大象传媒

This presentation is a part of my Wartime service in the Royal Navy. The first two parts cover my service on the HMS Princess Victoria, a converted ferry to a minelayer, and on a small ship taking part in the evacuation of our army at Dunkirk.
A brief summary of this period is referenced before proceeding with the main 鈥淓YE WITNESS 鈥渄escribing my service on the Firedrake.
Part 1 describes my call up under the Militia Act 1939, when I became 20 on 16 May 1939. I registered in May and at first chose Army training, but changed my mind and was accepted subsequently for Navy training. On the 1st of November I set off by train from Manchester, to Skegness to join HMS Royal Arthur. This was a requisitioned Butlins
Camp, where we had initial training before going to Chatham Barracks, HMS Pembroke.
My first posting in February was to the Princess Victoria, being converted to a minelayer in the London Docks. Soon at sea, she was sunk by magnetic mine on May 19, in the Humber Estuary. I survived luckily, but we lost 4 officers and 32 ratings.
Part 2 describes my next posting on a cutter, one of six, towed by Tug from Chatham to Dunkirk as part of the rescue from the beaches of Dunkirk of the B E F. We returned after many adventures and lucky escapes to Chatham by the same Tug.
Part 3 describes my service on Firedrake. This covered the most dramatic period of my service life and is indelibly etched in my memory.
Part 4 is the rest of my service, having retrained as a Radar Mechanic, followed a path much more technical and routine, with Gladstone docks my base. Two more postings of short duration on sloops, the last being the survey ship HMS Scott, saw the end of my service at sea.

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