The Athabascan (Part 4 of 5)

Heroes Remember

The Athabascan (Part 4 of 5)

Transcript

My mother had sent me a parcel that day and she had sent a yellow skull cap, if you can imagine, brilliant yellow skull cap and everybody was laughing, "In the navy you're gonna were that thing?" So I was wearing it for awhile and somebody else was wearing it and anyway I, so that night I wore it for luck. So he said that he looked up and he saw this figure with a yellow hat and he'd been in the mess deck when I was wearing it and he said that actually jarred him and brought him out of his torpor, you know it, you know really, he was out of it completely. He had only a thin shirt so he was, he was suffering from the cold you see. Anyway, we got him on board and we went a little further. The engine broke down again. We tore the spray screen from the forward canopy and I got some of the floor boards and put them together and had a couple of pieces of line that I tied around and made a sail and the wind was blowing from the south so, there was nowhere to tie this thing, so I sat up on the aft of canopy holding this thing until the wind got too strong and I nearly went over the side with it so I threw that off. We went on a little further and nothing happened, nothing happened, we worked on it and worked on it and in the morning, let's see I better go back, after 4 o'clock. Four o'clock gave me a realization that 12 hours before I was sitting in, I was sitting in the park with my girlfriend, Audrey, at the time, 12 hours before this and here I'm out in the middle of the English Channel. So we, we went along and I guess nothing happened, nothing happened, we tried the engine again. It went for awhile and it ran for about an hour I guess and about 10 o'clock in the morning all of a sudden we saw two aircraft coming towards us so everybody said, "Oh my gosh they're coming for us." We all dove under the canopy and it went roaring by and it was two P-47 Thunderbolts.

Description

Mr. Hannam talks about the Athabascan, and his experience with it (part 4 of 5). They continue to drift, and hide from aircraft (never being sure whether they are German or Allied.)

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:: 02:09
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:: 2019-06-20