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ss Mohamed Ali El-Kebir
The Survivors
Following an appeal for information in the Aberdeen Press and Journal in
March 1998, and Navy News in May 1998 a number of survivors, relatives
and friends replied. A compilation of their contributions is given below.
Most are connected with the 706 General Construction Company, Royal
Engineers, of whom a large contingent came from the Aberdeen area.
William Tough*, from Aberdeen
is one of the survivors. He had just come off duty in the galley. He slung
his hammock and was making his way to the stern of the ship for a smoke prior
to turning in. Fortunately his way was blocked by someone who had made his
bed across the doorway. He had to make a detour via the toilet, where Sergeant
Bert Rennie was busy with brush and bucket cleaning up the mess of vomit
on the floor. The Sergeant asked if he was coming to be sick, no, he said,
seasickness did not bother him. The Sergeant then asked him to grab a brush
and give a hand. Just at that moment there was a terrific bang, and the
engines stopped dead. They agreed it must be either a mine or a torpedo. Then
came the call to boat stations. Sergeant Rennie had served in the navy prior
to joining the army, and seeing that there was going to be a mad rush for the
gangway leading to boat stations, he and Mr Tough stood at the foot of the
gangway and made them go up two at a time. They started singing Roll Out the
Barrel, and everybody joined in, preventing any further panic. Mr Tough well
remembers William Olley, the Canteen Officer, standing by the canteen
shouting ‘Come and help yourselves, everything is free, take the money as
well, its no use to Davy Jones’. Mr Tough then got on a raft, with a few
others, and was rescued six and a half hours later by the destroyer.
* Since died
William Scott* of Bucksburn, and his brother survived and keep in
touch with John Murray. Mr Scott knows that William Morris, another of the
survivors has now died.
Mr Charles M Forbes of Aboyne is another survivor, and recalls that
if he had been that night where he was the night before, he might not have
survived. He was on guard duty in Number 1 hold right at the bottom of the
ship, but came off duty at 18.00 hrs. on the night the ship was torpedoed. He
had just got into his hammock and settled down when there was an explosion.
The ‘abandon ship’ began, and there were lifeboats all around, and the lads
were loading into them. (A photograph of the Boat Deck, looking forward, is
shown below.) Mr Forbes was standing at the side of the ship, and he saw one
of the boats loaded with men being lowered down. The lifeboat went down on
one end, and they all landed in the water. He saw blood in the water, as they
were hit by rafts that had been thrown in. Mr Forbes escaped by going down a
rope over the side and into a raft. There were about 20 of them on the raft,
and they waited about four hours before being picked up by the destroyer. The
Griffin
had nets over the side to which they clung before scrambling up as fast
as they could. The sailors grabbed them and bundled them over the rail, since
the destroyer could not wait long as they would have been a sitting target
for the U-boat. Mr Forbes will never forget the sight of the ship going down.
Sadly his friend Peter Sim and another man from Logie Coldstone
were not so lucky and their bodies were washed ashore in Ireland. I was fortunate enough
to meet up with Charles Forbes in August 1999.
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Douglas Sangster, a survivor from New Pitsligo, died in 1993.
Mr Alexander Reid of Longside was in his bunk when the torpedo struck
and his leg was trapped by a beam until miraculously some movement in the
ship caused the beam to move and he was freed. He had some damage to his head
caused by bits of metal and was told he had a detached retina in one eye and
would never see from it again. He was in Hairmyers Hospital
for several months. He was subsequently blind in one eye for over 50 years
until a specialist in Aberdeen
saw him and said he could see nothing apart from a cataract. The specialist
removed it and Mr Reid can now see perfectly well. Mrs Ursula Simpson, his
daughter, who sent this information, believes there were also two Innes
brothers from the village who lost a brother in the sinking (there is a
Sapper James William Innes of 706 GCC, RE buried at Finner in Donegal).
Charles Laing, a farmer from Hill of Corskie, Dunecht, survived but
left the army in 1942 and returned to farming. He died in 1964.
Mr Arthur McGillivray of Inverurie is a survivor, who was picked up
at 02.00 hrs. by Griffin and taken to Greenock. Mr George Robertson of Alloa, and
brother in law of Mr McGillivray is another survivor. He escaped in a
lifeboat, along with about 80 others, and was picked up after 6 hours by Griffin. His friend Mr
R. Rothnie of Ellon was lost and is commemorated on the Brookwood
Memorial.
