大象传媒

I joined the RN Wireless Auxiliary Reserve in 1937 A reserve who made their own wireless sets to receive Morse Code. We trained in the Admiralty Buildings. This ran parallel with the uniform reserve in the 鈥淧resident鈥�
In 1939 we were amalgamated, called the RN volunteer Wireless Reserve RNVWR

On 29th July 1939 I was at work in The City of London , on 31st July I was at RN Barracks Portsmouth.
I was helped by a regular to put on my uniform and to sling my hammock.
On 1st August we went north on a troop train.
We scoffed lunch right away as we were told there would food half way up the country
Unfortunately the food was in the West Station and we ran into the East Station !
We arrived at Rosyth about 7 AM fed up and hungry!
We went aboard HMS VIVACIOUS a 1914/18 destroyer of the V AND W class where the ships company had prepared a huge breakfast for us. We sailed the following day for Weymouth Bay, I was sick.
In August the Reserved Fleet was inspected by King George VI. During August I went ashore and was suprised by the attitude of the locals to 鈥楯ack Tar鈥� I thought you will have a different view in a few weeks!

We sailed for Devonport practising gunnery, Torpedo and Depth Charges

On September 3rd we went into the Atlantic. We convoyed troops to French Ports.
The Radio or Wireless section consisted of Petty Officer 鈥淒rip鈥� Bennett, Trained Operator Noble, Royal Fleet Reserve , Telegraphist Wells RN and myself RNVWR. Amongst the rest of our crew was A.B. Howells a survivor from the Battle of Jutland 1916.

We were in three watches, I kept mine with the chair strapped to the transmitter and my personal bucket strapped to the chair!
Whilst at sea I was sick most of the time but I did my watch.
Conditions below deck were horrendous, with a foot of water sloshing in the mess , there was one ventilator pumping air into the mess.

In October 1939 we had a run ashore at Quiberon, I used school boy French to purchase dolls for my mother.

We used to oil and collect mail at Milford Haven. In November we had 48 hours boiler cleaning leave and went back home (Bedford Park W London). My two elder brothers (John Heap 1908-2000 and Geof Heap 1910-1944)
in the Territorial ACK ACK Batalions were mobilised on 3rd Sept. I saw one of them whilst on leave.

This was followed with convoy work and submarine hunting.

Our first long leave 7 days came in January when it was very cold.

In March 1940 I found I was no longer sea sick, it never troubled me again. In late April or May I was shifted back to RN Signal school Portsmouth (鈥楶ompy鈥�) Here the old RNWAR telegraphists were set too making up receiver transmitter sets which were being sent to the French coast with telegraphists . I was on the list to go with the sets (known as GP sets) and one Saturday my name was called, I made my will and reported to the Signal Officer who strapped a .45 revolver round me, gave me a tin helmet and sent me off with a leading telegraphist. We joined HMS Sardonyx and it cast off. When we were steaming across the Channel I saw smoke rising up, I turned to one of the ships crew and asked him 鈥榳hat鈥檚 that mate鈥�? He replied 鈥榯hat鈥檚 were you are going mate鈥�, it turned out to be Le Harve with oil tanks and buildings burning.
We went alongside the jetty and the ship pushed off. We were met soldier sentry who spoke of German tanks at the gates , saboteurs and snipers. A 15 cwt appeared, we loaded our cargo onto it and away we went at great speed. We arrived at Naval HQ and I asked the soldier what the hurry was , 鈥業鈥檝e got a date鈥� was his reply and away he went! My head full of tanks at the gate and saboteurs, I was sent up a tree by the Petty Officer to rig an aerial !

Whilst at Le Harve a leading telegraphist and I went up in a MTB to make contact with the 51st Highland Division at St Valery-en-Coux but arrived to late (The Germans were on the cliff), the leading hand got a shell splinter on his arm not serious from Kraut batteries.

I was then shipped to Cherbourge and after that back to Pompey.
I was sent up to Rosyth to join HMS Maidstone in July 1940 which eventually dropped anchor at Scapa Flow

A rather uneventful stay here but on one occasion I had to climb to top of mast, along the yard arm and push an aerial through an insulator at the end of the yard. One could see to the middle of Scotland from the top of that mast!
I was sent to HMS Maidstone to be vetted for a temporary Commission RNVR so I HAD to climb the mast!

In 1941 I was sent south to Chatham then turned up at LANCING OFFICERS TRAINING SCHOOL.
I was here when HMS Hood was sunk.

I was eventually made sub-Lieutenant . Four subs were sent to Rosyth Boom Defence Depot whilst a job came up in Iceland. We drew lots, I lost and was sent south on leave. Here I ordered a great coat which I thought would be useful.

