and thcTALKLAI{D

I6LAND6

, During" Ttre First World War,

The Second World War; and the 1982 Conflict

Supplement toNewsletterNo.37

The Argentinian dispute with Britain over Sovereignty of theFalkland Islands reached a climax in the spring of 1982 and resulted ina conflict of arms that could not have been anticipated a month or twoearlier. The short term outcome of that crisis is well known to us all,although the longer term implications will take many more months tobe determined.

This conflict became the third occasion in this century that thegeographical location of that group of Islands caused a disruption of thesolitude normally experienced by its"peace-loving community of less thantwo thousand people.

In one way or another the Harrison Line has participated on eachof those three occasions by assisting, in some small way, with thelogistical requirements needed to preserve the inalienable rights of theIslands inhabitants to democracy, freedom and self-determination.Within the following pages we tell the story of our involvement with theFalkland Islands during those unfortunate times. The South Atlanticis an area with which our Company does not normally trade and whereour ships are seldom seen.

Thos. & Jas. Harrison Ltd.NOVEMBER 1982

Thc Ialkland IslandsTHE COUNTRY, HISTORYand PEOPLE

The Falkland Islands consist of two large and about 200 small islands, witha total area of about 4,800 square miles, (about two thirds the size of Wales), lyingin the South Atlantic, 400 miles north-east of Cape Horn and some 300 miles from themainland of South America. Although the Islands lie on the edge of the PatagonianContinental Shelf, there is no stratigraphical connection between the Falklands andthe nearer parts of the South American mainland.

The Islands were discovered by Captain John Davis of the "Desire" it 1592and named by Captain John Strong of the "Welfare" in 1690. There were no nativeinhabitants. ln 1794 de Bougainville took possession of the Islands in the name ofKing louis of France and established a settlement at Port Louis. At about the same

time the British Admiralty despatched Captain John Byron to the Falkland Islands toselect a suitable site for a settlement and a base. Byron landed at Saunders Island andtook possession of this and all neighbouring islands in the name of King George III.Spain had long regarded the South Atlantic as her particular sphere of interest andstrongly resented the settlements established by the two other great powers of the day,France and England. It 1767 the French withdrew in favour ofthe Spaniards whoestablished a garrison there. A strong Spanish force expelled the British settlementfrom Port Egmont and this action brought the two countries to the brink of war, buteventually, after protracted negotiations, Port Egmont, by a Treaty between Spainand Britain, was restored to Britain. The British settlement was withdrawn in 1114but a plaque was left as a mark of possession. In 1810 the Spaniards who had used oneof the Islands as a penal settlement administered from Uruguay, abandoned them.Thereafter they became the.southern base for the British and also the Americansealing and whaling industry with as many as 1,000 English seamen working in theIslands each year.

The population, which approximates to that of the Scilly Isles, numbered1,9 57 at the time of lhe 197 2 census and, of these, 7 8% w ere born in the territoryand no less than 97% were British subjects; almost all of English, Scottish, Irish orWelsh descent. Many Falkland Islands families have been Islanders for six or sevengenerations.

THE ARGENTINE CLAIMThe Argentine claim to sovereignty is based on the claim to be the successor

of Spain. The interest of what was then called "The United Provinces of La Plata"commenced in 1820 with a visit by a single ship. In 1828 the dictator Rosas attempt-ed to take over the Islands and authorised a settlement by sending a small garrisonof soldiers in 1829 . These were deported and their fort destroyed in 1 83 1 by theUnited States corvette "[rxington", following seizure of three American sealingvessels. The Captain of the "kxington" declared the Islands free of all government.Britain had protested at the action of the Buenos Aires Government in purporting tolicense a settlement and in 1832 despatched H.M.S. "Clio" to the Falklands in

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order to re-assert British Sovereignty. British occupation has remained to this daywithout interruption and has established a unique island community where noprevious indigenous population existed. It was not until nearly 30 years after theBritish re-settlement in the Islands that Argentina occupied the mainland of SouthAmerica in these latitudes and established sovereignty there against Chileanopposition.

Vbrld \[ar I - 6 6.lntaba 1914With the outbreak of War in August 1914, the Admiralty assumed responsib-

ility for all British ships and started by commandeering certain vessels to assist infuelling our warships and depots around the world. One such vessel to be requisitionedthat month was Harrison Une's INTABA.

Mr. E. Carter Braine, who retired as Vice-Chairman of Harrisons in 1963,remembers the INTABA as "the best of the fleet of small passenger ships that we tookover from the Rennie Line in 1911". A vessel of 4,832 gross tons, she had been builtin 1910 and was purchased by Harrisons in l9l2 for !.72,073. Captain J.W. Watlingcommanded her from the day she left the builders yard until he retired in 1924, (hedied thirty years later at the age of 9 l), and in 1914 the Chief Officer was a mannamed Mowatt - both were Rennie men.

