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A Lad Called Bris (One Sailors War) 鈥� Part 4 of 6

Bris was promoted to leading stoker sometime after and when returning to Sadis Fiord, Iceland from Murmansk two hours shore leave was given to visit an army camp canteen. Bris and his mates were each given two tickets to enable them to buy two points of beer. Beer at the time was rationed and Iceland was a dry country. Of course this was not enough for a few ratings who had experimented with 鈥榓dditions鈥� such as methylated spirits which was not easily come by only from the ships paint store (illegally). So some bright spark thought of a way to overcome this by putting boot polish in the beer, stir it up and let the residue settle. Boot polish contains quite a lot of methylated spirit and this mixture of beer and meths was called Blackjack. The saying was this drink would make you stand on your head and walk backwards. Anyway on this occasion Bris thought he would try it as the lads he was with had already tried it before. Well by the time Bris had to leave to catch the liberty boat back to the ship he was pretty well legless. He didn鈥檛 feel drunk but useless and was unable to stand. He had to be hoisted aboard in a bosun鈥檚 chair. He did however manage to get to the stokers hatch with the help of his mates where he fell down the steps in one go and landed under one of the tables.

The wind was blowing up in the Fiord and it became very choppy, two portholes were open and spray was coming in. Bris was a Leading Hand by this time and also Leading Hand of the mess. When he had regained his feet he let out a stream of abuse which is not possible to print. 鈥淲ho the **** hell opened these **** portholes鈥�, there was a hush followed for a moment by a deafening silence. Bris didn鈥檛 know what to make of it until he looked around and saw a Padre sitting on the centre lockers. It was the custom of the flotilla padre to periodically visit each of the eight destroyers. 鈥淗uh hu.鈥� Went the Padre, there was another silence, then he asked Bris鈥檚 name and rank and number. Bris gave his name, 鈥淟eading stoker D/KXI28625 Sir!鈥� he replied 鈥渁nd leading hand of the mess鈥�.
鈥淗ave you been confirmed鈥� asked the Padre 鈥淥f course I bloody have鈥� said Bris, but as usual he had got the wrong end of the stick. The Padre was asking if he had been confirmed in the religious sense but Bris thought, that as all navy ranks were for a probationary period before being confirmed, he was asking if he had been confirmed as a leading hand. This confirmation only came after being recommended by a senior officer to the Captain who could grant or refuse the request. Of course Bris鈥檚 misinterpretation caused a roar of laughter and when he was asked who had confirmed him he said 鈥淭he bloody Skipper of course.鈥�
鈥淣o鈥� said the Padre 鈥渉ave you been confirmed in the Church?鈥�. Bris was now somewhat subdued and replied 鈥淣o鈥� but suddenly burst out 鈥渋t don鈥檛 matter much anyhow, one thing I can say I do say my prayers every night, not like some of these bastards down here鈥�. The Padre was disgusted and walked off the mess deck.

The next morning Bris went up on deck for some fresh air and exercise when who should he meet coming towards him from aft was the Padre, Bris nipped down between the funnels to the port side hoping the Padre hadn鈥檛 seen him, but he had and had passed between the torpedo tubes and the engine room hatch to come face to face with Bris. 鈥淕ood morning Bris鈥� said the Padre 鈥渄id you enjoy yourself ashore yesterday?鈥� 鈥淵es sir鈥� said Bris. 鈥淲ell we are going to have a debate on the Gunners Flat tonight; we have plenty for the church but none against. I thought you and your mate Ginger Davies would like to start off the debate.鈥� 鈥淵es sir鈥� replied Bris and felt glad to get away from the Padre, who held the rank of an officer.
The debate was held during the second dog watch between 6 鈥� 8pm on the space known as the Gunners Flat, this was sort of half way to the officers cabins and on which were four raised oil tank covers about ten inches high. All who attended were required to wear number ones, best suits. Bris was one of the first to arrive and promptly took a seat on one of the covers, what he didn鈥檛 know was that someone had painted the covers grey that afternoon and it was not dry, of course he realized his mistake and let out another string of unprintable language, swearing, much to the disgust of the Padre. Suddenly Ginger appeared, coming down the ladder and a smile appeared on Bris鈥檚 face as he knew Ginger would do exactly the same as he had done. Bris thought 鈥渨ell I鈥檝e spoilt my suit let Ginger spoil his鈥�. When Ginger realized another load of swearing ensued mostly directed at Bris for letting him spoil his suit. It was a dirty trick really.

