Description
Object description
Attractively bound ts transcript (165pp) of a diary kept during his service as the 4th Engineer on the SS MONTREAL CITY covering her west and eastbound passages across the North Atlantic to and from New York in convoys ON115 (July – August 1942), SC98 (August – September 1942), ON135 (October 1942) and SC108 (November 1942) and on the SS GLOUCESTER CITY in the North Atlantic convoys ON156 (December 1942 – January 1943) and SC120 (February – March 1943), with interesting and sometimes humorous entries describing his responsibilities as one of the engineers, the monotony of the endless round of watchkeeping, the frequency of problems with the elderly and poorly maintained machinery of both ships, the lack of proper repair equipment, the 'squalor and misery' of life on board particularly during periods of extremely bad weather, deficiencies in his cabin accommodation, instances of indiscipline among the crews of the ships, the defence of the convoys against U-boat attack, his pastimes on board, and the pleasures of time ashore in New York and also reflecting on the attitudes of his shipmates, his good fortune in not sailing on the MONTREAL CITY on the convoy during which she was lost with all hands in December 1942, and his fatalistic approach to the hazards of service in the Merchant Navy, with entries often ending 'more tomorrow (I hope)'; together with a photograph of him in uniform.
Content description
Attractively bound ts transcript (165pp) of a diary kept during his service as the 4th Engineer on the SS MONTREAL CITY covering her west and eastbound passages across the North Atlantic to and from New York in convoys ON115 (July – August 1942), SC98 (August – September 1942), ON135 (October 1942) and SC108 (November 1942) and on the SS GLOUCESTER CITY in the North Atlantic convoys ON156 (December 1942 – January 1943) and SC120 (February – March 1943), with interesting and sometimes humorous entries describing his responsibilities as one of the engineers, the monotony of the endless round of watchkeeping, the frequency of problems with the elderly and poorly maintained machinery of both ships, the lack of proper repair equipment, the 'squalor and misery' of life on board particularly during periods of extremely bad weather, deficiencies in his cabin accommodation, instances of indiscipline among the crews of the ships, the defence of the convoys against U-boat attack, his pastimes on board, and the pleasures of time ashore in New York and also reflecting on the attitudes of his shipmates, his good fortune in not sailing on the MONTREAL CITY on the convoy during which she was lost with all hands in December 1942, and his fatalistic approach to the hazards of service in the Merchant Navy, with entries often ending 'more tomorrow (I hope)'; together with a photograph of him in uniform.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS