John Alexander MN

John was born in Hull in 1913 off Walcott Street on Hessle Road; he attended Constable Street School and, like most school leavers on Hessle Road,went to sea on the Trawlers, serving as a Fireman/Trimmer.
He married a Hessle road girl,Julia Arthur, in 1937 and they moved to Gipsyville.
As war broke out and recruitment for the merchant navy got underway family legend has it that John went to sea on the toss of a coin between himself and another man, John won the toss and joined the Merchant Navy as a Fireman/Trimmer whilst the other man continued on the Trawlers on the home front.
The first vessel he is documented as sailing on was the American registered DOMINO he then joined in turn the British ships JERSEY, as donkeyman/greaser, in Feb ruary 1941 and then the VOL TURNO in January 1942 transferrinfg to the KELSO in May of that year. it was on the KELSO that on the 8th August 1942 as part of convoy SC94 he was attacked, the Kelso was sunk by U176; John was shipwrecked and lucky to be alive as the Kelso was carrying some 2000 tons of ammunition! he was rescued within 24 hours and returned to the UK. his wageslip for that date shows he was paid up until the day he was torpedoed.
John returned to Hull and his wife to recuperate, he was uninjured.
it was on 23rd September 1942 that he joined the SS NEWTON PINE (Cardiff) and set sail on 3rd October from Loch Ewe as part of convoy ONS 136 bound for Halifax Nova Scotia.
The NEWTON PINE lost contact with the convoy in a storm and on October 15th, alone and making only 8 knots she was sighted and sunk by U-410, according to the log of the 410 the captain of the U-Boat could not obtain from the 25-30 survivors in the lifeboats the name of the vessle but, further research has shown that the vessle probably was the NEWTON PINE.
The vessel was recorded as lost with all 47 hands on 16th October 1942.
Perhaps John managed to get into a life boat only to perish with his crewmates in the Atlantic or perhaps he went down with his ship,sadly he never knew that he had left his wife pregnant with his only child, a son also named John.
Johns' widow received notification of his presumed loss and this was published in the Hull Daily Mail dated 17/12/1942.
Johns wife,Julia, continued to raise her son. she eventually remarried some 12 years later. Outliving her second husband who died in the late 1960's she continued to periodically mourn for John her first husband and probably one true love. It was in a fit of depression one day that she burnt almost all the photographs and letters pertaining to him.
Julia would rarely be drawn on John when asked as it upset her too much and it was only after her death in 1993 aged 78 that several faded photographs of John and one precious letter written by him whilst onboard the KELSO in July 1942 were discovered.
John was awarded the following medals posthumously; 1939-45 star, Atlantic Star, Africa Star and the War Medal. Johns name along with a short citation is recorded at the Tower Hill Memorial in London.

Grateful acknowledgements to;
Commonwealth Wargraves Commission.
Group Wotan and the battle for convoy SC104, 11-17 Oct 1942;Robert C Fisher 1994.
HMS Dianthus-a short history; Michael J Watts.
Hull Daily Mail.
Public Record Office,Kew.
Registry of Shipping and Seamen.
National Archives.
ubootwaffe.net
Hullwebs.co.uk

And
My Grandmother- Julia Rade (formerly Alexander, Nee Arthur.).
My Father- John Alexander.

By Lee Alexander.

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