Monk, George Victor (Oral history)

British radio officer served with Merchant Navy aboard SS Beaverbrae in North Atlantic, 1940; served aboard MV Empire Confidence in North Atlantic, Pacific and North Sea, 8/1940-5/1941; served aboard SS Auditor in North Sea and North Atlantic, 6/1941-7/1941 including sinking 4/7/1941; served aboard SS Ebro and SS Tactician in North Atlantic, 1941-1942; served aboard MV La Paz in North Atlantic, 1942; served aboard MV Karamea in North and South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific, 1942-1943; served aboard SS Lautaro in North and South Atlantic and Pacific, 1943; served aboard SS Bowcombe in North Sea, 1944

REEL 1 Background in East Ham, Leigh-on-Sea and Hornchurch in GB, 1917-1940: family; education; employment; joining Merchant Navy and period with Marconi School of Wireless, 1939-1940. Aspects of period as radio officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Beaverbrae in North Atlantic, 1940: character of ship; accommodation and rations; crew conditions on merchant ships; terms of his service with Marconi; character of North Atlantic convoy, summer 1940; problems with tides in Pentland Firth; attitude to sailing out of convoy, 7/1940. Aspects of period as radio officer with Merchant Navy aboard MV Empire Confidence in North Atlantic, Pacific and North Sea, 1940-1941: history of ship as former German vessel; taking refugees from Tilbury, GB to West Indies and Canada, 8/1940; picking up cargo on Pacific seaboard of United States of America. REEL 2 Continues: Convoy HX 86 from Halifax, Canada to Liverpool, GB, 10/11/1940-26/11/1940; marking of east coast convoy route with buoys; importance of Methil, GB for east coast convoys; engine breakdown, 12/1940; loading American constucted aircraft at Wilmington, United States of America, spring 1941; participation in Convoy HX 125, 6/5/1941-22/5/1941; message received from torpedoed armed merchant cruiser HMS Salopian, 13/5/1941. Aspects of period as radio officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Auditor in North Sea and North Atlantic, 6/1941-7/1941 including sinking 4/7/1941: shaking of ship by acoustic mines off Flamborough Head in North Sea, 6/1941; use of anti-aircraft kites on east coast convoys; sinking of ship by German submarine U-123 in North Atlantic, 4/7/1941. Aspects of period in lifeboat after sinking of SS Auditor in North Atlantic, 4/7/1941-17/7/1941: taking to lifeboats, 4/7/1941; surfacing of German submarine U-123; waiting for two to three day period at site of sinking; decision to make for Cape Verde Islands. REEL 3 Continues: character of voyage in lifeboat to Cape Verde Islands; uselessness of ship's biscuits; attitude of lascar survivors; tacking against north east trade winds; landfall at Santo Antao Island, Cape Verde Islands, 17/4/1941; problems during lifeboat voyage; period on Cape Verde Islands; how Royal Navy authorities had expected lifeboat's arrival; his temporary blindness due to exposure in lifeboat; treatment for his eyes in Lisbon, Portugal. Aspects of period as radio officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Ebro in North Atlantic, 9/1941-10/1941: drafting to ship, 8/1941; participation in Convoy HG 73 from Gibraltar to GB, 17/9/1941-1/10/1941. REEL 4 Continues: language problems with Danish crew. Aspects of period as radio officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Tactician in North Atlantic, 1941-1942: proposal that he should undertake counter-intelligence work; voyage to Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, 1/1942; news of loss of sister ship; discharge of cargo of TNT in GB. Aspects of period as radio officer aboard MV La Paz in North Atlantic, 1942: problem extracting code books from captain; use of canals on east coast of United States of America; torpedoing of ship by German submarine U-109 off Cape Canaveral, United States of America, 1/5/1942; salvaging of ship; question of failure of Americans to take precautions against German submarines in early 1942; repatriation to GB aboard SS Empire Confidence, 6/1942; problem of distressed British seaman status after loss of ship. Aspects of period as radio officer with Merchant Navy aboard MV Karamea in North and South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific, 1942-1943: character of ship; transporting poison gas to Egypt, summer 1942; problems extracting gas masks from Royal Navy; sight of HMT Laconia carrying Axis prisoners of war. REEL 5 Continues: discharging poison gas cargo, Suez Canal, Egypt; Axis air activity over Suez Canal, Egypt; voyage to Australia then New York, United States of America via Panama Canal; severe storms in North Atlantic and dispersal of convoy; shipmate who was survivor of HMS Jervis Bay sinking. Aspects of period as radio officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Lautaro in North and South Atlantic and Pacific, 1943: ship's work in North and South Atlantic and Pacific; measures to prevent pilfering of cargo; how he got himself discharged from ship in Halifax, Canada, 11/1943; success in his security work at Valparaiso, Chile and Lima, Peru; potential dangers of security work. Aspects of period as radio officer with Merchant Navy aboard SS Bowcombe in North Sea, 1944: reasons for transfer to coastal work; dangers of United States Army Air Force bombers jettisoning spare bombs off east coast; German E-boat presence off east coast; importance of east coast convoys. REEL 6 Continues: a female agent in Liverpool, GB; question of ease of German intelligence gathering at Halifax, Canada and on Cape Verde Islands