Interview with William Leonard Harrison

British seaman served aboard Motor Anti-submarine Boat 54 in GB coastal waters and English Channel, 1940-1941; served aboard HMS Anson, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, North Atlantic and Iceland, 11/1941-10/1942; petty officer served aboard HMS Berry, 3rd and 4th Escort Groups in United States of America, North Atlantic, GB coastal waters, Arctic and English Channel during Normandy Landings, 6/1943-12/1944; served on shore duties with Royal Navy at Devol Camp, Glasgow, 1/1945-6/1945; served aboard HMS Volage, 26th Destroyer Flotilla in Indian Ocean and GB coastal waters, 7/1945-3/1946; civilian worked for Grimsby Steam Fishing Vessels Mutual Insurance and Protecting Company in Grimsby, GB, 1955-1975 including Cod Wars

REEL 1 Background in Swansea and Kingston upon Hull, GB, 1922-1939: family; story of loss of family member to Imperial German Navy off Dogger Bank, North Sea, 1916; loss of second relative aboard Athol Beach, 1941; other family members living in United States of America; loss of father William Harrison overboard off trawler Dervish off Bear Island in Arctic Ocean, 14/4/1934; employment with as Hull Steam Trawlers Mutual Insurance and Protecting Company in Kingston upon Hull; lessons learnt about need for security after call from Naval Control, late 1939; declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Navy in GB, 1940: joining Royal Navy, 6/1940; initial experience of naval routine at HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness; breaking dental plate eating naval breakfast; reaction to German Air Force raid on Skegness; training at HMS Glendower at Pwlhelli; anticipations of attack by German airborne forces; move to Chatham; example of naval discipline and hierarchy; composition of No 785 Class. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as seaman aboard Motor Anti-Submarine Boat 54, Coastal Forces in GB coastal waters and English Channel, 1940-1941: background to drafting to fast motor boat, 9/1940; journey to Gosport; reception on arrival; canteen messing; memories of Sub-Lieutenant Leafe; patrols off coast of France; problems operating asdic from boats; orders to shield HMS Javelin off Channel Islands; collision with Motor Anti-Submarine Boat 57; use of gas goggles; putting into Poole for repairs, 12/1940; resuming operations in English Channel and continuing problems after collision, 1941; move to Portland and drafting to motor launch; reaction to effects of discovery of defective eyesight. Aspects of period as seaman with Supply and Secretariat Branch aboard HMS Anson, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and Iceland, 11/1941-10/1942: joining Supply and Secretariat Branch; story of firing Thompson Machine Gun; application to join HMS Anson. REEL 3 Continues: standing by during construction, 11/1941; billeting with the Moran family in Wallsend; familiarisation with ship; attitude towards slow progress of ship; living on board ship from 4/1942; fraternising with civilians on Tyneside; move to Rosyth, GB, 5/1942; prior recollection of fishing trip to Iceland in 1931; entry into Hvalfjord, Iceland, 2/8/1942; move to Akureyri, Iceland, 9/9/1942; drafting to HMS Calliope at Gateshead on return to GB, 10/1942 and attitude to allocation of meat. Recollections of period as petty officer aboard HMS Berry in United States of America, North Atlantic and GB coastal waters, 2/1943-6/1943: promotion to petty officer; voyage aboard HMT Andres from GB to United States of America including handling demand for rum issue; short period in United States Navy Fargo Barracks, Boston, United States of America; drafting to ship in Boston, United States of America, 2/1943; attitude to senior personnel on board. REEL 4 Continues: role of the 'Tanky'; memories of Harry Wheeler; sailing from Boston, United States of America; plan to use modified general messing system; superiority of American system over British system for transferring stores; action station in plotting room; opinion of radar system; move to Bermuda for working up; arrival in Londonderry, Northern Ireland; amusing story during working up at Tobermory, GB. Recollections of operations as petty officer aboard HMS Berry, 3rd Escort Group in North Atlantic and Arctic, 6/1943-12/1944: escorting convoy to Gibraltar and Freetown, Sierra Leone; German Air Force attack on convoy and loss of merchant vessel MV El Argentino, 26/7/1943; memories of female survivor from MV El Argentino; sight of Free French Naval Forces battleship Jean Bart at Casablanca, French Morocco; taking on board supplies at Casablanca, French Morocco; skirmish with German submarine in Bay of Biscay, 8/1943; return to Belfast, Northern Ireland, 4/9/1943. REEL 5 Continues: repair