Merchant Seaman Numbers.

[Jim Brady]

Hi Lou,(see previous post also) I've just spoken to my brother and mentioned your name,he also knocked around with you.He said he had many a pint over in Birkenhead in your local,was it the Rockville ?on the corner of your street of the same name.He said he was in your house and met your mother and family.By the way my brother is John Brady.If he remembers correctly he thinks you were torpedo'd on a Castle boat and ended up a Jap POW.If you dont know this your best mate John McNab also ended up in N.Z.Auckland to be precise.Davy McNab that I mentioned was in fact John's cousin.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Lou Barron]

hi jim it sure is a small world if it was not for the computor i would never joined the british mn i have only had my laptop for a few months its a pity i did not get one wnen my daughters told me to get one yes i do remeber your brother and we did have a few pintts in the rockville pub on the corner i lived in 7rockville st my wife and i paid a visist to rockferry in 1993 but it was all changed all different people the was still when i left the duchess i joined the gloucester castle with one of my school mates we was sunk by a german raider in the south atlantic i was lucky we had a very loss loss of life including my mate they were a lot liverpool and birkenhead guys in the crew i spent the next three and half years as pow of the japs but thats another story johnny and could tell a few stories my wife and i have been to the uk a few times but im afraid i flying days are over i still love england but getting in touch with you is really great hope to hear from you soon

[Jim Brady]

Hi Lou, I see your first ship was the Duchess of Bedford 1940,this was my first ship 17 years later but by then she had been renamed Empress of France.I just looked up the Gloucester Castle and I see it was torpedoed during the first World War when she was a hostpital ship,quite an unlucky ship.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Lou.
A friend was on the Gloucester Castle and went down with her.
He was Joe Farnworth of Dougill Street in Bolton. He was a Deck Boy of 17 years of age.
I remember on the 21st of June,1942, my birthday his brother Dave and I carried his seabag to the bus stop, to get the train to Liverpool, I said `Where are you going to Joe?`, he said `Africa`, I said, ` I
wish I was going` [I had seen Tarzan films of Africa and it sounded good.]
She sailed later that day and on July 15, 1942 she was attacked and shelled by the German auxilary cruiser Michel, Captain von Ruchstelle, who was later sentenced to life in prison for war crimes and died there.
Some passengers and stewardess were killed and crew members including Joe Farnworth.
The survivors were taken to Singapore, two men were put ashore there and the rest were taken to Japan for the Duration and used as slave labour.

"SS Gloucester Castle was part of a section of twenty-four vessels from OS.32 sailing on to the Cape and beyond. On July 15, 1942, she was shelled and sunk by the auxiliary cruiser, Michel, in position 08S 01E (about 840 miles west of Luanda, Angola). There were sixty-one survivors but ninety-three crew members were killed and are commemorated on Tower Hill, Panel 52. [Billy Magee]"

In 2001, I was going to South Africa on QE2 and had taken an MN wreath of poppies, I asked the Master, Capt, Ron Warwick to let me know when we were in the vicinity of the sinking, just South of Ascension Island.
At the time he had organised a Service of Rememberence and a table with the Red Ensign on top with my wreath. We had a Service and then the Chief Security Officer, ex Royal Marines, walked aft and cast the wreath into the sea and Saluted, over the site of the sinking then a minutes silence, At last the crew of the Gloucester Castle, could now rest in peace. Many of the lady passengers were weeping over this very moving service. I must admit it made the eyes a little moist. especially having known Joe Farnworth, I took some photos of the Service and with the Service Sheets I gave them to the Farnworth family when I returned from the Cape, They were most happy that at last his "grave " had been visited.

[Jim Brady]

Hi Captain,a very sad story but very interesting.It was a nice gesture by you to have thought about taking the wreath with you and placing it over the place where your young mate perished.I'm sure Lou will be very interested in reading your post.
I realise that the last few postings are on the wrong thread but as Lou first posted his question on here I thought it only right to carry on,on here.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Captain Kong]

Thanks for that Jim.
I think there are very few men left after all this time, the youngest would be around 85 now.
It is good to see Lou is still with us.
I forgot to say that two men died in Japanese hands. A Steward was unfortunate in that he survived all that and was home on leave and was killed on his motor bike.
Here is a photo of the `Gloucester Castle` and the German` Michel`

[Lou Barron]

good day to captain lus t to put the record straight the raider transfered the suvivors off our ship with a lot of suvivors off other ships the raider had sunk to the german supply ship a tanker called the charlotte schliemann they where about 200 hundred of us and fifity of us landed in singapore the rest went to japan as for joe farnworth two days before we got sunk joe and i with a couple of ab s was painting the awing spars on the monkey island joe slipped off and ended op with a bad cut in the groin that had to have stitches he ended up in the ships hospital he would be unable to move thank you for mention of the laying of the wreath over the spot of the gloucester castle lou barron

[Lou Barron]

hi jim did you find out what happened to johnny mcnab i sure would like to know yes they were a good bunch of guys in them days there a pub we use to drink in bootle but i cannot think of the name that would be in 1946 my memory is not the best these days i have a photo of johnny and i taken in 1941 in rockferryit sure brings back memories hope to hear from you soon lou

[Jim Brady]

Hi Lou,you must've missed it in one of my previous post's johnny McNab ended up in N.Z. like yourself,he went to live in Auckland,he never returned to the U.K. to live.
A couple of pubs you may have gone into down the Lane,Salisbury,The Borough or the Chaucer they would be quite local to where Johnny lived.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Lou,
many thnks for letting me know about the fate of Joe Farnworth.

as for joe farnworth two days before we got sunk joe and i with a couple of ab s was painting the awing spars on the monkey island joe slipped off and ended op with a bad cut in the groin that had to have stitches he ended up in the ships hospital he would be unable to move thank you for mention of the laying of the wreath over the spot of the gloucester castle lou barron

The family knew he had had an accident and was in the ships hospital when she went down, sos I can now confirm this and also we now know how he came to have his accident..
I had forgotten about the Charlotte Schliemann, I had written a long story about the epic voyage you did after the sinking. I think it was published in the Merchant Navy Association magazine about eight years ago. Unfortunately I had lost it a couple of years ago when my computer crashed.
I believe no one knew about the sinking until after the war when the survivors were found in the `camps`.
I saw the telegram that was sent to Joes family in 1942, just informing them that Joe and the rest of the crew and passengers were `missing`. They recieved another one at the end of 1945 confirming he was dead. A long time to wait to find out if your young son is alive or dead.
I will be contacting his brother Dave this week to fill him in on the fate of Joe. There was never any official statement on this , only the basic telegram informing them of his death.

Cheers and thanks for the information.I think it will bring a closure to the family.
Brian