He Just Wanted to do His Bit

Aged 44, my grandfather had served as an engineer in the merchant Navy in World War 1. Although he had continued to sail for a living after the war, by 1939 he had been beached as part of the slowdown of trade during the Great Depression.

In 1939 he contented himself with contributing what he could to the war effort, much to the relief of his wife Elsie and their son. But when a friend who was now commanding HMS Saucy, a requisitioned tug stationed in Scotland, asked him to become his second engineer he was tempted to go and do his bit. Consequently, he was enlisted on a RN ship as a member of the Naval Auxiliary Service(Merchant Navy) and went to the east coast of Scotland, probably Leith. He left his home in Truro for the last time.

After several months of arduous service, he was returning to ship after a run ashore. He slipped on a frozen gangplank and ended up in the water between ship and dock. He drowned before he could be rescued. As a post script, HMS Saucy was to be equally unfortunate and within days had struck a mine and sank with heavy loss of life.

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