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Merchant Navy
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The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.
Announcements
- The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web.
- 27th April 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 264001 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible.
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Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our
Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. |
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Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted
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Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a
Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.
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Want to know more about Merchant Navy? There are:75 items tagged Merchant Navy 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. James Duncan Cocker Empire Pibroch My late father, James Cocker was an S.O.S. on the Empire Pibroch and is on the crew list docking at San Francisco on the 21st of January 1946.
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William Crosbie Black MM, DCM, BEM. Reina Del Pacifico William Black was my grandfather. He was born in Ramelton in Donegal Ireland in 1880.
He was a sailor in the Mercantile Marine. He was mobilised into the Lancashire Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery on 25th of May 1915. He received a hand written duplicate letter requiring to report to the Sefton Barracks in Upper Warwick Street together with a detailed list of personal supplies and clothing to which he would receive a gratuity of £5 on reporting for duty.
He served until 12th January 1919.
He was awarded the Pip, Squeak and Wilfred War Medals, but also awarded the DCM and Military Medal. There is a Certificate for the Gallant Act he carried out to receive the Military Medal whilst serving with the Second Army.
He also received a Mercantile Marine Medal from the Board of Trade.
In WW2 he was a Quarter Master on the Reina Del Pacifico, owned by the PSNC, which was converted into troopship. He was 59 when WW2 started. He was in many theatres of the War which included the Second Battle of Tobruk and the Invasion of Sicily.
He was awarded the Africa Star with Clasp, Atlantic Star, Italy Star, Pacific Star and Burma Star.
In the Honours List announced on 9th January 1946 he was awarded the British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service.
He ended his service on SS Orbita when his Sea Service and his War Service Certificate was issued on 29th May 1947 when he was 67.
He was a much loved father and grandfather, and died aged 82 in 1962.
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BS. Frederick Harry Parrott Frederick Parrott served with the Merchant Navy during WW2. He died in 2020.
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Radio Off. Robert Moses Walker My grandfather, Robert Walker was a radio officer in the Merchant Navy on a Ministry of War Transport in World War II.
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3rd Radio Off. Brian Roy Clarke SS Sithonia Brian Clarke was third radio officer on the SS Sithonia, which was torpedoed in the mid-Atlantic on 13th of July 1942 by a German submarine U-201, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Adalbert Schnee. Most of the crew survived in two lifeboats. Brian’s lifeboat arrived in Africa two weeks later, where eventually they were taken prisoner by Vichy French authorities and sent to a POW camp near Dakar. At the end of the war, they were released and repatriated. Details of his story and survival and imprisonment were brought to public attention through his recordings (titled ‘Adrift’) on tape and CD, which are available at the Imperial War Museum. Also, the book ‘Making Shore’ was basically Brian’s true story, although it had some embellishments of a romantic nature.
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Sea. Maurice "Ginger" Archer SS Wendover  My father, Maurice Archer (or Ginger as he was nicknamed, for his red hair) was 17 when he sailed out of Liverpool on 21st June 1940. His Merchant Navy ship, the SS Wendover, was bound for Bordeaux carrying coal on passage. France had just fallen to Germany, so orders were changed and the ship was diverted to Rio de Janeiro. On 12th July, my father celebrated his 18th birthday. On the 16th July, my father’s ship was captured at sea by a German raider. During the capture, a burly German officer turned to my father and told him "The war is over for you, son". But this was just the start of 4.5 years in captivity and in concentration camps where my father witnessed death, hunger, cold, and disease. He now tells his story:
"On the 16th July 1940, I was on 4-8 watch when according to the 8-12 watch a ship flying Yugoslav colours had opened fire from the port quarter, killing the radio operator and setting fire to the bridge. The ship turned out to be a disguised German raider. During the one-way exchange of fire (the raider kept of range), Able Seaman George Smith was seriously injured and the third engineer, Mr. Gibson, and the steward, Mr. Gernardt, were killed. George Smith died later of his injuries. After four months aboard the raider, we were transferred to a prison ship. Conditions on the raider were passable, but the prison ship was deplorable.
We landed in Bordeaux a few weeks later and were taken to the prison camp Caserne Colonial Bordeaux. This camp bordered on primitive in every sense of the word. Our first night there we had doors for beds. We weren't sorry to leave there in a cattle truck three days later, when we were taken to Drancy Prison in Paris. The less said about our stay at Drancy the better. The only good thing I remember about Drancy was the kindness of the French women who had nothing themselves, but nevertheless threw loaves of bread to us past the guards.
Most of the prisoners, including myself, were sent from Drancy to concentration camps. After five days of normal transportation (i.e., in cattle trucks), we arrived at Bremervorde in northwestern Germany near Bremen, and were then marched several miles to Stalag X-B in Sandbostel, where we were greeted by the stink of death. I was held in Stalag X-B for two years, and I will never forget that smell – it lingered constantly. Many thousands of POWs died there. In early 1945, in the face of advancing British forces, the camp was evacuated, and we were marched to Marlag und Milag Nord, from where I was later repatriated.
There have been times when I've thought about the few months of kindness and friendliness shown by Frau Wilmbrock and her family in the village of Kirch, where I and fellow Stalag X-B prisoner Jock Reid worked their farm.
Little did I know, but back home I was considered missing and presumed dead. My name was and still is on the wall of remembrance in the Mission to Seaman in South Shields."
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JEng. Thomas Andrew "Tots" Storey (d.7th Sep 1940) Thomas Storey came from a family of nine.
His Ship was hit by a U Boat.
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L/Bdr Norman Power Maritime Regiment Royal Artillery My late father in law was Norman Power. He served with the Royal Artillery Maritime Regiment in WW2. He was a gunner on merchant shipping on both the Atlantic and Arctic Convoys.
I remember him telling me about runs to Malta and how soldiers shouldn't have been on ships. He said he always craved the soil under his boots. He was torpedoed and sunk twice but fortunately rescued on both occasions. I remember him telling me that he was actually on his first day of a period of survivors leave when D Day commenced.
Many years later he wrote a short fictional story about a Maritime Regiment gunner who brought nothing but bad luck. The story is called The Jinx.
From things he had said prior to his death, the family believe that the story could actually be based on himself and those he served with. Whilst it is only short, it gives a vivid account of life on board ship as a RA gunner during WW2. The story was hand written and falling apart but I have typed it up for preservation.
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AB. James Wafer S.S. Samaria (d.14th May 1943)  James Wafer started service as an Able Seaman during World War 1 and had survived active service as a teenage merchant man on a ship called Romney. He signed up in 1915 at the age of 18.
This is the story of my Grandad, James Wafer and his best friend and shipmate Matty Towers. In May 1943 S.S. Samaria was in West Huskisson dock at my grandfather's home port of Liverpool.
At 5.00 p.m. on Thursday 13th of May 1943, my grandfather Jim reported for duty on troop ship S.S. Samaria to J. Lowe 2nd officer.
At 5.10 p.m. he was assigned A.R.P. duty by S. Pentith 3rd officer.
From 10.00 a.m. 11.00 p.m. he was seen on his rounds attending to blackout by J. Lowe.
1.30 a.m. Friday 14th of May 1943 Jim Wafer was seen apparently asleep in Seaman Gunners Quarters by Able Seaman Stanley Poole. A little after 1.30 a.m. the last person to speak to Grandad was Able Seaman M. Towers.
When he talked to my Grandad he was told that he had a bad headache.
These were to be my grandfather's final words on earth.
At 8.00 a.m. Matty Towers looked in his bunk and then reported Grandad missing to the Bosun, J. Hynes. Shortly after, Samaria set sail for Algiers via the River Clyde, Glasgow. Samaria sailed out of Liverpool on Friday 14th of May 1943 and was on the Clyde Monday 17th of May.
Samaria sailed from Clyde 19th of May to Algiers and arrived 27th of May 1943.
At 6.25 p.m. Wednesday 26th of May 1943 P.C. William Gibb and Sgt Fox found my Grandad's body in the South West corner of the West Huskisson dock. Two days later the Coroner held an inquest into Grandad's death and the verdict was given as unascertainable. Thomas Coakley examined the body and states no violence was used in his death but his body was badly damaged, due to it being trapped for days under the lock gates of the dock. He listed drowning as the probable cause of death.
The funeral for 46 year old Jim Wafer was held on Tuesday 1st of June 1943 at St Dominic's Roman Catholic Church then burial at Ford Cemetery.
On the Samaria crew list and report of character, James Wafer and Matty Towers are consecutive number 59 & 60. For ability and general conduct both men are reported as very good.
By the 26th of June 1943 the crew of the Samaria had heard of the body of Jim Wafer being found in Liverpool. At 7.05 p.m. Matthew Towers A.B. (M.N. Gunner) fell from the gun platform on A deck to B deck, receiving head injuries. On being examined by the ship's surgeon life was found to be extinct.
At 7.45 p.m. the Samaria was about to sail. At this point the body of Matthew Towers A.B. was taken ashore by the military authorities for burial. On 28th of May 1943 he was buried in El Alia Cemetery Algiers.
The official record of these two mens' deaths falls so short of telling the whole story. Against J. Wafer it states "he failed to re-join ship" and for M. Towers it reads "died as result of accident". Strange that we have sworn coroners statements from my grandfather's inquest placing him on the ship and performing his duties, but the official entry in the log claims he failed to re-join the ship. The official records state the purser took possession of his discharge book, his I.D. card and his grey suit jacket.
For Matty Towers the three witness statements into his death are very contradictory. Those giving evidence included J. Cornwall M.N. Gunner, R. W. Orr D.E.M.S. Gunner and T. Moulton Sectionman. One statement indicates he fell forward unhindered over the gun deck another says he staggered, gripped a rail and fell backwards to his death. The third statement, quite surprising, from W. Orr, is missing from the official records although he is listed as giving evidence to the inquiry into Matty Towers death.
Matthew Towers was 48 years old when he lost his life.
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Ord Sea Charles Walter Lomax Ordinary Seaman Charles Lomax served with the Merchant Navy in WW2.
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Patrick Etherington Short MM. Patrick Short was born on 14th of March 1891 at 21 Great Denmark Street, Dublin in Ireland.
He joined the South Lancashire Regiment on 28th of November 1915 and transferred to the Machine Gun Corps in 96th Brigade 32nd Division.
He was in hospital when the war ended in 1918 having a hernia operation, he was in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War.
After the war he went to Canada for a time then returned to Norwood London and died in 1977.
His brother Francis David Short was in the First War but I have no details on his service. He may have been in the Devon or Dorset Regiment. He survived.
Another brother Thomas was in the British Army.
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Fireman. George James William "Dick" Durling BEM. SS Otranto Dick Durling served on all the Orient Line Ships during WW2
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Capt. Robert Malcolm Barber MV Patella (d.16th Feb 1944) Robert Barber was Master of the MV Patella, a Royal Shell tanker sailing from Durban, South Africa when it was intercepted by the German Surface Raider Michel, which took 60 men prisoners including the Captain.
The ship was sunk by gunfire and the prisoners offloaded in Yokohama when the Michel next returned to port. The Patella had been carrying 10 tons of oil.
Captain Barber died in Yokohama after having been put to work in the Japanese coalmines.
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Philip Gilston Monarch of Bermuda The ship had arrived in Liverpool on 15th May 1941 returning from Convoy WS 5B to Suez. Dad signed on in Liverpool on 1st June as 3rd Butcher.
Embarkation of troops in Liverpool had been seriously disrupted following an explosion in Huskisson Dock on 2nd May when the Brocklebank steamer Malakand was set on fire during a raid while she was loading bombs and shells for the Middle East. Debris was scattered over acres of docks, even into Liverpool city centre and it was cleared by up to 1,300 men and 162 tipper lorries enabling the port to get back to near normal by mid June.
Monarch of Bermuda sailed for Suez with an estimated 2,200 troops on board on 28th June in company with seven other ships and escorted by the destroyers HMS Reading and Piorun (Polish). They sailed up the Irish Sea to join with the Clyde portion to form convoy WS 9B.
The convoy would have various naval escorts during the trip which would join and leave as the convoy passed their bases.
Some idea of the danger awaiting convoys is given by the following story.
