Description
Object description
British civilian worked as bell-boy and waiter aboard Merchant Navy passenger ships in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1933-1939; served with Merchant Navy in Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1939-1942; survived sinking of HMHS Gloucester Castle in south Atlantic, 15/Jul/1942; POW in Japan, 1942-1945.
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Liverpool, GB, 1919-1933: family and childhood; education; attitude to religious education; left school at 14; employment in butcher's shop; reason for wanting to going to sea. Aspects of period with Merchant Navy in Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1933-1939: story of obtaining employment as bell-boy aboard SS Voltaire; duties as bell-boy; disadvantage of strong Liverpool accent; duties as commi-waiter for first-class passengers and captain; cleanliness and inspections; description of food and method of serving; wages; description of duties in third and second class areas; menus and type of passengers; tips; opinion of Americans passengers; duties as first-class waiter and bedroom steward.
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of top-class deck men and bar stewards; drinks measurements; cocktail parties; wealthiest passengers on Atlantic routes; standard rate of tips; discretion about romances among passengers; bugler sounded dinner calls for first-class passengers; story of actors arriving late for dinner; role of steward; wages and tips; amusing story of four nuns; attitude to passengers; question of varying status among crew members; description of uniform; routes; contracted malaria; seasonal work.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of operations with Merchant Navy in Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1939-1941: duties as chef aboard HMS Antonia, 1939; reason for ship being nicknamed 'the ice-cream boat'; story of hearing news of outbreak of war while in Montreal, Canada, 9/1939; description of camouflaging ship; returned to Liverpool and joined RMS Highland Monarch; description of gunnery course for merchant seamen in GB; role as No.5 in 6-inch gun team; story of encounter with cruiser HMS Exeter in Atlantic; reaction to noise of gun; received extra pay as gunner; story of seeing German battleship Graf Spee; duties aboard converted banana boat HMS Patia in Mediterranean; description of duties aboard troopships Reina del Pacifico and Georgic in Mediterranean, 4/1940-7/1941; story of Georgic being bombed by German aircraft and sunk at Port Tewfik, Egypt, 7/Jul/1941. Aspects of operations aboard HMHS Gloucester Castle in Atlantic, 7/1942: description of sinking by German auxiliary cruiser Michel, 15/Jul/1942; location below decks during attack; ship caught fire; problem of having only one undamaged lifeboat; story of elderly passenger and stewardess; description of standing on deck as ship sank; boarded lifeboat; story of survivors being rescued by the Michel.
REEL 4 Continues: rescue of surviving women and children; amusing story about steward and prunes; opinion of treatment by Germans aboard the Michel; opinion of German captain Ruckteschell; transferred to tanker; accommodation and sanitary arrangements; story of failed attempt to take over ship. Aspects of period as POW in Japan, 7/1942-8/1945: disembarked at Osaka; description of journey in box-cars; punishment for objecting to segregation of women; addressed by camp commandant on parade ground; description of POW camp; relations with American POWs; opinion of food; description of work at steel factory in ship yard; methods of smuggling food in to camp; relations with Japanese civilians; opinion of English language version of Japanese newspaper The Mainichi; nature of physical punishments.
REEL 5 Continues: attitude to relations between Japanese workers and bosses; opinion of Japanese way of life; opinion of American POWs; Japanese attitude to merchant seamen; discipline in camp; relations with other POWs; recreational activities including playing ukulele in concerts; attitude to homosexual POWs; effect of lack of food on libido; story of hearing Emperor's radio broadcast at end of war, 8/1945; accommodation in dockside warehouse; story of breaking into food stores at docks; returned to camp and listened to news of end of war on stolen radios.
REEL 6 Continues: story of US navy plane dropping message; painted POW in white letters across camp; B29s dropped food and supplies by parachutes; camp liberated by paratroopers and medical staff; question of civilian status of merchant seaman in camp; stayed in own groups according to ship and rank; reflections on period as POW; Japanese attitude to burial of POWs.