大象传媒

During January, 1943, having been away for just over two years I realised I was entitled to apply for U.K. leave and duly did so. But before I was given the chance the Chief called me in and told me he had been instructed to choose a suitable member of his staff to replace a Manager on an American destroyer who was being flown home on compassionate leave due to his wife having a serious illness, and he was sorry but it would have to be me until I, too, could be replaced. Naturally I was very disappointed but fortunately had not written home.
So at 19 I became probably the youngest Petty Officer Canteen Manager in the Service as it was usually at least md-twenties before reaching this rank. After several farewells, in February I travelled to Boston to be met by the poor chap I was replacing, about mid 30, who took me to see the re-named American destroyer - now H.M.S. Caudwell, brought out of mothballs from the 1914/18 war which was currently having its damaged fore-peak repaired in Boston dockyard.
My first impression was not favourable. Everything looked tatty and uncared for -and the so called Canteen was not much biger than our pantry. The Chief and P.O.鈥漵 Mess was up forward. I noticed there were 3 straps on the bunks and in the small toilet 2 handles welded into the bulkhead either side of the seat - at the end of the Mess a couple of showers. After showing me the ropes for about 10 days he left and I officially took over. The repair completed we left to sail to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where, with five other Destroyers, we would be based. The first day out when 鈥淭ot time鈥� (ll a.m.) came, now being a Petty Officer I was entitled to have my ration of neat Naval rum, I noticed one or two had a small glass of water handy when it was served but duly took my first swig. I think steam must have come out of my ears as I choked and tried to regain my breath as the fiery liquid went down and I could not grasp a glass of water quick enough!
Understandably, the crew were not enthralled with the poor conditions and even the food was not much good so she was not a happy ship. For some reason she had four funnels which seemed rather ludicrous for a Destroyer as I doubt if all four were used, so perhaps the Yanks thought it would make them look more impressive. They were, of course, nicknamed 鈥淵ankee 4 Stackers鈥� which I am sure they were quite happy to hand over to us as I doubt if their Servicemen would have sailed in them, especially as we did not have any ice cream on board! It took some time to get used to the peculiar way the ship sort of rolled and twisted which made life very uncomfortable.
The job of our flotilla was to escort a convoy half way across the Atlantic and hand it over to the U.K. escort then taking their convoy to Boston before we returned to Halifax. It was called the 鈥淭riangle Run鈥�. At our first Action Station against a suspected German sub., not being allocated a station, I chose to be a member of the Depth Charge crew and four of us were put in charge of one of the 鈥榯hrowers鈥� which fired off the lighter depth charges approx. 20 ft out from the side. We had two 鈥榯hrowers鈥� each side and from the stern were dropped the heavier charges. This was carried out at fairly high speed to avoid damaging our stern when they exploded. When the weather was rough it was very dangerous at times, especially when one of the charges came loose and rolled
around the deck.
Halifax at that time was not a very attractive place but Boston more than made up for that and we enjoyed our brief visits there. There was a shore base in Halifax called H.M.C.S. Stadacona which had a couple of snooker tables and sold very weak beer at 10 cents a glass. I chummed up with another P.O. called 鈥滸inger鈥� and we had several escapades together ashore in Halifax. On one occasion when we had returned to the quay to catch the last picket boat, Ginger decided to go for a swim fully clothed of course. He was soon in difficulty and tried without success to pull himself into a boat moored alongside the quay, so I went down and holding on to the flag mast on the stern of the boat, got hold of his hand to pull him aboard. At that point the mast snapped and I went in after him! Somehow or other we managed to get back on the quay just before the picket boat arrived. There was a layer of smelly oil on the surface of the water round the quay so we were in a right smelly state. They wrapped blankets round us as we were freezing and when we got back to the Cauldwell we had to strip off and apply numerous applications of soap under a hot shower to get clean again. Next day I went to the local Naval tailors and ordered a complete new shore going kit!
The rest period at H.M.S. Asbury was soon negated by the poor conditions and rough weather, so it was with relief when after another four months, I was called in to the branch office and informed I was finally to be replaced to take up temporary residence in the shore base H.M.C.S. Stadacona until the liner turned troopship S.S. Aquatania arrived from the U.K. and was due to take Canadian Army servicemen back and a small group of similar time expired Naval personnel. As I had approximately ten days before she was due to arrive and I had saved up a fair amount of cash - I duly went on a shopping spree for the family, so much so that I had to purchase two more suitcases and a metal trunk!
When the ship arrived I kept the metal trunk containing some breakables and my personal gear with me and the rest went down in the hold. During the approx. five day trip back to U.K. I let a group of Canadian soldiers borrow - very carefully - my trunk to play their peculiar gambling game of Crap, played with a pair of dice against it. I went along to watch them play once and could not see the trunk for the amount of dollars covering it!
