Description
Object description
British civilian miner at Thoresby Colliery and member of 8th (Clipstone) Bn Nottinghamshire Home Guard in Edwinstowe, GB, 9/1939-11/1942; stoker trained at HMS Duke at Great Malvern and Stamshore Camp, Portsmouth in GB, 11/1942-1/1943; served aboard HMS Iron Duke in GB coastal waters, 1/1943-10/1943; served aboard HMS Keppel, 8th Escort Group in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 11/1943-5/1944; served aboard HMS Keppel, 136th Escort Group in GB coastal waters, English Channel and off Normandy, France, 5/1944-6/1944; served aboard HMS Keppel, 8th Escort Group in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 7/1944-5/1945; served aboard HMS Rinaldo, 19th Minesweeper Flotilla in Mediterranean, 1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Cresswell, Thorne and Edwinstowe in GB, 1923-1939: family; education; recreational activities; employment as miner, 1937-1939; anticipation of coming war. Aspects of period as miner in Thoresby Colliery at Edwinstowe in GB, 1939-1942: lack of change in working regime after outbreak of Second World War; German Air Force bombing of colliery; rations; following progress of war; nature of membership and training with 8th (Clipstone) Bn Nottinghamshire Home Guard; including arms training, guard duties and story of accidental discharge of rifle.
REEL 2 Continues: registration for military service, 10/1941. Aspects of enlistment and training as stoker with HMS Duke, Great Malvern, GB, 11/1942-12/1942: medical; background to volunteering as stoker; call-up to Royal Navy, 2/11/1942; reception on arrival at HMS Duke; first meal; accommodation; relations we fellow recruits; physical training; swimming; arms drill; bayonet drill.
REEL 3 Continues: tests at end of course; appointment to home port; reaction to restrictions during shore leave; drafting to barracks at Gosport; kit inspections at Gosport; opinion of meal at barracks in Portsmouth. Aspects of training as stoker at Stamshore Camp, Portsmouth, GB, 12/1942-1/1943: drafting to camp; continuation of stoker training; safety lamps; pattern of training; accommodation; abortive drafting to HMS Assegai. Aspects of period as stoker with HMS Iron Duke in Scapa Flow, GB, 1/1943-10/1943: reaction to drafting; allocation to spare crew; role of ship as depot ship; allocation to collier; watch keeping duties; effects of oil infected finger; boiler cleaning duties.
REEL 4 Continues: incident illustrating superstitious nature of seamen; recreational activities; reasons for volunteering for submarines; return to Portsmouth Barracks. Recollections of operations as stoker aboard HMS Keppel, 8th Escort Group in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 11/1943-5/1944: reaction to drafting to destroyer; initial impressions and description of destroyer; reception on arrival; description of stokers' mess; collision with HMS Vivacious in North Sea, 12/1943; repairs to ship; presence of sea water on mess deck; move to Loch Ewe, GB; joining Convoy JW 57 bound for Soviet Union, 2/1944.
REEL 5 Continues: daily routine worked; description of messing arrangements including meals; rum ration; tobacco and cigarette ration; ablution facilities; description of 'heads'; character of engine room watch; description boiler room watch.
REEL 6 Continues: conditions in boiler room including effects of depth charges being fired; role of stoker when refuelling from tanker at sea; action station with damage control party; relations with fellow stokers, petty officers and engineering officer; rivalry between stokers and seamen; opinion of captain, Commander Ismay Tyson; question of what makes at happy ship; question of escaping from engine and boiler rooms; depth charging of German U-713, 24/2/1944; weather conditions in Arctic and clothing worn.
REEL 7 Continues: sinking of HMS Mahratta by submarine U-990 during Convoy JW 57, 25/2/1944; ashore at Polyarno, Soviet Union; return convoy; leave on return to GB including visits to pub; rejoining ship at Greenock, GB; seasick seaman; attitude to prospect of voyage to Soviet Union with Convoy JW 58; sinking of submarine U-360 in Norwegian Sea during Convoy JW 58, 2/4/1944; rations during Convoy JW 58; return to Scapa Flow, GB.
REEL 8 Continues: amusing story of entertainment at Scapa Flow, GB; quality of beer at Scapa Flow, GB; joining destroyer escort to Soviet Union and return with Convoy RA 58. Recollections of operations as stoker aboard HMS Keppel, 136th Escort Group in GB coastal waters, English Channel and off Normandy, France, 5/1944-7/1944: addition of extra anti-aircraft guns; E-boat exercises and method of making smoke screen; Royal Air Force gunnery tests on ship; prior recollection of accidental attack on ship by Fleet Air Arm aircraft during Convoy JW 58; move into English Channel, 6/1944; Commander Ismay Tyson's D-Day address; presence of Austrian coder on board; duties off Omaha Beach, D-Day, 6/6/1944; move to British sector; return to GB; escorting convoys to Normandy, 6/1944. Recollections of operations as stoker aboard HMS Keppel, 8th Escort Group in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 7/1944-1945: return to Loch Ewe to join Convoy JW 59; rescue of survivors after sinking of sloop HMS Kite by submarine U-344, 21/8/1944.
REEL 9 Continues: death of survivors of HMS Kite on board and burial at sea; sinking of submarine U-354, 24/8/1944; regatta at Polyarno, Soviet Union; joining Convoy RA 59A for return to GB, 28/8/1944; sinking of submarine U-394 in Norwegian Sea, 2/9/1944; damage to ship during Convoy RA 59A; joining Convoy JW 60, 28/9/1940; importance of Fleet Air Arm providing anti-submarine patrols; loss of ships during Convoy RA 60; visit to Reykyavik, Iceland, 10/1944; visit by First Sea Lord Andrew Cunningham; joining Convoy JW 62 for Soviet Union, 1/12/1944; torpedoing of HMS Cassandra by submarine U-365 during Convoy RA 62, 11/12/1944; shooting down of German Junkers Ju 88 torpedo bombers during Convoy RA 62, 12/12/1944.
REEL 10 Continues: sight of three masted sailing ship; joining Convoy JW 63, 1/1/1945; turning ship during storm at sea; amputation of damaged little finger; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; rejoining destroyer, 5/1945; attitude towards ship being scrapped. Aspects of period on shore duties in Malta, 1945-1946: drafting to Malta; cancellation of damage control trials aboard HMS Ilex. Aspects of period as stoker aboard HMS Rinaldo, 19th Minesweeper Flotilla in Mediterranean, 1946: drafting to minesweeper; minesweeping work; return to Malta, 6/1946; demobilisation and return to civilian life, 1946.