INTABA remained in naval service for the duration of the war and at onetime served as the "Q4", a U-boat decoy ship. Towards the end of 1914 however shewas required to take a full cargo of coal to Port Stanley to bunker one ofthe battlecruisers that the Navy had despatched to the South Atlantic to avenge the losses thatwe had incurred at Coronel in November of that year. Bunkering and the availabilityof coal were to play a distinct role in the outcome of the subsequent Battle of theFalkland. Islands.

S.S. INTABA,4832 g.r.t. built 1910; purchased from Rennie Line in 1911. Re-soldMay 1927 to Hong Kong owners and renamed ENGLESTAN;re'sold 1929 toBengal & Burma S.N.Co. of Rangoon;re-sold 1950 to Scindin S.N.Co. of Bombay;sold for scrap in August 1952; arrived Ghent January 1953.

Apparently the INTABA was at Port Stanley for a long time, during which

Captain Watling, (who was a most interesting character with the appearance of an

fuchbishop, according to Mr. Carter Braine), and the Islands Governor became great

friends;they went for long walks together almost every day.

The events that led up to the battle and the resultant action that tookplace on December 8th produced a decisive victory for the British, inasmuch as itmarked the end of a definite phase of the war at sea. As a result, German cruiser

warfare collapsed and, outside the narrow seas, England held undisputed control ofthe ocean trade routes around the world.

\ilcrld \[ar II -6 6 6tratc6rstT9M

In the late spring of 1942 the Ministry of War Transport ordered the HarrisonLine vessel STRATEGIST to the Mersey, to load a full cargo for Port Stanley. Thiscomprised a complete camp of Nissan huts and equipment to house three thousandtroops who were to be garrisoned on the Falkland Islands.

STRATEGIST sailed from Birkenhead on May 21st for Freetown, where she

arrivedonJune l5thandafterspendingthreedaysthere,takingonbunkers,sheleftfor Port Stanley.

S.S. SZR,47E'GIST, 6,286 s.r.t., built 1937; soW in March 1957 to Hansa Line ofBremen and renamed SCHONFELS; re-sold to Hong Kong shipbreakers in February1963.

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Two and a half weeks later, on July 6th, the vessel arrived safely at her destin-ation and spent nearly a month discharging her cargo. She finally sailed from PortStanley on August 2nd,1942.

During this voyage the ship's complement included Captain A.G. Peterkin;2nd Officer F.R. Hickin; 3rd Officer J.P. Brown and Chief Engineer T.H. Corkhill. TheChief Officer at the time was Mr. J.L. Curle who retired from Harrisons as Master int966.

In freely admitting that "much gin has passed under the bridge since thosehappy days" to cloud the memory of forty-years ago, Captain Curle recalls what hedoes remember in the following anecdote:-

"For a while, one of World War Two's best kept secrets was that of s.s.

STRATEGIST's voyage to the Falkland Isles. As Chief Officer, I was not aware of ourdestination until three hours before sailing, when four Royal Mail vans arrived alongsideand discharged four hundred bags of mail; each and every one ofthem was distinctlylabelled "Port Stanley, Falkland Islands".

For one member of the crew, namely the Troop's cook, it was a world's recordfor the shortest voyage. We sailed from the Alfred Basin and before we had entered theMersey, he was dead. It was not, I hasten to add, the thought of having to cook forthree hundred in the Lascar's galley that gave him heart failure, but a surfeit ofbroached Navy rum, a tight tie and an overwhelming desire to sleep!

The object ofthis voyage to the Falklands was to garrison the Islands because,if those "naughty Japs" had managed to close the Panama Canal, the Islands would havebecome an important bunkering area. So off we went, loaded to the scuppers with a

complete camp for three thousand troops, plus three hundred Royal Engineers neatlystowed in No. 4 'tween decks, "Bung up and bilge free".

The powers that be were sending us there in the summer time so that therewould be plenty of daylight; only it was their summer in the Northern Hemisphere andnot the Islanders'!

The voyage to Freetown in convoy was devoid of any alarms and excursionsapart from one or two minor incidents. For instance, at 0415 one morning, orders weregiven to "commerlce Zig-Zag 15". I had a passing thought at the time, that if AdolphHitler had only left us alone, we would have won the war for him, for one third of theconvoy zigged, one third zagged and the rest "kept straight on to the end ofthe road!"

Then there was the soldier who had the audacity to go down with appendicitis.The dining saloon was turned into an operating theatre and, from various escortvessels, we mustered two Surgeon Captains R.N., one Major Surgeon R.A.M.C. and a

Harley Street Specialist. Freetown bound, there was so much gold braid delving into thatpoor chap that he just dared not die. Rumour had it that he was sewn up with goldthread. Surprise, surprise - he lived to tell the tale.

