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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Vijiha Bashir, at ����ý Scotland on behalf of Basil Skinner and has been added to the site with his permission.
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Narvik — April 1940

From a British Merchants Seaman’s viewpoint.

The 3,500-ton British (Newcastle-registered) cargo steamer Homeside sailed from Cardiff to Kirkwall in ballast in early March 1940 to join a convoy bound for Bergen in then neutral Norway. Her radio operator was Aberdonian Basil Skinner, a young Marconi employee, who had already crossed the Atlantic as a Merchant seaman and had in fact been in and out of the River Plate estuary not too long after the German pocket battleship GRAFF SPEE was destroyed off Montevideo. The HOMESIDE (Carlton Mcallum &Co. of Newcastle) had been built at Sunderland in 1924 and like most of her kind had no refrigeration so that her meat had to be kept in a beef screen on the upper deck.

Hallway across the North Sea Basil’s convoy was joined by another, this one from Leith and on 20 March (co-incidentally, Basil’s 20th birthday) they were bombed by the Luftwaffe. One merchant vessel was struck by a bomb which skidded sideways across the deck, penetrated the funnel, travelled through a coal bunker and out through the ship’s side, all without exploding. On reaching Bergen the HOMESIDE had to wait for a day before the Leads pilot could be embarked so Basil went ashore for some sightseeing. He met a Norwegian in a tobacco shop who introduced him to “BLACK BEAUTY” cigarettes, these making a change, albeit not necessarily for the better, from the ubiquitous British “WOODBINE” brand.

Next port was Trondheim, where Basil bought, but did not use, a one way rail ticket to the village of Hel on the Oslo line, and finally the ship arrived in Narvik where they had to anchor offshore while awaiting a loading berth at the ore terminal. By this time and under stringent neutrality regulations, the authorities had sealed the ship’s wireless and impounded all cameras, these to be kept until they sailed for the UK. Before berthing to take on their cargo, Basil went ashore to look around and when he was watching people skiing outside the town (then something of a rarity to UK eyes) he met two local teachers, Sonja and Marija, who spoke excellent English. Loading only took a few hours with well over 3,000 tons being poured into the two holds at the same time — obviously a well-handed operation and most impressive to watch. On the night of 7 April, the two Leads pilots were embarked, with the ship due to commence the return passage to the UK the next day once the necessary clearances had been received.

However, things were destined to turn out very differently as early the next morning a number of large warships came into sight from the west. First impressions were that they were Norwegian, but this was quickly found out to be wrong as they started shooting up everything in sight, including a merchant ship which steamed towards them and was sunk in very short order. The Germans destroyer, as they now proved to be, continued firing, sinking numerous civilian steamers and smaller navy vessel (as well as the two large Royal Norwegian Naval coast defence ships NORGE and EIDSVOLD, both of which went down with very heavy losses after being torpedoed). At this point someone, and almost certainly the HOMESIDE’s master, decided to leave, the anchor was weighed and they left at her maximum speed of six knots. Basil’s last view of Narkik was of a huge column of black smoke rising over the town from the burning ships and buildings, most caused by German shell and torpedo fire, but some by the few Norwegian weapons brought into action while it was still possible for them to be served.

At the entrance to the fjord another large German warship was seen (for some time, Basil though it might have been the light cruiser KONIGSBERG, but this now seems somewhat unlikely as it was sunk on 10 April at Bergen by British Fleet Air Arm dive bombers flying from Orkney) but it took no notice of escapees by now, Basil had been able to put his radio back into working order, albeit with some concern over the level of his batteries and he was occasionally albeit to listen to Morse news broadcasts from the British GPO station at Rugby.

During the rest of the day numerous German aircraft were seen, but theses paid no attention to the solitary steamer as she made her way south, lying to at night with an engine room pump “rattling away like no one’s business”. The two pilots, neither of whom accepted an offer to break out with the HOMESIDE, were taken ashore to a lighthouse near Trondheim by one of the ship’s small boats. Course was then shaped out into the Atlantic and shortly after a German Feisler Storch light reconnaissance aircraft flew around them. It came back the next day, but a storm then blew up and there was no further contact with the enemy, although serious boiler and steering problems made things very difficult and at times the HOMESIDE had to heave to carry out repairs. Also, they had virtually run out of food shortly after leaving Trondheim and little else remained but pancake mix which was served every possible way “plus a few”. The remaining canned rations, together with water, were stowed in the lifeboats, theses being swung out on their davits for immediate use in any emergency.

Some days later, music was heard on the radio, this proving to come from a Faeroese station and eventually the ship and her tired crew reached Kirkwall. They entered harbour just before the boom closed for the night, but the gunner’s decision to upload the 3” (76mm) gun “through the muzzle” was immediately followed by a spitfire overflight. For a few days thereafter the HOMESIDE’s crew were interrogated, presumably by RN intelligence officers, regarding the large German destroyers they had seen in Narvik (by this time, however the First and Second Battles of Narvik had been fought, with ten of these vessels either being sunk or driven ashore by the Royal Navy or scuttled by their crews).

After leaving Kirkwall, The HOMESIDE made her way down the West coast of Scotland and through the Minches to Workington in NW England where the cargo was unloaded. Basil then returned to his home in Aberdeen where he found that both he and his ship were still listed as “missing” and his arrival was the first his family knew of his being safe.

Basil was subsequently wounded in London during the Blitz, but went on to serve as a civilian radio instructor in Aberdeen for the Royal Navy until March 1946 when he joined the ����ý as an engineer. Laid off almost three years later, he became an Air Ministry technician at what is now Prestwick International airport, rejoining the ����ý in February 1950 and eventually retiring from the Corporation in 1993. Almost nine months after the events of Narvik, SS HOMESIDE sailed from Freetown on 21 January 1942 for the UK, but seven days later off the NW Spanish coast she reported she was leaking in heavy seas and was subsequently posted as lost through stress of weather.

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