James Robertson McIntosh

[Doc Vernon]

Nice to se you again Brenda ,hope all is well with you and yours!
Thanks for the posts!
Cheers

[Brenda Shackleton]

Hello Doc,

All is well - thank you for asking. Always busy ! Usually look at the site every day and find such interesting posts and memories.
My whole childhood and following years were a catalogue of my Dad's yarns . We called the kitchen table, ' The Captain's Table' He used to tell us how important it was for passengers to be invited to the Captain's table. One ship that Pete and I were on a few years ago (70 passengers) it seemed to be a big deal. I just said that I had been at the Captain's table more times than I could
count ...!

The painting in # 10 is the front cover of the MN quarterly magazine, ' Full Ahead'. I was asked to write an article on the Rescue Ship Service and of course I agreed ! Ossie Jones is the artist and I think that he has done a splendid job of portraying COPELAND in her War guise. I have bought the original and I am really happy with it . I wonder if anyone on this site has seen this quarter's ' Full Ahead' ? I would be interested to know !

The below is some more information for Marina taken from U-boat. net. I hope that we hear some more from her in due course.
Regards
Brenda

From U- boat.net
At 04.00 hours on 14 Sept 1942, U-457 (Brandenburg) attacked convoy PQ-18 southwest of Bear Island and reported one tanker and one other ship sunk and two hits on a Javelin-class destroyer. In fact, only the Atheltemplar (Master Carl Ray) was hit and the crew immediately abandoned the burning tanker. The minesweeper HMS Harrier (J 71) (Cdr A.D.H. Jay DSC, RN) attempted to scuttle the vessel by gunfire but failed and the tanker was left behind, last seen burning furiously but still afloat.
The master, 42 crew members and 18 gunners were picked up by the British Rescue Ship Copeland (Master William Joseph Hartley, DSC) and the British destroyer HMS Offa (G 29) (LtCdr R.A. Ewing, RN) and transferred to the British minesweepers HMS Harrier and HMS Sharpshooter (J 68) (LtCdr W.L. O´Mara, RN). Later they were transferred to the British cruiser HMS Scylla (98) (Capt I.A.P. Macintyre, CBE, RN) and landed at Scapa Flow. Three crew members later died from their injuries. The master of the Rescue ship, W.J. Hartley, was awarded the Lloyd´s War Medal for bravery at sea.

At 14.30 hours on 14 September, U-408 came across the capsized wreck of the Atheltemplar and sank her with a few shots from the 88mm gun.


On board. We have details of 6 people who were on board.

[marina bowen]

Thank you Hugh, I will certainly take a look at those. Such nice people on here! xxxx

[marina bowen]

Thank you Brenda!! You must be very proud of your dad, i am certainly taken aback by how wonderful you all are on here! Many thanks again xx

[marina bowen]

Yes he certainly did and had various stints with the MN until 1975, when unfortunately he died on board Astraman 358853. He was only 52.
Thank you for helping me, you all seem lovely on here!!! x

- - - Updated - - -

Yes we have his birth certificate, he died on board the Astraman in 1975 - 1/12/75. Thank you Vernon! x

[cappy]

Thank you Hugh, I will certainly take a look at those. Such nice people on here! xxxx

##marina are you by any chance a family member of Owen Bowen the quite well known yorkshire oil painter.....i think bowen is not a common name .....i have two of his paintings which feature yorkshire scenes of the river wharfe near wetherby .....they are very tranquil paintings ...like my nature sometimes ......regards cappy

[marina bowen]

No cappy, im afraid Im not, I've heard of him and seen some of his paintings, and yes they are lovely. Marina x

[cappy]

No cappy, im afraid Im not, I've heard of him and seen some of his paintings, and yes they are lovely. Marina x

##the man i think has never had true recognition ......but a friend of mine an ex leeds united and england player had a house built overlooking the wharfe.and part of the scene on one of my oils could be seen from his house ...although it had been painted many years before the scene and tree in the foreground were exactly the same but i kept it .......suppose the children will hawk them when pat and i pop our clogs as oils are not in vogue at this time...but then each to his own.....never thought i would own oils ......but then we learn as we get older ..thats for sure best wishes and regards cappy

[Doc Vernon]

Hello again Brenda
Thank you for the lovely post,as always very interesting and yes that was lovely gathering around the Captains Table ,it must have been grand yo sit like that and listed to the many tales your dear Dad conveyed to you all.
Oh Happy Days were those. Like my Dad too but his tales were of the Air Force days and also very interesting, We have a good background of Ait Force ,going back some Years,with me the last in line to have served with the RAF.
Have had Ranks from Wing Commander (my Dads Brother ) down to (me) AC1

Thanks again

[marina bowen]

Hello Hugh, Its me again!

I requested his seaman's pouch, which on arrival shows he joined the merchant navy in 1948. Nothing is held in BT/381/1021. Yet he is showing as crew on the Atheltemplar (still awaiting the copies to be sent). What I would like to ask is - since he was 16 and came from Barnardos Home to be a mess-room boy on the Atheltemplar, would he have necessarily been in the Merchant Navy? I notice in his brief records from Barnardos that he applied for his birth certificate in May 1943 - surely you would already have needed this to join the Merchant Navy? Any help would be lovely, please excuse my ignorance on these matters!! Love Marina xx