大象传媒

This story has been written onto the 大象传媒 People鈥檚 War site by CSV Storygatherer Lyn Hedges on behalf of Stanley Bowles. They fully understand the terms and conditions of the site.

I will always feel grateful to a cat that saved my life while I was in Portsmouth with the submarine service, working on the human torpedo operation. The cat, which had only one eye, was called Nelson and was looked after by the Wrens. I used to give it scraps of bacon and other leftovers from my plate, so we built up some sort of relationship.

At the entrance to Portsmouth harbour, there were depth charges and explosives to protect the harbour against attack from midget submarines. One day, the depth charges were inspected and one was found to be leaking slightly. Water had got into the pistol and into the detonator, so that the detonator had rusted in the primer.

Because I鈥檇 been on a course at HMS Vernon to learn about explosives and depth charges, I was the one elected to make the depth charge safe. The surrounding area was evacuated and I was told to phone when I鈥檇 done the job. I knew the chances of me succeeding without blowing myself up were practically non-existent, so words can鈥檛 explain how frightened I was. I鈥檇 arranged a date that night with a little barmaid I鈥檇 met in old Portsmouth and I thought she would be able to see or hear the explosion when it went off.

I remember being on all fours on the floor with the depth charge and my heart was thumping. I could hear the pistol grinding and thought that, whatever I did, the detonator was bound to go off.

Suddenly, something went across my face and startled me so much that I jumped. It was Nelson the cat鈥檚 tail. At that moment, the pistol and primer came out in one in my hand and my mission was accomplished. Nelson had almost certainly saved my life.

I phoned my boss to tell him the operation was completed. He said that I had been so brave I deserved a decoration. But I told him it was the cat that should get a medal, not me. My boss could see I was very shaken up. I had a tot of rum in my mess. Then my boss granted me leave to go ashore.

I made my way to the pub where I鈥檇 arranged to meet Brenda, the barmaid. The landlord took one look at my white, shocked face and asked me what on earth had happened. When he heard my story, he gave me a double brandy on the house and told me to sit quietly and drink it. Maybe I should have saved some of the brandy for the cat!

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