Description
Object description
Photocopy (23pp) of an undated ms account covering his passage on the troopship SS POLASKI from the United Kingdom, via South Africa and Aden, to Egypt (June - August 1941) and his service as a DEMS rating on board the SS KIRKLAND, initially carrying stores from Egypt to Cyprus and then on the hazardous coastal convoys from Alexandria to Tobruk (September 1941 - February 1942), the Dutch SS AALSUM which sailed independently from Egypt, via Cochin in India, Colombo and Durban, to New York (March - June 1942) and the SS OCEAN STRENGTH from the United States to Nova Scotia and then in an Atlantic convoy to the United Kingdom (July - August 1942), his qualification as a gunlayer (September - October 1942) and service as a DEMS gunner on the SS FORT A LA CORNE during her passage from the United Kingdom through the Western Mediterranean to Bone in North Africa, where they suffered frequent air raids while the ship's cargo was being unloaded (December 1942 - January 1943). The account, which is accompanied by photocopies of his pocket diaries for 1941 and 1942, includes good descriptions of the poor conditions for other ranks on board the POLASKI and in particular of KIRKLAND's first Tobruk run in December 1941 when they came under air attack and the other merchant ship in the convoy was sunk.
Content description
Photocopy (23pp) of an undated ms account covering his passage on the troopship SS POLASKI from the United Kingdom, via South Africa and Aden, to Egypt (June - August 1941) and his service as a DEMS rating on board the SS KIRKLAND, initially carrying stores from Egypt to Cyprus and then on the hazardous coastal convoys from Alexandria to Tobruk (September 1941 - February 1942), the Dutch SS AALSUM which sailed independently from Egypt, via Cochin in India, Colombo and Durban, to New York (March - June 1942) and the SS OCEAN STRENGTH from the United States to Nova Scotia and then in an Atlantic convoy to the United Kingdom (July - August 1942), his qualification as a gunlayer (September - October 1942) and service as a DEMS gunner on the SS FORT A LA CORNE during her passage from the United Kingdom through the Western Mediterranean to Bone in North Africa, where they suffered frequent air raids while the ship's cargo was being unloaded (December 1942 - January 1943). The account, which is accompanied by photocopies of his pocket diaries for 1941 and 1942, includes good descriptions of the poor conditions for other ranks on board the POLASKI and in particular of KIRKLAND's first Tobruk run in December 1941 when they came under air attack and the other merchant ship in the convoy was sunk.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 2002-10