Description
Object description
British seaman served aboard HMS Warspite in US, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, 1941-1944; served aboard HMS Dittany off West Africa, 1944-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Preston, 1923-1941: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; membership of Preston Home Guard; presence of Italian POWs in area. Aspects of enlistment and training as boy seaman at HMS Ganges, 1941: volunteering, 8/1941; opinion of training and discipline; attractions of China Station; reasons for turning down opportunity to become officer. Aspects of voyage from GB to Canada aboard Ile De France, 1941: role as mast head lookout; sight of fisherman off Grand Banks; desertions in Canada. Period as boy seaman with HMS Warspite in US, 1941-1942: food available in Seattle; state of ship; hospitality of US civilians and film stars; US civilians reaction to Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Seattle. Recollections of operations as boy seaman aboard HMS Warspite in Pacific and Indian Ocean, 1942: working up off Alaska, 1/1942; character of voyage across Pacific, early 1942; arrival in Sydney; dangerous state of ammunition; living conditions.
REEL 2 Continues: effect of showering in salt water; sleeping in hammocks; serving food in mess; rum ration; use of upper deck; fatigue caused by watch system; difference between action and battle stations; lectures available to boy seamen; scheme for sending money home to his parents; composition of Eastern Fleet in Mombasa, 1942; arrival in Ceylon c4/1942; impressions of Bombay; day out arranged for boy seamen in Bombay; reception in Durban; period of leave on maize farm at Newcastle; behaviour of Zulus on farm; racial segregation in Durban and effect of arrival of US personnel; work of Lady in White at Durban. Recollections of operations as seaman with HMS Warspite in Mediterranean, 1942-1944: arrival in Malta; duties in Mediterranean; condition of Maltese civilians; precautions against Italian midget submarine attacks and accident which occurred with depth charges.
REEL 3 Continues: bombardment of German forces at Salerno; German radio- controlled bomb attack on ship at Salerno; voyage of crew from Malta to GB aboard Strathmore; how Warspite crew were kept incommunicado on arrival in GB; how petty officer dealt with bureaucratic Wren officer in Chatham. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Dittany off West African coast, 1944-1945: drafting to ship on River Clyde; memories of 'Monkey Face' at Tobermory; visit to dentist at Tobermory; reasons for sleeping on deck; convoy work off West Africa; state of Freetown harbour; role as ship's postman; bout of malaria.
REEL 4 Continues: treatment for malaria; story of period in charge of ship in Gillingham, 12/1945; demobilization, 1946; opening fire on German U-boat which surfaced in convoy; pursuing log mistaken for U-boat; problems of attacking German U-boats; losses inflicted on convoys by U-boats, 1944-1945; use of Vigo harbour to land seaman with yellow fever; escorting German ship from Vigo to Falmouth; watch kept on sailors by Guardia Civil in Vigo; relations between sailors and civilians in Vigo. Attitude to having served with Royal Navy during Second World War.