大象传媒

Willyg Story Part 2

Shortly we were soon at sea again in convoy and we were under attack from U-boats, the ship on our starboard was torpedoed and sank immediately as she was loaded with a cargo of iron-ore .The ship was called EMPIRE something I can鈥檛 remember. In UK all the cargo boats that were built during the war were called EMPIRE something or other. When I was trying to get to sea I wrote to Captain Burke and it was he who guided me to call the Blue Funnel Line as he was far away in Rangoon, Burma. When he sailed from Glasgow his ship was called THE PROME which is the name of a river in Burma. This ship was what we called an outside ship. She very seldom came home to Glasgow and she sailed all over the far east China, Japan Australia New Zealand. Mrs. Burke was a very close and dear friend of my mother's and whenever I docked in Glasgow I would telephone her out of courtesy, so when I got back, and before I caught the train to London I called her as usual only to learn that she had just received the dreaded telegram that Captain Burke was killed owing to enemy action.

It was soon after this that I learned that that ship THE EMPIRE something was taking Captain Burke home for leave and I had witnessed his ship being sunk. Oh the sadness of it all. And I had to make that damned phone call. It was the practice during the war not to notify the next of kin until the convoy had reached its destination and were all in port .Of all the asked friends' my mother had, Mrs Burke was the one staunch friend who never deserted my mother when we had our misfortune. I must mention here that my story in not a chronological account of my experiences, as I just write about things as I recollect them.

As Britain was subjected to continual bombing and the Ulysses urgently required an overhaul it was too risky yo do this task in UK so we were going to Hong Kong to get this refit. We visited Cape Town and Durban across the Indian Ocean to Ceylon and Penang then SINGAPORE. This was a completely new experience for me and I loved every moment Soon we arrived in Hong Kong. We were met by a tender who delivered a few hundred workers who immediately got to work chipping the paint work off the ship's side, off the masts and railings, before we even tied-up half the paintwork had been stripped. Apparently there was paint from the First World War, so I guess we badly needed this job done especially as all the extra weight reduced our maximum speed. As we were in the hands of the dockyard we were billeted ashore and we had the time of our lives. We had a good soccer team and we played games against the different army reams and Royal Navy ships and after the games we had great social evenings with the soldiers and naval boys . Most of those lads would eventually be slain or made POW's by the Japanese Then one day Hong Kong got a typhoon warning. The Ulysses was in dry-dock with all her engines lying on the dock. Anyway they took us out of the dry-dock and towed us to a point where we were moored to buoys fore and aft. This is normal practice except a ship is meant to drive full speed against the wind just to remain steady. BUT we had no engines and when the typhoon struck we were soon torn from the buoys and we were helplessly being blown at considerable speed until we came to a grinding stop as we were pushed onto a little island and so we were grounded. Incidentally it was called little green island. So we were delayed further and we remained in Hong Kong until Dec. 7 1941 and we all know that day as Pearl Harbor day.

We left Hong Kong and we were ordered to make for Manilla in the PHILLIPINES., but our wireless operator gave our captain a message the Manilla was under severe attack from the Japs, so our skipper decided to make for Singapore. We were sailing with one engine and the second one was lying on our deck, such was the rush to get away from Hong Kong. I think we were doing five knots about 6 m.p.h. and although we were attacked a few times none of the attacks were concentrated and we did eventually reach Singapore much to their surprise as we had been written off. Even today I look at the map and wonder how on earth we made that voyage and survived when faster ships were being sunk including the famous PRINCE OF WALES the newest battleship in the fleet along with THE REPULSE. These were dark days indeed with the Japs conquering all before them.

Eventually we made Australia on New Years day 1942 where again we were being put back together and became a ship again at least a seaworthy ship once more. When we arrived in Freemantle we had to tie-up alongside a cargo ship as there was no room to berth at the quay. We became friendly with the crew and had a few social evenings with them. I shall always when we were leaving Freemantle the whole crew of the cargo boat assembled on the after-deck and sang a song called THE MAORIS FAREWELL and they continued singing until we out of sight. Such a romantic event from a bunch of tough seamen.

