White Ensign Flying

by Roger Litwiller

  Lieutenant Parrè is, I believe out of hospital now and convalescing up in Scotland. I think his leg is going to be quite alright, but he was rather annoyed at missing the invasion.

  I am glad to hear that our ship’s company made an impression in Londonderry that travelled back as far as Trenton. Although they haven’t had a great deal of opportunity to prove their worth in any great fashion, they have worked very hard so far and have become very efficient.

  The weather here is very pleasant at this time of year and although we have no 92º of temperature it has been quite warm today. I’m afraid that when the winter comes it will be another matter. The ship hasn’t been tossed about since we came over here so we will all have to get our “sea legs” anew.

  Here’s hoping that you are still enjoying your holiday and not working too hard in the garden.[42]

  Trentonian departed Sheerness at 1355 on July 30 for the one-hour voyage to Southend. They departed for France after 2000 that night with a coastal convoy and Mulberry tows.[43]

  This trip to France was not without incident. Trentonian was fired on again, this time from the big German rail guns on the occupied French coast. Harrison ordered his ship to lay a smoke screen to conceal the convoy.[44] None of the shells found their intended target and the convoy passed through the Strait of Dover unmolested.[45]

  For the crew, the attack provided a sense of relief and a bit of fun. They had been strafed by Spitfires from the Royal Air Force during working up exercises for the invasion, attacked by the United States Navy off the invasion area after D-Day, and shelled by the British Army in the English Channel. It was about time the Germans took a few shots at them!

  Trentonian arrived off the Juno Light Vessel at 1928 on August 1 and discharged the convoy before heading back towards England.[46]

  Trentonian takes in tow these two drifting fuel barges while in the Strait of Dover.

  Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.

  At 0135 on August 2, Trentonian picked up its next convoy at Piccadilly Circus, the mid-Channel rendezvous point, and escorted them to France. They arrived off St. Laurent at 1648. Once again, the convoy was left off the coast and Trentonian headed northward.[47]

  That night, at 2241, Trentonian received orders to search for an aircraft that had crashed into the Channel. Harrison ordered the ship’s course changed and they arrived in the area within twenty minutes. They commenced an expanding box search of the location.[48] The klaxon alarm sounded, clearing lower decks; the men lined the rails, all eyes hoping to see some sign of life in the darkness.

  Early on August 3, Trentonian was joined by HMS Pytchley a Hunt-class destroyer escort. Pytchley took charge of the search as senior officer and the two ships continued searching for the crew of the missing aircraft until the search was abandoned at 0147.[49] No sign of the aircraft or the crew was found.

  The crew stood down and returned to normal watches and Trentonian resumed its course northward. Passing through the Strait of Dover and arriving at Sheerness at 1325 in the afternoon.

  The crew were given a twenty-two hour stand down to rest and resupply their ship before sailing from Sheerness at 1530 on August 4. They crossed the Thames Estuary and anchored four hours later at Southend-on-Sea to await their next convoy.[50]

  While waiting for their convoy, one of Trentonian’s crew suddenly became very ill, with sharp pains in his lower right side of his abdomen. Surgeon Lt. Gourlay examined Able Seaman Weldon Runtz from Arnprior, Ontario, and found him to be having a severe appendicitis attack. Runtz was immediately transferred to hospital at the Westcliff Sick Quarters.[51]

  With the medical emergency over, Trentonian departed Southend at 2015, escorting a coastal convoy towards Dover.[52]

  The next morning, August 5, 1944, Trentonian found an abandoned barge in the Channel and took it in tow.[53] Manoeuvring Trentonian to the drifting barge proved difficult and time-consuming. Once secured to the barge, the crew realized they were sitting inside a mine field. Stoker Bruce Keir recalls that the crew was closed up and everyone posted on lookout. One of the petty officers came around and handed out rifles. Bruce had a rifle thrust in his hands and was instructed, “Don’t shoot anything until ordered!” This was the first time he had held a rifle since basic training.