Mr James McKay of Aberdeen,
another survivor, was a Royal Navy Stoker going out to join HMS Foxhound in
the Mediterranean. He recalls that following
the torpedo explosion some of the Indian crew grabbed apple and orange boxes
and went over the side. The RN and Royal Marine men manned the derricks to
help launch the lifeboats. Mr McKay and his friend Mr Jack Street, were lowering a
boat but when it reached the main deck, soldiers started jumping in. Jack put
his foot on the rope to give himself more purchase, but he was thrown over
the davits and landed back on deck with his leg torn off below the knee. They
managed to get into a lifeboat and away from the ship. A young army 2nd
Lieutenant told five men on each side to start rowing, but an old three badge
seaman stopped them and told one man on each side to keep the lifeboat head
on to the sea, as otherwise they would have turned over. He said they would
be picked up at daybreak and that is what happened. The Griffin came alongside with
scrambling nets. One of the destroyer crew told Mr McKay to climb the nets,
but his left arm was useless, so the sailor climbed down and pulled him on
board. Mr McKay would like him to know how grateful he is for saving his
life. The medical staff on Griffin
put a bandage round his arm to act as a sling. Griffin
sailed for the Clyde, protected by an
aircraft overhead. Mr McKay remembers that as a bell rang just as they
entered the Clyde, his friend died. They
landed at Greenock and a small naval rescue boat took him to the Spandon Naval Hospital
at Helensburgh. He was stark naked and didn’t want to go up the steps leading
to the jetty where an ambulance was waiting. As he got near the ambulance the
female driver came around to open the door, but she managed to coax him into
the van!
Mr William F Warrender* of Longside survived and remembers the
torpedo striking as they were settling in their hammocks. There was little
panic, but the sight of kitbags floating in the water resembled bodies. Mr
Warrender also mentions his brother in law, John Stephen of Bridge of Don, who is still golfing at 88, and Charlie
Bruce of Winding Brae who is aged 90.
Mr Ronald Reid* of Bucksburn recalls that three of them had a mate
who was very seasick. They took dry bread and barley sugar to him. He was
just behind the funnel where about 20 motorcycles were stacked. He was still
very sick, but quite comfortable, as the heat from the funnel was a help.
They left him at about 20.30 hrs., and had a chat with the navy gunner on the
4 inch gun, on their way back to their sleeping quarters amidships. They had
just time to take off their tunics and get into hammocks when the torpedo
struck. Everything went black, and some were in a pretty nervous state. They
did their best to calm their companions, and get them to the deck, and boat
stations, but things were a bit chaotic. The ropes on the davits had been
painted too often and would not run in the blocks. Some of the crew hacked at
the ropes with axes to get the boats down, with the result that some were
dropping bow first and others by the stern, tipping the occupants into the
water. There was very little panic considering the circumstances, it was
amazing how calm the majority were. A number of injured had to be helped into
the boats. Mr Reid also praises the marvellous job done by HMS Griffin.
Throughout the night she circled the open boats and rafts, so that her wash
kept them all together. The swell was fairly heavy being some 20 to 30 feet.
The U-boat was still in the vicinity and Griffin couldn’t stop for any length
of time in case she became a victim as well. The survivors only got aboard if
their boat happened to be alongside, and they could scramble up the nets as
quickly as possible to get onto the ship. Mr Reid was in an open boat which
had seats for 50, and there were 71 of them on it. Keeping the bow into the
swell was the main priority. They were picked up at 05.30 hrs., and right up
to that time only the Griffin
was in the area.
Mr Dick Todd* of Egremont,
Cumbria is a
survivor. He was part of the Naval Draft going out to join HMS Enterprise. It
took him 11 months to eventually catch the ship in the Persian
Gulf. Dick recalls that someone got a paper bag and filled it
with money from the canteen, sadly when he tried to drop it into a boat he missed
and it fell in the water. Dick was among the last to leave the ship. As a
Navy Rating he had to man a lifeboat station and see the soldiers off. He
eventually got on a raft, but as they were paddling away, they were called
back to take off two badly injured soldiers. One had a broken back and the
other a severed foot. It seems very probable that these were Jack Johnston
and Sandy McRobbie from Aberdeen.
Mr Todd remembers that the emergency lights on their raft did not work, but
that later they saw a glow in the water which turned out to be the
phosphorescent bow wave of HMS Griffin, and they were rescued.
Mr R. Buzzing of Southsea, Hampshire, was also on draft going out
to join HMS Enterprise. He recalls joining ship at Avonmouth and seeing two
natives squatting on deck and one shaving the other with a cut-throat razor.
The ship sailed and anchored in Cardigan Bay
for the night. He remembers the night of the sinking well, it was very rough,
and there was chaos on board. Steam was blowing off and it was impossible to
hear orders. The lascars cut away the Carley rafts, some of which dropped on
survivors and killed or injured them. While on a lifeboat he recalls a sad
incident in which the NAAFI Manager was seen clinging to a drawer and they
tried to get him on board, but he was only half conscious and eventually
drifted away. They had to let him go. On the Griffin they were given clothes and
rum, but there was not enough to go round. He was in the boiler room because
they needed to keep people below deck to avoid destabilising the ship. On
disembarking it was necessary to keep strict control of the lascars.
