Description
Object description
British boy seaman trained at HMS Ganges at Shotley in GB, 1936-1937; served aboard HMS Hermes and HMS Diomede in GB coastal waters, 1938-1939; served aboard HMS Fame in GB coastal waters and Norway, 1939-1940; seaman served aboard HMS Centurion in GB coastal waters, Atlantic Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, 1940-1942
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Cranham, GB, 1921-1936: family; employment prospects. Recollections of period as boy seaman at HMS Ganges in GB, 1936-1937: interest in Royal Navy; opinion of training received at HMS Ganges; pay; climbing the mast; discipline; morning routine; character of instructors; pattern of instruction; punishment for inattention; description of 'Shotley routine'; attempt of recruit to escape; reasons for being considered for officer training; presence of Barnados Boys amongst recruits. Aspects of period as boy seaman aboard HMS Hermes and HMS Diomede in GB coastal waters, 1938-1939: smoking 'Tickler' tobacco; conditions on board ships particularly destroyers.
REEL 2 Continues: desire for sea time; canteen messing; use of Aggie Westons and Salvation Army in Plymouth; joining Temperance Society and League of Purity; amusing story drinking in parent's pub in Cranham; duties as messenger aboard HMS Diomede. Aspects of operations as boy seaman aboard HMS Fame in GB coastal waters, 1939-1940: rescue of survivors from sinking of SS Athenia, 3/9/1939; attempt to hunt for U-boat that had sunk HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow, 14/10/1939; shooting down of German reconnaissance by ship. Aspects of operations as seaman aboard HMS Fame in Norway, 1940: move to Narvik, Norway, 4/1940; action station in A turret; duties as lookout to spot Junkers Ju 87 Stukas; transporting French Alpine troops. REEL 3 Continues: plans to board German merchant ships in the Skattegat; story of escorting gold convoy in Atlantic; working routine on board destroyer; fatigue during operations; question of sea sickness; an homosexual encounter on board; entertainments on board; evacuation of civilians from Jervik; role assisting land forces; shelling by German railway gun; misfire on X gun; recovering German torpedoes; evacuation of Welsh Guards from Bodo; continuous bombing by German aircraft; rescue of submarine HMS Shark; bomb hit on stern of vessel.
REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as boy seaman aboard HMS Fame in GB coastal waters, 1940: punishment for unauthorised trip ashore at Grimsby; duties as call boy; method of communicating with officers; how ship ran aground at Whitburn. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Centurion in GB coastal waters, Atlantic Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, 1940-1942: volunteering for Operation Doris; drafting to ship in Plymouth; briefing by Prime Minister Winston Churchill on role of as block-ship at Taranto Harbour; description of ship; rescue of survivors in Atlantic; taking on water at St Helena and receiving provisions at Cape Town, South Africa; conversation with Captain Waters; effects of heavy storm off Zanzibar in Indian Ocean; sight of bombing of SS Georgic; role of ship as decoy on Malta convoys; fate of HMS Centurion as block ship for Mulberry Harbour in Normandy, 1944.