Description
Object description
British radio officer served with Merchant Navy aboard SS New Brooklyn in North Atlantic and Caribbean, 8/1942-1/1943, served aboard SS Fort Ellice in Atlantic and Mediteranean, 1/1943-6/1943; hospitalised as Distressed British Seaman in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, 6/1943-9/1943; served aboard SS Fort Kootenay in Atlantic, 9/1943-11/1943; served aboard SS Argyle in North Atlantic and Mediterranean, 11/1943-5/1944 and aboard SS Samfinn in North Atlantic and Mediterranean, 7/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Budleigh Salterton, GB, 1922-1939: family, education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; German Air Force raids on Budleigh Salterton, 1942-1943. Aspects of enlistment and training as radio officer with Merchant Navy in GB, 1941-1942: background to joining Merchant Navy; radio training, 1941-1942; application to join Marconi Company; travel and clothing costs. Recollections of period as third radio officer aboard SS New Brooklyn in North Atlantic and Carribbean, 8/1942-1/1943: joining the ship at Liverpool, GB, 18/8/1942; initial impressions of ship; duties on board; ship's armament and attitude to having guns on board merchant ships; living conditions on board; atmosphere on board; reaction to first voyage.
REEL 2 Continues: nature of anchorage at Freetown, Sierra Leone; tallying cargo at Freetown, Sierra Leone; gunnery course at Freetown, Sierra Leone; duties along West African coastline; reaction to potential German submarine wolfpack outside Freetown, Sierra Leone; personal morale in Merchant Navy; crossing North Atlantic independently, 11/1942; problems of with communications; attack by American aircraft off Trinidad; coaling at Port Royal, Jamaica and comparison with other ports; ashore at Kingston, Jamaica; visit to Guantanamo, Cuba; arrival in New York, United States of America, 12/1942; huge waves on Grand Banks off Newfoundland, 12/1942; hurricane blizzards south of Iceland, 12/1943-1/1943.
REEL 3 Continues: potential of ship catching fire from temperature of palm nuts; orders to stop ship to repair storm damage; arrival in GB, 1/1943. Recollections of period as third radio officer aboard SS Fort Ellice in North and South Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1/1943-6/1943: joining ship at Newport, GB, 30/1943; living conditions on board; question of ignoring Plimsoll Line; voyage carrying vehicles from GB to Algiers, French Algeria; attack on ship by German Air Force Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor on return voyage to GB; dock strike in Glasgow, GB; reaction to sight of Hawker Hurricane carried on transport; discovery that American merchant seaman received bonus for returning to ship before air raid sirens ceased in Algiers, French Algeria; filling ship's bath with red wine in Algiers, French Algeria; method of passing time whilst lying in Algerciras Bay at Gibraltar; importance of tobacco; move to King Tom's Anchorage at Freetown, Sierra Leone, early 1943; orders to sail independently for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
REEL 4 Continues: contracting illness. Aspects of hospitalisation and awaiting ship as Distressed British Seaman (DBS) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 6/1943-9/1943: nature of illness and suspicions of his captain that he was malingering; hospitalisation and his attitude towards German nurse; story of Scottish seaman ordered back to ship by his captain; hospitality of British expatriate; status as Distressed British Seaman ((DBS); story of behaviour of British consul; attitude towards his financial situation; people he associated with.
REEL 5 Continues: Recollections of period as third radio officer aboard SS Fort Kootenay in North and South Atlantic, 9/1943-11/1943: signing on in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 8/9/1943; sailing independently with iron ore for Freetown, Sierra Leone; loss of ships in convoy from Freetown, Sierra Leone to GB; hearing on radio of pursuit of SS Frans Hals by German submarine; reaction to arrival in GB, 11/1943; news of brothers serving in Royal Air Force; commandeering of part of family home by Home Guard. Recollections of period as third radio officer aboard SS Argyle in North Atlantic and Mediterranean, 11/1943-5/1944: joining ship at Hebburn, GB, 26/11/1943; background of ship; accommodation on board; attending convoy conference; story of merchant captain who used pretext of a faulty radio to avoid convoy to Soviet Union; loading in Glasgow, GB, 12/1943; amusing of ship's cook, 25/12/1943; method of negotiating Straits of Gibraltar.
