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OUR TABLE OF CONTENTS
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A Tribute to the
Merchant Seamen of World War Two
Maureen Venzi's page in tribute
to the men
and ships
of the Allied Merchant Navy.
Part 2
is Maureen's tribute to
her late father,
Don Owens, who served aboard the
CPR's
Empress of Japan/Scotland
during the war.
The
Role of the CPR
Ships in WWII Maureen's page in tribute to the men
and ships
of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Part One covers 1939 to 1941 and includes
the Empress of Australia, Beaverburn, Niagara,
Aorangi, Empress of Britain,
Beaverford, HMS Fofar ex-Montrose,
Beaverbrae,Beaverdale and Beaverhill.
Part Two covers 1942 to 1945 and includes
the Empress of Asia, Princess Marguerite, Duchess of Atholl,
Empress of Canada, Duchess of York and Empress of Russia.
CPR Ships: A Partial List This page
contains a list, compiled by Maureen,
of some of the CPR's best-known
ships.
Stories of a
Merchant Sailor, Part 1: The Peggy
This is the first story
written by British Merchant Navy veteran,
Gordon Sollors, who
went to sea at the age of
14 in 1942. In this delightful story Gordon
recounts his experiences as
the ship's "Peggy" aboard the tanker
MV British Faith.
Stories of a
Merchant Sailor, Part 2: Christmas in America
This is the second of Gordon's stories and in it he tells about
his memorable Christmas of 1942.
Stories of a
Merchant Sailor, Part 3: Steering Lessons
In this, the third of Gordon's fascinating
stories, he describes
what it was like to be a young seaman at the helm of
a huge merchant ship.
My First Trip to Sea In this multi-chaptered
story Gordon writes about his experiences
aboard the Orient Line troopship SS
Orion.
My Last Wartime Voyage In this multi-chaptered story
Gordon writes about his experiences
aboard the little Maltese cargo ship SS
Marvia.
NB: Gordon Sollors has also written a fascinating memoir about
the Training Ship Formidable.
Please go to the
Training Ships website to read
"Lights Out, No Talking".
Voyage of a Merchant Sailor
This is the introductory page of the late
Canadian Merchant Navy veteran,
Chuck Betsworth. It
begins the tale of Chuck's voyage aboard the
SS Sapperton Park
from Vancouver, B.C. to London, England,
during the last months of the war in Europe.
Voyage of a Merchant Sailor, Part 2
This page continues the story of Chuck's
voyage to London and features photographs which he took
during his
crossing of the Atlantic.
Voyage of a Merchant Sailor, Part 3: Epilogue
This page is about Chuck's post-war experiences and
the role which he and his Merchant Navy friends played
in making sure that the
WWII Merchant Navy veterans
are not forgotten.
City of Alberni: Canada's
Forgotten Schooner
This page, inspired by Chuck's interest in the five-masted schooner,
City of Alberni, tells of
the sailing ship's 1941 voyage from Vancouver, B.C. to Sydney,
Australia and Samoa.
City of Alberni: Canada's
Forgotten Schooner, Part 2
This page continues the story of the
schooner
City of Alberni and describes her attempt
to make an incredibly difficult
voyage around Cape Horn at the end of 1942 and beginning of 1943.
Sources used are listed at the end of the page.
Chuck's Hobbies: A Celebration of Ships
This page, inspired by Chuck's maritime hobbies,
features his beautiful model of the Finnish 4-masted
barque, Herzogin Cecilie, and
his painting of the New Zealand passenger liner,
Awatea.
Chuck's Hobbies: A Celebration of Ships,
Part 2 This page featuring Chuck's painting of the
post-war liner
Corinthic, has
additional information on other vessels which serviced Australia
and New Zealand, including the doomed White Star liner,
SS Ceramic.
Tales of a "Vindi Boy", Part One: Karachi
Rescue
This is the first story written by British Merchant Navy veteran,
Dennis M.
Crosby, who went to sea at the age of 16
after graduating
from the
British Training Ship
Vindicatrix.
In this tale Dennis recounts
his adventures aboard his first ship, the
SS Samlorian.
Dennis explains how he became a Merchant Seaman
in his "Forward", added in October 2001.
