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Date of Arrival |
Place |
Date of Departure |
Orders, Remarks etc |
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In January 1939 I was sent down to Sheerness Dockyard and there, with
others, commissioned the minesweeper HMS Hazard. There was three of us
Torpedo Men, we ran all the ship’s electrical gear on the ship and of
course the depth charges etc. We went down to Portland which was the
Minesweeping Base and loaded up with all kinds of minesweeping
equipment. And then came the time for us to go out to sea and
practice, and what a time we had. Nobody had ever been on a sweeper
before but we got down to it and put up a poor show. After a while we
got as good as other ships at sweeping.
Scragg |
|
31.1.39 |
Portland |
10.2.39 |
HAZARD
is to be sailed for Portsmouth so as to arrive in time to commence
work on the installation of the Gyro Roll Corrector on 13/2.
Anticipated HAZARD will be required at Portsmouth for 4 working days |
|
11.2.39 |
Portsmouth |
22.2.39 |
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|
22.2.39 |
Portland |
8.3.39 |
4/3
From Capt i/c Portland: Whilst berthing pm 2/3 sustained damage.
Requires docking and immediate repairs which are beyond the facilities
of Portland
4/3
From Capt i/c Portland: HAZARD will be docked at Portland on 7/3 for
temporary repairs (To be made seaworthy to proceed to Sheerness for
permanent repairs)
7/3
From Capt i/c Portland: HAZARD is to sail for Sheerness as soon as
convenient after undocking about 1000 8/3 |
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After exercises our ship went back to Chatham and gave Easter leave.
And when I came back the ship was at Sheerness and before I could get
on board the 2nd in command told me I had a new job. To
take over the big Mining Flat as the seaman who had been looking after
it had gone back to barracks to finish his Navy service. So I had a
big job on my hands, all the mining stores to keep in order and
splicing wires and ropes which I did for the six years.
Scragg |
|
9.3.39 |
Sheerness |
27.4.39 |
10/3
Taken in hand for refit and collision repairs. Completes 22/4 |
|
28.4.39 |
Portland |
18.5.39 |
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18.5.39 |
Portsmouth |
22.5.39 |
Taken
in hand 19/5 for repairs. DU dependant on examination. Completed 22/5 |
|
23.5.39 |
Portland |
1.6.39 |
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1.6.39 |
Brixham |
2.6.39 |
Stood
by to go to the aid of submarine HMS Thetis which had sunk in
Liverpool Bay.
2/6
From SO 1st MSF: Returning to Brixham |
|
3.6.39 |
Brixham |
8.6.39 |
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8.6.39 |
Dartmouth |
13.6.39 |
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|
14.6.39 |
Bristol |
21.6.39 |
Well the ship went on a visit to Bristol. The ship sailed under the
Clifton
Bridge which was very high. We went up into the docks for a week and
every afternoon the ship was open to visitors. Half the ship’s crew
went on a trip by a bus to Cheddar Gorge which was very lovely to look
at. And the other day another part of the crew went for a visit to W H
Wills factory at Bristol. And the next day we went for a trip to
Bristol Zoo which was very nice.
Scragg |
|
22.6.39 |
Falmouth |
26.6.39 |
And
at the end of the week the ship left for a visit to Cherbourg. But on
the way we were ordered back to Chatham and gave leave. I thought
something was funny and in the wind.
Scragg |
|
27.6.39 |
Sheerness |
30.7.39 |
10/7
Taken in hand for minor defects. Can sail at 24 hours notice.
Completes 26/7 approx |
|
31.7.39 |
Portland |
14.8.39 |
After
leave we went back to Portland and filled up with all sorts of stores,
and I took on all sorts of minesweeping gear for sweeping. All
minesweepers went out into the Channel day after day for practice.
Scragg |
|
18.8.39 |
Portland |
22.8.39 |
And
then we set sail for
Scapa Flow.
On the way up we anchored off Cromer and all Captains of ships told
their men to write home as perhaps this was the last mail for a
time. And then we went off to Scapa Flow and started sweeping in all
direction across to
Cape Wrath,
Western Scotland. Of course it was good training and plenty of work
for me, splicing the wires which snagged.
Scragg |
|
24.8.39 |
Scapa |
12.9.39 |
3/9
The threat of war was getting very near. So it was said on the
wireless, as there was no papers to read what was going on. Well all
of us went out in different ways making channels and marking them on
the charts. And of course this was Sunday morning and at 11 o’clock we
heard we were at war.
Scragg |
|
14.9.39 |
Loch
Ewe |
? |
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21.9.39 |
Scapa |
1.10.39 |
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3.10.39 |
Scapa |
19.10.39 |
For
Sullom Voe |
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|
13.10.39 |
Well the war hadn’t been on long and the boom defences at Scapa were
only a makeshift till they were done proper. And that was the time
when a German submarine put into the Flow under one of the ships
coming in. All the Fleet was at anchor and during the night the
battleship Royal Oak was torpedoed and blew up with the loss of over
1,000 lives. And the Big Ships scattered leaving behind us two
minesweepers and four destroyers who was waiting for us. Sweeping the
Flow up and down, we went up and down till we caught up with something
on the bottom. Well we knew that no sunken ships were there. So we got
in our wires and dropped a marker buoy to mark the spot. We steered
away and then the four destroyers speeded over the spot and dropped
depth charges and then on top of the water oil came to the top and all
sorts of things, you could nearly walk on the water. And then within
48 hours the Navy diving came and sent divers down. It was a sub
alright and they got the number of it.
