I have been driving myself steadily nuts trying to find out the name of the ship that my dad returned to the UK on. He departed Halifax 29 Sep 1942 and arrived Scotland 6 October 1942. At first they were escorted by USS Arkansas. I have looked through my dad's diary and cannot make out the ship's name...and any attempt to go through convoy records does not reveal anything that sounds like it. I believe the convoy to be SC102 but not sure which ships are troop ships i.e adapted passenger ships. I can vaguely make out the letters 'a s h' but not completely sure. My sanity is at risk
Is it possible that British military personnel would be transported on a US-registered freighter? If so, this could be the one. Thanks, will need to look into this a bit further
By the way, Dad was used as a bridge lookout/signalman on this ship, which for an RN rating would be unusual on an American ship
Popeye1975 If your only remaining query is whether troops would travel on a Yankee ship then put your fears at rest. When my unit returned from Egypt to Italy after a month's rest and re-equipment, we sailed on the SS Homer Lee and, given time, I have already told the story before on this site and will find the link. Got it ! (see my posting No.20) http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/36249-which-troopship-query/ Ron
Thanks Ron. From what I can gather from dad's diary, the ship was a real pile of junk. He mentions 150 men crammed into a space meant for 80, and the quarters crawling with cockroaches, lice and fleas. The 'passengers' threatened to walk off of the ship unless the quarters were fumigated, which fortunately they were. I will look further into SS Nashaba
Try Reference: ADM 267/118 Description: SS Nashaba Date: 1940-1945 Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description TD
Just to give a heads up on this, and to draw a line under it, I have worked out that the mystery ship is HMT Pasteur. Thanks to you all for your help
If you want some more information on Pasteur you might try The Long Voyage Of The Ship Pasteur – there is a preview. Hal Stoen had been compiling a fascinating blog from many contributors, which appears to have been taken down now, but which I presume informed this Kindle offering.
Pasteur was actually fumigated in Halifax as it was running alive with...well, just about everything. Rats, cockroaches, lice, you name it. Several of the ratings (included Dad) said they would rather be put on a charge than sail on the ship.
Last look at Gourock in Scotland in the early hours of the morning with heavy heart, would we ever see it again, just a few Civvys but plenty of Red Caps (Military Police) lining the dockside. We were herded up the gang plank of the USAT Borinquen an old Costa Rica boat and bundled down the holds, then into the former state room, row upon row of tiers of bunks 5 high and a space of 2 feet between each bunk. The canvas bunk about 2 feet wide and six foot three inches long. All your kit, rifle and personal attachments kept therein, and you slept in this area.
If you’d like to see if his name is on the Nominal Rolls for Passengers on the Pasteur for this trip, LAC Ottawa has all the ships files. Here’s a link to the ship for that date, you can go thru the pages and look for his name on the various Unit Nominal rolls https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c5617/4146?r=0&s=1 Below is the troop allocation for the ship……using the link above you can then go thru the rest of the file and look at the individual Unit Nominal Rolls. PLEASE NOTE: Heritage Canadian does NOT have a search engine on these files, so you have manually go “page by page” to look for your person You mentioned in one of your posts above that your Dad was RN……you’ll see their was RN personnel on the ship…….near the bottom or the first page, total of 104 Officer’s and men
I went thru and found the RN Draft for you…….Their may be more information in the file, I did find some “messing returns” with RN names on it….you’ll also see LOTS AND LOTS of information about the “vermin and bed bugs etc etc”…..AND complaints about the price of cigarettes on board.