大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Hugh J. McDevitt, Royal Canadian Navy Veteran and has been added to the site with their permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interview was by Deirdre Donnelly, and transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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My father was originally born here [in Derry] he was in the IRA back in those days. He fought at the battle of the GPO in Dublin in 1916.
He was a strong republican, anti-Partition. He was wanted by the Irish Govt and the British Govt. There鈥檚 a long story how he got to North America. In Montreal he started the GAA.

I joined the Canadian navy. I was 17 and a half. A lot of my pals were joining up. I tried 3 times to get in. I was underweight. The doc finally said 鈥渟on, you weigh 116 lbs. you should weigh 118. But I guess we can put 2lb on you.鈥�
In 1946 I got out of the service, I weighed 119 lb. Then I got married and put on the weight.

The first ship I got out of Halifax, I was on a schooner with 2 Vickers MGs. That was coastal, we went out and back in. then I was stationed on a yacht that we bought from the USA. We used to patrol around Halifax, off Nova Scotia. Then I got on the Assinaboy.
We鈥檇 go halfway across the Atlantic. Then we鈥檇 let the convoys go on a distance, because the subs weren鈥檛 operating that far out. The British Navy took care of them the rest.
Then I was on ships that went right across to Derry. I was on the Newfie-Derry run. I won鈥檛 tell you all the stories, because some people might come after me for the damages we used to do.

The stories are not fit for ladies鈥� ears. We were raising Cain, and had many disagreements with the RN people here. I don鈥檛 know if that was my Irish side coming out, but we felt the RN people were looking down their nose at us as colonials. Thinking they had superiority to us, and that the Canadian Navy was part of the RN. We were our own country, the Royal Canadian navy. If you see the maple leaf on the funnels, that鈥檚 why there were put on there. Because we were tired of being taken for RN. But there鈥檚 a lot of stories behind that reason.

There was a riot here in Derry. They beat up on some Canadians that were in here. And there used to be five to ten thousand Canadians in here at one time. One time, there was one ship being repaired in the dry dock. And that crew, every time they went out they got beaten up by the RN personnel. And it just so happened there were 7 escort groups came up the Foyle this time. And when they tied up, some of these fellows came over. Either they had served on some of these ships before, or they had brothers serving on some of these ships, or friends. When they came aboard some of the ships they had black eyes and some fellows said 鈥渨hat happened to you?鈥�
They told us about being beaten up by the RN. The message went out to all the fleet 鈥渕eet on the Strand tonight鈥�.
So we all met on the Strand tonight, and went into any pub, and any RN we found there, they got it! So they ever chased them down on the subs. They brought the Royal Marines over, they wouldn鈥檛 let them out of the trucks. Because if they got on the ground they were outnumbered on it.
We used to say, we did more fighting with the RN than the Germans.
They would do funny tricks on us. There would be maybe 5-6 Canadian ships, and our officers would be Lt Commanders, highest rank, or Lts that were captain of the ship. The RN would put an RN ship in there with a full commander, therefore he before senior head of the group even though the majority were Canadian ships. If there was a success, a sub kill or a convoy brought without loss, it was an RN group. But if something went wrong, it was a Canadian group. We got blamed but credits we didn鈥檛 get.

As far as they were always concerned, we were part of the RN. It was the same complaint with the Australians in the British 8th Army. 90% of the Army was Australian, New Zealand, South Africa, Greeks, and some British. It was always called the British 8th Army. They should have called it the Commonwealth Army. But they would always include them as part of the British Services, which they weren鈥檛.
At the beginning of the war they wanted Canada to just send over the bodies, the person to be fitted into the RN or British Army or the RN. And the Canadian Govt said 鈥淣o. we are a nation, we鈥檒l fight as a nation. We鈥檒l have Canadian AF, Canadian Navy, Canadian Army.鈥�
As far as the UK was concerned they wanted us to be fodder for their regiments and Navy units.

85% of escort duty across the Atlantic was done by us! That鈥檚 why we started complaining and putting the maple leaf on the funnel of our ships. Because we鈥檇 go into a pub and the Yanks would say 鈥測ou limeys鈥� and we said 鈥渨ho the hell are you calling a limey?鈥� we resented that. We weren鈥檛 limeys. But as far as they were concerned we were part of the RN.