Tales of a "Vindi Boy", Part Two: Ghost
Ship
In this story Dennis describes some very eerie happenings
which took place shortly after the war
aboard the SS Hazelbank.
Tales of a "Vindi Boy", Part Three:
Memories of the MV Pontfield
In this story Dennis remembers some more
frightening incidents
which occurred while he was working on an ocean-going tanker, the
MV Pontfield.
Tales of a "Vindi Boy", Part Four:
Polar Maid Adventure
In this tale Dennis tells about a fascinating voyage which he made
to the Persian Gulf, South Africa,
the remote whaling outpost of South Georgia and Argentina.
Tales of a "Vindi Boy", Part Five:
From Africa to Canada
In this story Dennis looks back on all the interesting
things which happened in
his life after he left the sea.
Tales of a "Vindi Boy": Epilogue
This page features a powerful letter which Dennis wrote
in February 2000 to the
Reader'
s Digest Association in
London, England,
on behalf of British
Merchant Navy veterans.
An additional story, "My Search for Stuart", was added
in December 2001.
The First and Last Voyage of the
Fort Crevier
In these pages former British Royal Navy veteran,
John Garside,
tells the fascinating story of his adventures as a young
DEMS Gunner aboard
the Canadian-built merchant ship, the
Fort Crevier. John was an eye-witness
to the horrendous explosion of the
Fort Stikine at Bombay Harbour
on April 14th, 1944. His story is in three parts with
Part 1 covering North America,
Part 2 covering Gibraltar to Karachi and
Part 3 covering Bombay.
The expanded
Epilogue
now features
documents which John received from the
family of Ft. Crevier's Third Engineer
John Walsh, who was killed
in the Bombay Explosion.
An additional page featuring
Ships Lost
in the Bombay Explosion is under construction.
Jim McWilliam's Homepage
British Merchant Navy veteran
Jim McWilliams was only 16 years
old when he first went to sea in 1942.
He served aboard
the troopships
Almanzora and
Winchester Castle and the tanker
British Honour.
This page features Jim's beautiful poem,
"The Callow Lad", in which
which he remembers
those long-ago days.
The Second "Happy Time": The
Loss of the Putney Hill
On this page British Merchant Navy veteran
Alan Shard
writes about the sinking of his first ship,
MV Putney Hill.
She was sunk by U203 500 hundred miles from Puerto Rico
in June 1942
and her survivors were faced with a gruelling
9 day ordeal at sea before they were rescued.
The Sinking of the
SS Veerhaven
British Merchant Navy veteran
Charlie Mountain (1924-2001)
served
on a great variety of Dutch ships during WWII.
On this page Charlie tells about
the
SS Veerhaven which was sunk
by the Italian
submarine
Leonardo da Vinci.
As well as a separate
Epilogue, Charlie's pages include
accompanying info on the Dutch ships
MV Woensdrecht,
SS Amsterdam, and MV
Prins Willem III, and a list of
Ships
Attacked by the Submarine Da Vinci.
Ian Ferguson's Homepage, Part One:
Albertolite.
In this section of his homepage British Merchant Seaman
Veteran
Ian Ferguson, who
went to sea at 16 years of age in 1941,
pays tribute to
and recalls his 1942 adventures
aboard the
Imperial Oil tanker,
SS Albertolite. In
Part Two: Hedgehog
Ian writes about
his father,
W.L.G. Ferguson,
and the major role he played in the development of
the Allied anti-submarine weapon, Hedgehog.
Ray Morton's Homepage, Part One: My Memories of
"Operation Pedestal" and the Tanker Ohio.
On this page British Merchant Navy Veteran
Ray Morton writes about his incredible
adventures during
"Operation Pedestal", the Relief of Malta,
when he
was a crew member of the fabled
oil tanker, SS Ohio
.
In
Part Two: "Believe It, Or Not Ray tells about
an amazing event which happened after
Operation Pedestal.
D.E.M.S.: Naval Gunners in Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships
(DEMS) This page is a copy of the
informative paper
written by Canadian DEMS Gunner Veteran
Max Reid and presented to
the August 2001
meeting of the
DEMS Branch, Royal Canadian Naval Association (RCNA),
in Barrie, Ontario. The purpose of this paper is to
ensure that the important role played
by the DEMS Gunners, their
ships, and the Merchant Seamen who served
alongside them in WWII is better recognized.
