Life on an Athel Tanker

The Athel fleet of ocean going tankers was owned by the United Molasses Company with its head office in Liverpool. During the war the carrying of molasses was largely replaced by cargoes of oil and petroleum.In my diary for 1943/44 my ship, the MV Athel Victor carried
petroleum exclusively, either 100 octane for
aircraft, shipped from the USA, or 80 octane for road transport from what was then Palestine.The wearing of boots with nails in them was forbidden for obvious reasons. Wooden pegs were used instead.
We supported the allied advance in Italy which
on the early visits to Naples was not too far behind the lines, hence our hearing the guns at
Anzio.
The hospitality given to us in the USA was unsurpassable, especially in the smaller ports.
This is something I have never forgotten.
I was an apprentice deck officer on the ship which meant working like one of the crew to learn the ropes. living with and dressing like an officer, and studying for the 2nd Mate's ticket. The use of Christian names when addressing the officers was forbidden, especially on board the ship and the Captain or
Master was always 'Sir'.
I was aged 19 on my birhday in February 1944 and had been at sea as an apprentice since December 1941. My diary shows 1943/44 to have been a very interesting year during which we were subjected to enemy air attack off the North African coast; and later saw the eruption of Vesuvius in June 1944 from an anchorage in the bay. With a full cargo of petrol we were safer there then in the harbour. However it was not the most eventful year for me personally.
I did not have a diary in 1942 but if I had it
would have been lost as a result of enemy action. The first was the sinking by torpedo of the MV Athel Sultan in the North Atlantic in September.This happened after 8 oclock at night during a severe gale. Fifty lives were lost and I was one of the lucky ten to be saved.Being a strong swimmer I manage to reach
a floating raft from which I was later picked up by a Canadian corvette HMCS Weyburn.
My next ship was the Scottish Heather, a tanker managed by the Athel Line, which was torpedoed in the North Atlantic on December 27.
She was light ship apart from 500 tons of Fuel oil for convoy escort refueling at sea. The torpedo strike happened after doing such a job,
with the ship seeking to catch up with the convoy after dark. In the event the Scottish Heather did not sink and we were able to bring her back to the Clyde where we experienced a lot of Scottish hospitality. From there we were routed, torpedo hole and all, via the Pentland Firth to the Tyne from where the ship had sailed just a few weeks before.
After the first of these experiences I tried to join the Royal Navy as a midshipman. However acceptance by the Royal Navy proved to be out of the question because of the shortage of future Merchant Navy officers.
Other seafarers said we were mad to serve on tankers. This was something you did not think about if you were to atay sane.
I have no regrets but, as I wrote earlier I was one of the lucky ones.

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