegram saying I was missing presumed killed in action. Due to the chaos in Colombo, instead of recieving full pay we were getting two shillings a week.
We had some native Ceylonese on board boiler cleaning and we were ready to sail again. We had a full complilment of crew and set sail for the Maldives where we had to fuel the ship. That meant going on board a collier and filling wicker baskets which were craned over to our ship. All hands on board had to be involved. The clothing left on board by the Singapore lads we traded to the Maldivians for 24 chickens and 1 pig!We also went fishing and caught 2 stingrays and that was our food for the journey from the Maldives to the Seychelles. Then we set sail for Mombasa (E.Africa). We hit a monsoon on the way, the waves were 20 - 30 feet high. We went up in the air and then crash down into the water. The captain asked me to go in the crow's nest to see how bad it was and to report only to him. After 20 minutes I reported to him "Its going to be rough but I've faith ehough to know she'll do it".
We met a ship 3 days out of Mombasa who wanted to tow us to port. Some of the crew that came aboard were long time service and said that to do this would shame the ship. I and another shipmate volunteered to help the stokers get more steam up, and we docked safely in Mombasa.
We were asked to go and build another boom at a place called Tango, further down the coast. When we came back the ship went into dry dock to have the bottom cleaned. We dropped the lifeboat and a large lifebelt into the water to see if they were OK but they both sunk - they had dried out they had been on board so long. After this the Captain was sent back to England to fetch another boom ship. He had requested to take the ships crew with him but this was refused because we were Royal Navy and the crew should have been reservists. All my shipmates went to other ships and I was sent ashore to the barracks in Mombasa.
I was given a job at the C in C's HQ carrying messages from one office to another.
I was on duty one day when the fleet came in. The C in C was called Sir James Somerville. He came into the office and I stood to attention. He came over to me and asked me where I was from. I said "Stoke-on-Trent" and he asked why I had joined the Royal Navy, coming from there and I said that it was my preference. He asked me why I was'nt aboard a ship and I told him I had just left one. He also asked me where I had travelled and I told him my story. He said "You deserve a rest." , and told his aide de camp to take my name and number. Two days later I was told I had seven days leave from the Saturday in Nairobi with Lord and Lady Napier. I travelled by train and was picked up by a limousine. I sat down for my first meal and there were rows of knives , forks, spoons, finger bowls and napkins. I watched what everyone else was doing and followed suit. They sent a letter to my parents saying what a good son they had and sent them a parcel of tea and coffee.
After this I went back to barracks for a few weeks. The main fleet was going home and travelled home aboard HMS Resolution. When I got home I had six weeks leave and then reported to Chatham where I saw an notice for volunteers for the submarine service and I started training.
Unfortunately after a few weeks I was rushed into hospital with a duodenal ulcer. There were five of us with the same problem. Those who were conscripts were discharged from service but I was a volunteer and was sent back to barracks. About a month later I was home on leave when I was rushed to hospital again. I was sent to a Naval hospital in Liverpool and from there was discharged from the service in 1944.

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