大象传媒

鈥淢y Journeys on the Merchant Convoys鈥�
By Thomas Henry Errington.

Maiden Voyage
I remember leaving the Tyne on S.S. Empire Cowper, which contained aircraft and 500 pound bombs. It was the ship鈥檚 maiden voyage. Two young 16-year- old apprentices were brought down by their parents to sign on. I was aged 21. We encountered a huge gale. Hatches opened and the hatch beam speared the aircraft. We had to go to Loch Ewe in Scotland, then to Iceland. The convoy was turned around and it was rumoured that the German battleship, Tirpitz was in the area. When we eventually set off for Murmansk, the temperature reached 40 degrees below freezing. I was on watch, when the Engineer spotted a ship with a hole big enough to take a double-decker bus. We learned that this was the cruiser Trinidad. (The ships did not display names). The ship had fired a torpedo and due to the conditions the torpedo flew back and the ship torpedoed itself. They managed to get the engines going and the ship beat the convoy.
We arrived at the Russian town of Murmansk. The Germans were only 15 miles away over the hills. We were alongside a warehouse on the quay which was hit by a bomb and demolished. A bomb went through my things, through a wardrobe and hit a fire extinguisher. The end of the alleyway was covered with foam and the engineer, Austin Fairless hid behind a toilet. The Russian town had no ammunition and relied on the ships to defend them. The people were starving; they queued for bread and had very little food.
Around twelve hours after leaving Russia we were dive bombed by around thirty to forty planes. We could see the pilots as they flew below the level of the aerial. The Coal Trimmer was in the bunker when a bomb landed there. We were rescued by a trawler H.M.T. Paynter. The trawler should only have held 14, but the skipper was a wonderful sailor, a yachtsman and he carried over one hundred. Due to the movement of the ship, the lifeboats were turning over, causing the crew to fall out. I managed to turn off the engine, which steadied the ship and kept the lifeboats safe. Our skipper slid straight down a rope into a lifeboat. He was concerned about his account book, which somehow went missing! I found a way across the ship and climbed down over machine guns and into the trawler. The Mate broke into the locker where the drink was stored. He was blind drunk. We shouted for him to jump into the trawler, which he somehow managed to do. Everyone had to sleep where they stood. The glass was broken in the toilet, but the skipper managed to get us to Iceland. We were rescued by the Cruiser Liverpool. The Engineer told me that he was on watch, so I could have his bunk. I had the first proper night鈥檚 sleep. When I woke up I found him sitting there. He hadn鈥檛 been on watch, but had kindly given up his bed.
We were taken ashore at Scapa flow by the ferry Thurso. The army on the quayside had trained rifles on us. They said we could have been spies even though we were in the middle of the Arctic! We went from there to Glasgow where the members of the Y.M.C.A. would not serve us as we were not part of the 鈥渇ighting force鈥�.

Recommended reading 鈥� Convoy PQ 13 Unlucky for some
by Morris O Mills

Battle of the Atlantic
I was part of two lines making their way to Canada during the Battle of the Atlantic. The ships were attacked as we went across the ocean. I visited New York where I was able to bring silk stockings and dressing gown back for my fianc茅e. I brought some back some glasses which I still have, they cost 6d each. There was no black out in New York. It was difficult to believe that a war was on, as this was before Pearl Harbor was bombed. I came home in 1942 and we were married at St. Mary鈥檚 Church, Willington Quay. We went back there to celebrate our diamond wedding anniversary.

Journey Around India
I made a journey to Burma. There was no quay there, just a home made pier leading into the forest. We loaded the cargo onto the pier and the RAF came out like ants and carried it into the forest. When I visited Ceylon, a vicar gave each of us supplies of whisky, rum and 200 cigarettes. There were no questions asked of where they came from! We left on New Year鈥檚 Eve in convoy. We hit a ship which sank. We had a hole in the bow and we went to Bombay for repair. The ship couldn鈥檛 be repaired and the bow was filled full of concrete. An Indian man appeared. He had been hiding in the chain locker after landing from the crow鈥檚 nest of the other ship. He was frightened saying 鈥淚t鈥檚 not my fault鈥�. We had a collection for him and left him in India, a wealthy man! We then had to sail by night going slowly from port to port, as we were too slow for the convoy. I found India interesting. I attended an Indian funeral. I visited Chittagong and Vishakhapatam, as I sailed around the coast. Grant Road, which was famous at the time was blown up by a munitions ship.
We sailed to the coastline of Gibraltar. In nearby Spain, German ships were being loaded with bombs. Sticky bombs were attached to underside of ships. We were given 24 hours to leave. When back at the Tyne a sticky bomb was found attached to the side of the ship, in the hold. We had a narrow escape!

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