Eckersall, Albert (Oral history)

British stoker served aboard submarine HMS Seal, 2nd Submarine Flotilla in Red Sea, Atlantic and North Sea, 9/1939-5/1940 including capture in Kattegat, North Sea, 4/5/1940; prisoner of war in Fort 13, Stalag XX-A, Thorn, Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf and Marlag and Milag Nord, Westertimke in Germany, 5/1940-4/1945

REEL 1 Background in Kearsley, GB, 1916-1934: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Navy, 1934: enlistment, 1934; opinion of basic training at Portsmouth. Aspects of training with Submarine Service in GB, 1939: reasons for volunteering for submarines; deep sea trials off Isles of Scilly; use of escape chambers in submarines. Recollections of operations as stoker aboard submarine HMS Seal, 2nd Submarine Flotilla in Red Sea, North Atlantic and North Sea, 9/1939-4/1940: composition of crew; accommodation on board; rations; his duties as stoker; hearing declaration of war in Red Sea, 3/9/1939; 1st and 2nd War Patrols in Red Sea, 9/1939; orders to return to GB, 28/9/1939; problems operating in Red Sea; protection of North Atlantic convoy from Admiral Graf Spee, 11/1939-12/1939; discomforts of service in North Atlantic; collision with Estonian ship SS Otto in North Sea, 8/4/1940; penetration of harbour at Stavanger, Norway, 4/1940; narrow escape from torpedoing off Rosyth, GB, 4/1940; collecting mines at Immingham, GB, 29/4/1940. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of capture of HMS Seal in Kattegat, North Sea, 4/5/1940: sailing for minelaying operations in Skagerrak and Kattegat, 30/4/1940; damage to submarine from mine explosion, 4/5/1940; flooding of compartments and fight to save submarine; Captain Rupert Lonsdale's ordering prays; state of air in submarine; surfacing of submarine; attempt to make for Gothenburg in Sweden; German Air Force attacks on submarine; Captain Rupert Lonsdale's decision to surrender submarine. capture of submarine by Germans; treatment on capture, 5/5/1940; interrogation at Kiel, Germany. REEL 3 Continues: Captain Rupert Lonsdale's farewell to his crew. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Fort 13, Stalag XX-A, Thorn, Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf and Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke in Germany, 5/1940-4/1945: attempt of Germans to recruit POWs to fight for them; officer who joined British Free Corps at Marlag und Milag Nord; conditions in Fort 13 in Stalag XX-A, Thorn, 1940; aid given by Polish civilians; operation of delousing facility.