Ramsden, George Kenneth (Oral history)

British gunner served with Maritime Royal Artillery as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship gunner aboard SS Cyclops in Indian Ocean, North and South Atlantic, 7/1941-1/1942 including sinking in North Atlantic, 12/1/1942; served aboard Bolton Castle on Convoy PQ17 in Arctic, 6/1942-7/1942 including sinking, 4/7/1942; served aboard aboard SS City of Worcester, SS Mahsud, SS Empire Stanley, SS City of Canterbury, HMT Empress of Australia, SS Lewant and SS Askeladen in Mediterranean, 11/1943-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Wakefield, GB, 1921-1939: family; education; employment; reasons for joining Territorial Army, 1939. Recollections of period as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship gunner aboard SS Cyclops in Indian Ocean, North and South Atlantic, 6/1941-1/1942 including sinking in North Atlantic, 11/1/1942: background to volunteering to becoming Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship gunner; drafting to ship at Liverpool, 6/1941; discovery of time bomb on board, 7/1941; problems on voyage to Hong Kong, 1941; atmosphere amongst Chinese seamen on board after news of Japanese forces' attack on Hong Kong, 12/1941; story of torpedoing and sinking of ship by German submarine U-123 in North Atlantic, 11/1/1942; period in sea and rescue by HMCS Red Deer; condition he was in on arrival at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and return to GB on board MV La Paz, 2/1942; living conditions on board SS Cyclops; relations with Chinese seamen on board. Recollections of period as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship gunner aboard SS Bolton Castle during Convoy PQ17 in Arctic, 1942: drafting to ship in Glasgow after one trip aboard SS Salacia, 6/1942. REEL 2 Continues: character of convoy; order for convoy to scatter, 4/7/1942; sinking of ship by German Air Force aircraft, 4/7/1942; conditions in lifeboat; reasons for refusal to go on board SS Olopana; decision of captain to head southwards; rescue by Soviet Navy minesweeper. Aspects of period ashore in Soviet Union, 7/1942-8/1942: hospitalisation in Polyarno and threat from German Air Force raids; further details of survival in lifeboat; treatment by Soviets at Polyarno; transfer aboard SS Deer Lodge from Polyarno to Archangel; return to GB aboard HMS Onslaught and his role shell-loading during action with German minelayer Ulm, 25/8/1942; presence of German prisoners of war on board HMS Onslaught. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of period as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship gunner served aboard SS City of Worcester, SS Mahsud, SS Empire Stanley, SS City of Canterbury, HMT Empress of Australia, SS Lewant and SS Askeladen in Mediterranean, 11/1943-5/1945: posting to SS City of Worcester for Operation Torch, the landings at Algiers, French Algeria, 11/1942; second voyage aboard SS Mahsud to Algiers, French Algeria; transfer from 4th Maritime Regt to 6th Maritime Regt, Maritime Royal Artillery, 1943; voyage SS aboard Empire Stanley through Mediterranean 6/1943; role aboard SS City of Canterbury during landings on Sicily and mainland Italy, 7/1943-9/1943; presence of vermin aboard SS City of Canterbury; return to GB, 1944; voyage aboard HMT Empress of Australia from GB to Algiers, French Algeria; posting to Polish vessel SS Lewant for invasion of Southern France, 8/1944; drafting to Norwegian ship SS Askeladen delivering petrol to Italy and Greece, 1944-1945; memories of VE Day in Greek Islands, 8/5/1945; posting to Germany, 6/1945-5/1946; attitude to having served as Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship gunner in Second World War; story of strike amongst Italian firemen serving aboard SS Askeladen. REEL 4 Continues: story of erection of Russian Convoy Club's memorial at Loch Ewe, GB, 1999; story of death of shipmate, 1943. opinion of Bofors Gun.