Death of Mr J.V.Breach.

Lowestoft’s Biggest Boat Owner.

Lowestoft’s largest boat owner, Mr J.V.Breach, who was well known at all the fishing ports around the coasts of the British Isles as at his home port died yesterday at 57 Kirkley Cliff, where he had made his home since his illness.
His whole interest was centred in the boat owning business in which he succeeded his father and which under his control reached a remarkable stage of development, in spite of the ups and downs with which the industry was faced from time to time.
He was Managing Director of Jack Breach Ltd, a Director of the local Fishing boat insurance clubs, and a member of the committee of the local Fisherman’s Widows & Orphans Fund.
Mr Breach lived for many years at Hastings House, Whapload Road, Lowestoft and after the outbreak of war went to Fleetwood to supervise the working of those of his boats which had not been taken for Admiralty service.
Last July he came home, and after an operation in Norwich in August remained in a nursing home until October. He never recovered sufficiently enough to return to Fleetwood.

An extract from the E.D.P. of 6.1.1944.

JACK BREACH

“Though virtually in the prime of life (he was 56) the late
Mr.John Breach had been one of the leading figures on the catching side of the herring industry for the last 25 years. This position was his because of the large number of drifters owned by companies of which he was Managing Director – at one time amounting to something like one-eighth of the Lowestoft fleet – and also because of his great practical knowledge, business enterprise, and organising ability.
He was the youngest member of the third generation of his family to be Lowestoft boat-owners. His Grandfather came to the East Coast from Hastings and built up a considerable business with sailing drifters. This was developed and enlarged by his father, who died during he last war, leaving his boat-owning interests to his son John

It was a time of high hopes and when the war was over businesses were expanded and new companies were formed by the dozen. The boom period was unhappily very brief and the Breach companies, being larger than most, suffered proportionally in the bad years. They kept the flag flying, however, and Breach boats right down to the present war were to be seen in the proper season at practically every herring port in the British Isles. And Mr John Breach too, was a familiar figure in most of these ports, which he visited from time to time, keeping a careful manager’s eye on his boats. Thus he acquired an experience of the conditions and practice of herring fishing which was unrivalled in the trade. He was almost as well known in the Scottish ports as in Lowestoft and Yarmouth. The English Herring Catchers Association, of which he was a prominent member, can ill afford to lose a man of his quality”.

Extract from Lowestoft Journal of 7.1.1944.

DEATH OF MR.JOHN BREACH, Jnr.

One of the youngest “admirals” of the Lowestoft drifter fleet and a member of one of the oldest firms of fishing-boat owners, Mr. John Breach, jnr., died at the Lowestoft and North Suffolk Hospital on Tuesday night.
Only 27 years of age, he assisted his father, Mr.JohnV.Breach, who is at
present seriously ill with pneumonia in a Lowestoft nursing home, in controlling one of the largest fleets of steam drifters operating from this
port.
His attractive personality made him greatly liked and respected not only in Lowestoft but at herring ports all over the British Isles.
The announcement of his death was a blow to the local trade and all flags on the fish market and in the vicinity were lowered to half mast as a token of respect.
Drifters fishing from the port went out with their flags at half-mast and those remaining in port also struck theirs.
Mr. Breach was unmarried. He was educated at Framlingham College.

John Breach Jnr.

John Breach Jnr

Family Group

Family Names: Golden Wedding

Golden Wedding Cake

Mystery of the Lost Trawler – The Clara Bella FD138, 1914

The CLARA BELLA belonged to the New Dock Steam Fishing Company LTD and was three years old when she left Fleetwood on the 26th of January 1914 for her ill-fated trip. This was the first time this vessel had gone to Iceland and crew members included Robert Gawne, Thomas Newby, Wliiliam Braham, James Patterson, Patrick Gregan jnr, James Maker or Maher, Oliver Cranwell or Crosswell, J. Blackwood, William Stone, Archibald Mclean, Richard Tomlinson, (son of the New Docks Managing Director), Martin Burnett and Harry kluver. James Patterson (spare hand) was my grandfather. He was 25 yrs of age.

