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River Medway-Pre War

There are many other memories of course. Entering the River Medway in the pre-war years we were always presented with a magnificent sight.

Many fighting ships of the Royal navy at anchor in their home port, Cruisers and Destroyers moored to buoys off Sheerness, and further up river across from the Isle of Grain could be seen huge battleships also moored to buoys.

There was constant movement of many liberty launches shuttling between the ships and their shore bases.

Close by, and at anchor would be REFA tankers which occasionally berthed alongside the ships for the purpose of re-fuelling them.

In the upper reaches of the Medway closer to Chatham, other R.N ships would be seen, and in the months prior to the war many old merchant ships were at anchor and laid up in the lower reaches of the Thames.

Being old ships they were probably destined for the breakers yard but had been reprieved and put into reserve due to the threat of war.

Many if those ships were of Shaw, Saville and Albion Line and New Zealand Shipping Company and many more were laid up in River Blackwater.

Early September 1940 I was in CELTIC and moored at ’starvation buoys’ at Woolwich awaiting work. Around midday the air raid sirens were heard and within an hour the skies were full of German aircraft and bombs began falling all over North and South Woolwich.

Thunderous explosions were heard constantly, and large clouds of smoke rose above the towns and the Royal group of docks, which suffered extensive damage. Some ships were sunk at their berths.

No shed of warehouse escaped damage in that dock system

Thousands of incendiary bombs were falling all around us and into the river and one of them fell onto our foredeck without exploding. I and the Mate of another barge ran forward to kick it over the side and the dubious honour was mine.

That memory will remain with me for all time and I am eternally grateful that it did not explode as I disposed of it, as I later realised that it was a very foolish thing to do.

The tail fin had broken off so I had a souvenir to take home.

I wonder if there are any other ex-barge crews still around who were on ‘starvation buoys’ on that momentous day in September 1940? Many German aircraft were destroyed that day.

During my period in sailing barges I had a spell on a coasting ship CAMROUX 1 owned by the Newcastle Coal and Shipping Co (Ship breakers) at Grays, to Blyth. We had a return cargo of coal for London which was discharged at Rosebank Wharf, Fulham.

In 1938 our family were living in 2, York Road, Grays and my father was considering buying a newly built house in Gravelands Way, Grays. The house was priced at Ł350, with a Ł25 deposit.

As there was a threat of war my father decided against buying and we moved to a rented house at 69 Hampden Road, Grays. While at this home during a blitz in November 1940, some bombs fell close by and my father suffered an injury when entering our garden shelter.

At the end of September 1940, my stepmother was evacuated to a maternity home in Bath where she gave birth to my half-brother Peter on 18^th October.

During an air attack mid 1941, bombs damaged the factory at Purfleet where my father worked, so he was transferred to Bromborough near Birkinhead, to work in a factory there. This was for a few weeks until repairs were completed at Purfleet

‘’DEEP SEA’-AND INTO CONVOYS

In June 1941 I went ‘Deep Sea’ sailing as AB and Bosun in cargo ships and tankers owned by various companies. I was registered with the Shipping Federation at Tilbury and found employment on ships through their Merchant Navy offices in various ports of the U.K.

My first ship, which I joined at anchor off Grays was ADULA of Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co. of London and built in 1937 by Blythswood S.B Co of Glasgow, 8050 Gross Tons.

I did voyage 15 from 15^th June, 1941 to 23^rd August, 1941.

We sailed in convoy from the Thames and as the channel was closed to shipping during this time, all ships headed North up the East Coast, and were escorted by units of the Royal Navy.

Our destination was Loch Ewe in N.W Scotland, which during the war was a large convoy port. Before arriving at Loch Ewe

The convoy was attacked by Focke Wolfe bombers off the Tyne, and again as we passed through Pentland Firth. Some of the ships suffered damage. We spent two or three days in Loch Ewe, then a convoy was assembled and sailed into the Atlantic bound for Canada.

During this period it was a time of intense activity by packs of U-boats, and often a convoy would be under attack by ten or more U-boats for five and six consecutive days and nights.

Our convoy was attacked but suffered no casualties and we arrived safely at Halifax, Nova Scotia, another large convoy port. All ships anchored in Bedford Basin.

