Description
Object description
British seaman served aboard HMS Tynwald in GB coastal waters, 1942-1943; officer served aboard MGB 658 in Mediterranean, 1943-1944; commanded MGB 658 in Adriatic, 1944-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in St Pancras and Wallington, GB, 1923-1939: family; sight of Amy Johnston landing at Croydon; education; employment with insurance company on leaving school, 1939; degree of experience of German Air Force raids; father's service with Royal Navy including his teaching of signals. Aspects of enlistment and training with Y Scheme with Royal Navy, 1941: enlistment under Y Scheme; story of formation of Junior Dogs Club; prior recollection of membership of Boy Scouts and outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939.
REEL 2 Continues: headmasters' keeping of chickens. Aspects of enlistment and training with Y Scheme, Royal Navy in GB, 1941-1942: call up, 12/1941; duties as class leader at HMS Collingwood; selection process; membership of sea scouts; lack of seamanship skills; background to joining Y Scheme and initial deferment; father's pride in sons naval career; story of sending uncensored letter from Sicily, 1943; conditions at HMS Collingwood; physical training display; seamanship training; sporting activities; sailing activities; leave; interview at end of course and drafting to Portsmouth Barracks; problems with colour blindness; drill. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Tynwald in GB coastal waters, 1942: drafting to ship in Belfast; lessons learnt from regular seamen in mess
REEL 3 Continues: duties on 4 inch gun; watch system; messing arrangements; sleeping in hammocks; formation of glee group; work as bosun's mate during anchoring at Milford Haven; attitude to chipping paint. Aspects of officer training at HMS King Alfred in GB, 1942: character of officer training; friends made during training; navigational training; method of training with naval formations; move to Lancing College; ship handling training.
REEL 4 Continues: taking sun sightings; method of selecting officers for different branches; two week officer training at Royal Naval College, Greenwich after completion of course; commissioning. Aspects of training as officer with Coastal Forces in GB, 1943: armament training at HMS Whale Island; training at HMS Vernon; training on motor launches at Fort William; training cruise in Western Isles, 1/1943; allocation of friends to motor gun boats. Aspects of period as officer aboard Motor Gunboat 658 in GB coastal waters, 3/1943-4/1943: appointment as navigating officer to MGB 658, 3/1943; description of motor gunboats.
REEL 5 Continues: armaments on board; joining boat at Brixham; meeting Canadian captain and first lieutenant at Weymouth; standing orders; duties as navigating officer; amusing story of captain forcing drink on him; composition of crew; captain's training of gunners on range at Weymouth; memories of his Captain, Lieutenant Commander Cornelius Burke; commissioning of boat, 26/3/1943; voyage around GB coastline.
REEL 6 Continues: fuel supplies for voyage to Mediterranean. Recollections of operations as navigation officer aboard Motor Gunboat 658 in Mediterranean, 1943-1944: German E-boat attack on flotilla on route to Gibraltar; picking up survivors from sunken E-boats; arrival at Gibraltar; further details of gunboat's crew; uniform worn; memories of Commander Robert Holme; activities on arrival in Algeria; move to Bone.
REEL 7 Continues: speed of working up; role of motor launches of Coastal Command; voyage to Malta, 5/1943; arrival in Grand Harbour, Malta; living conditions on mess deck; officers mess ashore; arrival of mass of shipping in Grand Harbour, 6/1943; chain of command; preparations for invasion of Sicily, 6/1943-7/1943; character of gunboat; approach to Sicily and role of gunboats during invasion; German Air Force attacks during landings; patrols in Straits of Messina.
REEL 8 Continues: shooting down of German aircraft by Seaman 'Happy' Day; sinking of German U-boat by 24th Flotilla; method of training armaments; escorting ships into Port Augusta, Sicily; navigation used; attending concert with Gracie Fields; move to Maddalena; start of operations off west of Italy; sinking of German ships and accidental sinking of Royal Navy boat during patrol off Elba, 10/1943.
REEL 9 Continues: move to Bastia; treatment of wounded; question of dealing with blue on blue incident; repairs to ship in floating dock; deployment of Coastal Forces vessels late 1943; formation of 56th Flotilla; radars available on gunboats and US PT boats; method of stalking and attacking German vessels; deception operations off Anzio; three nights of intensive operations with flotilla, 1/1944; treatment of German POWs; problems of attacking F Lighters.
REEL 10 Continues: method of attacking German F lighters; move to Brindisi to operate off Dodencanese Islands, 7/1944; mining of gunboat in flotilla; role assisting Yugoslavian Partisans; move to Malta; background to obtaining nickname 'Rover'; amusing story of obtaining khaki clothing in Malta; success of attack on German convoy in Mljet Channel.
REEL 11 Continues: aftermath of attack; role as gunnery officer; how three senior Canadians officer gave up command of gunboats. Recollections of operations as commanding officer of MGB 658 in Mediterranean, 1944-1945: appointment as acting commanding officer, 10/1944; loss of other gunboats in flotilla; Christmas celebrations in Malta, 12/1944; amusing story of cook's use of herrings in tomato sauce; how Canadian officers left the flotilla; attack on German vessels in Planinski Channel, 4/1945; attempts to get Germans to surrender in Venice area, 4/1945.
REEL 12 Continues: attending court martial of crew in Malta, 5/1945; problems of returning to boat on end of war, 5/1945; surrender of German 7th E-boat Flotilla, 5/1945; move to Trieste area for minesweeping duties, 5/1945; incident on getting drunk prior to voyage to Malta; paying off ceremony; story of discovery of papers that allowed him to write history of MGB 658 and how the book was written. Aspects of return to civilian life from 1945: background to taking up teaching career; pattern of teaching career.
REEL 13 Continues: how he became headmaster. Parties held on board motor gunboats and ashore in Bastia. Formation of Junior Dogs Club.