and conversion of ship in Belfast, 9/1943; story of German Air Force sinking of SS Halizones during Convoy OS 52, 27/7/1943; arrival of new captain, Lieutenant Commander Colin Pirie; briefing on German submarine torpedoes aboard HMS Caroline in Belfast, Northern Ireland; joining 4th Escort Group, 10/1943; taking on board equipment to defeat German 'Gnat' torpedo; loss of ship's dog overboard, 10/1943; work in plot room during action against German submarines, 10/1943; reaction to departure of Royal Air Force Short Sunderland Flying Boat escorts; role 'combing' torpedoes and session as helmsman; failure to produce decent bread; engine fault forcing ship back to Belfast, Northern Ireland; character of support group work devised by Captain Frederic Walker. REEL 6 Continues: question of fridge space in warships; provisioning in Scapa Flow, GB; lack of opportunity to celebrate New Year at sea during gale, 31/12/1943-1/1/1944; loss of aircraft from escort carriers in gale; brief attachment of ship to Mediterranean to escort HMT Orontes from Port Said, Egypt to GB, 1/1944 including collision with Egyptian dredger; depth charging of shoal of fish in Western Approaches and distribution of fish; role of ship in English Channel during Normandy Landings, 6/1944-8/1944; escorting Convoy JW 61A carrying Soviet prisoners of war who had fought with German forces back to Soviet Union; problems of sack fouling propeller at Kola Inlet, Soviet Union; leaving ship, late 1944; attitude to period in Royal Naval Barracks, HMS Pembroke, Chatham. Aspects of period as petty officer with Devol Camp, Glasgow, GB, 1/1945-6/1945: naval staff at camp; character of camp's officers; incident of preventing poisoning of camp inmates with condemned fish. REEL 7 Continues: Recollections of period as petty officer aboard HMS Volage, 26th Destroyer Flotilla in Indian Ocean 1945-1946: initial drafting to HMS Mayina, Colombo, Ceylon, 7/1945; joining ship in Trincomalee, Ceylon, 7/1945; story of how ship had been damaged during raid on Andaman Islands; celebrating VJ Day in Trincomalee, Ceylon, 15/8/1945; problems taking food supplies to Burma, 8/1945; sight of Eastern Fleet in Nicobar Islands; entry into harbour at Penang Island, Malaya to take over from Japanese forces, 3/9/1945; role as communication ship; explaining shortage of sea stores in Penang Island, Malaya; killing of chicken supply at Penang Island, Malaya, 9/1945; sporting event at Penang Island, Malaya, 9/1945; visit to Andaman Islands; arrival at Kidderpore Dock at Calcutta, India; entertaining of crew at Green Shutters Club, Calcutta, India. REEL 8 Continues: voyage from India to GB, 11/1945; paying off of ship in GB, 3/1946; demobilisation in GB, 3/1946 and reasons why he did not want to stay on in Royal Navy. Recollections of period as working in fishing industry in Kingston upon Hull, 1931-1939: family's fishing background; ambition to go to sea; story of fishing trip with father aboard trawler Ohm, 7/1931; trawling off Iceland, 7/1931; opening up of nets. REEL 9 Continues: lessons he learnt about trawling; return to Hull, 9/8/1931; compensation hid mother received when father was lost overboard of the trawler Dervish; employment with Hull Steam Trawlers Mutual Insurance and Protecting Company; loss of trawler Lady Jeanette in River Humber, 8/3/1939; sight of trawlers going off to take up duties with Royal Navy, 1939. Recollections of period working for Grimsby Steam Fishing Vessels Mutual Insurance and Protecting Company in Grimsby, GB, 1955-1975 including Cod Wars: alleged illegal fishing friction between Icelanders and British trawlermen; expansion of Iceland's trawler fleet after 1945; German recognition of Iceland's four mile limit claim; Iceland's use of headland to headland base lines from which to measure twelve mile limit claim, 1959; difference between Grimsby and Kingston upon Hull in attitude to Icelandic claim; dangers of warp-cutting activity by Icelandic Coast Guard gunboats; tactic of fishing in boxes to thwart Icelanders and use of Royal Navy liaison officers; role of Americans and Norwegians in conflict from 1959; use of ocean going tugs to protect trawlers; end of deep sea trawling with two hundred mile economic zones. REEL 10 Continues: factors that led to British defeat in Cod Wars; status of pleasure trippers on trawling voyages and attempt in 1930s to provide documentary precautions; arrest of trawler Swanella for alleged illegal fishing in Kola Inlet, Soviet Union, 9/1950; technical methods of determining how far a trawler might be off coast; occasion when he gave personal guarantee to police chief in Tromsø, Norway over trawler arrested by Norwegians; problems of trawling off remote Bear Island, Norway; problems of handling marine insurance claims.