大象传媒

I was called up to Naval Service from my teaching post with Essex evacuees in the Forest of Dean ( Please see story title "A Teacher in Wartime"). I was sent to Ipswich to HMS Ganges - a training ship - to be trained as a signalman, then to Devonport for more training at the docks. I went to the signals office for my posting, and the man before me was posted to the Hood. One of the few survivors of the Hood was a signalman. Was this man the survivor? I was detailed to HMS Gleaner in 1940, which was a Trinity House vessel converted to an escort ship. The crew was normally 60 or thereabouts but in wartime the crew was just over 100. Slings for hammocks were in short supply. I had nowhere to sling my hammock and ended up sleeping on the seats on the bulkhead which were also used as the crew's lockers. We escorted ships to and from the Firth of Forth via the Pentland Firth, Northern Scotland. Sometimes we did East Coast convoys. I was detailed at Action stations to be with the Yeoman of signals on the bridge. On my first trip I was standing on the platform by the wheelhouse and noticed tracer bullets from the air going into the wheelhouse so I beat a hasty retreat. I continued in service in the North Sea. Sometimes we came as far south as the Thames through "E-Boat Alley". On one occasion a torpedoed stricken tanker was ablaze like a waterfall of fire, the sea was on fire as well. There were obviously no survivors. The E-Boats found that if they got close enough to a ship's side the machine guns couldn't depress sufficiently to fire. We moved the machine guns to where they could be used from the bridge. This went well until one gunner swept the gun across his own bridge (so called "friendly fire"). Whenever this ship got to Rosyth the gun had to be taken ashore for investigation. The machine guns were then replaced by an Oerlikon mounted and manned on the ship's bow. The E-Boats were attacking when the watches were being changed at 8,12,4 o'clock etc. so the times of the watches were changed to summertime. When we were back in harbour this could be awkward! One day when we were in harbour in Rosyth an officer asked for someone to be Santa Claus. This was not a popular job, but I volunteered to do it. This was an example of how people were trying to keep normal life going as much as possible. The W.R.N.S in Rosyth administration had arranged a Christmas party for the children of the shore establishment, so I played Santa that year (1940) and continued doing it even after my retirement from teaching many years later.

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