The Athabascan (Part 3 of 5)

Heroes Remember

The Athabascan (Part 3 of 5)

Transcript

Interviewer: Are there still guys floating around in the? Hundreds of them. But, when I say hundreds, there was 167, let's see, how many did they pick up? Haida picked up 46 and there were about 100 and, 120 that went down, 167 went down, I just don't know what the figures are. But the other, the remainder that were in the water were taken prisoner. We could have been prisoners too but as luck would have it, the engine ran. We got into a little bit of a squabble as to whether we, coxswain at this time McLurey wanted to stay there and become prisoners of war. We changed his mind. Anyway we got in there and we got close to the main group, we got about two more in and then the decision had to be made; either we stay or we go and it was my decision we were going to go because I said to them we couldn't get to the main group because if we got to the main group, they'd not only swamp us, we should take whatever we get and see if we can make it back. We took off and as we were oh about half a mile from the, from where the main body of survivors were, two or three ships came out, German ships came out from Brest I guess and we saw them and we thought, "Oh my gosh, well here we are." We got the engine going again and there were a whole bunch of little things in the water all over and someone said, "I think we're going through a mine field." Now we're not sure of that but there were things there. So we got through that and lo and behold it was just starting to get light and we'd picked up this Petty Officer Murray who had been in Haida, who had been on the net and it washed him, got washed off the net and he was about a mile and a half to two miles from the main body. We got him on board. We went on for about another five miles and it was just, you know, civil twilight but not quite, you know and I happened to look up and there was a big blob alongside and I was looking at this thing and all of a sudden a voice called out and said, "Hey Jack, is that you?" And I said, "Who's that?" and he said, "It's Stu," I said, "What the hell are you doing out here?"

Description

Mr. Hannam talks about the Athabascan, and his experience with it (part 3 of 5). Adrift in the Atlantic, they keep working on getting the engine to run, with only partial success. Out of the fog and smoke, someone recognizes him.

Jack Hannam

Mr. Hannam was born in Vancouver, BC on June 19, 1924. At the age of five, shortly after his father's death, he moved to Victoria. His father survived the sinking of the HMCS Charlottetown in the St. Lawrence River but was tragically run down by a drunk driver. He started with the Merchant Marine at the age of 15 and then went on to the navy when he was 17. He joined the reserves Sept. 9, 1941. He served first on the HMCS Camrose and later on the HMCS Haida in both the North Atlantic and off North Africa.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:30
Person Interviewed:: Jack Hannam
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Atlantic Ocean
Branch:: Navy
Units/Ship:: HMCS Haida
Rank:: Leading Seaman
Occupation:: Seaman

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Date modified:: 2019-04-03