The Great Storm of June 19-22 1944
This has been stated as the worst storm to hit the channel for 100 years and by Christ it felt like it.
After ploughing about on the 19th on various errands for Bulolo she informed both MLs to take protection inside the Mulberry Harbour; but even in there it was dangerous and confined. We put the anchor down but there was umpteen emergencies dragging the anchor on occasions and many others, it was very close to constant action stations.
We ventured out to Bulolo each morning and reported but by the third day we reported by wireless instead. The Mulberry Harbour was constructed from sunken block ships and concrete caissons that had been roughly arranged in a huge curve from the east cliffs of Arromanches around to the west side of the town - where a destroyer had been run ashore at the start of the invasion. There were two openings in the artificial harbour for access and the seas were piling through the gaps and affecting the two artificial unloading piers that stretched out for over a mile.
These piers had sections of 1” thick metal plating as the final surface and the whole set-up was screaming at the loose joints. A number of joints had given way and were over-riding each other, grinding and twisting trying to outdo the shrieking of the wind which at one time was Force 12 for a long period, but for most of the four days was blowing at Force 8 or 9.
I definitely thought it was no place to be and would have preferred the open sea away from the many ships, merchant and navy, sheltering there with those bloody piers acting like horizontal guillotines I did not like the situation and I kept my weather eye on them. The Royal Engineers were endeavouring to inspect them at intervals but it was a dangerous operation. Actually, the other Mulberry Harbour on Omaha Beach further west in the American zone was totally wrecked and abandoned because of the ferocity of the storm.
On one occasion the destroyer (that we tied behind the morning the mines went up) called us out at the worst stage on false pretences to witness our seamanship (we were never forgiven for that episode, never allowed to tie up behind her again although we returned to apologise in the afternoon as we had to dash off for smoke laying, but now was his chance). Never sure how he knew we were in the artificial harbour to begin with.
He called us out by WT¹. The sea was bad enough in the harbour but the confused mass piling through the opening was frightening with the concrete caissons on each side almost obliterated from view. We headed for the centre and eventually cleared the concrete by about 30 feet. My thoughts were with Jock in the engine room to keep them engines moving rawhide! At one stage I thought we might be short of power and thought about the battering we would take. Though I never could say I was frightened at any stage in the navy, that was the nearest I came. Well done to the Skipper, Jock and the ship!
We took a couple of hours to find the destroyer. She was one and a half miles from the harbour but due to dark skies and colossal seas could not get a fix for the co-ordinates he had given us. His message was “Nice weather for ducks, well done 303. Return to harbour”. What a bastard!
Incidentally, this very destroyer called us a bastard indirectly through using the Bible. The epistles can be virtually classed as a codebook as it is often used to convey the thoughts of senior officers. When one commits a clanger or misdemeanour, there is plenty food for thought in the Bible to chasten that particular person or ship and as most captains appeared to be Bible-punchers it was a common method of expressing their disgust by suggesting various sections or paragraphs and leave you to work it out for yourself, but you could guess it was of a caustic nature.
Returning to the Mulberry Harbour was harder with the sea behind us but still tricky. A few choice comments were said behind us about that nice captain. I always said there were some funny buggers in the navy.
The few contacts we made during this period turned out to be most fruitful. Three prominent army groups were present operating within the harbour – Royal Engineers, RASC (Royal Army Service Corps) and Pioneers. In the following weeks they supplied us with boxes of “F” rations and other goodies that were being unloaded in there thousands at the piers.
Lots of ‘ducks’² were used in the harbour for unloading in addition to trucks on the piers and we had an open house for the pongos. They supplied the ingredients in the form of “F” rations and our cook made fulfilling soups with bread and tea; which the soldiers enjoyed. The boxes of rations always contained round tins of 50 cigarettes, butter, corn beef, spam etc.
Unfortunately this had to end when one of the ducks was mishandled and crashed into the bow section and broke one of the MLs ribs and severely bruised the casing that lead to water entry into our mess deck (causing numerous problems). The faster we went, the more water we took on, that also increased when we turned to port. We tried to counter this by using a 4” concrete reinforced slab between the ribs but were troubled badly with condensation and mold and it also affected the trim of the vessel. This curtailed our trips to the Mulberry Harbour by a large degree but the Skipper was glad in another way as the ship was like a canteen boat in many respects. All avenues have bonuses!!! Often these boxes could be picked out of the sea and were well worth salvaging.
