大象传媒

EMPIRE SIMBA 鈥� WWII

This is the story of the wartime career of a ship with which I was intimately connected. By David E.Harrison.

Armed with a brand new 1st Mate鈥檚 License, I was appointed 2nd Mate of a crew to take over a surplus US ship for transfer to Britain. Articles of Agreement were signed in the Mercantile Marine Office, Dock Street, London, on 21 June 1940.

We sailed from Liverpool on the Cunard vessel 鈥淪cythia鈥�, bound for New York, via Halifax, Nova Scotia. Among the passengers were a good number of children 鈥� evacuees to Canada for the duration of the war. This scheme terminated after the sinking of the 鈥淐ity of Benares鈥� on 17th September 1940, with great loss of life.

In New York we boarded a Greyhound bus headed for Galveston in Texas; a tiring 1700 kms journey with no air conditioning! Arriving in Galveston we found our way to our vessel, the SS 鈥淐OHAS鈥�, a well-found, single screw steamship with turbine propulsion owned by Lykes Bros. It was a welcome change from the average British freighter of that era; being equipped with a Sperry gyrocompass and adequate steam heating throughout. This ship, a 5647 ton freighter built in 1919 by Skinner and Eddy Corp in Seattle Washington, had a brass plate in the saloon proclaiming that it was built in 79 days 鈥� a far cry from the time taken to construct a similar vessel in WWII when it was 7 鈥� 10 days according to Henry Kaiser and his pre-fabrication methods.

We arrived onboard about 5 pm, the ship having steam up and being fully stored ready for sea. AT 7pm we moved upstream to Port Texas where a full cargo of iron scrap was loaded for the UK blast furnaces. We then had an uneventful voyage to Grangemouth in convoy.

Three weeks later degaussing cables had been fitted in steel tubes in the 鈥楾ween decks 鈥� this being an advanced installation which could be switched according to the heading of the ship. We then proceeded in to the river Forth where trouble was experienced with the steering 鈥� the telemotor pipes which routed oil pressure to the steering gear having been inadvertently reversed during the dockyard overhaul 鈥� a problem soon rectified.

The ship was now under the British Registry and re-named 鈥淓mpire Simba鈥� proceeded in convoy westbound to North America. A few days out, heavy weather made it impossible to maintain station in the convoy and the ships scattered. Accordingly, sealed orders were opened, which instructed ships to proceed independently towards a certain rendezvous point. Extremely heavy seas persisted and the ship pounded brutally, with the result that the bottom plating was set up in the way of No 1 hold, which was thus open to the ocean. The 2-inch wood sheathing covering the tank tops was soon floating and reduced to matchwood by the violent motion of the ship. It was impossible to pump out the hold as the splintered timber blocked the bilge suctions. In an attempt to reduce the water level in No 1 hold, holes were cut in the bulkhead to No 2 hold and the bilge suctions here were protected by tunnel gauze. Two men were constantly removing the matchwood from the broken wood sheathing which came in to No 2 hold. In this way, the pumps were able to reduce the level of water in NO 1 hold.

Subsequently we went in to Bermuda to effect temporary repairs and thence proceeded to Baltimore. The bottom damage was repaired and we sailed with a full cargo of scrap iron again via Halifax to join an eastbound convoy. The Atlantic crossing was then accomplished without incident.

Arriving off Northern Ireland, the ocean escorts detached for service elsewhere and we proceeded southwards in the Irish Sea. Most of the vessels detached for either the Clyde or the Mersey, leaving four of us bound for the Bristol Channel ports 鈥� we being bound for Port Talbot. We proceeded in line ahead with an armed trawler escort 鈥� SIMBA being tail-end Charlie in the line. I had the 12 鈥� 4 afternoon Bridge watch on 1st March 1941. At about 1 pm I observed a single plane circling the ships ahead but it was too far away to identify. It then flew across the line of ships ahead and a great column of black smoke erupted from a tanker. Obviously the plane was not one of ours and, within a few minutes, was lining up for a run at SIMBA. I had activated the action alarm, and then manned the machine gun by the port side Bridge wing. The enemy made to fly at right-angles to the ship鈥檚 course and to come in just above masthead height, obviously aiming at the engine room area.

My gun was a Hotchkiss WWI relic made in France, capable of firing 49 rounds of .303 ammunition. When the plane was within range I opened fire and observed with satisfaction that my tracers and incendiaries were hitting him amidships. This may have diverted the pilot as his bomb fell just short of its objective. However, he may have had the last laugh as the bomb exploded in the water and the concussion shattered the main water injection pipe in the engine room but there was no other damage. The plane circled and made for a second run at the ship, this time from dead ahead. I was now on the starboard gun hoping that the enemy would not use his machine guns, for there was no protection at my position.

However, when he was almost within range, he suddenly veered off 鈥� making smoke and heading westward at low altitude, presumably hoping to reach neutral territory in Ireland. I have always wondered whether it was one of my incendiary rounds that did the damage and I had unwittingly shot down a German bomber? I will never know.

On SIMBA the engine room rapidly flooded, as the pumps were quite unable to cope with the massive inflow of water. The ship settled lower in the water but there was sufficient reserve buoyancy to keep her afloat. So, we were stuck with a dead ship and were entirely helpless, in position 52 21 N 05 23 W. The escorting trawler remained close by and radioed for salvage tugs. To which Mersey (control) advised that none were available immediately. After some hours, the decision was taken to take off the crew as daylight was fading and the sea was getting up and breaking across the after well deck.

Before abandoning our ship, we provisioned the escort and took both machine guns, the chronometers plus a small amount of personal stuff. We were landed at Milford Haven.

In the meantime, our ship had been towed in to Birkenhead. A day later, the Master, 2 mates and 2 senior engineers were instructed to proceed to the Mersey to stand-by the ship being accommodated at the Queen鈥檚 Hotel Birkenhead. Heavy overnight air raids on 12 March resulted in several land mines being dropped. Next day we found that one of them had landed on the ship鈥檚 deck and it had exploded causing severe further damage but, fortunately without human casualties. The mine parachute was entangled in the main mast, from which I cut off a fathom of the silk cord 鈥� the only souvenir apart from a few photographs that I have retained of those desperate days between 1939 and 1945.

Consequently, my service on EMPIRE SIMBA came to an end. Subsequent information shows that the ship was repaired and put back in to service. In September 1945 she sailed from Loch Ryan on what was to be her final voyage as she was scuttled on 13th of that month when west of Ireland in position 55 30N 11 00 W while carrying a full cargo of chemical ammunition.

_________________

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