After things had cooled down the Padre declared the meeting open, 鈥淲ell Davies would you like to start the debate?鈥� Ginger stated that he had lived in the small mining village of Abertillery and that his father was a miner, who had on occasions carried the banner for the local Salvation Army until after he was sacked from his job at the pit when he resigned as a Standard Bearer. The pit manager was the Captain of the Salvation Army in the village. This brought a lot of laughter as it seemed so petty. Anyway the dabate developed into anger with Ginger threatening to put one on the Padre, all hell broke loose and as a result the Captain was informed and he requested that the Padre leave the ship as it was against the KR鈥檚 and AI鈥檚 to argue about politics or religion. So that was the end of that episode, with Ginger getting a ticking off.

There were some real characters aboard the Echo at that time, one being a chap named Taff Richards, from Port Talbot, South Wales. Every so often the cutlery and mess traps were replaced as knives and forks simply vanished over the side! After several convoys one was lucky to have both a knife and fork. Bris and the rest of the mess were waiting for the cooks of the day to dish out the dinner, the cooks were on a rotary basis so that everyone had a turn at it as well as their normal duties. Richards who wanted to go to the heads (lav) said to Bris who was sat next to him 鈥渨atch my knife and fork Bris,鈥� 鈥淥K鈥� said Bris. Five minutes later the food was being dished out, Bris saw a hand coming over his shoulder and caught hold of it, 鈥渄rop that, that鈥檚 Taff Richards鈥� 鈥渟orry is it?鈥� a voice said, Bris looked around and who should he see but Taff Richards. He was proper 鈥榖omb happy鈥�, you had to feel sorry for him as he was a survivor from previous ships.
Another time the Echo was in dock for a refit, watches were sent on leave, with one watch left on board. The ship had to be debugged and all kits had to be put in kit bags and transferred into trucks which were on the quayside while the debugging took place. All gear not claimed which was left sculling about was put in a separate railway truck. Taff came back from leave and could only find one boot in his kit bag, he had left the other sculling about. He promptly sent one boot to be repaired and when asked why he said 鈥渋n case I find the other鈥�, this resulted in a lot of laughter and leg pulling. His mate, another survivor called Kennedy, was nearly as bad as Taff. He was also a leading stoker who also happened to be on auxiliary (watch keeping) in the engine room when this incident took place. There was an urgent call to put to sea and the Chief ERA shouted down the voice pipe to Kennedy to start the LP (low power) blowers which start, or turn, the main turbines. Kennedy mistook what the Chief had said and thought he said to go up and shut the galley door. The chef was trying to cope with a galley full of steam at the time, the galley doors were the stable type, one can imagine the rage the chef was in when Kennedy shut him in the galley. The chef flew out of the galley and chased him around the upper deck brandishing a meat cleaver with Kennedy shouting to the chef 鈥淭he Chief ERA told me to do it!鈥� Eventually the chef cooled down, he was a miserable type at the best of times.
Another occasion the chefs boots were, for some reason, outside the galley and someone filled his boots with slops instead of throwing them down the chute or over the side. The man responsible could not keep his mouth shut, but the chef never said a thing. The suspense was too much for the culprit and one day he said to the chef 鈥渄id you ever find out who filled your boots with the gash Chef?鈥� 鈥淣o鈥� he replied 鈥渁nd I don鈥檛 care, I know who ate it.鈥� The chef had emptied the gash into the soup copper. Gash was collected in a bucket on the stokers mess deck, it was tea leaves and slops of every kind. That was the only time that anyone saw the chef smile. This was the last Russian Convoy the Echo took part in.

On the 6th January 1943 the Echo returned to Iceland with convoy RA51 and was ordered back to Scapa Flow, to the depot ship H.M.S. Tyne, when after refueling she was ordered immediately to the Mediterranean fleet, to join the convoys to Malta for three months. This was a pleasant surprise, weather wise, for Bris and the rest of the crew. The convoy Pedestal took a terrible beating and out of fourteen ships only three arrived back safely. A fourth ship which was badly damaged and carrying essential supplies, arrived back supported by two war ships on either side to keep her afloat. This was a turning point for Malta because without these supplies Malta would have been lost and the supply route to North Africa severed. Africa too would have been lost. Bris sailed from Gibraltar, to Malta and North African ports and on to Alexandria.

