James Leslie Younger - Six Years On Atlantic Convoys

James Leslie Younger was born in 1916 in South Shields. At the age of 20 in 1936 he joined the Merchant Navy as a cabin boy. When the war started in 1939 he was working on the tanker Robert F Hand. Les did 8 official escorted convoys aboard this tanker with 6 of these crossing the Atlantic over a period of 8 months. Lord Haw-Haw in his radio broadcasts several times mentioned that this ship had been sunk, his sister heard these reports and, fortunately, the ship saw no enemy action.

Les joined the Ousebridge on 25th May 1940 at South Shields as the Ship's Cook, just outside of Liverpool Docks on 29th July 1940 the Ousebridge hit a mine and the ship quickly sank. There were 2 men killed ( "supposed drowned"), William Keating from 37 Havelock Street South Shields and George Thompson Simpson just 23 years old and also 3 men injured. It was after this misfortune that his sister Jennie says that Les arrived at their house in Stanhope Road, South Shields with just his pyjamas on and a top coat! All his other possessions and money were lost. In the early days of the war, his pay would have been stopped from the time he sank! Any time spent in the sea or in a lifeboat was unpaid the records would euphemistically state "Discharged at Sea".

Les's next ship was the Dan-y-Bryn. He joined Convoy HX84 which consisted of 38 merchant ships and 3 escorts and left Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on 28 October 1940.

Two days earlier the German Heavy Cruiser, Admiral Scheer took to sea and knew the convoy's location. The convoy's sole "escort" was The Jervis Bay an old (1922) liner with seven old Boer War 6-inch guns and two 3-inch anti-aircraft guns all lashed together and this was laughably called an Armed Merchant Cruiser. From a range of 10 miles, the Scheer started firing on the convoy. The "Jervis Bay" commanded by Captain Fegen RN started to fire on the Scheer but she was hopelessly outgunned. Fegen ordered the convoy to scatter. He must have known he stood no chance against the Scheer, but he also knew his duty was to protect the convoy. He sailed full speed ahead towards the Scheer with all guns blazing. The Scheer now diverted its guns away from the main convoy and concentrated its massive 11-inch guns on the Jervis Bay. The result was inevitable. The Jervis Bay took a huge hammering with hundreds of shells aimed at her for over 22 minutes. Finally, she was sunk, with the loss of 187 of her gallant crew and not a scratch on the Scheer. But those 22 minutes bought the convoy valuable time (or some of them) The Scheer with its very fast speed of over 28 knots and 11-inch guns pursued and destroyed a further 6 ships, with the loss of 253 lives. Captain Fegen was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his attempts to protect the convoy and the"Jervis Bay" sailed into naval history.

Another extraordinary and courageous episode of this convoy was the San Demetrio. She had over 11,000 tons of aviation fuel on board when the Scheer hit her with several shells, destroying her bridge and poop deck; the upper deck was also in flames. Expecting an almighty explosion, the crew abandoned the ship into two lifeboats into the freezing Atlantic Ocean. One lifeboat was picked up and taken to Newfoundland, the other drifted for several days. The crew spent 2 nights in a North Atlantic gale. They were close to the burning ship and had to face the agonizing decision of freezing to death in the lifeboat or returning to fry in the blazing ship! They decided to return to the ship; they re-boarded her and fought the fire. Then with no radio, charts or navigation equipment, they sailed her across the Atlantic and arrived at the Clyde on 16th November!

Les and his ship made it back safely to the UK but in Scotland on 28 December 1940, the ship was attacked again, this time by aircraft. In about 1950 Les was interviewed by the"Chief Steward and Ship Stores Gazette" and the following are the accounts:
"Some weeks later, while lying at anchor at Loch Ewe, where her convoy was to assemble, she was again in trouble, this time being singled out for attack by a four-engined enemy dive-bomber, which, without warning, swooped down out of the sun, raked the deck with cannon fire and released a stick of bombs. All but one of these bombs missed the ship, but exploded near enough alongside to inflict substantial damage, while another one which did fall aboard failed to explode but did some slight damage to deck fittings. Urgent repairs in the form of cement boxes were rapidly carried out and the Dan-y-Bryn was able to leave with her convoy (This four-engined aircraft was probably the legendary Focke-Wulf FW 200 Condor).

The Dan-y-Bryn left Halifax on February 3rd 1941 to join convoy HX107.
"While in convoy from Halifax NS to the United Kingdom, she was not so lucky. During this voyage and soon after leaving the shelter of the Canadian Coast, the weather became so severe that the convoy became completely dispersed. The Dan-y-Bryn took a terrific buffeting, shipping tremendous seas and having her main steering gear put completely out of action. Practically all the accommodation below, including the steward's storerooms were flooded, and for a period things were tricky. Throughout one day and night, the CPR vessel Beaverbrae gallantly stood by, making several attempts to take the stricken vessel in tow, but the weather proved too severe for this to be practicable. After a while, the Beaverbrae received advice to clear out as both enemy submarines and aircraft were operating in the vicinity. For several days the Dan-y-Bryn drifted helplessly while her crew made desperate but unsuccessful attempts to repair the damage, and the Canadian authorities organized quite a fleet of small tugs to go to her assistance. These rescuing vessels eventually reached the Cardiff Tramp, and after being adrift for 19 days she was brought safely into St John's Newfoundland."

In 1943 Les was on the Empire Livingstone at Bizerte in Tunisia on 31st December 1943 the ship seemed to have been hit by a gale and hit the rocks. The ship was declared a total write-off, and most of the crew paid off on 21st January 1944. The remaining crew were later paid off and the ship was put up for salvage.

After the war, Les carried on with the Merchant Navy until 1952 when he tried to make a new life in New Zealand after all the horrors of war. Before the war, Les had "Signed the Pledge" that is to make a solemn vow not to drink alcohol. But after the war, he was drinking heavily. The death certificate states the cause of death: "Toxic Myocarditis - alcoholic". He was buried in a pauper's grave in Auckland, New Zealand. During his 6 years on Atlantic Convoys, he sailed on 78 convoys. His ships were dive-bombed, strafed with cannon fire, mined, shipwrecked, cast adrift for 19 days and who knows how many friends he lost it is my view that the horrors that he saw were so awful it drove him to drink.

The family obtained his medals and erected a headstone on his grave. His medals: War Medal, Atlantic Star, 1939-1945 Star and Italy Star.

Audio and transcription are attached.