Merchant Navy

Hendred's Home Front Recall

After all his records as a runner does E MacDonald Bailey remember his sojourn here with the RAF? are there...

From Sea to Air

I then joined the RAF as aircrew and did my ITW at Aberswyth, Grading School at Coventry flying Tiger...

Action off Burma

These had been loaded in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf and destined for the R.A.F. wing in Burma where the...

Experiences Of A London Boy During WW2

One day my friend and I followed the fire engines from Hammersmith to London Bridge were we watched the...

I'm Glad it wasn't Me Who Bought It

Those were the opening words of a 'Letter to a Dead Sailor'; a letter written by my father, Edmund...

SS Llangollen

The captain made the decision to dock north of Cape Town in the end because of the risk of the Germans and...

My experiences as a Merchant Seaman on 'D' Day

This would be eventually taken to the Sword Beachhead, Mulberry Harbour, Normandy... This trip became a...

A Boys War - Raymond Mellor MN

By late 1942 I was anxious to get away to sea and I first crossed the Atlantic on the old `Empress of...

Malta Convoy August 1942

HONORARY CITIZEN OF VALLETTA to the veterans of Operation Pedestal August 1942 Almighty God we Give Thee...

A Merchant Seaman Throughout the War

I celebrated my 16th birthday in the Vindi and then shipped out as a deck boy in the Arundel Castle: I made...

S.S. Empire Amethyst

The U154 had taken shelter at St. Juan Harbour when the crew noticed the smoke from the S.S. Empire...

Merchant Navy Story

The entire course was posted to another armed merchant vessel which unfortunately was sunk on its first...

“God give me cholera”

We carried two maritime gunners in the early days of the war when we went deep-sea so we had two soldiers...

A Day to Remember

That night, just after we all got settled to sleep, the familiar sound of the air-raid siren went off so my...

The Merry Melody Makers Concert Party

Food was very short and we had, so often, to rely on the Merchant Navy bringing food from abroad and facing...

To Pick Up a Liberty Ship

We were put into hotels and given $2-3 a day for food and had the freedom of New York... The parts of...

Merchant Navy/Torpedoed Four Times/From Northern Ireland

"William" joined the Merchant Navy in 1937, aged 16... William reamined with the Merchant Navy...

Clyde River Patrol

Our instructor one day got a call from Capt.Davidson downstair in the deck dept. for a couple of us to see...

Sinking of the S.S. Helmspey

Engines were stopped; the crews ordered to abandon ship and both port and starboard main lifeboats were...

Steamship Ashbury

On the 8th of January 1945, the British tramp steamer SS Ashbury foundered and sank at the mouth of Talmine...

A Day on a Russian Convoy

The boat motored to the convoy's rescue vessel "Rathlin". Once alongside most of those onboard...

Gun Crew in the Merchant Navy

From Cape Town I went to Durban on the train, then straight on ship to Basra, then to Karach to pick up...

Convoy defences

Usually most convoys passed around Iceland, because there was Reykjavik, which had a lot of the defence....

Russian Convoy Horrors

The corvette was maneuvering frantically to rescue drowning Russian seamen from the freezing ocean while...

Uncle Harold - A Wartime Enigma

I was only about 4 years old at the time, and I became 'lost' in the crowd for what seemed to me...

The Perils of the Gibraltar Convoy Route

At 8.00am on 27th September Captain Klemp and Mr Woodhouse, Chief Officer of the SS Lapwing, decided that...