Enemy Action on Merchant Ships

My Uncle Ted

My Uncle Edward (Ted), now sadly deceased, was an Officer in the Merchant Navy and served on merchant ships during WW2. He never talked much about his experiences. which included voyages on the Russian convoys, but I can recollect three events he told me.
Whilst in a convoy, the ship was attacked by an enemy fighter, and he and the other Officer on the bridge could see the flashes in the wings as the pilot strafed the ship. When it had passed over, Ted was surprised to find the other Officer crouched down behind the painted canvas screens that surrounded their position. "What are you doing down there", Ted asked, "the screens are only canvas, they won't stop anything." "No" replied the Officer," but at least I couldn't see the bugger".

On another occasion, my Uncle was aboard a ship in the Thames Estuary with a pilot taking the vessel in. As they stood on the bridge, a bomber attacked, and Ted swung up his binoculars just in time to see the bombs leave the 'plane and head down towards the ship. They missed, falling alongside and throwing up columns of spray. The pilot got up from the deck, where he had thrown himself, and said "Bye, you chaps are brave, just standing there with all that going on.". Ted said he hadn't the heart to tell him he had been rooted to the spot with fear.

Again my Uncle's ship was strafed by an enemy aircraft, and he went to the wing of the bridge, where a Lewis gun was mounted, and fired a burst at the approaching plane. "You never hit anything," he said,"but it relieved the frustration.". When he turned round, the decking of the bridge was pockmarked with bullets, except in a line coinciding with the armoured shield attached to the Lewis gun.

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