Mr Charles Edward Smith of Sutton-on-Sea was a Troop Baker and a
member of the crew. When the torpedo hit he was in the former swimming pool
which had been converted into a bakery. He recollects that they threw a raft
overboard, where he was joined by the Chief Steward, the Bar Manager and
someone possibly called Ken McIndow. They picked up a number of
soldiers, and then drifted for several hours before being picked up by the Griffin. The Griffin was so
overcrowded that they were constantly being moved from side to side to keep
the ship on an even keel. Because of the numbers on board, there was no
opportunity for getting cleaned up. Consequently when Mr Smith got back to
Leatherhead where he was staying with his sister, he was covered in, amongst
other things, vomit, was shoeless and still wearing his lifejacket. Evidently
the Red Cross were on hand when they landed at Greenock
but were not very helpful.
Mr Ralph Worth of West Ewell was a Royal Marine and his duty was as
a sentry on the port side. On the evening the ship was hit, he had been down
to sling his hammock ready to turn in, but before doing so, he went up on
deck for a smoke and a game of crown and anchor. His quarters were astern, on
the starboard quarter, just where the torpedo hit. He feels he was very
lucky. Following the explosion he got his rifle and took up his sentry
position. The order was given to abandon ship. At first there was panic and a
Royal Marine officer fired his revolver to stop the panic on the port side.
Some of the boats being lowered full of men went down at one end. Carley
rafts fell onto men in the water causing more casualties. When the order to
abandon ship was given, Mr Worth took off his jacket and boots, jumped over
the side and got as far away from the ship as possible. He did a lot
of floating to save energy. After the ship went down it took him some time to
find a raft, on which was one soldier, who was in shock. They sat back to
back. The soldier kept saying he had lost his cap badge. At first light they
saw HMS Griffin and heard depth charges exploding. Mr Worth explained
to the soldier how to grab the scrambling net and both were rescued at the
second attempt. On the Griffin
they were given rum, and dry clothing and were sent down to the boiler
room. From Greenock he went back to Chatham
to be re-kitted, and then went on seven days survivors leave.
Major John Harrison, now living in Woking,
is a survivor. He was one of a group of four RE members due to go to CRE
Gibraltar, his companions were Snowy Letford, Tommy Rolph, and Bill Herridge.
He recalls that after the ship was torpedoed there was little panic. The
launching of the lifeboats was probably the worst event. There was no one in
charge of his boat station. When his boat settled in the water he looked up
and someone was dropping a raft on top of them. He clearly saw Tommy Rolph
heatedly stop them as he was still on deck. When they landed at Greenock they were issued with battle dress. All badges
of rank had disappeared, and a docker came up behind him, took out a knife,
and then presented him with the white type details usually sown on the battle
dress. His words were ‘here you are son I joined up once’. He just laughed.
They went for breakfast to the St Enoch’s Hotel in Glasgow. When they came to pay the waitress
said that the chap sitting at the next table had already paid for them before
he left.
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Sapper Dick Jackson of 706 Company remembers the sinking and the
time building up to it as follows:
'The 706 Company formed in February 1940 near London. Company short of 10 men - nine
others were drafted to make up the numbers (young men) as 706 was made up of
many First World War men from Aberdeenshire. The Company were volunteers from
Aberdeen and
about a dozen of us conscripts from down South joined 706 to make up the
number to strength. After three weeks training we were sent across to France to build Nissen huts etc, near Lille. After a few
weeks we returned to England.
In August we were drafted to the Middle East
and sailed on the s.s. Mohamed Ali el Kebir. On August 7th the ship was
torpedoed. The explosion on the ship ruined several of the lifeboats and we
got off onto rafts holding at least a dozen men. The weight caused ours to
submerge up to our chests. I saw several men jump off the boat as it was
capsizing. Men were drowned and some injured. We were on the raft for a
couple of hours after which time we were rescued by a lifeboat from the
destroyer escort. I palled up with Harry Hutchinson from Preston
(his mother sent cakes).
We found the Scotsmen difficult to understand at first - like "Foo ya
dein Wally, nay bad av a fut like ya sel" and so on. I was in Section 2.
The following are some of the names I remember: Sergeant Urquart (Peterhead),
Sergeant Scott (old soldier who knew and taught us a lot of soldiering),
Sergeant Lorimer, Major Heddle (Commanding Officer), Captain Cram (Second
Officer), Dougie Sangster (great pal - good at toe nail cutting), Tom Prince
(from Turriff), Duncan Anderson (Pitsligo), Harry Ogden (Scot), Larry Allway
(English, good singer). After the sinking of the Mohamed we got seven days
survivor's leave, then sent to airfields near London. Half of the unit to Biggin Hill and
half to Kenley, where I was in a shelter when a bomb dropped under us but it
did not explode. We had a very rough time during the Battle of Britain and
moved around London,
then stayed in Beckenham for a short while. I attended church services at St George's Church. While in London we were invited to a house in Elmers
End for a cup of tea and game of darts. Two of us, Dick and Harry, were asked
"where is Tom", so the next time we went Tom came with us! Hence
Tom, Dick and Harry.'
Further of Dick's memories from 1940 can found here. The following three photographs, taken in 1942, join
together to make a single picture of the 706 AW Company Royal Engineers.
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