大象传媒

During 1941 my father had joined the Merchant Navy as a junior engineer. The company was the Anglo Saxon petroleum Company (later to become Shell Tankers).

They had loaded 9000 tons of aviation spirit from an oil refinery in Curacao in the Dutch West Indies and were en route to Iceland unaccompanied.

My father was on the 4-8 watch and during the afternoon was catching up on his sleep. The ship was passing just off Bermuda when the ships alarm bells sounded. He looked out of the porthole and there lo and behold approximately 400-500 yards away was a German U Boat! The crew of my fathers ship was Chinese and there was a 4.7" gun mounted on a platform at the aft end of the vessel. My father was a member of the guncrew.

They opened fire on the U Boat who returned the fire from a gun mounted on their foredeck. You can imagine my fathers feelings at sitting on top of 9000tons of aviation fuel and involved in a serious conflict with a German U Boat.

My fathers ship was hit once on the foredeck but luckily the deck was not punctured and there was only superficial to the steam and vent pipes.

The fight continued until nightfall when my fathers ship was out of ammunition and still had not hit the target! They slid away in the darkness and made Iceland in due course.

The explanation by Naval Intelligence was the submarine was out of torpedoes, food and fuel and was due to rendezvous with a supply shiop. A case of mistaken identity!!

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