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The following story appears courtesy of and with thanks to Les Jones and Robert Kennedy

The 23,722 tons liner: the SS Strathallan was built at Barrow-in-Furness and owned by the Peninsular & Orient Steam Navigation Company Ltd and requisitioned by the War Office as a troopship during the war. Its last Captain was J.H.Biggs CBE.

As a young man I was very keen to join the P&O Company, and on my second attempt, armed with a reference from Captain King, who was the former Commander of RMS China and Ranpura, I was offered a job in the Pursers Department and joined the SS Strathallan for a short cruise to Alexandria in Egypt. My employment commenced on the 9 th May 1939 when I was aged 17 years.
My follow up voyage to Australia started in June 1939, and was much longer than anticipated because war had been declared, and it was necessary to return to England via Cape Town . During my journey around Australia an amusing incident occurred. We visited Brisbane and some of the crew members suggested we go horse riding. Being the youngest I was left with a horse called Satan. The ride into the bush was difficult because Satan would not go at a gallop. However we all managed to arrive at an isolated house, where we asked for water. The residents made us very welcome and gave us tea and sandwiches. On the way back to the ship, Satan decided to plod along at his own pace, and I was left by the others who galloped ahead. The only thing I could do was to let the horse take me to his stables, where I arrived in the early hours of the following morning. My experience on Satan cured me of horse riding for ever.
During the next eighteen months we travelled to many countries, including the Middle East , carrying passengers and military personnel, until early in 1941 when the ship was converted into a troop ship able to carry a large number of troops.
In November 1942, at the commencement of the North Africa campaign, we made our first trip to Algiers with a full complement of troops. Whilst there, we came under heavy bombing by German aircraft and it was a great relief to leave Algiers for home.
The following journey to North Africa as Commodore ship of the convoy, was to be much more eventful for all on board Strathallan. My recollection of what happened is detailed below.
On the night of 21 st December 1942 , I was in my upper bunk, Port side in the forward part of the ship, when an explosion occurred which nearly shook me from my berth. The ship was in darkness until the emergency lighting came on later. We quickly got dressed and I went up onto the well deck to see what had happened. Looking over the port side I could see a huge hole amidships and realised we were in great trouble. Ships near us were moving away from our ship and destroyers were dropping depth charges.
I went back to my cabin and put on my top coat and collected a few personal items. I then made my way up to a boat station. All those people allocated to my lifeboat were forming up in front of the boat. After a while the staff commander ordered abandon ship and everyone got into the lifeboat and we bumped our way down the Starboard side into the water. Immediately we hit the water soldiers started to slide down the ropes onto us and it was necessary to pull away quickly to avoid being capsized.

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