HMS Queen Of Bermuda, Part Six.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Bill Ross of the ‘Action Desk — Sheffield’ Team on behalf of Brian Armstrong, and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr. Armstrong fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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March 14th: We were still at anchor in Stanley, and there was no news at all. There was a great disappointment when we found no mail waiting, it turned out that the islanders had received nothing since we left for the South, so that took the worst out of the blow. Popular rumour has it that we will now remain here until some mail does arrive, which should be between Tuesday and Thursday of next week. Anyhow up to date there is nothing doing and we are just swinging round an anchor and waiting. There is still no news of our refit or our future programme, unless the big cheese is sitting on the details. That would not surprise me in the least. But if the news has come through, someone in Stanley will know and it is bound to leak out.

March 26th: We remained at Port Stanley until 21st (last Friday) when we sailed and squared away for the ice again, with the idea of rounding up the whaling fleet and taking them to South Georgia. The passage to the Southward was uninteresting; the temperature fell as we approached the South Sandwich group and yesterday (25th) we found the "Thorshammer" pretty well where we'd left her. She had the "Lancing" alongside.
Much to our astonishment she declared her intention of carrying on for another week or so and not joining the convoy. It took us some 24 hours to pick up the "Southern Empress" and her catchers, but at 6pm this evening we were heading back in the right direction. Today has been the coldest so far, the temp at noon was 10°F. and it's getting steadily colder; still it won't be long now before we get a raise. So far there is no news of "Svend Foyn", but we ought to be back at Grytviken by the end of the week, then after a few days there we will know what is what and where we we'll head for. I think it's high time we had some news of the refit.

By the look of the catchers, it has been pretty cold around here; they are covered in ice and look very much as though they've had quite enough. South Georgia wont be any picnic but at least it will be a little warmer than now and that's always a small comfort. At the moment we are a convoy of 10, ourselves, Southern Empress and eight catchers.

April 1st: we arrived at Grytviken. Last Saturday Mar. 29th after an uneventful passage from the ice. Southern Empress and her catchers carried on to Leith Harbour and we anchored at the seat of Government!!! So far we have been lucky in our weather, it has been cold but very quiet and the ship has been lazing peacefully at anchor. I hope it will stay like this till the end of the week or even longer. So far there is no news of our future movements, but all should hear something any time now. The betting is all in favour of South Africa, but whether we will go there or not, that is another question. We will convoy the two factories, somewhere there is no doubt about that and it will be a slow job as the Empress will only do a bare 10 knots.

April 5th: we sailed from Grytviken this afternoon and waited outside Leith Harbour for the two factories to come out. Our stay at Grytviken was on the whole pleasant. The weather was very kind, as apart from a couple of breezes, there was nothing to worry about. The relief from watch keeping was nil but that was only to be expected, but the time passed pleasantly enough although shore going was difficult. The fishing was excellent. Several days, (afternoons) netted some 4,000 fish and that's not a fishy story. The butcher reckoned on two tons of fish at least and that's when it is filleted. So that is one pleasant addition to the diet - not forgetting the many items that are running short due to difficulties in replacement.

The secret is out: the factories are bound for Freetown. I do hope we don't go all the way with them; one dose of Freetown in a war is sufficient, if it's anything like our last visit there. Anyhow the news seems to indicate that we are going in that direction. There is a certain amount of doubt as to whether we will arrive there or hand over the convoy to some other ship. The Old Man said something the other day - If we go to Freetown - That would seem to indicate a slight doubt in his mind. As no one knows the real dope except his secretary (who is sworn to secrecy and only tells the Furness Bermuda crowd down in Billy's room!!). It's still an open question as to what is what.

April 9th: going along on our way somewhere in the region of 10knots. It's a treat to have some warmer weather. This afternoon the watch was kept minus coats for the first time in months. The sun is warming up nicely. I hope it keeps up and gives us a chance to absorb some rays in due course. This afternoon I spent about a hour polishing the whales' teeth. The finished article will be good once I get the surface smoothed off. It may be a lengthy job but I think the results will be well worthwhile and the finished article will be -? Bookends? I wonder. Anyhow the polishing is the heaviest job of all and takes more time than any carpentry. That will have to depend on one of the "Chippy Chaps".

April 22nd: the night before arrival at Freetown. The passage has been fine, plenty of sunshine and nice warm weather. The last few days have been spent zig zagging and this morning we picked up an escort of two destroyers and a flying boat. Our choicest bit of news tonight is the fact that the All Highest is leaving. I expect the ship's Coy. will give three hearty cheers when they know. In fact I don't suppose anyone will be sorry, unless the next man is a proper swine; he couldn't be any worse than the great G.A.B.H. It must be wonderful to be so perfect. I suppose he will go home and be made a rear admiral or something like that. It will be interesting to see where he does end up.

May 4th: shortly after I wrote that last lot, we had a submarine alarm and went to action stations, but nothing happened and it all turned out peacefully in the end. We arrived at Freetown in the early hours of Wednesday 23rd April and anchored in our berth at 0800. The arrival was a triumph of effort on the part of late skipper who seemed determined to make his presence felt to the last. He certainly messed everything about in great style.
Eventually he left in a rush as his ship was sailing before anyone here expected it. I must say I've never heard any ship's company give three such hearty cheers as when Geoff departed. I'm quite sure there wasn't a man in the ship who didn't breathe a deep sigh of relief when he sailed away. His successor seems to be all right. He is an improvement on Geoff in as much as he is quiet and doesn't go around the ship like a raving lunatic. What he will turn out to be remains to be seen, but I should say at a guess that unless he changes very much from his present state of mind, he'll be better than G.A.B.H.
We stayed in Freetown until yesterday evening. Apart from a day on the D.G. range it was a quiet time at anchor, but rather humid most of the time and very sticky at night.
There were several changes in that port. Young Scott left without a relief and Stretton changed ships with an R.N.V.R. Sub from Vindictive who is here to get his watch keeping certificate. Seems a nice lad; he is keeping watch with me.