The night before we were due to arrive I had a salt water shower with special salt water soap and got out a clean set of shore going kit. It was a dull, very damp morning when we arrived at our destination, the small port of Gourock on the south west coast of Scotland - but after two and a half years - to me it was a lovely sight. I was one of 29 time- expired servicemen and we were let off first, our kit brought up from the hold and loaded on to a lighter and taken ashore alongside a quay where we had to unload it ourselves so my nice clean shore going clothes became not so! We then went to the local railway station waiting room where we were soon joined by the Customs officer, having all our written lists ready for him as advised. He came in and locking the door behind him looked at us and said 鈥淧ut your lists away but just promise me one thing - before reporting back to your respective bases, put all your gear into the local railway left luggage office before going on leave. Good luck and enjoy your well earned rest.鈥� We all thanked him for his advice and being so kind. Prior to boarding the train I phoned home to let them know I had arrived in the U.K. but not sure when I would actually arrive home. It was a long, uncomfortable journey to Euston where I took the Customs officer鈥檚 advice before going on to Ruislip and reporting in to the H.Q. where I was given 3 weeks paid leave and travel warrant to Portland and exchanged all my American and Canadian dollars for sterling.
Travelling from Waterloo to Weymouth it was grand to see the green fields of England again. Then the local train to Portland and taxi home, finally arriving extremely tired about 10 p.m. After greeting Mum and Dad (Alan and Betty had gone to bed after meeting practically every train at Portland station from mid-afternoon!) Dad insisted we went straight down to their local pub a few minutes walk away 鈥淭he Jolly Sailor鈥� to celebrate my return. I did not have the heart to tell him all I wanted was a hot drink and bed!
Dad was now Chief Inspector in charge of security at Portland Dockyard and the Inspector鈥檚 house at the end of Castletown, outside the Dockyard, was very roomy and comfortable. Aunty Nell and husband, Tom, were living in Wyke Regis and Nell had become a Petty Officer in charge of catering and cooking for the Mine Sweeper crews based in H.M.S. Boscowan, a shore base in Portland. It was great being at home again to enjoy a proper bed and decent home cooking and I really needed the rest. The day after I arrived, I unpacked giving Mum and Betty some nice dress material, some glassware and lots of confectionery for Alan and Betty, finally piling on top of Mum鈥檚 sewing machine Dad鈥檚 cigarettes and pipe tobacco. In his capacity, of course, he was responsible with Customs for preventing Naval personnel bringing duty free tobacco ashore - and I shall never forget his face when he saw the pile I鈥檇 bought for him. 鈥淕ood God鈥� he said 鈥淗ow did you get that lot through Customs ? He had a good laugh when I told him.
I learnt that Bill was now serving on one of Captain Walker鈥檚 Destroyers whose flotilla had sunk the most German submarines. Bill had a mention in the local paper when he came home on leave once - something about being modest when he was interviewed - knowing Bill I expect he wondered what all the fuss was about. Dad gave me his ship number U 682 which every warship had on their stern and bows, just in case we met up somewhere.
Just before my leave was up I received a travel warrant and orders to go to Belfast and report to H.Q. there. I was naturally disappointed as I had hoped to be nearer home for a while. On arrival I was told I would be taking over on a brand new Captain Class Frigate H.M.S. Duckworth due to arrive from the States but, with the rest of the flotilla, was overdue for some reason. So I was given temporary accommodation in Pollock Dock dockyard and given odd jobs to do pending her arrival. Now the end of October, 1943, it was coming up to my 20th birthday, so requested and was granted 7 days leave and was able to have the luxury of celebrating it at home. On return, the flotilla still had not arrived so I was given the job of taking a party up to Larne to stock check one of our stores that had been broken into. We managed to finish the job just before Christmas and I was given a further 10 days leave enabling me to spend Christmas and New Year at home.

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H.M.S.Duckwoth

The flotilla finally arrived just two days after I returned and I duly joined the
鈥淒uckworth鈥�. After the clapped out Yankee 4 Stacker it was a pleasure to be on an up-to-date comfortable ship again with all the latest equipment. My Canteen was a nice size, fully fitted with deep shelves and a safe tucked into a corner. I also had a good size storage space down below. The first two to three weeks were very busy ordering and storing supplies from the local N.A.A.F.I. Warehouse. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew arrived, including the Captain, an ex Submarine Commander who turned out to be quite a character. Our Captain was put in charge of the flotilla and we became the Flotilla Leader.
So started yet another period on convoy duty and anti submarine action in the North Atlantic but this time on a happy ship. They were surprised to hear I was already an experienced depth charge hand and were very happy for me to continue. In fact, I was able to show one or two less experienced hands the ropes.

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