Admiralty Contracts and Takoradi Naval Base

[Huw Thomas]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me. I am researching my Grandfather's time in the Merchant Navy during WW2. He was an Engineer. I have his discharge books and various other records which I've found at the TNA or online.

He was on the following ships:

3/9/39-17/4/40 TSS Perthshire
12/6/40-14/1/41 SS Clan MacFadyen
4/4/41-19/10/41 SS Empire Mahseer
17/4/43-5/6/45 Fort Rouille

There are a number of gaps between ships, the first 55 days and the second 79 days - is this normal? It seems a long time to be ashore given the situation, I would have thought they would want everyone they could get.
There is another gap, this time of over a year and this is where things get more difficult to track. According to his CRS10 on 12/1/42 he was "discharged at his own request to take up work in connection with Admiralty Contract".
Shortly thereafter he is leaving Liverpool bound for Takoradi, where I know there was a Royal Navy base. I know nothing more until he is arriving back in the UK from Lagos in 1943.
There are several other annotations on the CRS10 I cannot understand, but later on there is a note saying MNRP 6/4/43. I know this stands for Merchant Navy Reserve Pool and that shortly thereafter he signed on the Fort Rouille and then sailed to Canada where she was still under construction.

I really want to know what he was doing in West Africa for over a year, I can find no record of him on any ship. I know that in addition to being an engineer he was also a diver and I wonder if this has anything to do with why he went there. I have so far failed to find any kind of records which might explain any of this, so if anyone has any ideas I'd be most grateful.

Thanks,

Huw

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Huw
Can you upload the CRS10 so we can have a look at it and see if anything more can be deciphered for you.
Secondly the two gaps you talk of could be almost any reason, a possibility is that he was taken ill on both occasions, but hat is just guessing.
Hard to say at this time .
Anyway will await the CRS10 Document to have a look.
Cheers

[Huw Thomas]

Dear Doc,

Thanks for the quick reply, here are the scans:

HWG CRS10 (1).jpg

HWG CRS10 (2).jpg

[Doc Vernon]

At this point i cannot make much out of Scam Number two, i have increased the size as well, but still ???
Is there any other way you can get a clearer one posted??

Or i can send you my Email address and you can send t through there, it may come through better??
Worth a try?
Cheers

If i send my Email it will be through the Private Message
Cheers

I will look at Scan Number one in the meantime and see if there is anything i can help with
Ocean Vista 45/46 Cardiff
I see the records show Service from 1943 to 1950 ??

Cape St David and Cape St Edmond between 47 and 50. Cape St David is marked Trieste

[Huw Thomas]

Sorry, I copied them from a pdf, I'll rescan as JPEGs and repost them.
Huw

[Huw Thomas]

Here are the new JPEGs hope they are easier to read

HWG CRS10 (1).jpg

HWG CRS10 (2).jpg

[Doc Vernon]

Thanks i had however manged to increase size again and looks a lot better.
Have a look at my reply and can you tell me now exactly what you are needing, i will if possible assist!
Thanks

[Huw Thomas]

Hi thanks for your response, what I'm really looking for help with is the meaning of some of the annotations on the first page:
Granted Exit Permit P458135 (See RS 1 [or I?] for D/15/59872)
Cancellation A/S 5/4/43 / Unclaimed SS [or 55?] 19/10
Action sheet written 15/1/42
JY 05 26 17 D
53/BS 35963 14.4.43
54 (Lon [or Con?]) Dock St. 8/4/43 D

If you have any ideas what any of these mean it would be very helpful.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Lots of things would explain long times betwwen ships. My father was in MN pre-war and left and volunteered for the Army (REME) in Sept 1939, in 1941 he was asked to rejoin MN as they were short of experienced personnel. He had subsequent long (but not in reality) periods ashore because he was on gunnery courses. He wasn't the luckiest guy in the world ended up in Dunkirk whilst in the Army and the Normandy Invasion in the MN, as well as service in Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean. He never talked about it, very few did, but I have all his records, well those that were made available.

If your father had specialist abilities, then he would have (could have) been seconded to another service, you are asked to volunteer for such service, but volunteering in those times was a very loose expression and could be mistaken for an order!

[Huw Thomas]

My grandfather was a diver, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it. My brother remembers him telling a story about supervising Italian POWs diving, which doesn't sound like the sort of thing you'd normally be doing if you were just a ship's engineer.
Thanks for this information. I guess he could have been on courses of some sort, I hadn't thought of that.