I was recalled. Three jobs had come up to help take three boom defence vessels to various places in East Africa and Ceylon. One of the subs decided that something was wrong with his knee! That left two and I was consequently recalled! We were sent to Greenock My ship was HMS Barbour a boom defence vessel.
The crew was a mixed lot and the senior Petty Officer was really useless, and tried to put me in my place !!
The Captain Lt RNR had no intentions of sailing overseas so he cast off and went along side a merchant ship where the Captain was a pall of his!! Eventually two Warrant Officers RN came aboard and took the ship back to the jetty side. The Captain left and a new Lieutenant RNR late of the Hong Kong Customs Service took over. I now grew a beard! My shipmate thank heaven was a Skipper RNR of the Scots Fishing Fleet, a first class seaman and friend, SKIPPER MAIR RNR of Buckie. Our new Captain was Lt Stewart RNR, the Engineer Officer was RNR assisted by an Engine Room Artificer RNR. We had a Surgeon Lieutenant RNVR Bowen-Jones for the 3 Boom Boats and 2 Boom Trawlers who were in the company. The ship was coal burning. We cast off and sailed for Londonderry were we refuelled and provisioned. We then sailed into the Atlantic. These ships had no sharp stem or bows having two large lifts at the bows for lifting huge weights and chains. We had one AA machine gun and a 3 inch gun for surface craft and harbour defence. The ship rolled like a b****rd and before long most of the crew including the so called coxswaine were sick. The men on the wheel were OK, two Glaswegians and one Geordie who I could hardly understand, Fowler, Fogarty and Armstrong. The Engineer Officer took me below to have a look at his Engine Room with the ERA
He asked me whether I had ever served on a small ship before? I told him then I had been a telegraphist in an 1914/18 War Destroyer HMS Vivacious before and after the outbreak of War! The Engineer Officer then revealed that the men in the lower deck of our ship were betting between themselves how soon it would be before I was laid down with seasickness! It was my freedom from seasickness and not my beard which made my name for the rest of the voyage!

Our first port of call was The Azores with a lot of German shipping laid up, with a small sloop of the Portuguese Navy .
As we entered the harbour we had the crew on deck and piped the sloop as we went past it. The wretched Captain of the Sloop was caught on the hop and just got on deck in his pyjama trousers and uniform jacket to take the salute! We coaled and watered (CAW)here and then all five of us proceeded to Bathhurst in the Gambia. Before we reached Bathhurst I smelt Africa coming out on the breeze a rich fruity smell. We CAW here and then sailed for Freetown Sierra Leone where we CAW and provisioned and then to Lagos in Nigeria where we CAW and P and went ashore. One evening I came back along the road where the verges were bright with glow worms and fireflies. We went to Walvis Bay and its British inhabitants who made us welcome. One of the native inhabitants had during the peace had collected and buried in the sand thousands of glass bottles which were now (October 1941) valuable! We sailed for Cape Town where we got our wages and went ashore, the locals took us around the town and Table Mountain. Here some Australian troops had taken a car up the stairs of the best hotel in the town.
Christmas 1941 Our next stop was Durban, we took on board extra supplies of coal. This was to enable us to push up the AGULHAS CURRANT. We had left the two trawlers, {one at East London) and two of the Boom Ships so we were on our own. The Agulhas current was so strong we hardly moved but eventually made Mombasa . It was here, the hottest port we had been to that the crew broke into the rum locker!. It was horrendous, one crew member wanted to beat up the Captain and I had to stand in front of his cabin door to protect him, here my early reputation held me in good stead. We had signalled the Battleship Royal Sovereign to send a patrol to take off the worst to cool down for 24 hours. I then cleared the lower deck and went in search of the Rum bottles and found most of them. The useless coxswain had let the crew get hold of the keys!!! C,W and P then sailed for the Seychelles. We arrived at the Seychelles CAW.
Some of the crew went ashore and found women, we provided them with protection! We sailed for the Maldives, the garrison consisted of Royal Marines who had misbehaved sometime in the past CAW We eventually left for Colombo on the way we were challenged by a V and W class Australian Destroyer, by this time Japanese Carriers and Battleships had broken out into the Indian Ocean! We identified ourselves to the Australian Destroyer which went on its way after we had explained we were a bloody Boom boat! We signalled to the Destroyer 鈥榝or gawds sake don鈥檛 shoot, we are a bloody boom boat and you are a 1914/18 Destroyer of the VAW class鈥� They 鈥榬eplied how do you know that?鈥� We replied 鈥榤y First Lieutenant served on Vivacious before and after the outbreak of war鈥�.

We came to Colombo in Ceyon where we CAW, then on to Trincomalee and dropped anchor.
Here the Captain, myself and the doctor left the ship and were put the Gale Face Hotel.
I visited our Harrison And Crossfield Office and saw the manager Mr Clubb and the Insurance chief Mr Smith who invited me to dinner to met his wife for whom I got from the NAAFI store powdered milk and large handkerchiefs for nappies.