From Freetown we proceeded independently and it was not long before theOfficer in charge of the Troops came to me with a problem. I quote; "How the hell canI give a defaulter three days confinement to barracks on a bit of solid in a million squaremiles of liquid?" We overcame that problem by introducing chipping hammers andscrapers to all defaulters and, in no time at all, I had the best kept, rust-free decks inthe Fleet.

For their amusement the Troops built a swimming pool about two thirds of5

the way down the starboard side on the aft well deck, which, when filled, gave the shipa permanent ten degree starboard list. We rigged a greasy pole - a deep tank derrickhoisted nearly vertical, well greased with soft soap and tallow - to be climbed"starkers". The reward for getting to the top was a bottle of beer. This exercise waspainful to some but amusing to many others.

The Royal Navy had been sent out to escort us into Port Stanley but unfort-unately this escort, in the form of the WILLIAM SCORSBY, a very small survey vessel,

missed us and returned to port twenty four hours after we had arrived.There is no point in boring you with an account of the terrain and climatic

conditions for you have seen enough on the "wretched box", but you can take it fromme that to feel it is much worse.

The Lighters used in the discharge ofour cargo consisted of three old dis-

masted sailing vessels, the last of the Uverpool Pilots' sailing cutters and Shell'sSAN CASTRO. The latter was one of the Maracaibo/Curacao Mosquito Fleet and herMaster was the Pilot for Port Stanley (a nice soft number for the duration!)

According to one of my Ordinary Seamen, the prison was well worth a visitbecause the Governor's wife used to bring him cream cakes for his a-fternoon tea.

The Post Mistress also deserves a mention; she used to entertain two or three membersof the crew each evening to dinner and a piano recital, at which she was no meanperformer.

Once again, I would like to thank all the nine hundred and eighty peopleof Port Stanley for the kindness shown to all the crew members of the STRATEGIST.One final thought; I am a Cockney born and bred but I will never be half as Britishas those Falkland Islanders".

The At.ntinc Conflic;-mvAotrcnomcr L}BZ

On the 19th March a dozen Argentinian scrap-metal workmen, hired to dis-mantle a disused whaling station, landed without British consent at Leith, SouthGeorgia and hoisted the Argentine flag. On April 2nd Argentine troops invaded theFalkland Islands. Ten days later two British nuclear-powered submarines arrived offthe Islands - the first vessels of what was to become a large Task Force of British warand merchant ships operating in the area.

On May I st, an American peace mission ended in failure and our Vulcans andSea Harriers bombed the airfields at Port Stanley and Goose Green. The following day

the Argentine cruiser GENERAL BELGRANO was sunk by a torpedo. Two days laterH.M.S. SHEFFIELD was hit by an Exocet missile - she sank on May 10th.

On May 21st, British troops landed near Port San Carlos and the British flagwas raised again in the Falkland Islands but H.M.S. ARDENT was sunk. Two days laterH.M.S. ANTELOPE was badly damaged and,on the 25t\H.M.S. COVENTRY and theCunard containership ATLANTIC CONVEYOR were lost (the latter sank on the 3lst).

On May 28th, British paratroopers captured Goose Green and by the monthend our troops were only 12 miles West of Port Stanley, at Mount Kent. They tookFitzroy and Bluff Cove on June 6th but on the 8th the R.F.A. vessels SIR GALAHADand SIR TRISTRAM were bombed and strafed. On the 13th our troops routed theArgentinians on Tumbledown, Mount William and Wireless Ridge.

On June 14th the Argentine forces surrended.Just six short weeks after the first exchange of fire we had gained an important

victory for democracy but at a cost of 255 British lives. A further 711 of our men had

been seriously injured and we had lost 2 Type 42 Destroyers, 2 Type 22 Frigates, 6

Sea Harriers, 2 RAF Harriers, 2 Chinooks, 4 Sea Kings, 2 Wessex, 4 Gazelles and one

Commando helicopter as well as a converted roro/container ship and had incurreddamage to a few other war ships. Argentinian Army and Air Force losses were evenworse.

THE MERCHANT NAVY,S ROLEAt the height of the operation, over 50 merchant ships were acting as troop-

ships, hospitalships, aircraft ferries, floating repair facilities, mine counter-measure motherships, minesweepers, ammunition carriers, and water-carriers - apart from the tankersand the general cargo requirements. They were all manned by civilian Seafarers - menand women who volunteered to go South to face unknown dangers and there has been

unqualified praise for their conduct. Sadly, sixteen members of the Merchant Naly losttheir lives from SIR GALAHAD, SIR TRISTRAM and the ATLANTIC CONVEYOR.