Scragg |
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17.10.39 |
...there was only two minesweepers in Longhope harbour, which is a
small inlet of Scapa Flow, and the old battleship Iron Duke who had no
guns and there was no guns ashore .And up in the rays of the sun two
planes were flying around so we thought we trained our guns on them
and from the other side a single German plane came dropped a bomb
right between us, which nearly turned us over, being in shallow water.
We started firing at the other planes which was coming down the sun’s
rays. We hit one of them and the pilot baled out and he was firing at
the marines and who were putting guns in and around the Flow. But the
marines soon killed him. He was a very young pilot. The other plane
dropped a bomb alongside the Iron Duke and opened the plates on the
side. Her crew had to cut her cable and run her ashore to save her.
Scragg |
|
20.10.39 |
Port A |
28.10.39 |
We
went down to the Firth of Forth to our base at Port Edgar to fill up
with minesweeping stores. The Big Ships were that side of the bridge
away from the Naval Dockyards of Rosyth just in case they bombed the
Forth Bridge. They have had a few tries and once again they were
spotted and away they went at night to at night to another
Loch.
Scragg |
|
29.10.39 |
Clyde |
3.11.39 |
Every day we had to go out sweeping channels between the minefields
just in case the Germans laid mines in the channels. Every now and
again we had to go down to the Firth of Forth to sweep the Big Ships
in. Battleships. And when the German spotter plane came over the Big
Ships scattered around the north of Scotland to the Clyde and again
when they were spotted away somewhere else. Again Scotland was the
best place for ships to hide, deep water lochs.
Scragg |
|
4.11.39 |
Scapa |
6.11.39 |
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7.11.39 |
Rosyth |
11.11.39 |
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|
15.11.39 |
Clyde |
3.12.39 |
30/11
From SO 1st MSF: Intend sailing HAZARD from Clyde to Port A
to relieve Britomart.
In the
Firth of Clyde at the end of November she fouled an obstruction in the
swept channel, and consequently spent January/February 1940 refitting
at Grangemouth. |
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The Hazard and Hebe went to Invergordon. On the way into harbour I
noticed six Big Ships, Merchant Navy with special sterns and the next
morning we got to know that they were minelayers. Laying a mine belt
four miles off the coast and about two miles wide as far as Scapa Flow
to the Thames. They were laying it in sections and we had the top part
to do. We got our minesweeping gear out at a special depth and we
followed the minelayers at a certain distance and went over the
minefield to see that they had gone down to the proper depth. We were
glad when it was all over and then we went down to Grangemouth for a
little docking and then back to sea again. |
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We went around to Greenock for a couple of days. And then us and Hebe
started sweeping from Gourock all the way down the Clyde making a
clear channel for the safety of the big ships and at night time put
into Campbeltown. And next day started back on the next channel to
Gourock and that went on for a few days. From Dunoon to Gourock was a
small boom defence opened and closed by a trawler. One night we were
stopped going in after an all day sweeping. It was a German sub scare.
From the end of the boom defence was a small space which we thought
was too shallow for a sub but we were wrong. On the shore was a small
lighthouse and the keeper spotted a sub getting in by the small space.
He shouted out to a Naval launch and away he went at top speed
dropping depth charges. We saw the German sub come to the top, turn
over and sink with all hands. The Navy diving ship HMS Tedworth came
and sent divers down to see and get her number. She was full of holes
and left till the end of the war.
Scragg |
|
4.12.39 |
Port A |
21.12.39 |
The next day we had to dash back to Loch Ewe, past Oban and Tobermoray
to sweep the flagship HMS Nelson into harbour, but the Admiral could
not wait for us, so she hit a German mine. But she managed to put into
harbour and run up the beach to see what damage which wasn’t much. It
served him right for not waiting. We had not the speed to get there
first. We stayed there for a couple of days rest and then went across
to the Island of Lewis, Stornoway which is a nice little place. Nearly
everybody was in black mourning for all their loved ones who went down
in an armed liner, an old P & O liner. Her crew was made of Naval
Reserves and they all came from Stornoway. She was patrolling off the
south coast of Norway when the German battleship Scharnhorst came
across her. She had only 6” guns against the German’s 14”. She did not
last long before going down with all hands. The women folk were all in
black, they had suffered a great loss. But the Royal Navy were
welcomed and had a great time. Even the small picture house had
changes of pictures three times a week. And every other night we were
allowed in free. While we were there I sent home a box of kippers to
help out with the rations. There was 48 large fish and arrived
perfect.
Scragg |
|
22.12.39 |
Scapa |
22.12.39 |
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23.12.39 |
Scapa |
23.12.39 |
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24.12.39 |
Glasgow |
? |
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