When you are on, say an escort, it was a very touchy job
because, particularly at night, if there were U-boats around,
you were after them. If the U-boats came up in the middle of
a convoy, you’d sail right up through those convoy lines to
try and get at them. Then, of course, no lights and it was a
trying experience. My first action station, I remember, was
in the emergency wireless room which is in the tiller flats of
the ship. Now the tiller flats are right over the screw, or
the screws in our case, and I had to probably go through about
six sea doors to get down there, and every one of those doors
had to be dogged behind me. Closed tight, water tight. This
room wasn’t terribly large but the only thing in it apart from
water rushing across the floor, you know, from condensation,
was a steel table bolted to the wall and on it was a wireless
set. Underneath me, were the screws of the ship and when you
went into action and you went down into this little room, the
ship would be going full speed somewhere and tremendous roar
of these screws. Now my job there was to, I had a pair of
earphones, and the idea was that if the main wireless cabin
was knocked out then one of the officers on the bridge was
tell me to send a message to the Admiralty saying we’d been
hit or whatever. So there I would stand, they’d start
dropping depth charges and everything would be shaking and
shuddering and all alone in my tomb sort of idea. The only
consolation really and it sounds strange now was that if the
Germans launched an acoustic torpedo, which honed in on the
ships screws, I wouldn’t know anything about it.