大象传媒

In 1940 I was eighteen and, despite working in an exempt occupation, I went down and volunteered. I didn't think I would be in all that long but in fact I was in until 1946! At the Navy Office they said, "Oh great!" and I was called up almost immediately. I was sent to the training ship HMS Rayleigh.

We were expecting to be sent to the Prince of Wales ship and were gathered together, when the commanding officers asked for nine volunteers for special services. I volunteered and I didn鈥檛 go on the Prince of Wales, but was sent to Scotland instead. My mother went mad when she found out I鈥檇 volunteered. I ended up on the ship Port Quebec. It was a merchant ship specially designed to carry mines. It could carry 446 ordinary mines and 660-odd submarine mines. Over the course of my service we laid 35,000 mines! We sailed under merchant command.

It was usually rough weather so the submarines didn鈥檛 bother us. One night we were mine laying and it was very, very foggy, there was ice on the water and we were going slowly. All of a sudden we hit solid ice. We were stuck; we couldn鈥檛 go back as we鈥檇 just laid a mine field! We had to turn and go back towards Iceland, slowly escaping from peril.

The mines we laid had huge spikes (horns) on them and one time a poor man got his duffel coat caught on one as the mines were being laid. He was carried overboard into the icy water below; right in the middle of the freshly laid mine field. We couldn鈥檛 go back and try and save him, as we were in a convoy and you can鈥檛 stop, so we let others in the area know. A Destroyer can along and tried to find him. That is not Navy style, risking a whole ship to save one life. They tried but had to give up.

In the mine store, we used to swing on the horns to move ourselves along the hold. One trip, twenty-five mines exploded as soon as they hit the water, 鈥淏ang!鈥� 鈥� that was a frightening experience. It stopped us swinging on them. We wondered if it was sabotage 鈥� who鈥檚 been on our ship? Were they duds? We became cautious but a few trips later, another load went off. On another trip, it was rough as usual, and our winch rope broke, sending mines crashing. It was a frightening experience, terrifying really, but we carried on laying.
One thing about mines is that they kill all the fish in the water. If there was a U-boat around and we were dropping depth charges, there was a lot of fish around 鈥� always fish on the dinner!

On board ship we didn鈥檛 wear naval uniforms, just overalls 鈥� we were used to civvies. When we got a Royal Navy captain he insisted that we all wear uniform. He said that wearing our Royal Naval uniform would protect us. If we were captured and were in civvies the enemy would think we were spies, but if we were in uniform we were somewhat protected as we were less of a threat. They would just shoot spies.

While we were mine laying a Dutch fishing boat escaped from Holland 鈥� it had a 鈥榩op, pop鈥� engine. To try and confuse people we would use it and go in with the Dutch fishing fleet, get what we wanted and get out. It was a risk really, but oh yes, it worked, and I鈥檓 here to prove it! For practice we would tell people on other boats that we would come in the next 28 days and to prove we鈥檇 been, we鈥檇 steal something - we鈥檇 pinch as much food as we could. There were sentries with real bullets, we were risking our lives, but it was all part of the system. We always went in bad weather. All our business was done in bad weather. We were in effect, trained thieves.

It was training all the time. It was dangerous but I thoroughly enjoyed the war. On VE Day I was in Gibraltar on a ship called the Lowerstoft. It was a bit of light relief after intensive training and work. On board ship you would get a cupful of rum, a tot. For 2p you could it of those who didn鈥檛 drink, I would buy two. I could drink three without any bother. When it was somebody鈥檚 birthday you would get 鈥榮ippers鈥� 鈥� people would say, 鈥楬appy Birthday鈥� and given you a sip of their rum!

I enjoyed sailing and crewing. When I was in Scotland I asked to take a boat out and I won a sailing race, well, you couldn鈥檛 stop me! There was a famous sailing race in Plockton and when we got there everyone was talking about it. One local guy always won and we decided that we would take him on in the race. You had to go twice round the course and we decided that we wouldn鈥檛 race from the start, we鈥檇 follow that guy and on the second circuit, we whipped the sheets in and beat the guy! It was great. Afterwards we all got drunk, it did me the world of good. If you are in the forces and do something good for the service, bringing prestige 鈥� like sailing 鈥� you can get a lot of favours and respect.

We got a Royal Navy captain and a Royal Navy commander, Gerald Scott. There was a Commander鈥檚 Race, in which the commander of each ship would sail a boat. The commander had to be in the boat but he didn鈥檛 have to sail it. I was asked to race for our commander. We won. After the race I dropped him off at the hotel and he said, 鈥淲e鈥檝e won, drinks are on me!鈥� That鈥檚 why I say, I enjoyed myself.

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