Other merchant vessels had near misses, not least those who were ordered intoSan Carlos Bay;one tanker survived an unexploded bomb. The tugs and trawlers were

required to operate close to the Islands and several merchant ships were involved inrescue operations from stricken naval vessels. One tanker, with accommodation for 30,carried 300 survivors from H.M.S. SHEFFIELD to Ascension Island.

As the Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, said in the House of Commons;1

"The Country owes a great debt to the Merchant Navy". Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse,

Commander, Falkland Islands Task Force, was more precise in his choice of words;"I cannot say too often or too clearly how important has been the Merchant Navy's

contribution to our efforts. Without the ships taken up from trade, the operation couldnot have been undertaken - and I hope this message is clearly understood by the BritishNation".

ENTER M.V. ASTRONOMERThree days after the ATLANTIC CONVEYOR was hit by an Exocet missile, on

Friday May 28th, the Ministry of Defence contacted Mersey Chambers seeking inform-ation about the ASTRONOMERS'S schedule. She was in fact, due in Felixstowe from the

Caribbean that evening and shortly after she docked five gentlemen from the Ministry and

the Royal Nary boarded her to assess her suitability for conversion to a helicoptercarrier and service with the Task Force in the South Atlantic.

Within two hours they had made up their minds that she should be chartered

and arrangements were made to discharge the entire ships cargo of full and emptycontainers. This was accomplished in thirty-six hours and ASTRONOMER sailed forDevonport at 0600 on Sunday 30th, where she arrived the following day. The next

morning conversion work started in earnest.At times there were up to 500 men from the dockyard engaged in the process of

transforming the ship into a helicopter carrier and repair facility. A landing platformand hangar were constructed on the forward l20ft of the fore deck; Replenishment at

Sea gear (for fuel and water) was installed; satellite and other communications equip-

ment was fitted;spare cabins were altered and Portacabins put aboard to accommodate

extra personnel; additional cooking facilities were installed; Oerlikon guns were fittedpn deck either side of the funnel and "chaff chuckers", (to deflect missiles), were added

on the aft end ofthe bridge deck; several containers of stores and equipment were

loaded and the vessel was fuelled with gas oil only. Amazingly,within six days all these

jobs were completed and on Monday 7th June she was ready to sail South.Captain Bladon takes up the story from there:-

THE VOYAGE SOUTH

After leaving Dock No. 10 in Devonport we proceeded to bunker at Yonder-berry in the River Tamar. Capacity bunkers were taken and we sailed at 1830.Compasses were adjusted going down the river and at 1930 ASTRONOMER anchoredin Plymouth Sound to load helicopters.

The ftrst helicopter to approach was a Wessex 5 which hovered along-side the flightdeck to port. The F.D.O. asked permission for it to land and theF.D.O.A. (Flight Deck Officer's Assistant), who was in the wheelhouse on radio,turned to me and asked me to allow it to land on. Knowing nothing about helicoptersI said that surely the pilot was the man to decide, but was told that the Commander ofan Aircraft-carrier was the only person allowed to give permission for the aircraft to landor take-off. So there I was holding the proverbial can again!

We took 5 Wessex,4 Scouts and 1 Chinook before it became too dark forflying and it then took until midnight to de{lade the Chinook and get it into the hangar

ASTRONOMER sails out of the Naval Dockyard at Devonport on June 7th.

ready for receiving the remaining helicopters the next day. I was told that it was thelust time a Chinook had ever landed on a ship's deck.

We sailed at 0100 June Sth to rendezvous with the R.F.A. BLACK ROVERto practice as RAS (Replenishment at Sea) and met up with her at 0700 off PortlandBill. We steamed 270o at 10 knots and with the R.F.A. approimately 200 ft. on ourstarboard side connected up two fuel pipes and the fresh water hose. The RAS was

completed at 0805 and with the weather calm and the sea smooth I stopped the enginesand we drifted in Lyme Bay whilst taking on the last Wessex and the remaining twoChinooks. It takes up to three hours to de-blade a Chinook, so it was 1400 before weset off for Freetown. My instructions were to avoid dense traffic areas and stay out ofsight of land. Ushant was passed at 30 miles.

On board at sailing we had a complement of 116 men, comprising 34 ship'screw, 53 R.N., 2l R.A.F. and 8 Army personnel. The Naval doctor was very busyhanding out sea-sick pills but fortunately the weather was kind and we only had 5 cases

of sickness. Mealtimes were a bit chaotic on the first day but Mr. Eady soon had thingsorganised properly and running smoothly - even to second helpings. After samplingsome Navy meals from H.M.S. DRAKE in the dockyard, it was no wonder they ate as

if food was going out of fashion!Whilst RASing with the BLACK ROVER I happened to look up to the House

flag to see how the wind was and noticed an enormous red flag flying from the portyard. On top in black lettering was written M.V. ASTRONOMER, underneath therewas a shilor with a telescope scanning the heavens and beneath that again waswritten "H.M.S. INCREDIBLE". I asked the Senior Naval Officer about it and he

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explained that the men really thought it was incredible that a container ship run bv30 "Merchies" could become the best fed, best accommodated and best AircraftCarrier in the Fleet!

