Boyes, Harry (Oral history)

British officer served with Merchant Navy in North Atlantic, North Sea and English Channel, 1939-1941; served aboard SS Gemstone in North and South Atlantic, 1942 including sinking by German auxiliary cruiser Stier (HSK-6), 4/6/1942; prisoner of war aboard Stier (HSK-6), SS Charlotte Sleeman and Doggerbank (Schiff 53) in South Atlantic and Far East, 6/1942-8/1942; prisoner of war aboard SS Leuthen in Yokahama, Japan, 8/1942-9/1942 and Fukuoka No 3-B Camp, Kokura, Japan, 12/1943-8/1945

REEL 1 Aspects of period as apprentice, seaman and officer with Merchant Navy, 1930-1939: reasons for joining Merchant Navy; work with Rowland Marwood Shipping Coy; conditions on board SS Runswick; period of hospitalisation; promotion. Aspects of period as second officer aboard SS Egton in North Atlantic and North Sea, 1939: modification to ship on outbreak of Second World War; duties as second officer; encounter with German raiders off Norway, 11/1939; reasons for leaving ship. Aspects of period as second officer with Merchant Navy in North Sea and English Channel, 1940-1941: nature of east coast convoys, late 1939; escape from Belgian port, 5/1940; escape from French coast, 7/1940; sight of German Air Force bombing of Tilbury, GB, 9/1941; transfer to SS Kalev, 1941. REEL 2 Continues: transfer to SS Gemstone. Aspects of period as officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Gemstone in North Atlantic and South Atlantic, 1942: first voyage; encounter with German auxiliary cruiser Stier (HSK-6) in South Atlantic, 4/6/1942; destruction of confidential papers and abandoning ship; attempted escape and German sinking of ship. Aspects of period as prisoner of war aboard Stier (HSK-6), SS Charlotte Sleeman and Doggerbank (Schiff 53) and in South Atlantic and Far East, 6/1942-8/1942: capture by Germans; character of German auxiliary cruiser Stier (HSK-6); encounter with American freighter; treatment of prisoners of war; transfer to SS Charlotte Sleeman; separation of prisoners of war; at anchor off Martin Vaz Island; transfer to ex-British ship and German blockade runner, Doggerbank (Schiff 53); German method of passing ships off as British merchant vessels. Aspects of period as prisoner of war aboard SS Leuthen in Yokohama, Japan, 8/1942-9/1942: arrival in Yokohama; frequency of shipping between Germany and Japan; German offer of repatriation to Norwegian seamen; transfer to mainland, 9/1942; treatment by Japanese; comparison between treatment by Germans and Japanese. REEL 3 Continues: incidents as prisoner of war aboard SS Leuthen; rations available on board SS Leuthen; Japanese rations; medical facilities; mixed nationalities amongst prisoners of war; work undertaken. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Fukuoka No 3-B Camp, Kokura, Japan, 12/1943-8/1945: move to camp, 12/1943; Allied air raids and Japanese threat to kill prisoners of war in event of Allied invasion; personal determination to survive; knowledge of progress of war; beatings and safeguarding false teeth; possibilities of sabotaging vehicle repair; United States Army Air Force raids, summer 1945; feeling of vibration of atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki whilst sheltering in railway tunnel, 8/8/1945; end of Second World War, 15/8/1945. REEL 4 Continues: United States Army Air Force air supply drops and death of prisoner of war during one; obtaining supplies in Yawata; sight of devastation in Nagasaki; treatment by American Red Cross and Royal Navy personnel; journey to United States of America via Philippines; period of recuperation in United States of America; return to GB aboard HMT Queen Mary, 11/1945. Reflections on period as prisoner of war: physical condition on arrival in GB; work as deep sea pilot with Japanese shipping company in North Sea during 1970s; relations with Japanese crew and employers.