The last sightings of the CLARA BELLA were by the Grimsby trawlers (INA WILLIAM, the SWEEPER, and the CHALCEDONY). The INA WILLIAM put in for shelter in an Onunderfjord off the west coast of Iceland on February the 10th 1914. There were many trawlers sheltering there due to the extreme weather conditions at the time and most of the vessels were encased in ice. The Skipper, Henry Steel, recalls seeing a Fleetwood vessel anchored near the entrance of the Fjord. He remembered it because at the time, he had thought it was a bit of a novelty to see a Fleetwood trawler at the Icelandic fishing grounds. Skipper Steel went on to say that two hours later there were slight breaks in the snow storms and that is when he noticed that the Fleetwood trawler had disappeared. He concluded that they had possibly ‘Slipped out to try for fish’.

He told the Board of Trade enquiry, ‘The weather thickened again almost immediately and continued with heavy easterly gales and continuous snow storms for the next ten days’. James Westerby, Skipper of the Grimsby trawler SWEEPER, said he saw the Fleetwood trawler in early February off Csar Bay, five or six miles South-West of Rykgaves on the South-West coast of Iceland. Why the CLARA BELLA had left was not known, but no trace of her had been found since, nor had any wreckage been found. The presumption was that either she had gone down in the blizzard or she might have struck a rock or floating ice.

Board of Trade Enquiry

The Secretary of the New Dock Steam Fishing Company – Joseph Allen Taylor, said he was satisfied that the vessel sighted by the Grimsby trawler SWEEPER must have been the CLARA BELLA. The conclusion he came to was that the skipper of the CLARA BELLA tried to resume his fishing during an interval in the rough weather and had probably struck a rock or some floating ice during the blizzard which had continued for sometime after he left.

In another write up of the Fleetwood Chronicle dated March 24th 1914, the President of Hull Fishing Vessel Owners Association states, ‘that the trawler CHALCEDONY saw a Fleetwood trawler in Fara Bay on Sunday, March 1st. Later the skipper of the steam trawler, SWEEPER, which arrived in Grimsby on the 9th of March, reported having seen a Fleetwood trawler. And his description of the vessel he saw corresponds with that of the CLARA BELLA seen on Saturday the 28th of February. If the CLARA BELLA was sighted on March 1st she would have been at sea for thirty four days at that point.

The CLARA BELLA came to Fleetwood brand new. She was built in 1911 so was only three years old when she went missing. She was built at Middlesborough at the cost of £7881 and was insured for £7000. Her gross tonnage was about 299, and her speed ten knots. The CLARA BELLA was of standard design. The only difference from other trawlers being that she had an extra fish room aft and an extra bulk head forward. Her bunkers would take from 165 to 170 tons of coal and her ice capacity was about 35 tons. Her capacity for fish would be about 100 tons maximum. Dead weight calculated on freeboard would be about 279 tons.

The Crew

Bosun – Herbert or Robert Henry Gawne – twenty years of age, resided in Addison Road, Fleetwood. He left a wife and one child ages four months old.
Mate – Thomas Newby – thirty four years of age, resided at 53 Carr Road, Fleetwood. He left a wife and one child aged seven years.
Deck Hand – William Braham – nineteen years old, single. He lived in Milton Street, Fleetwood.
Spare Hand – James Patterson- twenty five years, resided 55 Mount Street, Fleetwood. He left a wife and two children aged two years and one ten months.
Spare Hand – Patrick Gregan jnr – twenty years of age – single. Resided at Preston Street, Fleetwood.
Fireman – James Maher (or Maker) – age and address unknown.
Second Engineer – Oliver Cranwell (or Crosswell) single, a native of Melbourne Australia, lodging in Adelaide Street, Fleetwood.
Spare Hand – J. Blackwood – age and address unknown.
Fireman – William Stone – twenty nine years, single, resided at 5 Garfield Street, (off Victoria Street) Fleetwood.
Cook – Archibald Mclean – sixty six years, widower, and has a daughter in the Post Office at Birkenhead. He is a native of Glasgow and resided at the Imperial Cafe Fleetwood.
Deckhand – Richard Tomlinson – seventeen, single, the son of Captain Ernest Tomlinson, the Managing Director of the New Dock Trawling Company – resided Poulton Road, Fleetwood.
Chief Engineer – Martin Burnett, age and address unknown, from Kintore Aberdeen.
Skipper – Harry Kluver – married man. This was his first sailing out of Fleetwood.

A Double Tragedy-The Doris FD141

The trawler, DORIS, was lost with all hands in January 1914 off the Western Hebrides. The crew members were:

Skipper – William Wright.
Mate – John Talbot
Bosun – Matthew Wood
Chief Engineer – John Stephenson
Second Engineer – William Croft
Trimmer – Levi Leake
Trimmer – Arthur Stephenson
Deckhand – Robert William Chiffins
Deckhand – William Jones
Cook – George/William Nicholson

There was only one body found and that was of the cook, William or George Nicholson.

My Grandfather, James Patterson, was the Spare Hand on the CLARA BELLA. The Fleetwood Chronicle article of the time stated ‘a rather strange coincidence in connection with James Patterson, is that he is stated to have signed articles to have sailed with the ill-fated DORIS, but at the last minute, he changed his mind and went in the CLARA BELLA. The trawler DORIS floundered off the coast of Skye around January 22nd 1914 with all crew lost. My grandfather’s fate was sealed.
On 25th of March 1913, after the loss of the BELOVAR and NEW CROWN a disaster fund was set up to help the bereaved families – it paid out about £200 in twelve months. . After the loss of the CLARA BELLA and the DORIS an appeal was launched by the fund ‘Urgent Help Needed’.
After researching the loss of the CLARA BELLA I can only conclude that there were a lot of contradictions in the various articles published in the Fleetwood Chronicle 1914.

Can anyone identify the Fleetwood trawler or the people in these pictures?

Click to enlarge images

Rolling

Sailing Time

Working and Sleeping

Gutting

The Catch

Hauling

Hauling

Getting Ready

Crew

I spent most of my school summer holidays in Fleetwood and had been intrigued by the trawlers as they left or returned on the high tide. As many as twenty or thirty trawlers would pass the families lined up on the prom waving goodbye to their dads for weeks on end. Each trawler would sound the fog horn in its own way so even at night they would be recognised by the families left behind.

The Taxi came to my Granddad’s shop in North Church Street at four o’clock in the morning. We swept past the police at the dock gates on a cold dark rainy night and drove straight up to the trawler Red Rose that was to be my home for the next three weeks.

The quayside was frantic, ice and provisions were being loaded, men were leaping on and off the ship. The whole crew it seemed to me, were all drunk, arrived cursing and swearing as they fell out of taxis in a last minute dash before we sailed. If they were lucky they would have had two days ashore with their families (or in the pubs) before setting off on another trip.

The Red Rose was a new ship built in Aberdeen in 1955 and was one of the last oil fired trawlers built to fish the Icelandic and North Russian fishing grounds out of Fleetwood. In those days it was revolutionary in providing decent aft crew quarters, with showers and flush toilets. (It was later relocated at Hull, renamed Lord Howe and finally scrapped in 1968.)
We sailed on the early morning tide to Heysham where we filled up with fuel oil. The heavy smell of the oil gave me the first hint of seasickness which was to plague me for the next week. Being sick for days on end and not eating meant that my stomach was throwing up bile and my muscles were aching with all the retching. These first few days were a nightmare not helped by the whole crew recovering with foul hangovers only to start boozing again when the `bond store` was opened.

As the crew sobered up, and we approached Iceland the fishing gear was made ready. It started to dawn on me how hard and dangerous the work was as the net was manually hauled over the side and the bobbins and trawl doors were winched into the sea (In the 1950′s all the trawlers had side nets).
The skipper, Captain McKernan, up on the bridge in a high chair lashed to the side rail, leaned out of the window and controlled every movement. He really was the boss, and was acknowledged as one of the most successful trawler captains in Fleetwood.
The net was trawled night and day for the next two weeks, weather permitting until the holds were full of fish. The crew worked 16 hours at a time in the worst conditions imaginable often soaked and covered in fish blood as they gutted the fish on the open deck .

After helping to gut the fish my jeans were soaked in blood and slime of the fish and stayed that way for the rest of the trip. I must have smelled delightful!
A more pleasant but equally difficult job was to chop the ice down in the fish holds and cover layer after layer of fish as they were placed in the aluminium storage racks.

The worst was to come in the form of a Force 9 gale when all we could do was to stow all the gear and steam slowly into the storm. The ship literally sailed up a wave then down into the trough repeatedly for two days. It was sheer terror to a young teenager. The bow would dive into an oncoming wave which would wash onto the bridge blacking out the windows, in what seemed ages they gradually turned dark then light green and then cleared as the wave moved down the ship.

As the stern and propeller came out of the sea, the engines raced to maximum revs and the ship shuddered violently. The ship was almost like a submarine with all doors locked and hatches closed. The pitching motion was so violent that the only way to sleep in my bunk was to tie myself in. Another boy on the same trip didn’t, and ended up smashed against the cabin wall as he was thrown out of his bunk.

At the other extreme, we steamed through flat calm in a dense fog among a least twenty other trawlers all determined to carry on fishing. We were the only ship with radar but that packed in and like all the others had a lookout at the bow and regularly sounded the foghorn. It gave a whole new meaning to fishing blind.
The weather changed again as we steamed back from Iceland on a beautiful summer evening the sea was like a mill pond and myself and several of the deckies were leaning back against superstructure enjoying a bit of warm sunshine.

Literally out of the blue we were reminded how fickle and unpredictable the sea can be. A rogue wave quietly bore down on us and although we spotted it at the last minute all we could do was grab the hand rail and hold tight whilst it swept over the trawler. We rolled through what seemed like 90 degrees and were
completely engulfed by seawater which rushed through the open doors and flooded the crews quarters. It also deluged down the galley skylight where the cook luckily escaped scalding as the water hit the stove.

Two minutes later we steamed on through flat calm as though nothing had happened, but then had to bail out and dry everything. Then as now, deep sea fishing was dangerous and out of our twenty-one crew,
three died at sea within a few years. Tragically William Cooper the radio operator on the Red Rose later became the radio operator on the Red Falcon and died when she went down in 1959. I spent a lot of time with Bill since I was interested in becoming a radio operator. His other job on the Red Rose was boiling cod livers in the bow . This was a peculiar feature on the Red Rose in that cod liver boilers were usually located astern.

In spite of the weather, at the end of two weeks non-stop fishing we had the hold full of mainly cod and haddock all neatly stowed in ice. The latest i.e. freshest was carefully laid out in trays head to tail to get the highest price at the quayside auction. Everyone had a vested interest since the wages depended on the value of the catch. After a good catch, the crew with children would shower them with presents
and sweets, and the pubs which lined Dock Street did a roaring trade.

Barney McLaughlin

I never met my brother

During the 2nd World War a white pigeon landed on our house, he sat on the windowsill and, because a white pigeon near the house was supposed to be unlucky, my mother tried to chase it away. Our house was in Rosshead, Glenhead, by the sea. From the window we could see the cliffs, the fishing rocks and the sea stretching across to Portrush and Rathlin Island.

I came from a family of twelve children. The oldest boy was called Barney, and, being the first born, I always felt that he was my mother’s favourite. I often heard people talk about him but I’d never met him as he lived in England. He was the oldest and I was the youngest and he’d left Ireland before I was born. The reason that he’s left was that he’d been distilling and making poiteen, he had been charged by the Gardi and sent to Mountjoy jail, Dublin for three months. Upon his release he went to live in England, never to return.

During the war I remember a telegram arriving at our house from the War Office, saying that Barney’s ship had been torpedoed by the Germans. The whole family was devastated and my mother was heartbroken for a week until another telegram arrived from the War Office. They told us that there had been a mistake, Barney was not on the ship he should have been on. Seemingly that day he’d missed the ship because he’d got drunk. Because he did this he was jailed for one week, this was looked on as a serious crime as fishermen were fishing for food for the nation.

As far as I know he kept his roots and remained a fisherman for the rest of his life. He died 25 years ago and is buried in Hull. Since then I’ve met his son and daughter but I will never meet my brother. Every time that I see a white pigeon I think of Barney.

In August 1939 with the prospect of conflict in the offing, several trawler owners on both the East and West Coast recalled their vessels and delayed the sailing of others. Once War was declared, however, and with markets suffering from a lack of supplies, many trawlers returned to sea thinking that on the West Coast at least, the War might be slow to get under way.

They were not to know that many German U-boats were already moving into positions to the West of Ireland and outboard of the Western Isles – both areas favoured fishing grounds of the Fleetwood trawling fleet. On Tuesday 12 September 1939, the Mount Steam Fishing Co’s DAVARA (FD152) commanded by Skipper William Boyles and a crew of eleven, sailed from Fleetwood for the West of Scotland grounds.

In the early afternoon of Wednesday 13 September she was in a position some 21 miles NNW of Tory Island, County Donegal when she was closed by the U-boat, U.27 which with the deck gun manned, commenced shelling the DAVARA. Despite damage Skipper Boyles managed to get the boat into the water and with all the crew onboard the trawler was abandoned.

The shelling continued for about half an hour and thirty five rounds were counted, the DAVARA sinking at 14.55. The crew were in the boat for five hours constantly baling and rowing and were exhausted when picked up by by the West Hartlepool steamer WILLOWPOOL (4815grt/1925) and landed safely.

The DAVARA was the first British trawler to be sunk by enemy action in WWII. (Crew (all Fleetwood unless stated) – Sk. William Boyles; G. T. Pugh, Mate; W. Spall, Bosun; A Scott, Ch Eng, Thornton; J. Higgins, 2nd Eng, Burn Naze; E. Prentice, D. G. Gall, C. S. Hunter & H. R. Wright, deckhands; R. O. Welch & J. Gregger, firemen; C. W. Sharpe,

Only days later on 16 September in position 53.50N 11.10W the U.27 came upon The Sun Trawling Co’s RUDYARD KIPLING (FD33) under Skipper Charles Robinson with a crew of twelve and boarded the trawler. Ordering the crew to lower the boat and pull over to the submarine, supplies of food, including sugar, bread and fish and the vessels wireless equipment were transferred to the submarine before time delayed explosive charges were placed forward and aft; at 15.53 the trawler sank in three minutes. In complete contrast to the treatment of the DAVARA’s crew, during the eight hours that the U.27 towed the boat towards the Donegal coast the men were fed with hot soup and meat, given cigars and two rations of rum. In the early hours of the following morning when about five miles off the Donegal coast, they were ordered into the boat, but before being set adrift they were given greatcoats to wear. After an unpleasant journey they eventually landing safely at Killybegs. On 20 September the U.27 was detected by HM Ships, FORTUNE (P.No.H70) and FORESTER (P.No.H74) to the West of Scotland and forced to the surface by depth charges, she was sunk and all the crew captured.

Further U-boat victims soon followed though not all crews were released or lost. Fishing off the Faroe Islands the CALDEW (FD347), under Skipper T. J. Kane was stopped on 24 September by the U.33 and following the same pattern the crew was ordered into the boat before the trawler was sunk by gunfire. The boat was sighted by the neutral Swedish steamer KRONPRINSESSAN MARGARETA, (3765grt/1914) and the crew were rescued. Unfortunately the rescue was observed by an enemy seaplane which informed the German destroyer FRIEDRICH IHN (Z14) and torpedo boat, ILTIS, who intercepted the Swedish steamer and demanded that the survivors be handed over. On return to Germany the crew was declared prisoners of war and interned first in Stalag XB and later Milag Nord and with the exception of the Skipper, remained as prisoners for the rest of the War. Skipper Kane was exchanged on 21 June 1943 in Lisbon and repatriated.

By the end of 1939 and four months into the War, Fleetwood had lost a further eight fishing trawlers, WELLVALE (FD140), ARLITA (FD188), LORD MINTO (FD51), CRESSWELL (M129), DELPHINE (A126), SEA SWEEPER (FD171), SULBY (FD87) and WILLIAM HUMPHRIES (LO533) and with them the lives of over 50 fishermen. The incidents of Monday 18 September 1939 are particularly interesting. On the previous Monday, the ALVIS (H52) owned by Saint Andrew’s Steam Fishing Co, with Skipper Albert E. Thomason in command, left Fleetwood for the St. Kilda grounds. On the afternoon of the 18 September the Alvis was trawling about 29 miles NNW of St. Kilda in about 200 fathoms when around 1.20pm BST a submarine approached and fired a single round which fell short of the trawler. Skipper Thomason was ordered to stop the ship and put the crew in the punt and row over to the submarine, where he was taken onboard and questioned by the Captain. While alongside it was noted that the boat was leaking and the Captain asked “Is that the only boat you have got?” When Skipper Thomason replied in the affirmative, he said that the English should be ashamed of this, to send ships to sea with only one boat. The crew were ordered back onboard the ALVIS accompanied by an officer and three ratings from the submarine and the wireless transmitter and receiver were thrown overboard along with the trawl and all the gear out of the fore hold, all the time taking photographs; it was 4.40pm before they finished and were rowed back to the submarine. The Captain gave the Bosun a parcel, “Give this to your Captain with my compliments, and I hope he gets home quite safely”. It was a bottle of gin. The ALVIS having recovered the boat, steamed for St. Kilda with the submarine in company for about 11/4 hours before she submerged, and the trawler, her part catch still intact returned to Fleetwood accompanied down the Irish Sea by the HAYBURN WYKE (FD99).

The submarine was U.35 commanded by Kapitänleutenant Werner Lott, who on leaving the ALVIS proceeded back to the fishing grounds were he stopped the LORD MINTO (FD51) (Sk. C. Pennington), the ARLITA (FD188) (Sk. E. Christy) and the NANCY HAGUE (FD133) (Sk. R. King). The crews of the LORD MINTO and ARLITA were ordered to leave their ships and proceed to the NANCY HAGUE, whereupon the two abandoned trawlers were sunk by gunfire in position 58.09N 09.17W. The NANCY HAGUE which was the oldest trawler of the group, was allowed to return to Fleetwood with all the men. On 29 November 1939, off the West Coast of Scotland, the U.35 was detected and attacked by HM Ships ICARUS (P.No.D03), KINGSTON (P.No.F64) and KASHMIR (P.No.F12) and forced to the surface where she was scuttled by the crew who were then taken prisoner.

The site will be devoted to non-fishing vessels, and topics such as…….

Fleetwood Maritime Heritage Pictures and Articles.

* ICI Coasters
* Harbour
* Docks
* World Trade
* Manx and Belfast Trade
* Boatbuilding
* Ferry Boats
* and much more …

This will leave The Bosun’s Watch to concentrate on Fleetwood steam and sailing trawlers while Fleetwood Motor Trawlers looks after the motor trawlers and inshore vessels.