The passage from the Channel to the Canaries was quite calm and our time was

fully taken up with organising Fire Party Musters, Emergency Stations, Man Overboardstations and Action stations. We carried out those drills at all times of the day and night.Gunnery practice was held daily and everyone on board took part. Firing the chaffrockets from the bridge was most impressive;one could see the enormous blobs of chafffloating down the radar screen. One of the Army pilots who had been on the ill-fatedATLANTIC CONVEYOR said that the Exocet rocket that hit her was fired atINVINCIBLE but her chaff confused it and it locked on to the CONVEYOR. Not manyships had chaff rockets so it was comforting to see them work. The Oerlikons seemed tobe exactly the same as the ones we had on the NOVELIST in 1945 - very noisy with a

strong kick;we all ended up with bruised shoulders.We were all supplied with gas masks, "once only" suits, anti-flash gear and

emergency bandages. The "once only" suit is a one piece plastic suit to be worn if goinginto cold water. The anti-flash gear is the most uncomfortable apparel to wear especiallyin the tropics. We were also told not to wear nylon clothing since it melts and causes

severe and unnecessary burns.During the afternoon of Saturday June 12th Horse Racing was organised on the

flightdeck and an enjoyable time was had by all but especially by my crew. They walkedaway with f,40 winnings, f l6 of which they donated to the South Atlantic Fund. On

Sundays we had Church Services which were quite well attended. On Sunday June l3th,in the afternoon, we had a Kite Flying Competition. I was elected one of the Judges. TheArmy Air Corps Pilots won impressively with a Kite 16' x 12'which stayed in the airfor about an hour. The evenings were occupied.(if one was not doing some duty oranother),with lilm shows, ucker competitions, chess competitions and a regular quiz. I'mafraid we M.N. types touched a raw spot there; out of the first 5 General Knowledge

Quizzes of 20 questions, the ship's team won four. One week it was the Chief Cook'steam; the Ops room, where the papers were marked, is next door (Owners rootn) and

it was gratifying to hear the doctor shouting "M.N. cooks have beaten the Wardroom".Two of the ships Engineer Officers beat the Wardroom team at Uckers (Ludo) and twoex-Harrier Pilots were beaten on the T.V. game called "Attack", so we kept our end up!

Shortly after we left the Channel, the R.A.F. put canvas covers on the Chinooksand I remarked that they looked like three Yogi bears at an "It's a Knockout" course.

Next day the R.A.F. had eyes and noses painted on them and had even fitted them withboots; any Russian spy ships must have wondered what we were carryingJ

Once off the main shipping routes we proceeded without steaming lights or radarand with the ship blacked out. It certainly increased the vigilance ofthe lookouts and

was good experience for those brought up in the Radar era.

We crossed the line on Tuesday l5th but because we were on Defence Stationsthe actual ceremony of "Crossing the Line" took place on the Monday alternoon. I was

elected to be Judge again. There were about 35 poor souls who had not been Southbefore. After being found guilty by me they were held in a chair and covered withthe vilest concoction I have ever seen, mock shaved and then dumped into the ship'spool. A11 concerned were given certificates by Neptune.

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R.& R. on Saturday afternoon - Horse Racingon deck under the watchful eye of 3 'Yogi bear'Chinooks.

The next day a Chinookwas bladed up and tested and at1300 we commenced DefenceWatches; double lookouts with Gunsarmed and manned. At 1400 theChinook took off for a practiceflight and I had discussions with thepilots about the wind speed anddirection. We found in the trades,with the wind 2-3 points on theport bow, that the wind across theflight deck was from the Starboardbeam up to about 20 feet from theport bulwarks and this change of winddirection could be awkward, so atthe pre-flight briefing I said I wouldreduce the ships speed and direction

to suit their requirements. I reduced speed until the wind force was registering 20-22knots on the bridge and the pilot said he was happy with that. Three take-offs andlandings were tried which were most successful and all three pilots were most apprec.iative of the efforts to maintain a reasonably steady platform. That was our firstnight on Defence stations; the ship completely blacked out, no steaming lights, noRadar and the bridge packed with people dressed like trees, carrying their gas-masks,"once-only" suits and bandage packson their belts - it was difficult toget about. To me, the R.N. systemfor look-outs seemed most peculiar:each man, one to port, one to star-board spent 30 minutes with bino-culars glued to his eyes scanningthe horizon. He then handed overto another man and they worked30 minutes about. The strain onthe eyes was tremendous.