After ploughing about on the 19th on various errands for Bulolo she informed both MLs to take protection inside the Mulberry Harbour; but even in there it was dangerous and confined. We put the anchor down but there was umpteen emergencies dragging the anchor on occasions and many others, it was very close to constant action stations.
We ventured out to Bulolo each morning and reported but by the third day we reported by wireless instead. The Mulberry Harbour was constructed from sunken block ships and concrete caissons that had been roughly arranged in a huge curve from the east cliffs of Arromanches around to the west side of the town - where a destroyer had been run ashore at the start of the invasion. There were two openings in the artificial harbour for access and the seas were piling through the gaps and affecting the two artificial unloading piers that stretched out for over a mile.
These piers had sections of 1” thick metal plating as the final surface and the whole set-up was screaming at the loose joints. A number of joints had given way and were over-riding each other, grinding and twisting trying to outdo the shrieking of the wind which at one time was Force 12 for a long period, but for most of the four days was blowing at Force 8 or 9.
I definitely thought it was no place to be and would have preferred the open sea away from the many ships, merchant and navy, sheltering there with those bloody piers acting like horizontal guillotines I did not like the situation and I kept my weather eye on them. The Royal Engineers were endeavouring to inspect them at intervals but it was a dangerous operation. Actually, the other Mulberry Harbour on Omaha Beach further west in the American zone was totally wrecked and abandoned because of the ferocity of the storm.
On one occasion the destroyer (that we tied behind the morning the mines went up) called us out at the worst stage on false pretences to witness our seamanship (we were never forgiven for that episode, never allowed to tie up behind her again although we returned to apologise in the afternoon as we had to dash off for smoke laying, but now was his chance). Never sure how he knew we were in the artificial harbour to begin with.
He called us out by WT¹. The sea was bad enough in the harbour but the confused mass piling through the opening was frightening with the concrete caissons on each side almost obliterated from view. We headed for the centre and eventually cleared the concrete by about 30 feet. My thoughts were with Jock in the engine room to keep them engines moving rawhide! At one stage I thought we might be short of power and thought about the battering we would take. Though I never could say I was frightened at any stage in the navy, that was the nearest I came. Well done to the Skipper, Jock and the ship!
We took a couple of hours to find the destroyer. She was one and a half miles from the harbour but due to dark skies and colossal seas could not get a fix for the co-ordinates he had given us. His message was “Nice weather for ducks, well done 303. Return to harbour”. What a bastard!
Incidentally, this very destroyer called us a bastard indirectly through using the Bible. The epistles can be virtually classed as a codebook as it is often used to convey the thoughts of senior officers. When one commits a clanger or misdemeanour, there is plenty food for thought in the Bible to chasten that particular person or ship and as most captains appeared to be Bible-punchers it was a common method of expressing their disgust by suggesting various sections or paragraphs and leave you to work it out for yourself, but you could guess it was of a caustic nature.
Returning to the Mulberry Harbour was harder with the sea behind us but still tricky. A few choice comments were said behind us about that nice captain. I always said there were some funny buggers in the navy.
The few contacts we made during this period turned out to be most fruitful. Three prominent army groups were present operating within the harbour – Royal Engineers, RASC (Royal Army Service Corps) and Pioneers. In the following weeks they supplied us with boxes of “F” rations and other goodies that were being unloaded in there thousands at the piers.
Lots of ‘ducks’² were used in the harbour for unloading in addition to trucks on the piers and we had an open house for the pongos. They supplied the ingredients in the form of “F” rations and our cook made fulfilling soups with bread and tea; which the soldiers enjoyed. The boxes of rations always contained round tins of 50 cigarettes, butter, corn beef, spam etc.
Unfortunately this had to end when one of the ducks was mishandled and crashed into the bow section and broke one of the MLs ribs and severely bruised the casing that lead to water entry into our mess deck (causing numerous problems). The faster we went, the more water we took on, that also increased when we turned to port. We tried to counter this by using a 4” concrete reinforced slab between the ribs but were troubled badly with condensation and mold and it also affected the trim of the vessel. This curtailed our trips to the Mulberry Harbour by a large degree but the Skipper was glad in another way as the ship was like a canteen boat in many respects. All avenues have bonuses!!! Often these boxes could be picked out of the sea and were well worth salvaging.
¹ Wireless telegraphy.
² ‘Ducks’ - DUKWs – amphibious landing craft that could operate in the sea and on land.
² ‘Ducks’ - DUKWs – amphibious landing craft that could operate in the sea and on land.