Merchant Navy

Malta Incident - Jim Brain BEM, MN

The ship was loaded with drums of aviation fuel and coal in her forward holds and ammunition in the aft...

The story of my great grandfather

Christopher's frustration comes through in his constant queries in correspondence with his brother,...

All at sea with the Royal Artillary

You were salvation to the army lost, Trapped, but for you, upon the Dunkirk beach, Death barred the way to...

My War - Bob Bromley MN

The war started for me on the tanker, M.V James Maguire on the 5th November 1940 when the bell rang for...

My nightmare teenager years.

On the night of June 23rd 1943 the air raid sirens sounded in Hull, I was 16 yrs old and living at...

Convoy to Russia - Leonard Dibb-Western MN

This came about through the Association of Bristol Boys Clubs We used to go to an office at the top of...

Dougie Davidson MBE,MN

Dougie will always remember Captain Hughes of the Portia waving at them as they rowed the lifeboat into the...

A Life in the Navy

At the outbreak of war I was in Rio de Janeiro serving as first officer on the cargo vessel La Estancia....

An 11 Year Old Boy's War Recollections: In Hull and the Merchant Navy

In May 1944 I joined the Merchant Navy, and joined a ship in Greenock, on the River Clyde. My mother was...

A Seaman's War

The U Boat surfaced after the Fabian had sunk and assisted with medical aid giving them some food and...

Emille Baudot Part III

Other than that, we had three two-day stops at sea to do repairs to the boilers before we reached Bombay...

The night I surprised a Nazi sub

From my position at the oerlikon with Gunner Lewis, I could hear Capt Steven discussing his action. Capt...

Tales From The Lower Deck - SS Bodegraven - Chapter 2

Nine were found to be missing, The Fourth Engineer and two men were known to have been trapped in the...

SS Barberrys & California

On a dull, raw November day in 1942 our cargo vessel SS Barberrys joined a convoy sailing from Halifax,...

The fighting didn't stop in 1945

We picked up a load of Australian ex-prisoners of war from Changi prison in Singapore, and went back to...

A Merchant Seaman's experiences

However I was turned down due to my eyesight not being good enough and not wanting to join the Army where I...

PQ16 _ Chapter 5

After two days at anchor we sailed away around the north of Scotland, through the Pentland Firth, and...

My Adventure on the S. S. El-Aleto

A few days later, all was revealed, From the hold we had to drag out on deck very long lengths of 10...

Harold's War

It was a Merchant navy cargo ship packed stem to stern with four-gallon cans filled with petrol. The...

Merchant Navy Comfort Service

Our Merchant seamen brought in the vital supplies and food without which our country would, undoubtedly...

Maritime Royal Artillery Gunner

I joined the Maritime Royal Artillery as a gunner on August 28 1943....

My Life Story as Told to Pupils at Longford Primary School

I then joined the Gloucester city to Canada and back this was not too bad we watched ships being towed into...

The War at Sea

In November 1942 at the age of 16 I joined the Merchant Navy as a Cadet in the Booth Steamship Company...

Being torpedoed mid-Atlantic

The cargo of coal, of course, meant that it did muffle the torpedo whenever it was, and it did give us a...

Torpedoed In The North Atlantic

Submarine surfaced and fired two torpedoes at us, sub seen, tried to ram it, unable to, so ship swung round...

Coming Home during an Air Raid

Many people also felt that when Swansea suffered bombing raids the Fire Service attended businesses in the...