On Wednesday the l6th Juneat 1430 ships time, we crossedLat.7o00's in Long.l40 41'Wwhich put the ship in the officialwtucn put the stup l11 the ottlclal Anonymous faces practice liring the s3 oerlikonsWar Zone and therefore on full alert. Aroute to Ascension Island to make contact with the Naval Authorities and plan ourstay in port. I was rather taken aback when the S.N.o. came to see me on the bridge totell me he was flying off, and asked "Would I be alright till he got back"!

We arrived in Clarence Bay at 1800 and berthed alongside the TankerALVEGA to take full bunkers. This task was completed at midnight and I askedpermission to stay alongside until 0600 which was granted. At 0600 we moved off andshifted anchorage down the coast llA miles to S.W. bay, to load "a few" pallets of

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Loading stores at Ascension Ishnd

urgently required stores. We commenced "vertrepping" (vertical replenishment) at 0900Thursday l7th, using the shit's crane to transfer pallets of sleeping bags, tents and many

other items badly needed by the troops.Because the Services personnel wereunused to stowing cargo I kept theanchor watch on the bridge whilst theofficers stowed and supervised the stow-age of the cargo. Once I had accepted a

"few pallets" they seemed to find allsorts ofurgently needed cargo and Ihad to call a halt on Friday morningat 0900 because by then, the flight-deck was nearly covered with cargoand we still had over 10 tons of mailto load.

We managed to get the cargodown into Bay 26, stowed neatly andsecure, with the mail on top so that

it could be sorted per ship whilst at sea. We didn't know then that we had mail for allthe Services in the Task Force and 66 ships!

On the Thursday afternoon, whilst we were loading, a strange ship passed by,heading North, about 8 miles off. This was identified as a Russian Primorye A.G.I,class surveillance ship; he had been steaming around Ascension for a few days and onFriday morning, when we sailed, he approached to approximately 5 miles and passed

down the Starboard side, obviously very interested. We wondered what head scratch-ing took place in the Kremlin at the report of a container ship with a big box at the frontwith two enormous green bears sticking out.

From then on we were a completely darkened ship; no steaming lights and noradar and full alert defence watches. It didn't take long for the weather to get coldsince we had been ordered to steam South to a Latitude of 50o S and then alter courseto the West. I pointed out to the S.N.O. that the Northerly iceberg limit at this time ofthe year was also 50o S and it wouldbe imprudent to be proceeding atanything near full speed in thevicinity oficebergs since radardoes not always pick them updownwind. He got on to C.inC.Fleet and we received permissionto alter course at 42o S. Althoughquite cold, no ice was seen but theS.N.O requested that I commencezig-zag patterns in daylight hours.I had difficulty explaining that wecould not honour our E.T.A. andag-zag as well, so we zigged andzagged one day only and thenzagged one day only and then FullAlert on the bidgetne Argentrnlan suomarlne menace ru* ,

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fooling submarines but when it was rigged and ready to go the general opinion of us

"Merchies" was that it would not last an hour at 17 knots, so it was not tested; weonly had one set so decided to keep it for the real thing.

At dawn on the 26th June we sighted the fleet accompanying H.M.S.HERMES which consisted of about 15 ships. I was instructed to take up station at

three quarters of a mile, 4 points on the starboard quarter of the EBURNA, a tanker,and just ahead of HERMES. The weather was fine with little swell so we broke out thecrane and commenced bringing the mail out of the hatch. A list of the ships in TRALA,(Tug Replenishment and Logistics Area), was given to us and the mailwe had sortedout at sea was brought up and "vertrepped" to the respective ships. The ASTRONOMERsoon resembled a jam pot in summertime;Wessex, Lynx, Sea Kings and Scouts allbtzz-ing on and off. We also had 40 tons of Harrier spares for HERMES and they wentwinging their way off. I nearly had a fit when a Sea King with a box of spare helicopterblades as its underslung load started to swing fore and aft and threatened to knock itsown tail off but the pilot stopped the swinging by going close to another helicopter onthe deck of HERMES. Altogether an exciting day.

