On the 16th June 1943. I returned to Chatham from H.M.S.SENNEN. I spent the next 24 days waiting for my next ship which was to be another Flower Class Corvette namely the MYOSOTIS. I served aboard from 10/7/1943 until the 14/9/1943. (Built 28/1/41 her Penant was K65). I joined her in Gladstone dock,Liverpool on the 10th July 43 after travelling overnight. She was similar to the SUNFLOWER (except that she had been fitted with the new hedgehog bomb system) so I had no difficulty finding my bearings. I spent 66 days aboard the MYOSOTIS doing only one round trip. We departed from home waters two days after I joined her, escorting Merchant Shipping down to the port of Freetown, Siera Leone on the west coast of Africa. As we sailed south through the Bay of Biscay, the threat of U-boat attacks had cause to make the convoy sail closer to the coastline and in so doing, bringing us within the range of German aircraft.
One sunny morning in July, at about 5am,the duty watch came round
waking all the crew, to close up to action stations. This was not
the usual practise but all was revealed when I arrived at my
action station. I observed that German Folker Wolf Bombers were
circling the convoy but out of range of our weapons, no doubt,
they were selecting their targets prior to their attack. Our
W.W.1 four inch gun did not have the elevation to shoot at the
enemy aircraft so it was left to the single barrel Pom Pom and
the two single Oerlikon machine guns. Now if the Pom Pom had been
the eight barreled version, it just might have been a different
story.
It was when I was on the NIGERIA, much later in this Saga; I was
the range co-ordinator on an eight barrel Pom Pom, referred to
by some American sailors as the "Chicago Piano".
I recall, a large new refrigerated vessel steaming on our port side, receiving a direct hit on its stern gun deck, manned by DEMS ratings (defense of English merchant ships) were at their action stations. The bomb went through the gun deck and down to the keel before exploding in the "propeller shaft tunnel". The enemy aircraft left after about ten minutes having dropped their bombs, no doubt their time over the target area was limited by their fuel capacity for the round trip.
I watched as the refrigerated ship slowly lost headway and
started to settle by the stern. There was no panic as the
stricken ship's crew got into the lifeboats and lowered
themselves down on to a very calm sea. As our Corvette slowly
moved towards the lifeboats and to the men who were in the water
after been blown off the gun platform. I watched a member of the
merchants ship's crew, who was carrying a large suitcase, walk
forward on the starboard side towards the bow of the sinking
ship.
When he got there he climbed over the bow rails and waited calmly
for the ship to submerge slowly. There was no turbulence on the
sea as the bows disappeared. The seaman, with his life belt
on, attempt to swim with his large suitcase, but unfortunately he
had to let it go, as it was dragging him down. When we rescued
him he told us that the suitcase had contained cigarettes and
some spirits out of the ships stores, no doubt an attempt to keep
his own spirits up. After we had all the survivors picked up we
continued our escort duties, with no more attacks and finally we
reached the port of Freetown. The merchant seamen we had rescued,
were put ashoreand no doubt got passage back to their home port.
We remained in Freetown Harbour for a few days to take on ammunition, supplies and water.
The local native children came out to where we were at anchor, in
their little dugout canoes, and shouted "Glasgow Pennies" repeatedly. This was to get us to throw pennies into the water and
then they would dive from their little canoes to catch the coins
before they went too deep.
It was so hot at night that some of the Ships' Company, including myself, "slung" our hammocks and mosquito nets anywhere
we could on the upper deck to keep cool. The first night I was woken
by torrential rain, I was completely drenched, I had to run for
shelter in the flats (a passage running from the open well deck
to the mess-decks in the forecastle). I left my bedding where I
had slung it and slept in my mess, on cushions from the seating
forms. I was "promoted" to an able seaman on the return
trip to Gladstone Dock, LIVERPOOL in the month of December. My
pay went from one old shilling (5 pence) a day to three shillings
a day (15 pence) so allowing me to allocate seven shillings (35
pence) a week to my mother.
On the return trip we "pinged"a U-boat and became
involved in a protracted search, we dropped patterns of depth
charges, but failed to confirm a kill.
This long search for the U-boat had caused our fuel to run low and
therefore having insufficient fuel to get us back to Liverpool.
We rejoined the convoy that we had been escorting but had to
break off our escort duties to make for the port of CASABLANCA on
the West Coast of Morocco to take on board some much needed fuel.
We arrived in the port under the cover of darkness and tied up to
an oil jetty. The whole area was a war-zone and fighting was
taking place between the retreating Germans and the American
troops. The Americans, who were organising our oil supply, also
gave us an safe escort to their food depot and told us, to help
ourselves to what ever we wanted. When all the oil and food was
on board we left the quay, still in darkness and well down in the
water. We steamed at full speed, to catch up to the Convoy. We
eventually arrived in Gladstone dock Liverpool and leave was
organised. The "luxury" food we had been given by the
Americans was shared out to the crew. I went on 3 weeks leave,
carrying three 7lb tins of Apricots, besides my usual
"Rabbits". On my return to the MYOSOTIS I was drafted
straight to KING ALFRED on the 14/9/43 to start an Officers
training course. This training school, in peace time, was the
Rhodene College for girls just outside Brighton. I was not
successful in the navigation exams and returned to Chatham Depot
on the 12th November 1943. In the mean time I was able to get up
to London (The Smoke) a couple of times. On each occasion I made
my way to the NUFFIELD CENTRE after I had booked into a Hostel
just across from the Victoria Station. When you walked in the
Centre, the Ladies at the reception desk would offer a voucher to
par-take of a meal. They would then ask you if you had any plans
for that evening, if the answer was in the negative a list of
addresses where parties were taking place, was offered to you to
choose a party. On one occasion I was given the address situated
on the Thames Embankment where a birthday party was being given
by the caretakers of a block of offices for their eldest
daughter. Her father was ex Royal Navy and he made me very
welcome. The three services were well represented and the food
and drink was plentiful a good time was had by all. Eventually
the time came to take my leave so I thanked "Mine
Hosts" and departed making my way towards the tube station
and so back to the Hostel at Victoria Station.