[You had the Canadian Club]
They opened that club because of the friction. I think they called it 鈥渢he Lion and the Deer club鈥�. It was up in the 鈥� they had 2 buildings. 1 was dormitories, the other was recreation. In the Hibernian hall. They had bikes, and they were trying to get us to fraternise. But the Canadians wouldn鈥檛 go for it. They wouldn鈥檛 use the place. But they were trying to get the friction out. We didn鈥檛 associate.

The railway bar we used to go to, it鈥檚 changed the name but it鈥檚 still there. There was a place up near the Diamond, in a sidestreet, there was a pub. I don鈥檛 know the name of the place, we used to call it the Argosy bar after the name of our ship. If we went ashore and said to someone 鈥渨e鈥檒l meet you at the Argosy bar鈥� they knew which pub, because the owner had a room upstairs. Big room with leather couches. We used to meet and congregate, and you鈥檇 blow through a tube down to the bar, 鈥渟end up 6 pints鈥� or, you know. He鈥檇 bring a big tray up.

We used to bring bags of tea and sugar and flour, give it to him, he鈥檚 take it home to his wife. Because of rationing. So we were the fair-haired boys to the bartender. And any time we came in, he would never know when we would arrive. And 1 time we went in, and he said 鈥淵ou鈥檙e here.鈥�
We gave him the tea and stuff, and went to go upstairs. He said 鈥渨ait a minute, and 5-6 yank sailors came down. He threw them out, because that was our room.

It was off the Strand, down this little side street. That was our hang-out. There was a dance hall down there on the other side of the bridge, the old bridge.
[transcriber鈥檚 note 鈥� he means the Gates of Derry]
You went under it, on the right-hand side there was a 2-storey dance-hall there. We used to call it the 鈥渂ucket of blood鈥�.
When a fight started and the Shore Patrol came in, I remember jumping off that balcony onto the street. I was only 17 陆- 18 years old. Lucky I didn鈥檛 break a leg, but we used to jump down there.
We had run-ins with the RUC.

Everyone had their 鈥渂ird鈥�.
Coming up the Foyle, each ship in our group had pipe-band music. Ours was 鈥淩oad to the Isle鈥�. So coming up the river we would play that over the loudspeaker, and the other ships would play that over their loudspeaker. But the WRENS in Broom Hall would know that their boyfriends 鈥� they couldn鈥檛 tell what ships were coming, but when they heard the records they knew their boyfriends were coming.

I went over with my uncle, with my burberry up and my hat down. Because they told us 鈥渄on鈥檛 go over the border. You鈥檒l be interned. I was looking for my father鈥檚 grave. My uncle took me down by bicycle. I was scared. My hat was tucked in.
I didn鈥檛 know what the road was until we started to search for my father. It was the
Letterkenny-Derry road. Halfway down, across the road, was painted 鈥淚RA territory鈥�. He took us down there.

After the war they had torn up all the grave markings in the church graveyard to put a lawn in, and had no records of who was where.

I was scared I was going to be interned. My uncle took me into this pub. There was no landmarks for me. In the pub were old-timers. And of course, my father鈥檚 name is Hugh. And my name is Hugh. And my uncle said 鈥渢his is young Hugh. Hugh鈥檚 son.鈥�
It goes back to my father. He was part of De Valera鈥檚 鈥� they knew each other, they were both active in the IRA at that time.

We were all kids. Teenagers. You got in after crossing, being at action stations night and day. When you came in you were pretty much bushed out, and all you were interested in was recreation and unwinding. That鈥檚 how we unwinded on it.

I was on the Assinaboyne when we sunk the U-210. Then if you鈥檙e surrounded 鈥� we were trying to tow a ship that had been torpedoed. I was on the Argosy.
The Sypho was attacking this sub. But unknown to them, they had brought up a second sub. Because the subs were a wolfpack attacking. And the Sypho started firing at this second sub, because it was lining up on us. So I鈥檝e always had a soft spot for the Sypho. She was on our escort group, but she saved our bacon that night!
Then we found out later that there was a third sub she had brought up, because they were firing depth-charges all over the place. It was dark, pitch dark. Ships were being torpedoed.