  As the ship started to move with the barge in tow, the entire crew watched as one mine slowly passed down the length of the ship. The mine was too close to detonate with gun fire, since the resulting explosion would have severely damaged the ship. Once clear of the mine field, normal operations returned.[54]

  By 0900, the convoy was off Dover and the barge was given to tugs there. Trentonian also detached a floating dock that had been taking on water from the convoy and sent it for repairs.[55]

  Trentonian and its convoy passed through the Strait of Dover without incident. At 0215 on August 6, the ship came across another drifting barge and once again manoeuvred to take the barge in tow. This time the operation went smoothly as no mine field was present.[56]

  Trentonian anchored off Spithead on the Isle of Wight at 0715, after detaching its convoy to Plymouth.[57] With less than twelve hours rest, Trentonian departed at 0625 on August 7 with HMS Lark, a modified Black Swan-class sloop, and proceeded to Plymouth.[58]

  Trentonian’s trip to Plymouth marked the end of its invasion operations. The focus of the convoys was changing from support of the invasion to support of operations in France.

  This had been an exceptionally busy period for the ship and crew. They had escorted more than twenty-two convoys in just over eight weeks. They had been fired on by friend and foe and had not lost a single ship under their escort. The crew had undergone extended periods of continuous employment, with little or no rest and minimal shore leave.

  During this period of intense activity, Trentonian earned the Battle Honour, Normandy 1944.

  10: Post-Invasion Operations

  I am glad to hear that our ship’s company made an impression in Londonderry that travelled back as far as Trenton. Although they haven’t had a great deal of opportunity to prove their worth in any great fashion, they have worked very hard so far and have become very efficient.

  — Lt. W.E. Harrison, RCNVR, Commanding Officer, HMCS Trentonian

  Trentonian and Lark arrived in Plymouth and anchored at 1640 on August 7, 1944, and waited just over an hour for their convoy. Their orders were to escort a coastal convoy to the west, up the coast to Milford Haven.[1]

  Trentonian had not been in these waters since the end of May when they had escorted the CornCob convoy to Normandy for the invasion. The waterways were busy, with convoys proceeding up and down the coast. From Plymouth, Trentonian passed Lizard Point, referred to as “the Lizard,” then round Land’s End before turning north and following the Cornwall coast. They then crossed the Bristol Channel and arrived at Milford Haven.

  This was still a dangerous area to operate in; German U-boats and mines were a constant danger. The channels were marked and close attention was paid to navigation. Mines had been laid by the Allies to restrict the U-boats from operating freely along the coast and the Germans had laid mines in the channels to attack the Allied shipping.

  Trentonian arrived safely with its convoy in Milford Haven at 1645 on August 8.[2] This was to be its home port, as Trentonian was assigned to the Forty-first Escort Group. After the ship was fuelled and provisioned, the crew was given leave.

  Surgeon Lt. Gourlay reported to Harrison that he had some concerns over fresh provisions for the crew. He said that it was difficult to get fresh fruit and vegetables and particularly a source of safe, fresh milk. He noted, “I advise strongly against the purchasing of fresh milk in Milford Haven, for although it is pasteurized, it is distributed in a most unsafe, unsanitary manner.”[3]

  The next morning brought news of an action the night before. Regina had been sunk during the night off the coast of Cornwall. Thirty of its crew had been killed and many more wounded.

  Despite the successful inva
sion, the threats to the Allied convoys were still as real and dangerous as they had been earlier in the war. Though no longer based in the Channel, Trentonian was still escorting convoys along the Cornwall coast, through the English Channel, and to France. The potential for an attack from U-boats or enemy aircraft was present along the entire route. Closer to France the threat of E-boats increased and mines laid by aircraft, E-boats, or submarines could sink a ship without warning.