The steamer Anselm had left Liverpool with Monarch of Bermuda to join convoy WS 9B but hadn’t been able to maintain the 12 knots speed. She was ordered into the Clyde and the 990 RAF and 419 troops on board were going to disembark. After a change of orders she eventually left the Clyde with escorts on 30th June. On 5th July when she was 300 miles astern of convoy WS 9B she was torpedoed by U-96 under Capt. Willenbrock.
According to a later report by the ship Cathay, the previous night’s U-Boat dispositions siutuated a submarine close to the position of Anselm and which, despite the three corvette anti-submarine screen, allowed U-96 to put in a successful attack at 05.37 when a torpe¬do struck the port side reserve bunkers of Anselm. The stokehold and engine-room were soon flooded and with the engines stopped, the ship lost way and within eight minutes, Captain Elliott reported “that Anselm was badly down by the head”. While the crew were preparing and lowering the lifeboats which were filled with personnel as they calmly filed up from the troop decks, HMS Challenger approached and skilfully placed her bow under the port quarter of Anselm, “Many men jumped on board before the two ships became separated.’ By 05.47 all remaining boats were being rapidly filled by the use of side ladders and side decks while the remaining personnel jumped into the sea to grasp the lifelines of boats and rafts. At 05.55 all the boats but one had cleared the ship, by which time “the foredeck was completely submerged and the water almost up to the level of the promenade deck. There were still some men on the after deck, but could not see if they had jumped clear before the ship sank. I myself [Captain Elliot] slid into the water short¬ly before the ship took up a vertical position stern up and then disappeared completely at 05.59.” This was 22 minutes after first being torpedoed.
Captain Elliott concluded that Anselm was abandoned without panic or unnecessary confusion. The men went to their boats in an orderly and quiet manner. Many were singing songs while the boats were being lowered. All were willing and did their best to help abandon ship quickly in the short time available.
The survivors in the water and boats were picked up by HMS Starwort and Challenger approximately 230 on the former and 820 on the latter, but owing to the intense over¬crowding an accurate count was not possible. By 08.20 both escorts were proceeding at 6 knots towing Anselm’s empty boats, but as speed increased to 13 knots these gradual¬ly broke away and were lost.
A total of 254 officers and men lost their lives in the sinking of Anselm, of which 176 were RAF, 70 from other services and 4 crew. Most of the casualties were considered to have been killed by the explosion and subsequent flooding in No. 3 hold. The troop decks in this compartment contained many RAF and RAOC and “the number of casualties was probably increased by the wooden ladders...being smashed by the explosion.” Anselm was indeed unfortunate to have been sighted and torpedoed whilst with¬in the supposed protection of an anti-submarine screen by an isolated homeward bound U-Boat. Conversely, it was fortunate that fair weather allowed the rescue of 80 per cent of the total on board.
Suffice it to say the remainder of the convoy including Monarch of Bermuda made the passage safely arriving in Freetown on 13th July to fuel and take on water and sailing on 17th July for Durban. The slower ships left the convoy at Capetown and the convoy increased speed to 14 knots rounding the Cape into a full gale which eventually turned so that they had a following sea. The swell was of considerable height and the ships became almost unmanageable and steering had to be assisted by engines.
Monarch of Bermuda arrived in Durban 30th July and carried out repairs. She left on 3rd of August with four other troop ships and three ships carrying military equipment still as part of convoy WS 9B. When they reached Aden on 15th August the convoy was disbanded.
The ship had to wait in Aden until the Monster liners Mauretania, Ile de France and Nieuw Amsterdam from convoy CM 15 had passed through ahead of her to disembark at Suez before she did. She left Aden on 21st August and arrived at Suez on 25th August
The ship left Suez on 27th August via Port Sudan to load commercial cargo at Mombasa for Capetown and the UK. The trip back to Liverpool was via Durban, Capetown, Trinidad and Halifax. At Halifax she embarked American troops to Reykjavik in Iceland and arrived back on 17th October a total journey time of three months.
The ship remained in Liverpool for five weeks during which time two weeks voyage repairs were carried out so I should imagine that Mum saw a good deal of Dad during that time.
The convoy was originally supposed to sail at the end of October 1942 as WS 13 but its designation was changed to WS 12Z (a lucky omen?). Monarch of Bermuda embarked 2,287 troops and was one of ten liners in this convoy which eventually sailed on 12th November.