[Weren鈥檛 you terrified?]
You couldn鈥檛 show it to the other guys, because it was gung-ho. It was spirit of comradeship between everybody. Everything you did, if you were seasick you had no sympathy from them. If you were seasick and hanging over the rail, they said 鈥淲e see you came by rail last night.鈥�
A lot of things they would do to you, and you would do to them, you had to have a sense of humour. They鈥檇 fill your sea boots with jam, you鈥檇 drop into them at Action Stations and you鈥檇 have poisonberry jam coming out the top of your rubber boots because they put empty cans of jam that they were going to put over the side, and in your boots. Things like that. And you鈥檇 pull something on somebody else.

I married a protestant woman after the war. I was an altar boy, educated by Christian Brothers.
[In Derry] I had to go to Mass one time. We had different padres, priests or ministers travel on different ships. Going across, if the weather was good they might transfer from one ship to our ship. To render service to other ships. When they got here they would turn around and go back on another ship.

So anyhow, in port here I was on Quartermaster, which means on the gang-plank. You came off 8am to 12, usually the duty watch people going on from 12-4pm would eat around 11 am. The meal for the people coming off watch was kept in the galley. You鈥檇 get your plate with the dinner and you鈥檇 go to the mess deck, and you鈥檇 ask the cook 鈥渨here鈥檚 the duff鈥�.
Duff was desert. And if he said 鈥渨e sent it into the mess deck鈥� you knew it wouldn鈥檛 be there, because someone else would have got a second helping. So I came in the hatch to the mess deck, with 4-letter words attached, 鈥渨here鈥檚 my duff?鈥�
A head came round the corner of the mess deck and said 鈥渇ather, here鈥檚 one of your flock鈥�.
Fr Murphy was sitting down there. I sat down to eat my meal, and he sat down beside me and said 鈥淚 think I鈥檒l see you at church鈥� because he had mass up at the Cathedral on Sunday. When he was in the Town he鈥檇 be asked to say Mass by the local clergy.
I said 鈥測es father鈥�.
Next morning, Sunday, who was sitting in the front pew but me! Fr Murphy nodded his head at me.

[Did you have a parade up there?]
No. All the Catholics, if they felt like it, would leave the ship and go to Mass on their own. But you never ended up there, you always ended up in the pub. I had to be there because he expected to see me there.

I never let my family know, my mother, when I was coming or leaving. I always wanted to remember them there at the house.
One time I was home, and I was at the railway station in Montreal. I was to meet up with my buddies 鈥� we had come in from the west, and we were to head out to Halifax for our ships.
Mother Martin鈥檚, another place we used to meet, a bar near the rail station. We were feeling pretty good, and 1 guy didn鈥檛 drink. He had all our gas masks, we put them on his head. He had gas masks hanging all over the place.
We walked into the station and who鈥檚 standing there? My sister and my sister-in-law. And I got mad as h***. I said 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want anyone to come to the railway station!鈥�
My sister started to cry.

[On every trip you might never come back]
You never knew. You never gave it a thought. You made sure when you get into your hammock that the welks that you were going to take if you were torpedoed, when you tried to get out of there, your nest egg and so on. If you were on duty on the bridge or back aft, lookout, you were planning to get off on this side if you were hit on that side. You had that in the back of your mind. You didn鈥檛 dwell on it.

You were never going to show any of your buddies that 鈥� and they didn鈥檛 want to show any fear either. That was to be expected. I had a lot of friends went down on other ships.

One good friend, Forrest Acker, I met in Derry. We went out the night before and were going out in the morning. He wrote to his mother saying that he had met me, and we would meet up in Newfoundland.
His ship went down, he went down with it.
I was home on leave and my sister Sheila met his sister. They lived a few streets away from me. She told his sister I was home on leave. His sister asked if I could come over to see her mother. What am I going to tell his mother?
鈥淒id you go over and see Mrs Cony?鈥�
I said 鈥淣o. what am I going to tell the woman? That we went out boozing the night before we sailed? And he got torpedoed?鈥�

What do you say to a mother? She wants me to tell her about her son

When I got married and my son 鈥� I used to say 鈥淒onald, I can鈥檛 judge you because I was never a teenager.鈥�
I grew up without that feeling.
You saw death for the first time, and bodies, you cried. I鈥檓 not ashamed.
I don鈥檛 like talking about it.
I like talking about the fun and the things we did, the RUC chasing us. I won鈥檛 say what we were doing, but 鈥e did foolish things, but we had good times.

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