大象传媒

My family were on holiday in Corrie, Isle of Arran, when the war started. I was five years old and my Mother and I stayed on in Corrie when my Father returned to our home in Newcastle on Tyne. I went to Corrie School for the next few years.

One day some friends and I were playing on the hillside above the village and sat down to enjoy watching the unusual sight of an aircraft carrier sailing not very far offshore. There was a loud bang and she stopped - a pool of burning oil appeared - she slowly tilted and began sinking - she was close enough to shore for us to see the sailors running along the deck towards the end (was it the bow ? I'm not sure) which was above water for a while. We rushed down the hill and home to (unnecessarily !) tell mothers what was happening. She must have hit a mine I suppose.

To a six or seven year old the terrible event was merely exciting, but, thinking of it in later years I doubt if many could have been saved unless there was not burning oil on the offshore side of the carrier. I wish now that I had asked my Mother more about it when I was older, but I never did. At the time I don't recall any talk, but, apart from 'Careless talk costs lives' it would not have been talked of in front of children.

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