Remembering HMCS Bras d'Or
This page written by
Bill Lavery and Maureen Venzi
is a tribute to one of the Canadian naval vessels which
helped protect merchant shipping in home waters,
the minesweeper
HMCS Bras d'Or
.
Bill's uncle,
Engineer Lieutenant
Malcolm Cumming, and all members of the
little vessel's gallant crew lost their lives when Bras d'Or
foundered in the icy St. Lawrence on October 19th, 1940.
Quarantined With Smallpox In this story
Merchant Navy Veteran
Hamor Gardner writes about
the tragic death of his young shipmate
Joe McVeigh, who died of smallpox in 1945
when they were both serving aboard the
SS Noranda Park.
November 2003:
The Second World War Experience Centre
has uploaded an abridged version of Hamor's fascinating WWII memoir East of Suez which covers his time aboard
the
SS Noranda Park
and the
SS Tweedsmuir Park. To read the Centre's online version of East of Suez,
Please Click Here.
Simon Cusen's Letters These letters by
Simon Cusens of Malta detail the organisation of the "Operation Pedestal" 60th Anniversary Reunion, held September-October 2002 in Valletta.
Part Two and
Part Three
consist of Simon's letters following the 2002 Reunion. For more memories of the 2002 Reunion please visit
Danny O'Mara's website
Malta Convoy August 1942.
Final Photos of HMCS Cape Breton
On October 26th, 2001 Canada's
last remaining
"10,000-tonner"
HMCS Cape Breton (ex-
HMS Flamborough Head)
was sunk as an artificial reef.
To view Bob and Anne Wilson's newspaper clippings and photos of the event
Please Click Here for Part 1 and return to this page for
Part 2,
Part 3,
Part 4,
and
Part 5.
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Canadian Merchant Navy Veteran
Martin Walsh has written
a fascinating memoir about his wartime experiences entitled
The Polish Experience. (2002)
In his memoir Martin
writes about his 1943 adventures aboard the Polish
Merchant Navy vessel
SS Narvik,
celebrated rescuer of
the
SS Orcades
survivors in October 1942.
At Avola, Sicily on 14 July 1943,
while Narvik was berthed next to the burnt-out hull
of the Dutch
merchantman
SS Baarn,
Martin witnessed the horrific bombing of the American Liberty Ship
SS Timothy Pickering.
After his service aboard Narvik, Martin made the long return voyage
to North America aboard
another Polish ship which also gave exemplary wartime service, the
SS Baltic.
To obtain a free copy of
The Polish Experience, please write to
Martin Walsh directly at
budwalsh@cogeco.ca.
Martin has also written a second article, "The North Atlantic in 1944" which was published in the Summer 2003 issue of the CMNVA's Red Duster. To obtain a copy of this article which features specific information on
Whiteshell Park,
Detonia Park, Gatineau Park,
Point Pleasant Park and
Jasper Park, please contact Martin at the above e-mail address.
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OUR LINKS and SOURCES Pages
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Allied Merchant Navy LINKS At present
these pages of general Merchant Navy/WWII links are divided into
Part One
(Canadian-based Sites),
Part Two (British-based sites),
and Part Three
(Australian, Norwegian, Icelandic, and
American-based
sites).
Allied Merchant Navy SOURCES This page features a variety of
books and reference material.
CPR Ships
LINKS This page lists links
which are more
specific to the CPR ships and other passenger liners.
CPR Ships
SOURCES This page lists sources
which are also more
specific to the CPR ships and other passenger liners.
Chuck's Maritime LINKS and SOURCES
This page provides a listing of some of Chuck Betsworth's
favourite books
and web links. It features
information on some of the great sailing ships of the past
along with some of the other ships
written about in Chuck's pages.
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To return to this Table of Contents at any time, just click on the
TABLE of CONTENTS link located at the end of each story.
To return to the INDEX PAGE at any time click on the
INDEX PAGE
icon located at the top and bottom of each page.
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For specific questions,
we recommend the
Mercantile Marine Discussion Forum.
Please Click Here
or on the image below.
This page has been written by Maureen Venzi
and it is part of the
Allied Merchant Navy of WWII website.
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