Interview – voice only
I did two Russian convoys to Murmansk. Just briefly, the first one, we left Glasgow and joined the convoy off Northern Scotland.
Shortly after that, we were spotted by an aircraft, a Blohm & Voss. This was shot down, but I think he must have sent messages because not very long afterwards it was getting dark and the first attacks – submarines – took place.
The first thing I saw was a ship on fire on the left hand side. It turned out to be a naval escort there. We were attacked the whole way up to near Murmansk.
When we arrived, we had entertainment from a group of ladies singing love songs.
They made our CO (Commanding officer) the butt of the songs, which was, well, you can very well imagine the scene aboard the hangar deck on the aircraft carrier.
We were there for a few days and then we heard this terrific battle going on, which was the escorts attacking the submarines at the entrance.
We set sail. We were a wee bit concerned because carriers are very vulnerable without escorts.
However, they came rushing down the inlet and they came on the other side of the carrier and escorted us out, throwing depth charges away. So, we got out and then as we were returning, the attacks started again, coming back. However, we arrived safely back in Britain.