Malcolm Hawes

[louise mills]

SHIPS NAME AND SERVICE RECORD

Full Name

Malcolm Hawes

Discharge Book Number

R 193782

Department

Deck

Your Rank/Rating

Merchant Seaman Gunner

Which Ships were you on and When

Gloucester Castle 1942

Notes:

-

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Louise
Thank you for posting those details,if you have any other info please do put them on!
Have you his Discharge Book Number at all,if not where was he from and what Year was he Born,we may be able to track his Number if it still exists!
Thanks

[Captain Kong]

Our Lou Barron was on the Gloucester Castle in 1942 when she was sunk by the German ship South of Ascension Island. and my family friend Joe Farnworth of Bolton was killed in the shelling. Was Malcolm on her when she was sunk?
Brian

[louise mills]

Hi All
Malcolm, my dad, was from Norwich and was born in 1923. I don't have his discharge number but do have a copy of his JPOW record card when he was captured and sent to Changi. He was on the Gloucester Castle and survived being torpedoed, survived Changi working in the cookhouse and being put in 'jankers' several times. He couldn't swim when he joined the Navy and one of his comrades pushed him in the sea one day and said 'swim - one day you may need to' . He spluttered and bobbed about but did learn to float/swim and the guy was right he needed to do just that when he jumped overboard from the Gloucester Castle. He returned home to Norwich to find his mother had died while he was in Changi. He married and had 3 children and 4 grandchildren. Growing up I remember many stories - good and bad - of his times in Changi. His brother, Tom Hawes, ended up there too but he was a lance corp in the army. Sadly Tom died in the camp but one of the Japanese guards took my dad to see him before he died. Hunger, heat and cruelty were well remembered by him though. One of my dad's friends visited Changi in about 2000 and brought him back a t-shirt with 'I've been to Changi Jail' on the front and 'and I survived!' on the back. He laughed but never wore the t-shirt. After a full and contented life he died aged 79 in 2003 but never forgot his comrades and experiences in the southern seas. He was never frightened of being on the water though and spent years try to get my Mum to agree to buying a boat.....

[louise mills]

Malcolm had a nickname of 'Ginger' his whole life and I guess he may have been known to some.

[Doc Vernon]

I am sure that our Lou would have known him as he was in the same Camp at that time!
But he is sadly now gone and we all miss him !
Cheers

Unfortunately I cannot locate his Discharge Book at the NA ??
Could be various reasons though!

May be someone else may find it!

[Richard Quartermaine]

Hi Louise,
I lived and worked in Singapore from January 1967 to December 1986 (with a couple of breaks in Britain and Indonesia) and many of my workmates, friends and acquaintances were prisoners in Changi during the Japanese occupation. Here is an item that may be of interest relating to my workmates who were, as the chaps referred to it 'in the bag':
QI Oldies Events
Best wishes with your search.
Richard

[Captain Kong]

Hi Louise.
Type in the SEARCH box on the top right of the page, GLOUCESTER CASTLE, our Late Lou Baron has written several posts of the conditions in Changi Gaol.
Lou died a couple of years ago in New Zealand, I visited him there, My friend Joe Farnworth, deck boy age 17, was killed in the shelling.
she was sunk by SHELLING by a german ship, not torpedoed, MICHEL,
Captain Von Ruckstell* of the Michel was sentenced to life for war crimes in 1945 and died in prison 10 years later.
The survivors including Malcom and Lou were trasnsferred to a German tanker Charlotte Schliemann and taken round the Cape to Singapore and handed over to the Japanese.
93 passengers and crew died that day.
in October 2001 I was on the QE2 bound for Cape Town, and when we were in the position of the sinking right over the wreck I asked Captain Warwick to hold a Service for them. We stopped and had a Service on deck and I had taken a MN Wreath with me, this was cast into the sea and two minutes silence. and the dead of the Gloucester Castle could finally rest in peace.

