Interview with William Henry Partis

British seaman served with Merchant Navy aboard SS Cornwall, SS Rotorua and SS Northumberland in North and South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 9/1939-7/1940; served aboard SS Nela, SS Cristales and MV British Resource in North and South Atlantic, West Indies and United States, 8/1940-12/1941; served aboard MV Laguna in North Atlantic, Caribbean and United States of America, 5/1942-12/1942; served aboard MV Pacific Grove in North Atlantic, 4/1943 including sinking, 12/4/1943; served aboard HMT Rangitata in North Atlantic, 1943-1944; served aboard MV Samsip in North Sea, 10/1944-12/1944 including sinking in Scheldt Estuary, 7/12/1944.

REEL 1 Background in Plaistow, GB, 1920-1937: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as seaman with Merchant Navy with New Zealand Shipping Company, 1937-1939: reasons for joining Merchant Navy; living conditions aboard MV Rangitane; duties aboard ship; Crossing the Line tradition; relations with officers, crew and passengers; reception of crew in foreign ports; service aboard SS Northumberland, 1937-1938; Merchant Navy discipline; question of state of food aboard merchant vessels; trade union system; amusing story of bagpipe provocation by Hebridean shipmates; problems humping coal in rough weather aboard SS Northumberland. Recollections of period as merchant seaman aboard SS Cornwall, SS Rotorua and SS Northumberland in North and South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 9/1939-7/1940: declaration of Second World War and imposition of blackout aboard SS Cornwall; arming of ship in Australia, 10/1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; joining SS Rotorua in London, GB, 13/2/1940; sailing in convoy with SS Northumberland, 7/1940. REEL 2 Continues: attitude to sailing in convoy; process of obtaining employment on new ships; explanation of term 'pier head jump', Aspects of period as seaman with Merchant Navy aboard SS Nela, SS Cristales and MV British Resource in North and South Atlantic, West Indies and United States, 8/1940-12/1941: voyage aboard SS Nela from GB to South America, 8/1940-10/1940; conditions aboard SS Cristales on voyage to West Indies and United States of America, 11/1940-1/1941; pest infestations aboard ships; joining tanker MV British Resource, 30/4/1941; conditions aboard tankers; effect of fumes on crew from high octane tanks; advantages of being employed by larger shipping companies. Aspects of period as seaman with Merchant Navy aboard MV Laguna in North Atlantic, Caribbean and United States of America, 5/1942-12/1942: joining MV Laguna, 7/5/1942; torpedoing of ship by German submarine U-658 during Convoy PG 6 in Caribbean, 17/8/1942; effect of torpedoing on cargo of cotton bales on board; repairs to ship in Galveston, United States of America, 8/1942-11/1942; character of Captain Sydney Grant; receiving prize money. Aspects of period as seaman aboard MV Pacific Grove in North Atlantic, 4/1943 including sinking, 12/4/1943: torpedoing and sinking of MV Pacific Grove by German submarine U-563 during Convoy HX 232 in North Atlantic, 12/4/1943; period in sea after sinking of ship; rescue by corvette HMS Azalea. REEL 3 Continues: conditions aboard HMS Azalea; condition of female survivors; condition at Leith, 5/1943. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMT Rangitata in North Atlantic, 1943-1944: joining HMT Rangitata, 14/7/1943; divers checking of ship for mines at Gibraltar; destruction of family home in Plaistow, 1943; opinion of trooping work, 1943-1944; relations with military personnel and prisoners of war on board. Recollections of period aboard MV Samsip in North Sea, 10/1944-12/1944 including sinking in Scheldt Estuary, 7/12/1944: joining ship, 10/10/1944; opinion of ship; mining of ship in Scheldt Estuary, 7/12/1944; injuries received from abandoning ship; rescue from sea by motor torpedo boat. Aspects of hospitalisation in Belgium and GB, 1944-1945: hospitalisation in Ostend, Belgium, 1944-1945; return to Tilbury, GB, 2/1945; story of being trapped in hospital matron's car at Pinner; condition he was in after plaster was removed; pension received for wounds; attitude to having served in Merchant Navy in Second World War. Aspects of period as seaman with Merchant Navy aboard SS Gironde in GB coastal waters, 6/1943: ships crew; conditions aboard. REEL 4 Continues: question of luck in Second World War.