What happened after your ship was torperdoed?

[John Nicolson]

Hello, I am a new boy (not really as I am very mature!) My father was torpedoed when on the Empire Redshank on 22nd Feb 1943 and rescued by a Canadian corvette HMCS Trillium and taken to St Johns. I have had to piece things as he never wanted to talk about. He had been on the same ship on convoy PQ6 which was bombed on its return to the UK.

I wanted to know please - what happens when you land at the likes of St Johns. Are you returned to the UK as a result of signing on for a new ship? Are you a passenger on a returning ship? Are you paid for the full voyage you engaged for? What assistance would you get in St Johns, or the UK for that. Would you be hospitalised?

If anyone knows of any archives or books that cover these aspects of a man's life I would be grateful to know.

Thanks in anticipation John

[Keith Tindell]

Welcome to the site John, i know in the early part of the war, a seaman wages stopped when he hit the water, i believe that was changed after an outcry, sometime later. There will be others replying to your query later no doubt, with a more definitive answer, but it was a tough life for the men then, kt

[Keith at Tregenna]

Early on, ship lost - work place gone.

K.

[Doc Vernon]

As far as i now all persons that were left stranded so to speak after a Ship being sunk, and they were lucky enough to get to a neutral port, were then given assistance in the Form of Shelter , food, clothing etc. this was normally in a Seamans Mission Home or similar that existed!
They were then sent DBS (Distressed British Seaman) to their home post for possible re engagement on another Ship, after a bit of R&R, but during the War that would not have been too long.
Depending on the Injuries, yes they would have been taken to a Military Hospital initially in whatever Post they got to, and cared there till fit for return to their Country's Home Port!
As for Salary, well as said many were unfortunately not paid after a Ship was Sunk , which was a very sad thing, but i am not sure when , but things did change later on.??

[Ivan Cloherty]

If I recall correctly, it was late 1942 when seamen finally got distress money, which I believe it was in form of N O K allotments ***paid until repatriation (or joining another ship abroad). They were also issued with extra clothing coupons so that they could replace lost gear. I think there was also monetary sum of approx £10 along with the coupons.

*** I think that is why immediate post war most seamen continued to leave about 80% of their basic wage as an allotment, and advised us youngsters to do the same, relying on overtime payments to cover their subs when abroad, but like some on here I've sailed with Masters who would only allow 'what you had in the ship' as a sub and overtime earnings already accrued were excepted. Had to have some money in the ship to cover loggings!

As an aside fishing lines for lifeboat equipment was only made compulsory in 1943, but shipowners were given a 12 month period to comply, you can guess what happened.

MN also got extra Ration Book coupons for food when on leave, I have the details somewhere, but it didn't amount to much.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
It was tough times for seamen, my brother once told me that when he was in St Johns he met with a few distressed British seamen who were waiting either for a berth if a ship was shorthanded or on a ship returning to the UK, they were well looked after by the people of St Johns and mainly by the Mission To Seamen, who gave them replacement clothes.
A seaman in our village was torpedoed three times, once on the ship he was returning to the UK on as a DBS. He said that the worst part was the wages stopping as soon as they left the sinking ship, whereas the Royal Navy their wages kept going. He jumped ship in Jamaica later as he was terrified of being sunk again, I saw him when he got home, he was a mess at only 23 years old.
Des

[j.sabourn]

Fear probably varies in extent person to person Des , everyone will have to different extents unless they are morons. It is the most final experience that most have in their lives and when you learn yourself your own threshold for containing it. The closest I ever came to it and fully expected to die within seconds can only be described by the person in that particular position , myself in the seconds before a final settlement I made my peace but made all sorts of rash promises in my mind , and the only consolation I had which was selfish was that I wasn’t going to die alone. Ask someone else and they will probably say something entirely different. When you die there are 3 persons dying , you , yourself and I, it is something you have to do yourself. What a sordid subject !!!
JS.

[Alan Blyth]

Can’t help much with the question, but reference PQ6, do you have your father’s Arctic star?

Reference HMCS Trillium and St Johns, there’s a Canadian Warships Group on Facebook you might get interesting stuff from.

[John Nicolson]

Can’t help much with the question, but reference PQ6, do you have your father’s Arctic star?

Reference HMCS Trillium and St Johns, there’s a Canadian Warships Group on Facebook you might get interesting stuff from.

Alan, thanks. My father's pass book went missing after he died (suspect my mother now also dead threw it away). I have some limited records I got from Kew on his early war time days. My father did not want to talk about things he experienced so I have only things overheard by my older sisters. From these recollections and who he sailed for I think I know the ship he was on. I am waiting to see if the crew lists from Kew for 1943 do list him (he was an AB not an officer) on that ship. If it works I will go back to 1941 and 1942 to confirm he was on it for PQ6. I will then try for an Arctic Star. Hope this makes sense!

[Keith at Tregenna]

22 Feb 1943

HMCS Trillium (Lt. P.C. Evans, RCNR) picks up 47 survivors from the British merchant Empire Redshank that was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-606 in the North Atlantic in position 46°53'N, 34°32'W.

https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/2670.html