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HMS Manxman's demise (Part 1 of 3)

Heroes Remember

HMS Manxman's demise (Part 1 of 3)

Transcript
The Welshman and the Manxman continued to operate in the Mediterranean and to bring supplies in, into Malta until in November and the date, the actual date escapes my memory at this time. It was early, within the first week of November at 5 p.m. or 5, 1701.5 hours, that's 1.5 minutes past 5 p.m., we were struck by a torpedo fired at us by a U-boat. We avoided the first one but the second one hit us directly into the engine room and brought us to a standstill. It's just a loud explosion and of course the air blown out through the ship's side and, you know, the water sprayed up where it hits. We had, we lost 4 men who were on duty in the engine room, 2 engine room articifers and 2 stokers. We never did recover the body of one stoker and just above the engine room was a pom-pom gun, 20mm pom-pom and a rating was standing, leaning over the rail around the pom-pom when the torpedo struck the ship on the opposite side. There was an air vent that came up just underneath the pom-pom from the engine room, a big air-exchange and the force of the air picked this rating up and through him over the side of the ship. He was unharmed, he just sailed through the air into the ocean.
Description

Mr. Rusling talks about the Manxman being torpedoed, and her eventual demise and how they lost 4 men that day.

Frank Rusling

Frank Rusling was born in Belton, Lincolnshire, England on January 30, 1922. His father moved the family to the county of Suffolk in England where he grew up. He joined the Royal Navy at the age of 15 because of his love for the ocean. He entered the communications’ department of the navy and trained in visual signalling where he was very successful during his training and very rapidly reached the rank of Yeoman of Signals. The first vessel he was on was the HMS Sheffield. However, he did work on other vessels and travelled to several parts of the world with the Royal Navy. After the war he joined the Canadian Pacific police where he served for 30 years. He now resides in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
02:16
Person Interviewed:
Frank Rusling
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
North Africa
Branch:
Navy
Rank:
Yeoman of Signals
Occupation:
Signalman

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