The highlight of the visit to Freetown was the arrival of the Samaria (Cunard liner). I paid her a visit and was very successful in buying wardroom stores. The joke of the stay was the arrival of the Monarch of Bermuda, where we did not get any stores, although the Furness bunch went across en masse and forgot to come back till late, and friend Burns (Temporary Commander RNR - T124 Officer) answered the sentry's hail with "Queen of Bermuda !!!!!!!" Some people will never learn. There were many familiar ships in Freetown including the Duchess of Richmond & Atholl.

Another bright spot is the fact that we get climate pay which is not liable to income tax. The new income tax is bit of a staggerer. When we saw the new rates we nearly passed out. It will hit the single and Dollar men when they need it. One would almost think it was designed to get at this ship and the joy of the climate pay is that it isn't payable to the T124 brigade or the X division either. It's our first little bit of jam.

The baby engineers managed to get themselves into a bit of a mix up which resulted in a court of inquiry in the Edinburgh Castle. We don’t know the result of that but for once in their lives I don’t think they are to blame.

May 10th: a week of quiet weather and patrol with constant zigzag. We are in an area, which is supposed to be used by raiders and supply ships, but up to the present we've only sighted one ship, the Orbita, since leaving Freetown. We are patrolling the area to the westward of St. Helena now and the weather is fine. Everything seems to be set for a bit more peace although what we may meet next week would be difficult to forecast. So long as the weather remains like this it will be all right, not too hot and not too cold and the nights are fine after the heat of Freetown. The new skipper seems to be quite nice. He's an improvement on G.A.B.H. and even if that's all, it's a lot.

May 22nd: still on the prowl; we are back to warmer weather after a spell down near the southern edge of the tropics!! On Sunday last, the 18th of May, we arrived at St. Helena and started to oil, but just then the Nelson and Eagle arrived and commandeered the oiler, so we had all night there. It's a quaint spot and I was lucky enough to have a run ashore on the Monday morning for a couple of hours, and drive around the island for a bit. Visiting Longwood and its surroundings and seeing lots of relics of the well known exile "Boney". It did seem a peaceful spot after all our rushing around and if it wasn't so inaccessible, it would be a fine spot to have a holiday.

I met the garrison there who seem to have dug themselves in pretty comfortably. I rather wish we'd had longer there as it looked to be an island worth exploring and the climate is delightful. The island is high and landing is somewhat difficult, but we were lucky; there was only a suspicion of a swell. The natives, who seem to vary from jet black to very light brown, are all very polite and any we passed while driving were very particular to acknowledge us. A peculiar thing is the pleasant accent everyone seems to speak with; a very educated accent. It's a nice little island, taking it all round, and I'd like to see it again.

June 30th: quite a few changes since the last entry. After our trip around St. Helena, we made our way by slow degrees to St. Paul's Rocks, which we circled on the afternoon of May 27th. There was nothing there except sea birds, no sign of it being used as a base or anything like that, just an abandoned aerial light, either uncompleted or left to rust.
This week was enlivened by our rapid change of nationalities: one day we flew the Stars & Stripes, next the Macaroni Ensign and finally we became Vichy French, but nothing happened and we slowly approached the Freetown area, and once again, and on Tuesday 3rd June, we arrived back in the harbour after another 10,000 miles of patrol to our credit.
The ship was reported to be in an awful state below and we sent a signal asking that the Fleet Engineer be sent on board to examine things before she was shut down. He stated that without extensive repairs we were not fit to do another patrol and the days started to pass while they tinkered and played down below.

On June 4th, the Georgic arrived with an E.N.S.A. party on board and I was detailed to go over and organize a visit to the Q. of B. The party was headed by the famous Alice Deleysia, and the concert was a big success. We had a huge crowd on board and they just about cleared us out of booze; a thirsty lot of lads they were.

The next day I went sick with a temperature and a boil in my ear, most painful and unpleasant and I didn't bother anyone for a week. The skipper offered to send me up in the hills but I didn't want to leave the ship in case she left me, so I stayed put.
During my time off I lost all my best hands; they were drafted home for higher rates and I found myself with another bunch of thugs to train. Around this time, the Fleet Air Arm came into the picture. We now find ourselves complete with a flight of pilots, two observers and the ground staff. Also the catapult crew, but no machines. Great fun!

The days dragged on, warm and steamy and no news. Plenty of mail, that was a great help and nothing happened until Wednesday 18th June when we got a hurry up message to raise steam immediately and proceed to sea. The engines worked but we blew out a couple of boiler tubes soon after sailing, which cut us down to six boilers and 17 knots. The old Queen is feeling her age. Still no news of the refit in spite of it being very much overdue. We are now wandering off in a southerly direction and will soon be in the southern hemisphere again. Probably tomorrow we'll feel more at home south of the line. (joke!) having spent so much time there recently.

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Continued in part seven: A5409632

Pr-BR

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