Then the invasion of Sicily began. The siege of Malta had relaxed considerably. Operations were governed from Alexandria. The Echo took part in the invasion of Salerno in Sicily. One glorious day Bris was off duty relaxing on one of the ammunition lockers on the upper deck. He had his lifebelt inflated and was using it as a pillow, occasionally a depth charge would go off as a shoal going by would cause a ping on the echo sounding equipment, and depth charges dropped, no chances were taken as there were plenty of subs around. Bris was dozing, half asleep, when suddenly all hell broke loose, the alarm bells were ringing and the ship lurched to one side as it spun around in a circle. Bris had been so tired through continual action stations that when the guns went off he nearly fell off the locker. The 4.5 guns were blazing so much he thought it was snowing.

Through all this Bris saw a large Italian ocean going submarine surfacing about three hundred yards away and its crew running for the guns. It was so close that the guns on the Echo had too much depression and they busted the padding around the gun platforms. The padding was stuffed with angora wool and it was flying all over the place, this was why Bris had thought it was snowing. Fortunately one of the Echo鈥檚 shells hit the sub鈥檚 conning tower. Bris scrambled down number three boiler room hatch, knocking his knee, this was his action station at the time. All this happened in a matter of seconds and everyone was hurrying to their stations. He saw the sub hit as he closed the airlock hatch. All this panic was caused by the absolute surprise. It was said afterwards that the C.O., of the sub was trying to surrender for half an hour and contrary to official reports Bris was told by Tanky, a gunner, that the Captain of the Echo gave the order to keep firing and to drop a depth charge amongst the survivors. Bris swears he only saw one survivor who was unconscious. Tubby who was on watch at the time told Bris to go up and see what was happening, he saw the Italian survivor being stripped of his boiler suit, which was full of his own excreta, the colour of a new baby鈥檚, where the compression had squeezed his body. It was also said that the Commanding Officer was taken but Bris swears this was not true.

As far as Bris was concerned the only survivor taken by the Echo was one poor chap. The C.O., of the sub may have been by the supporting destroyer H.M.S. Ilex. Of course none of this can be proved as it was so long ago but it was said that the Captain, who is now dead, had received a message that his brother had been machine gunned on a raft in the North Sea by German aircraft and this was the reason for his sadistic action. Bris learned later that the sub was called the Nerida. There is no doubt that both sides committed atrocities but reports were often mixed up and confused.

Bris then found himself making dummy runs involving landing craft and other ships of the fleet in preparation for the landings at Anzio. They certainly knew we were coming in fact it nearly became the biggest disaster of any landing in the Mediterranean. With the Americans involved the allies advanced very quickly from the invasion of Selerno across the Straights of Maccino and up through Italy but came to a halt at Anzio. This landing proved a difficult operation, the American spearhead was broken and they were being pushed back towards the sea. But for an extremely concerted effort by the British Army, Marines and Royal Navy landing parties from the fleet it would have been a failure.

After Anzio came the surrender of the Italian fleet when the Echo, two cruisers and about seven destroyers were to officially rendezvous with the Italian fleet off Sicily. Bris remembers seeing the Italian fleet appear on the horizon, little whiffs of smoke at first, then as little dots on the skyline. The big battleships were first to appear, then the cruisers and the accompanying destroyers. Action stations were sounded, not that we would have stood a chance in hell if they had changed their minds, they could have blown us out of the water before we ever got them within range, Bris thought he was going to be blown to kingdom come. Bris was amazed to be sailing quite close to the battleships Victorio, Veneto and Italia as the drawings depict. They were to be escorted to Alexandria, passing Malta enroute. It was a spectacular sight to see and one Bris would never forget.

The journey to Egypt was uneventful, although there was a considerable concentration of German subs in the eastern Mediterranean. On arrival at Alexandria the Echo had a minor refit. This was an experience for Bris, these Egyptian dockyard workers! They were comical people at times although they must have known their work as far as engineering was concerned. They were so poor, they would come on the mess decks carrying any old tin scrounging tea. They would even do the washing up for the gash food or scraps off the plates. Bris gave one of them a navy jersey, an old oilskin and a sou鈥檞ester which he wore around all day in the sweltering heat, sweating his melt out. The lads were killing themselves with laughter but he seemed to be very proud to wear part of a naval uniform.

(Continued in Part 5)

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