Two days later another convoy was formed and sailed, but 24 hours later it dispersed and all ships sailed independently for various destinations. Ours was a ten-day voyage to Trinidad.

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At Point Fortin we loaded 12,000 tons of aviation spirit, and later sailed independently for Halifax. It was an uneventful ten-day voyage, and two days after arrival at Halifax a convoy was formed and sailed for the UK. Escort by the Royal Navy included the Armed Merchant Cruiser AMC ASCANIA which in peacetime had been a passenger ship of Cunard Line.

A week after leaving Halifax, a young DEMS gunner on our ship accidentally shot himself with a Hotchkiss machine gun, with some bullets passing through his body below his shoulder.

A message was sent to ASCANIA which carried a surgeon and medical team, and both ships stopped engines and fell astern of the convoy to allow the casualty to be transferred by launch to the ASCANIA.

The unfortunate lad died in the night and a burial service was conducted from ASCANIA next morning.

Another ship in the convoy was NORTHUMBERLAND of

Federal Line, and now a troopship. ADULA, ASCANIA and NORTHUMBERLAND stopped their engines, and all three ships closed up for the service, which took place to the tune of the ‘Last Post’. This was played by the Canadian Drum & Pipe band who were making passage on NORTHUMBERLAND to the UK.

With the service conducted, it was then full speed ahead to rejoin the convoy.

There was little activity by the U-boats, and we arrived safely in Mersey and discharged our cargo at Stanlow on Manchester Canal.

Here in the Mersey I recall seeing the wrecks of two ships which had been sunk by parachute mines on 13^th March, 1941. They were lying between Liverpool landing stage and Birkinhead.

These were TACOMA CITY of Reardon Smith & Co sank with the loss of four crew, and ULLAPOOL of Ropner & Co. which suffered the loss of 15 of her crew.

A memory of the ADULA voyage was to find much Victorian coinage in use in Trinidad. Local seamen also on this voyage were Danny Griffin, Ken Hurdle, John Bibby and Les Billinghurst.

After arrival at Stanlow, and being told the ship would be sailing next day at noon, I and another lad went across to Liverpool to spend the evening, and we stayed overnight in Ocean House, a seamen’s club.

Returning to Stanlow about 10 am we found ADULA had already sailed As we had originally signed six-months Articles we had broken a contract by missing the ship.

Although Merchant Seamen were civilians, the Essential Works Order was in force and we were liable for a term of imprisonment or a fine. On reporting to the Shipping Office we were told to return to our local office in Tilbury, and no charges would be made against us.

This of course surprised us, but was possibly due to the fact that the ship sailed before her schedule time, or that the shipping official had some sympathy with us, knowing we hade made a voyage of several thousand miles with such a hazardous cargo.

The mystery is where the ship got two seamen from at such short notice, to replace us.

A sour note to this story is that when my shipmate and I were in a pub in Liverpool, two young girls asked us to buy them drinks.

We refused, and received a lot of abusive language, and some time later they came over to us again and handed us white feathers, calling us army dodgers.

This, in a huge port like Liverpool where many of their seamen became casualties of the war.

Many of my pals experienced similar shameful incidents, simply because they wore no uniform. Some of them resorted to buying navy-blue battledresses to wear when in ports where they were not known. It avoided confrontation.

We had a small silver badge -the letters MN with laurel leaves-and meaning the wearer was in the Merchant Navy. We had as much pride in wearing that small badge, as did men in the services in wearing their uniforms.

During 1943, ADULA was converted to an aircraft carrier for service in escorting convoys in the North Atlantic. She carried eight aircraft.

Many other tankers underwent similar conversions, and continued carrying cargo in their tanks-either heavy oil or grain. They also retained their Merchant Navy crews.

In May 1946 I was in DALLINGTON COURT and we entered dry-dock in South Bank, Middlesbrough. In an adjacent dry-dock was ADULA undergoing re-conversion for a return to commercial work.

ADULA was broken up at Britou Ferry in 1953.

SAN EMILIANO of Eagle Oil Co., London. Built by Harland & Wolf Ltd at Belfast in 1937.I made four return voyages across the Atlantic in this ship, and each cargo was of 12,000 tons of high-octane petrol.

The voyages totalled 7 months and 23 days from 28^th Sept 1941, to 23^rd April 1942. Captain Tozer was in command, and Chief Officer T Finch.

