大象传媒

From 1933 to 1939 I was in the merchant navy, my rank was Quarter Master. I was also a member of the Royal Navy Reserves from April 1937 until February 1957.

When war was declared I was called up straight away. My first ship was the HMS Carinthia, which I joined in Plymouth in1939 my rank was Petty Officer.

In September 1939 Carinthia was taken over as an armed merchant cruiser.

At the outbreak of World War II the Carinthia was serving with the 15th Destroyer Flotilla, Western approaches. I was a Gun Layer (in charge of the guns and firing them). Our job was to protect Merchant and Passenger ships that were going to and from America. Our enemy was the Germans who could attack our vessels with aeroplanes or with submarines.

The conditions on board for everyone were not luxurious. There would be 50 sailors to a room, all in hammocks. Your personal belongings would be in your kit bag or if you were lucky you might have a locker. Conditions were cramped. The food was not good, but you ate what you got. When not on duty to pass the time we would play cards or Ludo, read books and write letters to home.

There would be at least seven crew men on watch at any one time. When the alarm went off we would all run into position for action.

On 6th June 1940 we were attacked off the North West coast of Ireland. I was at my station on the guns when the Carinthia was torpedoed by U-46. Two officers and two sailors were killed when the torpedo exploded. Carinthia remained afloat for a further 35 hours before sinking on 7 June, allowing the rescue of all others on board. Luckily I was picked up from the cold water after only 35 minutes and taken back to Davenport on HMS Volunteer that came to assist us.

HMS Deptford and the corvette HMS Samphire sank the U-46 in 1941 to the Northeast of the Azores; all 47 men on board the U-46 were killed.

Back on duty I sailed with my new ship through the Straights of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean where we were to patrol between the North African Coast and Southern Italy. At this time we were picking up army personnel from the African Coast and taking them to Italy. It was their job to push the Germans back through Europe. There would be between 300 and 400 soldiers packed onto our ships like sardines. We were constantly under fire from land, sea and air. Landing the army personnel was always dangerous. We would give them cover from the ship as long as we could and then we would have to leave to go back to North Africa to pick up the next lot.

We were armed with 6x 4.7 guns (which were used against Planes and Submarines), 6x 12 pounders and rifles, which we used for close in firing.

We were hit a number of times while in the Mediterranean. A couple of times we evacuated the ship and were then ordered back on board as the ship had righted herself.

We were anchored off Benghazi one day not expecting to see any action waiting for a Tank Regiment. The Germans were right behind them. We received orders to land and support the regiment as the Germans were right on their heels. We fought non-stop for a couple of hours until it got dark then everything stopped. But the Germans tried coming forward again during the night. When morning broke we opened fire again. This time the Germans retreated. We did not follow but made our way back to the coast and the safety of our ship. We landed in Naples and all hit the bars to have a couple of glasses of wine and to laugh about our fight with the Germans.

There was one time I remember, action stations were sounded and I was down below in my hammock. Always being very fast on my feet I was first on deck but the German plane was diving down on us and firing straight at the deck, bullets splattering everywhere. Even though I had my tin helmet on, my first reaction was to stop and back up. Unfortunately one of my best mates was behind me and I broke his nose backing up so quickly. He did forgive me eventually.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.