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John Holm, a New Zealander in command of British anti-submarine, escort ship "HMS Crocus" talks to Jack Perkins about his work with Atlantic convoys during World War II.
In 1940 Holm joined the Royal Navy aged 28 and following the war became managing director of his father’s home shipping company. He is author of the book, ‘No Place to Linger’ which details his war time experiences.
Holm describes how during the war he met and became friends with Nicholas Monsarrat author of the classic novel, ‘The Cruel Sea’ which was made into a film in 1951. He was surprised to see ‘Crocus’, the corvette he commanded in the Atlantic, featured in the movie which starred Jack Hawkins.
This class of corvette class had the gear to find and destroy submarines; a sea radar to locate the enemy and armaments including depth charges, anti-aircraft gun (pompom) and 4” gun mounts to battle on the surface.
Holm describes how they were called to assist a U-boat blockade of Freetown, South Africa and the dramatic engagement that followed with U-333. After his Communications Officer had confirmed the presence of the U-boat on the surface Holm ordered an angled ram at 16 knots before opening gun fire. Holm had assumed U-333 had not survived.
After the war Holm approached the Admiralty and sought out the name and address of the commander of U-333. Holm and Peter Cremer met for a day and discussed the battle face to face.
Cremer explained how after coming-to, he had told his crew to resurface and sneak quietly away using electric motors only. After a day or two they found medical assistance from a German supply U-Boat before returning to La Rochelle.
Holm says he couldn’t but admire the man, who by re-surfacing the U-Boat, in his mind had saved the lives of those left on board. Holm also believed Cremer when he had said he and his wife hadn’t known about the German concentration camps.
Holm discusses the huge losses involved a week later with Convoy SL 125 which occurred at the time of a big invasion of north Africa. They lost sixteen ships out of 42 and approximately 1,000 lives. It took the merchant ship convoy over three weeks to reach Liverpool.
Holm describes the occasion when the Crocus had stopped to collect survivors from the sinking Nagpore but were spotted by enemy U-boats from the wolf pack. They had to pause the rescue effort to defend themselves from torpedoes by firing off a few depth charges before returning to rescuing the lifeboats, all the while under constant threat.
Holm says the crew was kept very busy for two to three-week periods and only got to release tension when partying, which they did once moored at Freetown.
Holm explains the rescue of survivors on the ‘Empress of Canada’, 600 miles out from Freetown.
On arrival at night they managed to save 2-300 hundred people and the following day about sixty more were found either wounded by the explosion or with shark bites. He recalls they had six men on deck shooting at the sharks.
Holms expresses one of his happiest memories is when a ship laden with supplies for Britain could be seen arriving into harbour at its destination.
The programme ends with a quote from Holm’s book, ‘No Place to Linger’, “The Atlantic does not weep as well it should for the lives and the ships that were lost in that war but every day across its surface hundreds of ships bells toll… ask not for whom they toll, they toll for thee.”