大象传媒

HMS Barham 鈥� With Force 鈥淗鈥�, Oct 1940 (4)

Following a two-month spell at Scapa Flow in the summer of 1940, HMS Barham sailed to Freetown, Sierra Leone. Towards the end of September she was involved in her first major action 鈥� Dakar, in late September. My father, Surgeon-Commander E.R.Sorley, RN was the Principal Medical Officer and during this period wrote numerous letters to my mother. Extracts from these give an insight to life on the ship during and after Dakar. Due to censorship it was several days before the events at Dakar could be included in the letters. By now Barham had joined Cunningham鈥檚 Eastern Mediterranean Fleet based in Alexandria.

13th October, 1940:

鈥淭oday is definitely cooler; on deck there is quite a nip to the air, although we are still in tropical rig. I had a blanket on my bunk last night for the first time for many moons. Last evening ended up with a school of Roulette - it was called 鈥渢he PMO鈥檚 benefit鈥� - and so it turned out to be in very truth. I won a most shame-making amount. A very good evening, but I would rather not have done so well with my system.

Earlier in the day, I listened to Princess Elizabeth鈥檚 broadcast to the children of the Empire. Very well done, I thought. She has an excellent clear voice and it came through to us splendidly. The introduction of sister Margaret Rose at the end was a good touch, calculated to reach the hearts of all mothers and children. I liked Roosevelt鈥檚 speech reported today in the 1 o鈥檆lock news - the most unequivocally friendly one he has yet made, telling the Axis trio just where they get off. Very promising for the future!鈥�

14th October, 1940: Comments on the Dakar Action -

鈥淎 mail has just come for us at last - and what a mail! We are all simply wallowing in letters, and most of us are really thrilled and excited. I have had 24 from you the last one written on the 25th of September, just as you were apparently getting ready to make the great move southwards to Basildon. Both George Pitts and I are thrilled to know something of the whereabouts of the families after two months of doubt. We are both presuming that you and Jo are now settled in Gable Cottage with the children. I do hope you got our joint cable from somewhere in West Africa on 30th September. I sent it to the Wales address, of course, and I can only hope that Mrs Holmes forwarded it to you.

I will be sending this letter by airmail hoping it may fetch up a little before the others I have posted recently. As you wrote that letter on the morning of the 25th September, it gives me a thrill to recall that we were in action at Dakar at that time. As I鈥檝e said in the letters which probably follow this, we were in action throughput a spell of 3 days - from 23rd to 25th, fighting four actions in all. We put up a pretty good show in difficult conditions, and having been assailed by every method known to Naval warfare, we live to fight another day, but, of course, we didn鈥檛 bear out the rest of that saying by running away. No more about that now.

Just a few notes today. I feel rather sleepy this morning. I had a late night on a job of work - up to 4 a.m. Strangely enough, that was my second late night in three, for on 11th to 12th I was concerned in a case up to 3 a.m., a case which unhappily ended fatally. Last night鈥檚 case was very interesting; it was transferred to us from another ship. I propose to have a good drop of shut-eye this afternoon, if I can. I am looking forward more than anything in the world to hearing from you soon.

What do you think of the war now? I have just been reading a good article in the Spectator, in which the writer says that all competent observers are convinced that Hitler鈥檚 chances of victory are receding every day, and the end of 1940 will see the disappearance of his last hope. That was published on August 30th. I hope we are not becoming too complacent; that is the danger. But I think we can trust our leaders now to keep us on our toes, while 鈥渢he springs of our offensive are being compressed鈥�.

I had a pleasant surprise on the day before yesterday. I received a parcel from John and Jessie Sorley - a very fine leather coat for cold weather. I don鈥檛 quite need it yet - although today is coldish to us still in tropical rig - but the day may come when it will be invaluable. It is made of Nigerian leather and presented as a war comfort by a committee of ladies of Lagos, who have set themselves up as providers of leather coatings for the Forces - 鈥淲ind-cheaters鈥� they call themselves. Appropriately, the parcel arrived only 4 days after my birthday.鈥�

15th October, 1940: Further comment on Dakar Action; and on the War -

鈥淚t seems that, as some reports of our activities on the West African coast have appeared in the newspapers, the censorship ban can be lifted very slightly. I have no doubt you have heard all about the Dakar operations, or enough to make you a bit worried at the time. But you need not be worried at all. I am perfectly fit and well, as are all of us. I suppose I am entitled to say that this ship went through a very long sustained action - indeed, I believe, the longest of the war so far. I cannot say more until I can see you and tell you the details. The censor may take umbrage at what I have written already, but I see no reason why he should now.

To continue about mails. I got 24 letters from you a few days ago, and believe it or not, I鈥檝e only just finished reading them. By this time, you must have had my two cables. In the second, I was referring you to the use of what is called concession telegrams. They can be used only by the nearest relative of officer or rating; they must be written on a special form obtainable from Secretary to Admiralty (C.W.Branch); they must be confined to 12 words in the text and employed only for important messages (as for instance, to say you are safe in Gable Cottage); two only can be permitted per month; they can be sent from any Post Office on paying the usual inland rate, the Admiralty taking care of the transmission. That鈥檚 the gist of the scheme, which seems to me a very sound one.

Your letters are marvelous. It is difficult to know where to start reading them. After a preliminary run through, I have sorted them out by their dates and will go through them all in turn tonight before I go to sleep. It is funny to see the effect of the mail on everybody in the ship. The sailors in bringing the bags inboard sling them about with a delighted energy which make our efforts at medicine ball seem like tossing ping-pong balls about. The Mess, always happy, has tonight a merrier tone. I want to get this off tonight so I must stop.鈥�

To be continued

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