Whilst keeping station in convoy and altering course l80o to maintain the fleetin the TRALA zone, HERMES came quite close to have a look at us; she has always

looked so big but from ASTRONOMER she didn't look nearly as impressive. I imagin-ed the Commander on the bridge looking up at us and wondering what things werecoming to. I received numerous communications from various Naval Depts and was

rather amused to see that copies of the letters are sent to Commander, HERMES andCommander,INVINCIBLE but to Master, ASTRONOMER. At the time it reminded meto get my cap badge sewn on to my woolly oonnttl,

mail and stores were transferredby 1400 and I was given permission todetach from the fleet at 1430. From thereto Port Stanley was only 160 miles andspeed was adjusted to arrive there at firstlight in order to proceed through the mine-fields that had been laid off the entranceto Port William Sound. Being too deep forPort Stanley we entered Port WilliamSound at 0500 on Sunday, June 27th andwere ordered to a berth in the Inner harbour.By sight and radar it was far too crowdedfor me and I told the Queens HarbourMaster (aHM) that I required a berth for a

670 ft.long ship drawing 28 ft;he repliedthat he was a "Pongo" (Army) and itdidn't mean a thing to him how big theship was so I picked berth L 5, 6 cablesNorth of West Tussac Island and droppedanchor there.

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*

Vertrepping stores to H,M.S. HERMES in theTRALA.

HELICOPTER SUPPORT VESSELThe first day on station was spent receiving representatives from all three

Services to see what we had in the way of cargo. Of course, they didn't come togetherand when shown the mass of sleeping bags, tents and healy arctic clothing that weloaded at Ascension, (because it was desperately needed), they all stated that it was'the last stuff they wanted. One or two showed interest in the containers for living in.

The two remaining Chinooks were bladed up and the last one flew off on the29lhJune,to their base at San Carlos. It was rather sad to see the R.A.F. depart;they mixed well and were willing to turn their hands to anything, stowing cargo, thelot and were always cheerful.

Two Officers and I were invited to a "Pub Lunch" that day on board H.M.S.AVENGER - the guard ship for that week. Mr. Cameron, Mr. Eady and myselfpresented ourselves on the hangar roof to be winched into a Lynx helicopter; wecouldn't use the flight deck because a Wessex was being bladed up. Never having flownin a helicopter before we were all a little apprehensive, if that's what one cails shakinglike a leaf but we all thoroughly enjoyed the flight and the luncheon. Most of theMasters of the Merchant Ships were there and it was very interesting to chat withthem. We stuck out like sore thumbs; the invitation stated working dress and everyonewas dressed in what I call "Army & Navy Store" jerseys and shoulder straps, whilstwe three were in "proper" uniform. The journey back was quite pleasant; at 150 ft.the ships look so small and the Harbour quite, quite different compared with theview from the bridge.

On Wednesday 30th June the weather worsened and at 0100 I decided toput to sea but we lost the starboard anchor in the process, (this was retrieved in themiddle of July). The swell outside the harbour was quite heavy and, with the vessel

rolling 30o, some of the Naval party were not very happy at all. However, once clear ofthe minefields, we put the stabilisers out and spent the next 30 hours patrolling theNorth Coast of East Falkland Island. Since we could not use steaming lights we weresoon in company with another 5 echoes and it was daylight before we found thatthe anchorage had been vacated by most ships and ATLANTIC CAUSEWAY had alsolost an anchor; it was reminiscent of the patrol up and down the Firth of Clyde inheavy weather. We all returned to our anchorages on Thursday morning and althougha slight swell was left we "vertrepped" stores all day to Naly Point and the airportand at about 1600 the R.and R. (Rest and Recuperation) parties arrived in Scoutsand Wessex.

Up until the time that we arrived at our destination short term plans for theASTRONOMER had'not been made known to us. Various rumours were circulating;either we were to become a helicopter support ship and repair facility for about twomonths or we were to return home after completing discharge of our cargo in abouttwo weeks. But on our second day at anchor two damaged Wessex helicopters werelanded aboard so it looked as though the former idea might prevail. By the end ofthe first week in July this was confirmed when we heard that the ATLANTICCAUSEWAY and CONTENDER BEZANI(the other two c6ntainer ship/helicoptercarriers remaining with the Task Force),would soon be returning home. We wouldremain as the only merchant vessel of the type in the area for the next few weeks.

The helicopter repair amd maintenance team (MARTSU) were soon receiv-

t4

ing damaged and corroded aircraft, (for the sea air plays havoc with the magnesiumplating), and they require a lot of repair work done on them. Having had the opport-unity to "poke" around one in the hangar, the plating appears paper thin and veryfragile. The workshops in the containers, which formed the hangar, contained a mostcomprehensive assortment of machinery and equipment to repair and replace bits on,mainly, Wessex but other types "drop" in for survey, service and repair, and when theairfield ran out of fuel, they dropped in on us for a fill up from our bowser.