Our next port of call was Adelaide where we were to get the final touches to our repairs. We were in Adelaide for a few weeks and I got friendly with a family called Carey who lived on the seaside at a place called Semaphore. They also had a daughter called Margaret, and I must admit I fell in love for the first time, I was 19 years old. However, all good things come to an end, and we had to sail away. We got to Melbourne when one day quite suddenly, a number of us were told to get our things together and board the ship lying astern of us. This ship was called THE NEALOR. So we were officially paid-off the Ulysses and why we were travelling as passengers nobody knew. There was no sign of us sailing, so I requested a few days off, which was granted. So off I went to Adelaide and landed in Margaret's house. What a shock awaited me. There was a baby lying on the bed and Margaret was crying. She had been married and was now separated, she didn't tell me as she thought she would never see me again. Anyway I could only stay a couple of days and returned to Melbourne only to discover the NEALOR had sailed and I was left high and dry. The shipping agents were closed for the weekend and no one could tell me how or if I could catch up with her. So back I went to Adelaide and took a job in a munitions factory for about a month. I went to the office of The Adelaide Steamship Co. and got employed on small ship called the MOONTA for a few weeks, then transferred to a Hospital ship called the MANUNDA who sailed to Melbourne.

When I was in town I just happened to pass the office of the Blue Funnel agents so I popped in and asked them if there was any mail for me, and to my surprise there was. This is when my guilt set in. My mother was not getting any financial aid from me which was the reason I went to sea. Moreover there was a war on and the Merchant Navy was being decimated by U-boats, and London was being blitzed nightly. I felt like a deserter and a scumbag. So I went back to the agents and asked the clerk if there was a Blue Funnel ship expected soon ?? She told me the Sarpedon was arriving that day with Capt. McClure in command. He had been the skipper of the Ulysses on my first trip.Back to the docks I went and there she was, the Sarpedon so I went on board and spoke to the Captain and told him how I was stuck in Australia. He agreed to sign me on and to meet him at the agents office next day. So back to the Manunda where I requested to be released so I could join the Sarpedon. After some reluction they agreed. So it was with glee that I was again homeward bound. I'm afrai I did not play fair with Margaret as I did not tell her I was leaving, I just sailed away. I do not feel proud of my deeds and at times I feel shame at my actions. We sailed to Sydney and then to Christchurch in New Zealand. From there we crossed the Pacific and through the Panama Canal which is quite an experience. We dropped anchor in Guantanamo Bay for a few days as the U-Boats were very active and it was not far from here that the Ulysses was torpedoed along with many other ships. We sailed and made for New York where we tied-up in Staten Island. There was no shore leave and we took on board 200 British Navy pilots. We left New York in convoy to cross the Atlantic and all was going well till BOOM and that was the first of many ships that were bumped over the next four or five nights.

Our convoy was 54 ships when we set sail, but when we got to Liverpool there was 26 ships left. This was life in the ATLANTIC convoys until things improved somewhat in 1943 when we began to get protection from more escorts and better air cover. I made for London as soon as I got released from the Sarpedon. Again I got there during an air-raid so I walked from Euston station until I found myself outside Madame Tussauds where I came across a taxi and he took me to Ladbrook Grove where mother was living. They got the surprise of their lives when I landed on them in the middle of the night. What joy I felt to be back with the family again. I had brought some goodies with me like tea, sugar, jam and butter things that were in short supply during the war. Incidentally it was my mum's birthday the day I got home Nov. 5 1942. I had a pleasant leave and visited Clement who had been evacuated to Kent, but with the German planes flying over Kent on their way to bomb London you can imagine just how safe he was.