  The format of the convoys changed at this time. In the days following the invasion, larger convoys transporting huge quantities of material were needed. Now that the invasion was complete, smaller convoys arriving at regular intervals were required to support operations in France. The designations of the convoys were changed; convoys sailing from the area of the Bristol Channel were designated EBC (Bristol Channel to the Beaches) and return convoys were FBC (Beaches to Bristol Channel). Convoys sailing from the Thames Estuary were designated ETC (Thames Estuary to the Beaches) and return convoys were FTC (Beaches to Thames Estuary).[4]

  To accommodate the new needs, convoys consisted of smaller numbers of merchant ships, between ten and twenty, with an escort of only one or sometimes two corvettes. The job of the escort was to get the convoy to the destination; the protection of the convoys was left to the escort groups made up of frigates and destroyers. If a U-boat was known to be in the area, the escort groups would move in to hunt the submarine to exhaustion, allowing the convoy to move on to the intended destination.[5]

  This arrangement relegated Trentonian and the other escort corvettes to the status of work horses, slugging back and forth from the beaches in Normandy to the various ports in the United Kingdom. All the while, the frigates and destroyers of the escort groups received the glory of the hunt.

  After two days’ rest, Trentonian sailed from Milford Haven at 0905 with thirty-seven merchant ships designated convoy EBC 68.[6] This being a large convoy, Trentonian was assisted by two old chummy ships, Moose Jaw and Lunenburg[7] ; Trentonian and Moose Jaw had escorted many convoys together, and Lunenburg was the first corvette Harrison commanded. This was the first Harrison had seen of his old ship. He studied Lunenburg closely and saw it looked very different since a refit that extended the ship’s fo’c’sle.

  The convoy arrived safely off Normandy at 1710 on August 12.[8] Trentonian anchored in the vicinity of HMS Capetown, an old C-class cruiser now used as a convoy control ship in the American sector. The next day, Trentonian and Moose Jaw departed Normandy with convoy FBC 53 at 1204.[9] The convoy consisted of twenty-six merchant ships bound for the Bristol Channel. They arrived safely on the morning of August 15 and Trentonian anchored in Milford Haven at 1025.[10]

  Trentonian at anchor in Milford Haven, August 1944. Artist Marc Magee used this photo of the ship for his painting on the cover of the book.

  Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.

  Trentonian remained at anchor in Milford Haven for the next three days.[11] The crew was given time to pay some close attention to their ship and enjoy time ashore. News of an engagement on the night of August 14 reached the ship. Iroquois, as part of the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla, had engaged several German ships off La Rochelle in the Bay of Biscay, sinking a German minesweeper.[12]

  Lieutenant Harrison had not yet received a reply from his enquiry for LS W. Jacobs, whose wife was seriously ill. Harrison sent another request for immediate compassionate leave to Canada for Jacobs while in Milford Haven.[13]

  At 2100 on August 18, Trentonian moved to the harbour approaches and anchored to await its next assignment.[14] The next morning the convoy was formed up early and the ship departed at 0635 with convoy EBC 77.[15] The convoy consisted of eighteen merchant ships and assisting with the escort was the Free French corvette Aconit. They were to proceed to The Solent, an area of water separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland, where the convoy would be split.

  Trentonian and Aconit arrived with the convoy at 1918 on August 21 and anchored near Spithead.[16] They remained at anchor for the next twenty-four hours while thirteen ships were removed from the convoy and another twelve joined.

  More news of the war reached the ship. Several actions had taken place over the days Trentonian had been at sea. A Canadian escort group had sunk two German U-boats,[17] but there was no celebration as news of the tragic loss of Alberni also came through. Alberni had been performing an anti-submarine sweep along the channels approaching Normandy. “Hands to dinner” had just been piped when, four minutes later, a torpedo slammed into her port side. The ship sank in twenty seconds, trapping most of her crew in the mess decks. Fifty-nine of Alberni’s crew were killed.[18] The crews of Trentonian and Alberni had worked closely together since Bermuda and Harrison was a close friend of its skipper.

  The convoy departed Spithead at 2207 on August 22 and continued to France with Trentonian as the sole escort.[19] They arrived off the American sector of the French coast at 1300 on August 23 without incident.[20]

  Trentonian immediately turned around and sailed with convoy FBC 62 to the Bristol Channel.[21] The convoy consisted of thirty-one merchant ships and Trentonian was again the sole escort. All arrived safely on August 25 and Trentonian anchored at Milford Haven at 1852.[22]

  A message was received concerning LS Jacobs’s wife. It simply read, “W. Jacobs request for compassionate leave not recommended, wife fully recovered.”[23] There were no details of any sort, leaving the poor sailor still wondering what had happened.