On Easter Sunday morning (05/04/42) in Colombo harbour we were bombed by The Imperial Japanese Navy! I was trying to dig myself a trench in a solid teak jetty!! About a week before Cunningham with the Eastern Fleet arrived and cleared most ships out of the harbour.
The HMS BARLANE then took me away from Colombo to the Port of Cochin where HMS PROTECTOR was lying, a net laying vessel. Here I visited the HC office and met the manager Mr Ainsworth who advised me one the purchase of ivory pieces. We left Cochin aboard the BARLANE which went to Bombay with two Lieuts RNR who had escaped from Singapore, a pretty useless pair if ever the was
We then went to KARACHI and lived on the ship and on shore. One morning I awoke and heard a tank column moving down the street so I looked out and the street was empty, it was in fact a slight tremor!
It was here that I saw my first Indian Film, I had been warned by a resident that Indian films went on and on and on, it did! I made some purchases here then left in a transport for Port Tewfix, train to Port Said and thence to Alexandria where I reported to HMS Canopus. I was sent to join the Boom Defence Office on the Harbour. I was billited ashore and very soon I had a telephone call from my brother Norman (born 1920) who was at ABOUKIR RAF. We eventually met up at ABOUKIR and also Alexandria. During the North African Landings they were concerned about the French Warships so the jetties were filled with guns. In the morning I was detailed as the Navy person to liaise with the army.
The Colonel was worried that there were no ensigns on the French warships but I advised him that this does not happen until 9AM. All went well and the day passed without incident. Met up with Norman and was in Alexandria when the Alemain barrage started up (23rd October 1942)

I advanced to the dizzy heights of a Lieutenent RNVR I was sent up to Tripoli via Benghazi . I arrived in Tripoli two days after the 8th Army. The plane a Wellington landed at Castel Benito with some more imported gas cylinders for the salvage team who were trying to open up the entrance to the Port, the entrance being blocked by the Germans before they left. One morning I went down to the jetty to inspect the Italian defences. I very gingerly opened the doors on my way in case they had been booby trapped by the KRAUTS. At the end of the jetty was a very fierce bitch dog with her brood of puppies where on I decided to retreat.

I was the Boom Defence Officer on the staff and I tried to get use of a Boom Vessel which had got through but was told 鈥� we are trying to open up a hole not to bung it up!!鈥� I was in Tripoli until late 1943.

It was at Tripoli that I met my brother Geoff who had arrived with his ACK ACK Guns. Geoff was killed in Italy as a Royal Fusilier not Ack Ack battery, he was too old to be a junior infantry officer ! It was in Tripoli when we had a terrific air raid (19th March 1943). The Ocean Voyager full of amunition blew up and pieces were found miles away. After it was over it was stated by the matloes that a cat had been found alive.

Whilst at Tripoli the security forces found a Fiat 500 Topolino car under a haystack, which was to be my vehicle for the rest of my stay
After the Med had been opened up I found time with 2 fellow officers to visit Sabratha where there was a huge mosaic and Leptis Magna which was once a port, miles inland now surrounded by sand. It must have been a huge seafaring port in its time took photos including the civic loos. Remains of magnificent buildings in their time . I forgot to check the oil so white metal ran and it made an awful noise but we got back to Tripoli. Here I collected a porcelain figures of a man and woman, it was Dresden make.
I remained at Tripoli until the position was closed and left for the UK via Malta. I was sent home in a landing craft which when at sea you could see their bows of the vessel moving up and down! We arrived in the UK I was sent on leave May 1944. I was then sent to Boom Depot Felixstowe. I was here on D Day. I had the job of setting up dummy landing craft.

It was here that I experienced the first doodle bug flying bomb. I thought it was a MTB engine running rough !! It was here I heard of the death of my brother Geoff in action. It had to be him, the only married brother with a son he had never seen in the flesh!!

I spent some time at Felixstowe and then drafted? to HMS DEVON CITY a Boom Carrier. I went with her via the Med to Trincomalee. We were part of the MALAYAN INVASION FORCE.
We were in Trincomolee on VE Day. Thanks to Harry S Truman Japan Surrendered but we sailed for our destination, the first port was Penang then Port Swettenham {Klang} were we went ashore to see if I could find a HC Estate but no luck, I then went to Kuala Lumpur and found their HC office occupied by the Indian Army. I had been due out in September1945 so when we arrived at Singapore they transferred me to HMS ETHIOPIAN. This Boom Vessel was bound for the UK but the Captain and 1st Lieutenant were not interested in getting back quickly so we stopped off at Port Said and Brindisi and so arrived back in the UK in March 1946.

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