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It is well known that in the last weeks of W.W.II the Dutch were starving, and that the German occupying forces were so short of supplies that they agreed they would not fire on RAF "mercy" aircraft dropping supplies of food over Holland for the Dutch population.

But I have never come across any mention of the fact that three British cargo ships had been allowed to sail to Holland with food supplies. This is how I became involved.

At the end of November, 1944, I was posted to the SS Elkanah Crowell as Radio Officer. This was a new American coastal vessel handed over to Britain, along with two sister ships, and employed to ship supplies from Southampton to the American Army in France, our normal destination being Rouen, although we did make one trip to Le Havre after some of the wreckage had been cleared. The retreating German Army had destroyed the port facilities there very efficiently.

Then, at the end of April, 1945, we were diverted urgently to London to become a "Mercy Ship". The Elkanah Crowell and her sister ships were to be loaded with food to be shipped to enemy held Rotterdam to augment the food being dropped by the RAF.

We were loaded in one day and one night. I have never seen dockers, or anyone, work as hard as the dockers on that occasion. We also had the ship's name painted in huge letters along the side, and floodlights mounted to illuminate then - a bit of a diversion from the standard blackout regime.

We went first, in convoy, blacked out, to Antwerp. We were to be escorted the next day to a rendezvous with the German navy, which would escort us to Rotterdam. However, it was the 4th May when we arrived at Antwerp, and next day the war was over. Nonetheless, we carried on as planned on the 6th May.

But the German Navy didn't turn up, so we proceeded without escort until we picked up the river pilot and docked at Rotterdam next to an E-boat depot, and a warehouse full of surrendered German weapons — guarded by the German Navy.

Actually, the war was not officially over until midnight on the 5th, and we heard that on the 5th the Germans had not been told anything about a ceasefire. The Dutch underground knew of course, and had marched to the German HQ to demand their surrender, only to be dispersed by force. At midnight the Germans were told the war was over and handed over their arms to the Dutch. Then they had to give some of the light weapons back to the Germans so that they could protect themselves from vengeful civilians.

The Dutch really were starving. Thin men were wearing suits which were now much too large for them. We fed a lot of local children on the ship - some of them were sick afterwards, we hadn't appreciate that their stomachs couldn't stand a sudden intake of rich food. The Dutch dockers were so weak for want of food that the first thing the did when unloading was to break open some of the boxes and have a good feed.

On two occasions I saw large groups of collaborators, heads shaven, being marched through the streets.

I found it very satisfying to be involved on a mercy mission, but with a tinge of regret that we couldn't have arrived before the ending of the war. I had been looking forward to being "behind enemy lines".

Alex Rothney

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