大象传媒

The image attached to this story cannot be viewed for moderation or technical reasons

...Continued

When asked later how I left the ship, my reply was 鈥淚 swam that fast you couldn鈥檛 see my ass for spray鈥�. As I swam away the colour of the sea was not its normal blue, but black from the oil that was pouring out of the Hermes. It was impossible to escape from it and I was soon covered in it from head to toe. My eyes were smarting from the effects of the oil and salt water, having swum 300 or 400 yards away I turned over on my back and witnessed the end of Hermes, it is a moment I shall never forget. I just can鈥檛 describe my feelings as I saw her vanish under the waves listing heavily to port bows already under the water, and on fire from one end to the other. 30 minutes earlier an efficient fighting ship, home for 800 officers and men, now nothing, just a mass of floating wreckage with hundreds of human beings fighting for their lives, some luckier than others.

As we sank the Japs turned their attention to our attendant destroyer, the Vampire, they hit her with 3 bombs one of which went down her funnel, she broke in half and disappeared in minutes, casualties fortunately were light, about ten including the Captain. Suddenly there was an eerie silence, no sound of gunfire, no screaming planes and no bomb explosions, the swimming survivors had the ocean to themselves. It was time to organise ourselves in anticipation of being rescued, during the action all our boats had been smashed to pieces, all we had in the water were a few Carley floats that the flight deck had managed to cut loose. Our first task was to get all the injured into these rafts, and as everybody was covered in thick greasy oil it was no easy task. A lot of the lads were clinging on to anything that floated by, even our rum tub came floating by with the lettering 鈥淭he King God Bless Him鈥� sparkling in the sun鈥�. We did our best to get the badly injured onto the rafts, but for some, it was too late, the majority had terrible burns, some survivors had no lifebelts on and were clinging to those that had, so it was a case of taking off the dead and giving to the living. Very soon the Carley floats were full to overflowing, soon those who were exhausted from exposure and the non-swimmers (mostly reservists and H.O.s) changed places in the floats, the rest of us including myself, hung on to the ropes dangling from the sides of the floats to give us a respite from swimming.

It was now about1600 hours, which meant we had been in the water for 5 hours, it seemed like a week, and a lot of us were weak, then a shout was heard 鈥渟hip in sight鈥�, at long last rescue was at hand, the badly injured lads in the floats were told 鈥渉ang on鈥�, but some were in such a bad state they didn鈥檛 care if it was Christmas or Easter, some died as the rescue ship drew nearer and had to be gently lifted over the side of the float and cast to the deep, the Lord's Prayer being said for them. It was all so sad.

Slowly but surely the ship we were watching got bigger and bigger, we could make it out to be a hospital ship. As soon as she was near enough all her boats were lowered to pick up survivors. Firstly the dying and seriously injured were rushed across to the hospital ship Vita for the operations they so urgently needed, the rest of the lifeboats picked up the remainder of the lads, by this time the Vita was close by so I swam the last few 100 yards or so to the gangway which was quite a long one to climb, at the top nurses were waiting for us with blankets to wrap us in. How glad I was to feel the deck under my feet once again. I said a silent prayer of thanking God that I had survived without a scratch, the terrible ordeal of the sinking of H.M.S. Hermes.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Genevieve Tudor of the 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire and CSV Media Action Desk on behalf of S.B Curtis and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Stan Curtis Medals Awarded 1939 - 45 Star, Atlantic Star, African Star, Italian Star,Burma Star, Victory medal, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

Period of Service 1935 - 1953

Ships served in: HMS Drake, Lucia, Ramillies, Resolution, Honesty, Gosling, Royal Aurther, Cumberland, Hermes.

See more of Stan's stories and photos:

• The Sinking of the HMS Hermes
• The Sinking of the HMS Hermes 鈥� Continued
• The Sinking of the HMS Hermes 鈥� Continued
• Stan Curtis in 1935
• Stan Curtis in 1938
• Stan Curtis in Malmesbury, South Africa
• Stan Curtis in Mowbray
• Stan Curtis in Shrewsbury
• Stan Curtis in New Jersey
• Stan Curtis in Mombasa
• Stan Curtis in Mombasa, the following year

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.