Description
Object description
British deck boy served with Merchant Navy aboard SS Lylepark in North Atlantic, 1940-1941; engine boy served aboard M/S Kattegat in North and South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 1941-1942 including sinking by German auxiliary cruiser Michel (HSK-9) in South Atlantic, 20/5/1942; prisoner of war aboard German auxiliary cruiser Michel (HSK-9) and blockade runner Doggerbank (Schiff 53) in South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific, 6/1942-10/1942; prisoner of war in Fukuoka No 3-B Camp, Kokura, Japan, 10/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Liverpool, GB, 1924-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as deck boy aboard SS Lylepark in North Atlantic, 1940-1941: duties; daily routine; treatment by crew; armament on merchant vessels; participation in convoys in North Atlantic; crew morale; rations; taking food parcels home; smuggling of watches. Aspects of period as engine boy aboard M/S Kattegat in North and South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 1941-1942: joining ship at Gladstone Dock, Liverpool, GB, 10/1941; description of ship; load carried from GB to Persian Gulf; composition of crew and relations with Norwegians; unloading at Basra, Iran; discovery of damage to ship at Bombay, India.
REEL 2 Continues: orders to sail damaged vessel from South Africa to Montevideo, Uruguay. Recollections of sinking of M/S Kattegat by German auxiliary cruiser HSK-9 Michel in South Atlantic, 20/5/1942: start of attack on ship; attempts to fire on German auxiliary cruiser; damage to vessel; abandoning ship; casualties amongst crew; rescue from sea by Germans. Aspects of period as prisoner of war aboard German auxiliary cruiser Michel (HSK-9) in South Atlantic, 20/5/1942-22/6/1942: survivors' medical treatment; accommodation; capture of American ship SS George Clymer, 12/6/1942; how armament was disguised aboard Michel (HSK-9). Aspects of period as prisoner of war aboard German blockade runner Doggerbank (Schiff 53) in South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific, 6/1942-10/1942: transfer to ship, 22/6/1942.
REEL 3 Continues: accommodation of prisoners of war in ship's hold; contrast in attitude of German crew aboard Michel (HSK-9) and Doggerbank (Schiff 53); living conditions on board; relations amongst prisoners of war; arrival in Yokohama, Japan, 10/1942; reception from civilians in Yokohama, Japan, 10/1942. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Fukuoka No 3-B Camp, Kokura, Japan, 10/1942-8/1945: announcement that captives were Japanese prisoners of war and train journey to camp; nationalities in camp and size of Merchant Navy component; attitude of Japanese towards prisoners of war; work duties; rations; disposal of sewage; illnesses and treatment; disposal of dead; reasons for prisoner of war deaths; beating received from Japanese guard.
REEL 4 Continues: second beating received from Japanese guard at roll call; fate of Red Cross supplies; reduction in rations towards end of war; contact with Japanese civilians; effect of air raids on Japanese; execution of two shot down United States Army Air Force airmen from Boeing B-29 Superfortress; vermin in camp; character of Japanese guards; belief in survival; degree of awareness of atomic bombs being dropped, 8/1945; hearing of end of the war.
REEL 5 Continues: prisoner of war senior officer's warning against revenge on former guards; United States Army Air Force air supply drop; reaction of Japanese towards defeat; reaction to sight of devastated Nagasaki, 9/1945; journey from Japan to GB via Canada; reception on arrival in GB; attitude towards Japanese.