VOYAGE ONE: I joined the ship in Tilbury dry-dock and later left there for Southend where we joined an East Coast convoy for Loch Ewe.While assembling off Southend, an attack on the ships was made by Stuka bombers and one was destroyed by gunfire.

As the convoy was passing off the Norfolk coast, in an area known as E-boat alley, the ships were attacked by E-boats-fast German craft armed with torpedoes and heavy machine guns.The attack took place during the hours of darkness, and some ships were damaged by cannon shells, including our ship which was hit by four shells, causing damage to deck fittings.

Off the Tyne an attack on the ships was made by German aircraft, which were soon under attack themselves when Spitfires arrived on the scene. The following evening we all arrived at Loch Ewe.

Some days later we sailed in an Atlantic convoy, and after some unsuccessful attacks by U-boats all ships arrived safely at Halifax, Nova Scotia. At this port repairs were carried out on the damage caused by the E-boats. With repairs completed we sailed for New York, and at Elizabeth N J we loaded high-octane petrol for the UK.

Leaving New York we sailed for Halifax, and from there we joined convoy HX 156.This convoy was escorted entirely by American naval units, although the United States was still neutral at this time. They did not enter the war until December 7^th when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour.

The Americans would escort our convoys across the Atlantic to within a few hundred miles of the UK. At this point the Royal Navy would take over for the final leg home.

Many attacks were made on the convoy by U-boats, but only one ship was sunk. She was one of the American escorts, the Destroyer REUBEN JAMES, which was torpedoed by U-552. She was one of the old four-funnelled destroyers of the U.S Navy.The Americans gave us fifty of these old Destroyers in exchange for the use of Trinidad and Bermuda as U.S Navy bases.

REUBEN JAMES broke in two when the torpedo struck, and there was a heavy loss of life with 95 crew killed. But 43 men were rescued from the after end of the ship before she sank.

From SAN EMILIANO'S position in the convoy HX 156 to REUBEN JAMES was one mile out to the starboard side. From this vantage point I witnessed her loss just before dawn on 31^st October, 1941. She exploded into a huge ball of fire which lit up the sky. She was the first U.S naval ship to be sunk in the war.The loss occurred 600 miles S.W of Iceland.

A few days later the convoy arrived off the coast of Northern Ireland, and the ships separated into three small convoys with SAN EMELIANO sailing south in one of them, to our discharge port of Swansea.

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SAN EMILIANO-VOYAGE 2; We proceeded in convoy from Milford Haven to Bangor Bay, and from there sailed in an Atlantic convoy westward. We experienced heavy weather for most days, and consistent attacks were made on the convoy by U-boats, but they had no success.

Our destination as New York, and we arrived there on the very day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour (Dec 7^th, 1941).We loaded high-octane at Byway N.J.

On our visits to New York we found the people to be very friendly and sociable. Many kind people were coming to the ships with invitations to visit their homes, and taking us to cinemas, theatres or restaurants and presenting us with food parcels to take home to our families.

On one occasion we were taken to see Frank Sinatra perform, and as it was in his early career as a singer we experienced for the first time the mass hysteria of his numerous young fans.

Normally a tanker is on a quick turnaround, but during the war years a ship would have to remain in port until a sufficient number of them could be assembled to form a convoy.And so it was I New York with 3, 4 or 5 days to enjoy shore leave after loading cargo.

We had a reasonably quiet voyage homeward in convoy, and again discharged cargo at Swansea.

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SAN EMILIANO-VOYAGE 3: Again in convoy from Milford Haven north to Bangor Bay, then into an Atlantic convoy going westward, with ships from the Mersey joining us.

Daily we could hear the detonation of depth charges, but there were no casualties in this convoy, and all ships arrived in Halifax safely.

Convoys were much more protected by this time with at least six escorts of Destroyers or Corvettes, and a U-boat detection device known as Asdic had been invented and introduced.

At Halifax we took on bunkers and stores and later sailed in a convoy which was dispersed twenty-four hours later with all ships sailing on independently to various destinations.

We arrived at`Aruba, in Dutch West Indies after a ten-day voyage from Halifax. Aruba is an island near Curacao and crude oil is taken there from Venezuela and refine in large oil refineries there.