´óÏó´«Ã½

This story was submitted to the People’s War website by Peter Quinn of the Lancashire Home Guard on behalf of Peter Webster, and has been added to the site with his permission by the staff of Blackpool Central Library

In July 1940 I was serving as the third officer on the S.S Antonio, in Convoy OA (Outward Atlantic) 178, when it came under heavy attack from two Gruppen of German Ju 87, Stuka dive-bombers off Portland Bill.

The action commenced at about 1.00pm on the 4th of July and consisted of intermittent waves of six planes, each carrying 110lb bombs. The attacks lasted about two hours, and of the fourteen heavily laden merchantmen that formed the convoy four were sunk by direct hits and several were badly damaged by near misses or glancing blows. There was no aerial cover so the Stukas, which had come from airfields in occupied France just across the Channel, had the freedom of the skies.

SS Antonio was damaged by nine or ten near misses, which affected the rudder and stanchions supporting the propeller shaft, causing us to reduce our speed drastically and steer a very erratic course. At the same time we were subjected to machine gun fire but, by good fortune, no one was hit.

It was a time of great fear and tension. I personally suffered damage to my ear from the sound of explosions and noise of the Ack Ack gun, which I was in charge of.

As the attack subsided, we were able to rescue 67 survivors, two of whom were seriously injured, from the sunken ships. We slowly made our way towards Portland and eventually dropped anchor in Weymouth at about 11pm.

This was not the end of the day’s events, because Portland itself was then subjected to an air raid — Jerry reminding us of his presence by dropping a few more bombs amongst the surviving ships of AO 178! It was not until midday on 5th July that we were able to land the survivors we had rescued.

As a result of these attacks, OA convoys were cancelled and ships from the Thames and East Coast ports were routed around the north of Scotland.

After being patched up, we were able to leave some three days later and make our way slowly to Swansea for full repairs. Then SS Antonio resumed convoy duties between the UK and America. We didn’t have time to change our clothes on the voyage - when we got to the US we just threw them in the furnace and bought new ones! On several occasions the convoys were attacked, ships sunk and fellow seafarers killed. These voyages were horrendous at times.

We survived further serious damage until March 1942. We were off Blyth, Northumberland, on our way to Hull with a cargo of grain, when a German bomber dropped two bombs on us, damaging the aft superstructure and making a large hole below the water line. We were towed into Newcastle and safety.

I came home on a few days’ leave, but collapsed and had to be discharged on medical grounds. Thus ending the only career I wished to follow — a very bitter blow!

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