Anyway I had to get back to sea and got back to Liverpool on the day I was supposed to. But alas the Sarpedon who had been looking for me to sign-on could not delay, so instead I landed on the ANTENOR. The Allies had just invaded North Africa and that's where the Antenor sailed to. We arrived in Algiers then we were sent further up the coast where we would land the Commandos we had on board. The orders were to drop the troops and get out as quick as possible and return to Algiers, which we did. Again my eyesight was called into question and when we got back to Liverpool I was told I required glasses, I didn't agree with them but I had to obey. This is how I came to be separated from the Blue FUNNEL Line. When I received my glasses I had to report to the Seaman Pool. I was sent to Avonmouth near Bristol and joined the ESPERANCE BAY we sailed to South Africa where again I met my friends in Cape Town which was always a pleasant experience.

When we sailed I learned that we were going to Buenos Aires in Argentina where I spent my 21st. Birthday, we also called in to Montevideo on the River Plate and I saw the remains of the Graff Spree who had scuttled herself in 1940. When I got home I joined a ship called THE ARUNDEL CASTLE who sailed for Algiers, and for the next few months we ferried British troops to Naples and alternately U S troops from Oran to Taranto. I must tell you a funny incident when we were in Oran. We were tied up on the huge breakwater, there was an announcement over the ship's tannoy for all master sergeants to muster on the dock NOW !!! When the were all lined up along came a convoy of jeeps and when they came to a stop along with the Army chiefs was this Arab gentleman who inspected the soldiers and picked one out. It transpired that this sergeant had conned this guy and had sold him a whole camp with tents and trucks. !!!!!!!!!!He was sent back to the States I believe and probably sent to some other front. When we got back home again our ship was sent to the Gareloch where we had huge Union Jacks painted on our sides and floodlights all over the ship as we were going to do a repatriation of German POW's and return with Allied POW's, and so we sailed for Marseilles where the POW's were sent by train to Switzerland where the actual exchange was carried out. On that voyage the Nazi's were so arrogant they would hardly give you a civil word, but when their escort told them how bad conditions were in Germany they weren't long in shedding their pride and were begging the crew for kilos of coffee and offering gold watches and English fivers in exchange. Needless to say some of the crew took full advantage of the situation. Next came preparations for D-Day and I found myself on a ship by name of AORANGI and we were the HQ for the tugs who were to tow the huge concrete blocks which were to create Mulberry Harbour so the invasion troops could be supplied with their needs as there was no port , so the Army created their own port. After D-Day we landed up in the Gareloch again and I swear the big-wigs must have forgotten about us as we were there for quite a while, so we were in Helensburgh almost every night. Eventually we made a trip to Australia and on our return I learned that I could get my demob. Even though I was young the length of service qualified me for release. I took the opportunity because my ambition to be a navigating officer had been thwarted and my father was anxious that I should join him in business. I missed the sea life but I had to adjust to being a land lubber. Not long after this I met a delightful girl called Dorothy so the rest of the story you know.

POST SCRIPT;
At the outbreak of the war, Churchill declared that the one fear he had was the U-boat menace. Being an island nation we were completely dependent on getting supplies from abroad. We relied on the Merchant Navy for foodstuffs, petroleum goods of every description, as well as transporting our troops to wherever they were required and their equipment. Bearing this in mind, why did we send 1000 planes to bomb Cologne when they could have concentrated on the French ports where the U-boats were based. Think of all the ships that would have survived along with the thousands of seamen who perished if we had focused in this direction instead of revenge attacks on German cities. No doubt for propaganda purposes it served us better to announce 1000 bomber raids rather than the sinking of a few U-boats. It is worth remembering that the first casualty of the Second World War was a Merchant Navy vessel, namely THE ATHENIA. So Churchill had good reason to be concerned about the threat of the U-BOAT. My last words of this narrative is to declare that the German Navy behaved in a very correct manner throughout the conflict and were never guilty of behaving like their erstwhile comrades in the S.S. I was extremely fortunate to come through the war unscathed when thousands of good men perished. In the end there is just one question WHAT DOES WAR REALLY PROVE ????????? Bill Griffin

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