The weather was initially fair but by the 16th November they were in heavy seas in a Force 8 gale which was right on the beam causing the ships to roll heavily. This caused miserable conditions throughout the overcrowded and claustrophobic troopdecks. Few if any of the troops had ever crossed the English Channel let alone been exposed to the rigours of the North Atlantic. There were no portholes, and ventilation came from the open access hatches which had to be closed at night when the ships were darkened. “Arrangements for those who succumbed to seasickness consisted of 40 gallon drums which slid about the deck with unpleasant splashings. Sanitary arrangements were, as usual, inadequate.
A man was washed overboard from one of the escorting destroyers but was not recovered. The ship Adrastus had to heave-to to secure cargo which had come adrift and didn’t catch up with the convoy until three days later.
On the 23rd November the convoy was ordered to split into slow and fast convoys. This meant that Monarch of Bermuda with eight other liners and the cruiser HMS Royal Sovereign increased speed from 13 knots to 16 knots. This enabled them to arrive at Freetown on the 25th for fuelling and water before sailing on 28th for Durban.
The passage to Durban took longer than anticipated because the route diverted to sail closer to the African coast and the convoy speed dropped to 6.1/2 knots to enable the RN escorts to rendezvous with a tanker for refuelling at Point Noire. On 13th December the weather reached gale force which repeated the heavy rolling and misery in the troopdecks experienced on the first leg of the voyage.
The convoy arrived in Durban on 18th December. By now the United States had entered the war and Japanese forces were invading Malaya. The movement control staff in Durban were receiving signals from London changing the instructions for the destinations of the various troops. As fast as they drew up new convoy plans, the instructions would change. The staff had been working 48 hours without sleep planning the convoy and then tearing up the plan and movement orders as changes took place. Unfortunately, all their hard work diverting troops and stores came to nothing because Singapore fell into Japanese hands.
Monarch of Bermuda sailed on Christmas Eve for Liverpool via Trinidad arriving back on 21st January 1942.
On 11th February Monarch of Bermuda embarked 2,500 troops and had to anchor with other troopships in the River Mersey held up by fog until the 16th. The ships formed up with the Clyde contingent for convoy WS 16 west of Orsay on the 17th. On the 18th the weather worsened to force 6 with a rough sea and short, heavy swell with poor visibility. The two Ellerman ships City of Lincoln and City of Edinburgh had to return to Liverpool and the Clyde because cargo had shifted. They subsequently sailed on convoy WS 17.
The two aircraft carriers escorting the convoy lost aircraft due to crash landings, considered by Admiral Somerville to be due to “lack of training and experience of deck landing to a regrettable degree”.
The convoy arrived in Freetown on 1st March. While in Freetown news came through that the Japanese had landed in Java and Batavia and the Dutch East Indies had surrendered which would mean no more convoys to the Far East. The troops on Monarch of Bermuda were originally destined for the Far East but would now be discharged at Durban.
When the convoy arrived at Durban on 21st March the Commodore recommended that the Armed Merchant Cruisers used for convoy protection were not suitable owing to their slow speed of 12.1/2 knots when the liners carrying 4,000 troops were capable of 18 knots or more.
Monarch of Bermuda left Durban on 24th March and returned to Liverpool via Cape Town and Freetown arriving back on 23rd April. Dad signed off the ship on 8th May.
In the eleven months on the ship Dad had spent three months in Liverpool.
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Ronald Hilary Treharne Gibbons Ronnie Gibbons joined SS Port Sydney at Cardiff around September 1938. It departed New York 1 Oct 1938, due Sydney Australia 1 Nov 1938. Ronnie sent a wireless Christmas Greetings letter to his parents, via SS Reumera, on the return journey.
Ronnie stayed with the Merchant Navy during the war and was torpedoed off the east coast of the USA at some point. He was rescued, repatriated and managed to survive the war. I believe, SS Port Sydney also survived the war so, I am uncertain on which ship Ronnie was serving when torpedoed. The family believed that the torpedoed ship was the Tacoma Star of the Blue Star Line but I believe that ship was lost with all hands and Ronnie's name does not appear on the casualty list. He died on 21st Aug 1973.
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