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When war was declared in September 1939 I along with my younger sister and brother were sent to the safety of the south coast near Eastbourne Sussex, we were there for as far as I can remember about nine months or so and our parents had us back home to the east end of London. At that time it was time for me to get my first job in a joinery firm in Barking ,having stayed there until I became old enough to join the services and decided it was the royal navy for me.

I had a medical and, was duly accepted, and was called to serve in September 1943 then off I went to Fareham in Hampshire which was the training base for the navy at Portsmouth, all this was a far cry from the home I had just left which I found quite exciting and I soon settled in to the navel routine. Having gone through the rigors of foot drill,marching,boat drill and guard drill was told you have what it takes so off you go to fight for your country.

I trained for anti-submarine detection and along with several other chaps was sent to Cambeltown on the west coast of bonny Scotland, the course involved training ashore on all the gadgetry and on being considered ready they sent us out on the sea to see how well we could cope at the real thing, it wasn’t as cozy as the shore base because I found out what seasickness meant, which made doing what had to be done very difficult.

I was declared proficient as an [ A.S.D.I.C] rating and drafted to Glasgow at the Govern docks where I joined a destroyer H.M.S.Amberscade,it looked like a battleship to me and I must confess there came a touch pride as on board I went as custom demanded the first person to see me at the top of the brow stood the duty bos,uns mate
In turn he referred me to the officer of the day,who new I was coming,another nice young man then took me forward to the seaman’s messdeck in the focs;le, this was my home for the months to come.

After a week or so the ship was sent to a place to have newly invented equipment fitted to the base ,it seems this was the ship that tried out the new gadgets, for this we were put in dry dock, there were four of us in the A.S.D.I.C team and this new appliance had to be fitted to the very bottom of the hull, since it was our baby we were taken down into the dock to see the thing being fitted, it was quite strange to be standing under the ship and I was not sorry to get out from under there.

One of the first places we were sent to was Cambeltown, the very place I\ had done my training and for some time we took on the teaching of new learners. Our task in general was to try these new things in different waters so into the atlantic we set off , and on occasions there would be a few scienticis on board to check the equipment was doing the job it was meant to. On one occasion the ship was taking on oil from a tanker in the Clyde when we suddenly cast off the pipes a set to getting us away as quickly as we could,the buzz went around there had been u boat activerty not far from Ireland and some sinking had taken place. I do not remember how long we steamed but we were closed up action stations all the way, in the distance there was burning we were sweeping as we went nearer and nearer,the three main operators sat at the controls calling the progression the way,in close company on our starboard side was thecorvette Hurst Castle ,this little cabin perched on the back of the bridge held the officer ,the four opperators, I in fact was a stand by ,but in that little hut the size of a small shed it was stifling, and they smoked. Suddenly the number one operator alerted the bridge of a torpedo heading for us on t
T he port beam the ship did a sharp turn toward it and it missed us but carried on only to sink the Hurst Castle. That was in 1944, the month I can’t recall but what doe;s stand out in my memory it seemed in no time at all she was in dire trouble and beginning to sink, Ambuscade stopped to pick up survivors as they did their best to swim towards us,I could see several people on the foc;sle not knowing what to do and I am fairly sure they did not survive, as did some of those in the water. It’s difficult to recall everthing that happened after all this time,I do wonder why we were such a distance but perhaps it has grown in length with the passing years.

Having taken the people aboard that reached us off went the ship all haste to get these men home, what the situation after we left I don’t know,we did what we could to help the fellows get cleaned up and get warm,getting the fuel oil off them was;t easy,some of our crew fished ods and ends of clothing to gave them back their dignity.

As far as I can remember we put them ashore in Ireland, a place called Movill where I think they had ambulances waiting,,some time weeks later the ship received a letter from a young girl thanking our ship for
saving her daddy,this lovely letter stayed pinned on the notice board for ages. The rest of my time on this I can’t bring to mind until the end of the war with germany came to an end the ship paid off and I was left onboard to strip all what was to had off ,then we sailed her to an isolated loch ,tied up along side a merchant type ship which was for the scrapyard as we were.

Now the war was over the thought was of going home but their lordships in their wisdom decided a trip to the med: would do me good,I along with several hundred other seamen was put aboard a converted aircraft carrier and took me to Malta.

I don’t quite remember how it went but after some time the powers that were then thought I would be very useful on a mine sweeper soI found myself on board the ;the Seabear,being one of the eighth flotilla which had the job of clearing mines laid by the enemy in the med, every time we went out the routine was the same up in a staggered one way, turn round and back the other, there was little for us to do except be seamen and help keep the ship clean, all the work was the quarterdeck parties with sweeps in and sweeps out poor sods. At that time the fleet was showing the flag around the Med to the countries that had suffered the worse of the war , they were doing the Corfu channel when the Saumarez hit a mine with loss of life,the frigate Volage went to her aid and in the course of doing so was herself in cantact with a mine, and as I understand it the guns on the Bulgarian border decided to shoot at the ships, ( it was found out later that these mines had been supplied and laid by the Italians). Being a minesweeping floatilla ,the eight was called in to clear the channel,so off we went to do the nessesary and did just that,as well as I can recollect it all went to plan until Seabear set off a mine with her float.

Apart from having a pleasant time on this trip and getting to see places I may not have had the chance to do so I was thinking it was time I had a draft home, it duly came and I found my self in Malta awaiting transport, they put me in Fort Ricasoli to work in the fleet mail clearance office sending redirected mail on to the people it was meant for.

Well that is my story for what it is worth, lots of instances just do not come to mind ,and the people I met are in the distant pass sometimes prop up to make me wonder how many of them are still around,to name two (Charlie Warby) who took me under his wing bless him, and( L.SEAMAN Dick Warne) in charge of one mess,I fancy he dispaired of me sometimes.

I am 77 years old now and glad to say am as fit as a flea : apart from the aged curse of arthritis , Imarried a lovely girl who gave me two remarkable children, a delightful girl clever and loving, and a son who lives too far from us to be able to visit often which makes me a little sad, both made their way to a respsctable living and made us proud of them…’

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