Eric Mason's story (part 2)

As the days passed by the sea became much bluer and calm and the weather beautiful and warm. We were told to enjoy it as we were then some 500 miles from the South American coast and would be heading back towards Gibraltar where it was much colder. We had in fact sailed a great half cycle which had taken us out of the range of the large German 4-engined Folke Wolfe bombers based in France

We arrived at Gibraltar in the dark, but everywhere was lit up. You couldn't have a blackout in Gibraltar when everything in Spain was alive with lights. It was an overnight stop. Some of the ships stayed at Gibraltar and others passed through into the Mediterranean, but together with 2 of the ships and a new escort we headed south down the coast of Africa. The escort which had brought us safely from England was to take a fast convoy back.

My colleagues and I had now found out from the Signals Officer on the troopship where we were going - it was Freetown in Sierra Leone - but we still did not know the ship or ships we were to join. All we did find out was the Dept. No. was EC1 which stood for the base ship 'Edinburgh Castle', an old liner which was moored in the large river estuary.

We arrived in Freetown Harbour just before Christmas 1943, and passed through the large antisubmarine net boom into the harbour estuary. The Navy, Army and Airforce for Freetown were quickly disembarked and the 'Leopoldville' turned round and rejoined the escort and the other ships waiting outside the boom and headed south.

Everything seemed to go like clockwork. We were transferred by harbour launch to the 'Edinburgh Castle', the Army contingent ferried ashore to the Depot of the British West African Frontier Force and the RAF lads by RAF launch further up the river to Waterloo, the Flyboat Station.

Conditions were 'spartan' to say the least. Our ships were due in 2 days hence and we were 'rookies' not having flashed a lamp or waved a signal flag in anger before. When we did, it had to be correct as our lives and everyone else's on board relied on it being so. We therefore practiced hard those two days, passing signals by semaphore, Morse lamp and flag hoists, to and fro, with the Signal Station some 13 miles away, sending the signals through binoculars and telescopes. We also attempted to get conversant with the local signal orders in force at Freetown, so we should understand what was required when the Base Ship hoisted flag signals advising all ships.

(above)3 Signalmen together aboard Edinburgh Castle, December 1943 Left to right: Clifford 'Paddy' Hutton (from Armargh) Eric Mason (from Sheffield) David Garrett

Our Base Ship which dealt with all the paper work, provisions, staffing etc was a large merchant ship, the 'Philoctetes II', named after a Greek God, and which was fully equipped as a Engineering Works Ship capable of carrying out all repairs - short of building a new ship.

On Christmas Eve the ships we were to join came in and moored alongside the base ship. They were Asdic Trawlers (SONAR) about 170 feet long and were the deep sea fishing sort of trawlers fitted with depth charge rails at the stern and 2 depth charge throwers on the port and starboard sides. Guns were fitted on platforms either side of the bridge and over the after deck. A 12 powder gun was mounted on the forecastle head. They were also equipped with Radar and Echo-sounding gear. A full crew was 50 persons including the officers.

The trawlers were of the Hill Class being named after hills in England , namely 'Butser', 'Birdlip', 'Duncton', 'Dunkery', 'Inkpen', 'Portsdown', 'Yestor' and 'Bredon'. They were built at Cook, Welton and Gemmell's Shipyard at Beverley in 1941. HMS Butser was the ship I joined and had in fact been launched on the 29th July 1941. She proved to be a lucky ship for me as the 29th July was my birthday. Of the eight ships in the class, the 'Bredon' had sunk in February 1943 when on escort in the South Atlantic, so only 7 remained.

We were soon aboard our respective ships, relieving the signalmen who were to return home and after taking stores on board we moved out to the mooring bays to load coal and water for the next trip. Water was the last to be taken, and once we left harbour none could be used for washing purposes. It was salt water showers or nothing until we returned..


(right) Eric Mason signalman with Aldis lamp on board HMS Butser

There were also Sunderland Flying Boats from Freetown, Hercules arising from Takoradi and Cameron Catalanians from Ascension Island which over flew the area we were in, hunting for signs of U-boats. The U-boats were not as active in our area in 1944 as previously as most of them were in the South Atlantic plaguing one of the large convoys from America and a great number were being sunk by the new hunter-killer groups which had been formed to destroy them. The RAF were also having their uses in France which cut their numbers down. We did however still have a few long range boats which had been in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic and which headed back for home, coming our way. The war in the Far East was also going better in our favour, so the threat of Japanese submarines coming our way gradually faded.

It was not over though for in July 1944 the 'Birdlip' was hit by torpedo when at the rear of a convoy. It left just 6 ships out of the 8 launched at Beverley. The signalmen who died were at the Training School with me and were the same age as I was, 19 years, and it was a sad time to lose them and their shipmates.