In the last part of Chapter Three of my story, "Joining The War At Sea
1939-1945", there is a sequence in both the web edition and on pages 67-71 of
the paperback editions concerning the travails of Convoy ON-67. The U.S.
escorts that joined Convoy ON-67 for the last half of its voyage westward to
Halifax were commanded by Commander A. C. Murdaugh. He was assigned to this
duty because he was the senior U.S. destroyer Commanding Officer present. He
was then commanding the U.S.S. Edison, DD439. Murdaugh was Edison's first
skipper.
In the Chapter Three sequence, the story recounts the aggressive U-boat
attacks on Convoy ON-67 after the U.S. escort assignment began, and the tragic
losses the convoy then sustained. My fuller appreciation for one of the most
heroic performances of duty in ON-67 has come to me in an e-mail of
02/12/2000, followed by a mail packet from the U.K. postdated 02/17/2000.
These communications came from Sue Peake, granddaughter of Gunner Philip Horne
who lost his life on the Rescue Ship Toward as the result of her torpedoing on
7 February 1943. I used SS Toward in my story and Sue refers to the Rescue
Ship Toward, or R.S. Toward. Same ship.
For my own part here, I would note that ON-67s losses were sustained in the
period 21-24 February 1942, and that these words are being composed on 24
February 2000. This caps a series of February coincidences.
I would ask the readers to return to my story in Chapter Three to
re-acquaint themselves with the particulars of the converted British rescue
ship the SS Toward and the courageous effort she made to save torpedoed
sailors from Convoy ON-67. Until her own loss in February 1943, we can only
infer that a number of convoys and sailors owe a mitigation of their perils to
the Toward.
Herewith then are the materials that Sue Peake supplied in her post of 16
February 2000 to me.
First , a photo of the Toward taken, according to Sue Peake's note to me of
16 Feb. 2000, about 1936 or 1937. The Imperial War Museum could furnish no
other information. Sue reports that the Ministry of Defence hired the Toward
for the Ministry of War Transport. She was owned by the Clyde Shipping Co. and
was built in 1923 by A. Stephens & Sons, Glasgow. She displaced 1571 tons,
was 270 feet long, had a beam of 37 feet and drew 17 feet of water. In this
photo she shows two masts and a single funnel with no kingposts. Close
examination of earlier generations of this photo reveal outrigging
capabilities fore and aft. While on convoy duty in the Atlantic during World
War II, U.S. sailors saw dozens of ships with counter sterns like Toward's
stern.
Here now, the three-page report Sue
Peake unearthed from Britain's Shipping Casualties Section. This report covers
the interview with Toward's Chief Officer, Mr. G.L. Campbell. This interview
took place on 23 February 1943.
The three pages containing the report of
the interview with Chief Officer Campbell obviously came from a bound volume.
In reproducing those pages to forward to Sue Peake, the Ministry of Defence
copy machine operator was not able to get a clear reprint all the way into the
binding. The copy that Sue sent to me showed this unmistakably. In scanning
the three pages to create this Appendix C to the original story, "Joining The
War At Sea 1939-1945", I left out most of the black vertical mark from the
scanning field because it contained no information.
Who from the Celtic Star, or the Afrika or the Robert E. Hopkins are alive
today to make this story more complete? Did Toward's 2nd Engineer,
Mr. Moodie, survive? The report's Distribution names are intriguing. Campbell
reported in his interview that the Corvette HMS "K.38" (Mignonette) picked up
26 survivors from the Toward. Very likely other survivors were interviewed.
Whether any were on the distribution list for Campbell's interview, we do not
know. But that Distribution List, even given the loss of information in the
black streak due to the binding, still contains some interesting names. What
role if any did Lt. Read, Cdr. Dillon Robinson, Cdr. R. Lister Kaye, Cdr.
Winn, Captain Boswick, and Mr. W.H. Allen of the Foreign Office play in this
fortune of war of 57 years ago? Finally, the fitting last disposition on the
Distribution is "Files." That will remind any U.S. schoolchild of the first
part of the 20th century of Files-on-Parade. Though that
Files-on-Parade is an element of a marching order I once knew but is also long
gone, Files' message in Kipling's poem "Danny Deever" certainly evokes the
finiteness of life.
" 'Is cot was right-'and cot to mine," said Files-on-Parade.
"E's sleepin' out an' far tonight," the Color Sergeant said.
"I've drunk his beer a score o' times," said Files-on-Parade.
"'E's drinkin' bitter beer alone, "the Color Sergeant said.
Perhaps Kipling viewed bitter beer as a synonym for beer. Most of us would
predict a better outcome for heaven's beer than the Color Sergeant did. Not
bitter, not sweet, but,..... beer.
Franklyn E. Dailey Jr. February 24, 2000
My Sis would have been 78 today. She left us on December 11, 1999. She is
fourth from the right in the front row (with the large corsage on her right
lapel) of the ship's party picture on page 185 of the paperback edition of
"Joining The War At Sea 1939-1945." (ISBN 0966625102) That picture can be
found in Chapter
Six of this web edition. Sis would have enjoyed this Appendix and I hope
the readers do too.
We are all indebted to Sue Peake for providing the information that
furnishes the entire basis for this Appendix. These archived treasures are not
treasures at all until a granddaughter remembers and shares them with us.
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