  Trentonian was due for a boiler cleaning. The ship moved into the basin and secured to the fish processing docks on August 26 at 1105.[24] They would remain at the fish dock for eleven days.

  Dock space in Milford Haven was at a premium. Prime dock space was being used for supply ships, repairs, and, in Trentonian’s case, boiler cleaning. Despite the presence of warships, the fish docks were still in use by those they were intended for. Throughout the day the fishing boats would come alongside the dock just ahead of Trentonian and unload their cargos of fresh-caught fish.

  The fish were gutted, cleaned, and their heads and tails removed on the dock before the meat was taken into the plant for processing. At the end of the day, the leftovers on the dock were simply shovelled into the water. Unfortunately for the crew of Trentonian, this was an unusually warm August. It did not take long for the entire ship to fill with the odour of dead and decomposing fish.

  This is an instance where every crew member shares the exact same recollection of events. They all remark how delicious the fresh fish was when Harrison ordered the depth charge dropped on the school of fish off the Grand Banks. However, after this experience at the Milford Haven docks, fish was never again served in Trentonian.[25]

  Despite the smell, work continued and the crew was turned out to clean ship and perform maintenance and minor repairs. Boiler cleaning provided an opportunity to bring the ship back to a high state of readiness.

  One of the items on the defect list was the galley floor. Surgeon Lt. Gourlay had identified the smooth steel deck of the galley as a serious hazard to the cooks while in any sort of a sea, especially when the floor was wet or greasy. New suntax flooring was installed over the bare steel deck. The size of the ventilation fans was increased as the doctor had noted that ventilation was inadequate and circulation of fresh air was insufficient; the galley atmosphere was both unhealthy and unpleasant during the warmer months of the year.[26]

  Also on the defect list was the ventilation fan for the engine room. It was found to be too small and in constant need of repair; even when operating properly, it could not provide enough cool air for the men working in the hot space of the engine room to be safe.[27]

  Time was also given to make the ship’s appearance presentable again. The paint they had used in July had been of an inferior quality and much of it had been washed away by the salt and the sea. Rust stains were showing all over the hull, making the ship look quite old. The men were again turned out to chip and scrape and lay on a new coat.

  The
ship’s camouflage was changed to a “false hull” pattern; overall a light grey, with a medium grey smaller hull shape painted on the sides. The camouflage was designed to give the appearance of a smaller ship.

  A work party, with a Maple Leaf fan, from Trentonian takes a break during boiler cleaning in Milford Haven.

  Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of the Family of Maurice Campbell.

  Harrison knew that all work and no play would not bring his crew to a high degree of readiness, so the opportunity to give extended leave was taken. Half the crew were rotated through several days of leave. Once again, some took the train to London to enjoy the sights and sounds that the city had to offer. Others visited family and relatives in England, and some stayed closer to the ship and explored Milford Haven.

  Radar Artificer Joe Gosskie from Birnie, Manitoba, found a way to enjoy extra shore leave. His shipmate, Colin Harvey, from Seal Cove, Nova Scotia, was married. Joe described his friend as “living on Halifax time”; he had no interest in going ashore. So Joe would give Harvey five pounds in exchange for his shore leave.[28]

  September 1, 1944, brought good news for one of Trentonian’s crew. Harrison’s request to have Signalman Jack Harold become an officer had been accepted and Harold was to commence officer training at King’s College in Halifax. The soon-to-be-ex-signalman was transferred to the Canadian manning depot Niobe, in Scotland, to await return to Canada.[29]

  Not all shore leave ended with fun and celebration. On occasion, problems would arise, not always due to the actions or fault of the crew. The community would welcome and respect the visiting sailors, but on occasion they would come across an individual who would take advantage of a man who had enjoyed his leave a little too much. This was evident on September 4 when Able Seaman D.J. Sinnott returned to the ship with a broken nose and a deep laceration. He was admitted to St. Albans Military Hospital for treatment.[30]