A member Ian Malcom wrote this Post..................
GLOUCESTER CASTLE (Captain H.H. Rose). Bound for Cape Town, sailed from Birkenhead on 21 June, 1942 and in a convoy until it dispersed on 10 July. Sailing independently when shelled by the German AMC Michel (Kapitän zur See Helmuth von Ruckteschell) at 7pm on 15 July, and sank within 10 minutes in approximate position 08º00´S 01º00´E. A shell demolished the bridge and radio room, killing all her deck officers except 2nd Mate R. Pargitter, and, as her 3 radio officers also died, no distress message was transmitted. Of the 154 people on board, 93 died, including 6 women, 3 men and 2 children who were passengers. The remaining 61, including a woman, an 18-year-old girl and two young boy passengers, were taken on board the Michel, but later transferred to the supply tanker Charlotte Schliemann. When the latter eventually sailed, she had some 300 prisoners on board. The women and children were given two cabins, but the others were housed down a small, rat-infested, hold, and all were inadequately fed. The Charlotte Schliemann arrived in Singapore on 30 September and 40 prisoners were landed before she sailed for Yokohama, where she arrived on 19 October. But a number of her prisoners did not live to be repatriated at the end of the War. In 1946, Ruckteschell was convicted of war crimes and died in Fuhlbüttel prison, in Hamburg, in 1948, shortly after hearing that he was to be released due to his deteriorating heart condition.
..................................
lots of posts on this Gloucester Castle,
Cheers Brian.
below, Photos of Lou, a memoriam card, Lou at the memorial on Liverpool Pier Head in 2013, and the Service over the wreck of the Gloucester Castle on QE2, and a photo of me with Lou in Dunedin.in 2012. and the Gloucester Castle

[Mike Hall]

Registration number found,R 193782.this is the only number that fits in with this person
all the others shown make him too young.

[Captain Kong]

This is another story of the Gloucester Castle Iwrote to the BBC.......................
I believe that three men died in captivity.

This is what I wrote to the BBC`s PEOPLES WAR IN 2002.

The Story of the Gloucester Castle

Sailed from Birkenhead on the 21 st June bound for Cape Town On board was a young neighbour of mine, 17 years old Joe Farnworth. Gioucester Castle was last seen on July I0 1942, when the convoy dispersed in position 02'00~N, 12' 02'W A course for Cape Town was set and she sailed independently. On the 5th July 1942, at 1900 hours in an aproximate postion 8 degrees north and near to Ascension Island the German merchant raider. "Michel" with Captain von Ruckteschel ln command atacked her. Shelled and machine gunned she sank in 15 minutes killing 85 crew and 8 women and children passengers, including Captain H Rose, 5 deck Officers including 3rd officer Shannon. All 3 radio officers including K Vaughan, 3 engineers the Stewardess Edith Thomas. Fireman Frank Griffiths and family friend, Ordinary Seaman Joseph Farnworth who was lying in the ships hospital having been injured by a fall from the ships mast a few days earlier. The 8 passengers lost included Mrs Radford, Mrs Sieve and her 2 year old son and Mrs White. The only surving Officer was a Mr Partiger who after the war became a Master in the Union Castle Line. The survivors were taken to Singapore and Japan and were used as slave labour. Those in Japan worked in the steel works and the coal mines.
Three more crewmen died in Japanese hands The sinking was a mystery until the survivors were released after the wars end August 1945.

The submarine USS Tarpon" later torpedoed the "Michel".

Captain von Ruckteschell was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in prison in 1948. In October 2001. I told the family of Joseph Farnworth I was sailing to Cape Town on Queen Elizabeth 2 and would be passing the estimated position of the sinking of the Gloucester Castle. I purchased a MN poppy wreath on behalf of the Farnworth family from the British Legion and took it with me.

On the 'QE2' I discussed the situation with Captain Ron Warwick and he very kindly said that he would make the necessary arrangements when we would be in the area of the sinking.

On Wednesday, 31st October 2001 at 0800 in a position of 08' 50's 011 l0'W we assembled on the Upper Deck where a table had been covered with a Red Ensign with the poppy wreath laid on top.

Several passengers with Union Castle connections joined us, also Mrs. Kim Warwick. Chief Officer Peter Russell, Chief Security Officer Andy Holloway, ex Royal Marines. and Natasha the Captain's Secretary who passed out the Service sheets. Captain Warwick read the appropriate service of rememberance for the dead of the 'Gloucester Castle' including the name of Joseph Farnworth.

At the Part of the service which say's "cast the wreath" the Chief Security Officer walked aft, on One Deck and cast the wreath into the ocean. followed by a salute. Captain Warwick completed the service followed by a few moments of silence which was quite moving. Some of the assembled ladies were weeping and I must it brought a little moisture to the eyes. It was a lovely service conducted very professionally and with dignity by Captain Warwick and his Staff. The family of young Joseph Farnworth were very thankful that at last they have had a service over the "grave" and the dead of the 'Gloucester Castle' can now rest in peace.

Sunk 1900 hours July 15 1942. 93 dead

One sad post script of the survivors was a young steward arrived home and in a couple of weeks was killed on a motor cycle in January 1946.