Saved by HMS Aurora

This story is taken from an interview with
Tommy Shiels at Larne by BBC Radio Ulster. The transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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I was on the ‘A’ gun. Some of them got away, and we were still on the guns up forward. After a while they says “Abandon ship”. There was only the forward guns left, and we had no boats or anything like, so we slid down the side to the water. Freezing. It was full of oil as well. Good swimmers drowned — you hardly believe that, would you? Because they were trying to get somewhere, and there was nowhere to get to. People like me, who just lay there and sort of flapped about, kept together with a fellow from Strangford and another fellow from Newcastle, Co Down. All of a sudden we heard voices — it was dark, and it was the Aurora. A cruiser had turned back to pick us up. I don’t remember much. They hauled us aboard, and I collapsed. Because I was choking with oil — fuel.

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