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HMS Golden Hind
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Those known to have sailed in HMS Golden Hind during the Second World War 1939-1945. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
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Records of HMS Golden Hind from other sources.
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Want to know more about HMS Golden Hind? There are:-1 items tagged HMS Golden Hind available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Able Sea. Gordon Frank Martin HMS Malaya I have my father's discharge papers, his certificate of service, torpedo training record and an official army souvenir letter from him to his parents when he was at the Panama canal. He served at Chatham, HMS Pembroke, HMS Marlborough, HMS Malaya, HMS Golden Hind and HMS Black Prince,
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A/PO. William Oliver Merritt HMS Golden Hind My father, William Oliver Merritt, was stationed at HMS Golden Hind, Warwick Farm from 7 May to 4 July 1945, recuperating after being injured (burns to back) on 6 May 1945 by a kamikaze strike on HMS Formidable. He transferred to HMS Nabbington at RAAF Nowra until 15 November 1945, when he transited back to Portsmouth. He was a career Navy man, joining on 26 January 1937 and retiring as a CPO on 19 August 1961 at Portsmouth.
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AB. Albert Thompson HMS Golden Hind The captain wanted to check on what appeared to be a Spanish fishing vessel. He asked those around him if anyone spoke Spanish. Someone told him my father, Albert Thompson, could speak Spanish. My dad was summoned to the bridge, handed a loudhailer and told to tell the Spanish boat that the Navy vessel was coming alongside.
Realising he had been set up (he couldn't speak Spanish), he hailed, "Heya, youa, we are acoming alonga sidea". Both he and the seaman who claimed he spoke Spanish were put in the brig for a month.
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L/Sea. George Joseph Rocks RMS Lancastria   My father is George Rocks, occupation greaser on many Royal Navy ships during his seven years of service. On 17th of June 1940, he was reassigned from greaser, given a pair of binoculars, and assigned to the bow of the RMS Lancastria on submarine watch. It should be noted that he never did learn how to swim. The Lancastria was anchored three miles off-shore at St. Nazaire, France and spent the day taking on military personnel and civilians escaping the German advance into France. At about 3:30 p.m. a German airplane dropped several bombs that struck home, sinking the Lancastria within 20 minutes. The loss of life was staggering. The estimates are from 4,500 to 8,500 dead. This heavy toll was due to filling every available space on Lancastria with fleeing British and French military and civilian personnel. Winston Churchill, fearing the effect this loss of life would have on morale, declared a non-disclosure of the facts and sealed the records relating to this tragedy for 100 years. My father was so affected by the tremendous loss of friends and the sheer magnitude of the disaster that his brothers and sisters have since stated that it had negatively affected him as he no longer saw the beauty and wonder of this world. He was discouraged also by the fact that no one was officially notified about the disaster taking place. About 10 years ago, The Lancastria Society of Scotland pressured their politicians to strike a medal in commemoration of the sinking of the Lancastria. I applied for, and received my father's medal. Unfortunately, he died ten years too soon and never had the opportunity to hear someone tell him that they know what he went through and appreciate the sacrifices he made for his king and country. When I looked at my father's Continuous Certificate of Discharge book I realized that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was unknown back then. My father's Continuous Certificate of Discharge book shows that he was allowed the time to wipe the oil and salt off his face, get new uniforms, and get on the next available ship. His book documents him next serving on the MV Carnarvon Castle, followed by HMS Mersey, HMS Trailer, HMS Hunter, HMS Asbury, HMS Imgadine, HMS Chaser, and HMS Golden Hind before being discharged on 15th of June 1946. (I am sorry if I've misspelled the name of one or two of the ships some of the inked entries in his Discharge book have been negatively affected by time.) On the lighter side, my dad told me that he was leery about purchasing hard liquor when he visited the ports in the Pacific as he was burned on an occasion or two. The sellers would put tea water in bottles to match the color of the liquor being offered. Then, where the paper band wraps around the neck of the bottle, the seller would insert wax, followed by a measure of genuine liquor. That way the seller can remove the sealed cap and pour a small amount of the liquor for the unsuspecting sailor to sample before parting with his money.
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AB. Leonard Thomas Pardoe HMS Flycatcher Len Pardoe born 6th of May 1924 was from Quarry Bank, Staffordshire, a Black Country lad.
He joined the Navy in November 1942 serving on HMS Drake and because of the practice of filling the ranks with people from a wide range of areas, the first couple of weeks was spent trying to understand what the other ratings were saying, due to all the diverse accents.
At the wars' end he was in Australia with Mobile Operational Naval Air Base, so didn't return home until late 1946, having circumnavigated the globe. He later became a newspaper cartoonist in Birmingham.
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Able Sea. David Thomas Lewis HMS Golden Hind (d.18th May 1945) David Lewis is buried in the Springvale War Cemetery, Melbourne, Victoria.
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Stkr 1st Cl. John Patrick Rutledge HMS Gosling My father John Rutledge was 18 when he joined the Royal Navy in 1943. He served on a number of ships including Gosling, Duke, Drake, Nile, Formidable, Golden Hind and Glenearn. He was a Stoker Class 1 and served from July 1943 to February 1947.
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Ld.Sea Hugh Hopkins HMS Illustrious My father served on the following ships:
HMS Illustrious Oct 1941-Oct 1942
HMS Assegai 12-20th Oct 1942
HMS Harrow Oct 1942-Sept 1944
HMS Black Swan June 1945-Sept 1945
HMS Slinger 7th Oct-25th Oct 1945
HMS Drake and HMS Golden Hind 26th Oct _,13th Feb 1946
I am trying to find out which activities these vessels were involved in and where these took place. I would be grateful for any help from anybody with information.
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Ernest Albert Matthews HMS Golden Hind My Grandfather was Ernest Matthews. I do not know much about his service history, but he joined the navy in 1942 and left in 1946. His service included Collingwood, Rooke, Golden Hind and the boom defence vessel called the Lionion. I have no information apart from that. We are unable to find any information about the Lionion, although we have been told that it probably was known by its number. Captains that signed his service forms are Graham, Cox, Lundy, and Brock - all guesses because the writing and signatures are so bad! He had several medals including the Atlantic Star, Pacific Star, Italy Star and Africa Star. If anyone can give me more information I would be appreciative.
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