The site is still in its infancy as we are hoping to find another webmaster to take charge of it but any content can be sent to either The Bosun’s Watch or Fleetwood Motor Trawler sites.

Article courtesy of Brian S. Lowe Formerly Lt.Cdr.R.N.V.R

As a member of the Navy Records Society I have recently received the latest book issued by the Society – The Defeat of the Enemy Attack on Shipping 1939-1945. From the Introduction to this book it appears that you would like to have any information which might be useful in supplementing your records. In 1941 I was involved in an incident which might be of interest to you.

On page 262 of the book there is reference to the sinking of U-47 by HMS Wolverine on 8 March 1941 but on Page xlix there is an amendment to this which shows that U-47 was sunk on 7 March 1941 in a probable accident north of Rockall. At that time I was serving in HMT Northern Reward on the Northern Patrol based on Kirkwall. We used to be on patrol for about ten days and then have four days rest in harbour, usually Kirkwall. In February 1941 we made two patrols off the south coast of Iceland during which we had remarkably fine weather. We were returning from the second of these patrols when the incident occurred. Regrettably I am not sure of the exact date when it happened but I believe that it was on 1 March 1941 or a day or so later.

On that day I had the afternoon watch and initially the weather was fine with little wind. During the course of the afternoon we passed an abandoned freighter with a name ending with ‘pool `which was listing badly and had probably been torpedoed which indicated that U-boats had been in the area. Towards the end of my watch the wind began to increase and the sea to get up. At four o’clock I was relieved and went below but shortly after the action station alarm bell went and I went to the bridge where I was told that a submarine’s periscope had been sighted and that the Asdic operator had reported a good echo which he was able to hold.

I was Asdic officer and took over the attack but by this time the wind was beginning to freshen fast and the sea was getting rough which made it progressively more difficult for the Asdic operator to keep in contact with his target. However we made four or five attacks dropping a pattern of five depth charges each time. After the last attack contact was lost with the target but on returning to the scene we ran through a large patch of oil on the water which smelt strongly . We did not see any wreckage but by then it was dark and getting very rough, so much so that we had to withdraw the depth charge thrower parties from the deck as large seas were coming aboard and threatening them.

We thought that our attack might well have been successful in at least damaging the U-boat but we were by no means certain. The trace on the Asdic recorder looked reasonably good and the patch of oil could have indicated that we had done some damage although we had been told that U-boats sometimes discharged oil to fool their attackers into thinking that they had been damaged.

On our return to Kirkwall the C.O. reported the incident to the Senior Officer Northern Trawlers but we heard no more so the powers-that-were obviously considered that our attack was unsuccessful. However I have always wondered if they were correct and when I saw that U-47 went missing in the area at about the same time I thought that maybe we were successful after all. I would add that, if we had damaged the U-boat to the extent that it had to surface it might have sunk because the storm that followed was the worst I experienced during my time at sea and lasted for 18 hours. We were told that when it hit the Orkneys the wind was recorded at over 100 knots.

After nearly 60 years I cannot remember the exact position where this incident took place but I think that we were about half way between our patrol position 20 miles or so south of Öraefrajökul in Iceland and Cape Wrath which we had to make for to avoid minefields. This would have put us some distance to the north of Rockall where it is thought that U-47 was sunk.

I do not know if Northern Reward’s log book is retained in the Admiralty’s archives but, if it is, the date and position of this incident would recorded in it. Another record which might still exist is the C.O.’s report on the attack made to the Senior Officer of Northern Trawlers.

On another matter, in November 1941 I was serving in H.M.S. Vidette based in Gibraltar and on 13 November we were sent out from Gibraltar to screen H.M.S.Ark Royal which had been torpedoed to the east of Gibraltar. It was a nasty shock to learn next morning that the Ark had just sunk.