REEL 6 Continues: reasons for fight between officers and crew; character of Christmas celebrations, 25/12/1943; threat from mines; German Air Force attack on convoy off Sardinia, Italy, 1/1944; unloading in Brindisi, Italy; fraternisation between engineering and radio officers; sailing into minefield off Cape Bon, Tunisia; reasons for not having shore leave in Gibraltar; method of checking ship for limpet mines; loss of merchant vessels to Italian frogmen in Gibraltar; voyage to Dakar, French West Africa; loading peanuts at Da'ur on River Bathurst, Gambia; smallpox epidemic at Da'ur, Gambia; character of voyage from Bathurst, Gambia to GB.
REEL 7 Continues: threat by Marconi Company representative to be marooned in Freetown, Sierra Leone; sight of naval rating doubling around deck of corvette off Gibraltar; water shortage on board; how ship ran out of food; damage sustained to ship early 1944; signing off from ship, 5/5/1944. Reflections on service with Merchant Navy during Second World War: sight of Allied air armada whilst on leave in GB, D-Day, 6/6/1944; precautions taken on board merchant vessels including radio equipment; methods of keeping station in convoys. Recollections of period as second radio officer aboard SS Samfinn in North Atlantic and Mediterranean, 7/1944-5/1945: joining ship at Birkenhead, GB, 6/7/1944; conditions on board; character of ship and description of Kaiser System of mass production; design fault in Liberty ships; armament of ship; problems with wooden lifeboats; radio equipment; layout of ship.
REEL 8 Continues: facilities on board; opinion of Captain Laidlaw; relations between officers and crew; reception in Salvation Army hostel in Liverpool, GB; move to Mediterranean; sight of loose mines in Mediterranean; signals used by German submarines to muster wolfpacks; unloading cargo of occupation money at Naples, Italy; bathing facilities; method of unloading cargo at Naples, Italy; ashore in Naples, Italy; question of Merchant Navy personnel not being able to use Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) in GB until 1944; method of relaxation in Naples, Italy; question of access to damaged ports of Tripoli and Tobruk, Libya; collecting scrap cargo from Tobruk, Libya.
REEL 9 Continues: football matches played in Libya; story of flight with United States Army Air Force to Malta; reports of ammunition ship that exploded during German Air Force attack in Bari Harbour, Italy; sight of hospital ships in Mediterranean; sight of scuttled French Navy warships in Toulon Harbour, France, 8/1944; visit to abandoned German signal station; gale at Marseille, France, 8/1944; reaction to manning Oerlikon Gun; question of Merchant Navy discipline during Second World War; difference in morale between men on troopships coming from and going to Far East, 1945; reasons for initial refusal of shore leave at Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, 3/1945.
REEL 10 Continues: bartering with civilians in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, 3/1945; personal relations with girlfriend from Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia; effect of post-war politics on his relationship; visit to Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, 1957; socialising with family in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia; attitude to sailing to Salonika, Greece during Greek Civil War; role taking on board civil dignitaries in Salonika, Greece driven out by Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), 12/1944; reception by Greek civilians at Kavala, Greece; evacuation of British troops cut off by Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) at Kavala, Greece, 12/1944.
REEL 11 Continues: storm in Aegean Sea, 12/1944; story of visit to brothel and raid by Corps of Military Police in Alexandria, Egypt; fraternising with French civilians at Douala, French Cameroon; receiving radio message of VE Day and instructions to surrendering German submarines, 8/5/1945; near collision off GB coast, 5/1945; return to GB and attitude to leaving ship.