We remained at anchor inPort William Sound for many daysbut once a week we went alongsidethe C.P. ship FORT TORONTO tofillup with fresh water. She had30,000 tons of Southampton tapwater on board to supply the Fleetbut even that ran out eventually.We were encouraged to use ourosmosis plant in Port but I resisted;two other ships were using theirsbut the Surgeon Commander ofthe UGANDA said theywould not use harbour water todistil by any means and went to A busy day on deck in Port llilliam Sound

sea to make their supplies. I reckoned tMER) was good for UGANDA!

Morale aboard remained excellent throughout. No doubt this was aided by a

mail service which was very good, all things being considered. Even when the airfieldat Port Stanley was closed for repairs letters were delivered to the ships from Englandin just about a week. Radio reception was not too good though. The area must be one

of the most barren that I have ever come across; for two or three days at a time we couldnot get the BBC at all, then on odd days it was quite good. Oddly enough it was difficultto get Argentina on shortwave but some of the lads managed to listen to footballcommentaries from there. The BBC news at midnight (GMT) was the only one thatwas readable - this was taped, typed out and put on the notice boards. Some crewmembers also tuned into the BBC relayed by the Falklands Radio Service between1830 and 2130 each evening but we were told that the operator ashore had not quitegot the frequency stabilised and it wandered about a bit. Newspapers were deliveredonce a week, so we weren't too badly off for news and,at the end of August,newbroadcasting equipment was set up at Port Stanley,which improved things dramati-cally.

One of the items broadcast every night was the timetable of the Islands AirService. This had been performed by two Beaver aircraft prior to the invasion but thefugentinians had made both aircraft unservicible. After the surrender this service was

carried out by our Services, using helicopters but this became rather a drain on theresources of the three Services, not only in machines but in pilots, (who were flyingon average about l4-15 hours a day), and I know now that from the time the engines

are started to the time of "shut down" it demands maximum concentration andl5

alertness to stay flying. However, during the conflict quite a bit of Argentine equip-ment was captured including one or two helicopters. One "Puma" helicopter wastaken on board INVINCIBLE and, in their off-duty hours, the air mechanics repairedit and made it serviceable again, even to giving it a coat of bright red paint and thishelicopter commenced the new Falkland Islands Air Service. The timetable was broad-cast each evening and in some cases the number of parcels to be delivered to each"camp", (as the outlying farms are known), was given. One evening the schedule wasput out and times of landing at different air strips stated but one air strip must have

had a reputation for bad time-keeping because we were told "the parcel will be leftwith a stone on top of it to stop it blowing away should the flight not be met" - so

much for the "Rat Race"!Conditions ashore were so atrocious for the troops that we were asked if

we could land containers from the ship when they became empty, to be used as

accommodation. I agreed to this so long as they made use of the Portakabins firstbecause these were already fitted out with bunks etc., and electric heaters and mostships had them. It was a simple lift for a Chinook. The weather from early July blewfrom the South West force 3 to 4; quite cold weather with heavy snow showers. Itcertainly was not as cold as Amsterdam or Hamburg in the winter but it wasn't verypleasant living in a tent.

I also offered the facilities of the ship to these men; initially we took about30 people from the R.A.F. and the Army each night.The poor devils were in a bad

way when they came on board but they had a bath or shower, a change of clothing,an evening meal, a couple of beers maybe and a film, then a warm bed. We sent themoff after breakfast, to the cold muck again but feeling much better. By the middleof August we were bed and breakfasting up to 128 persons per night and had served

over 23,000 meals since the voyage had begun with neither a problem or complaintfrom my excellent crew. We were determined that by the end of the voyage thereputation of the ASTRONOMER and the Harrison Line would be second to none.The Commanding Officer later thanked me for the ship's hospitality and told me thatwhenever the name ASTRONOMER came up on the notice board for R. & R. they werebesieged with applications.

Having so many people on board bathing and washing their clothes made abig difference to our water consumption and on some days we were using 50-60tons. Our first rendezvous with the water tanker was on Monday July 5th, and wewere slotted in as first customer that day. There was no swell running in the harbourbut the wind was S.E.'ly force 6 with blustery snow showers and we had to have

water; so off we went. The ship behaved beautifully, (tfrank God for the bow thruster),and we soon tied up and had water flowing in. With our GM of 3.3 metres we tendedto roll more than the FORT TORONTO and even though she had fenders 6 feet in diameterwe came close to her superstructure once or twice but fortunately never touched.After taking 380 tons of water we let go and returned to our berth. Our weeklyvisits to the tanker also gave us the opportunity to change films occasionally. Berth-ing seemed to attract helicopters and only once did we have peace and quiet, (that was

when bunkering alongside the SCOTTISH EAGLE in Berkeley Sound); at allother times there were Chinooks or Wessex landing on and creating one hell of a din,making it difficiult to communicate over the walkie-talkies.

t6

The first couple of weekswere spent "vertrepping" mail, storesand spares ashore and bringing enginesback for repair. The weather was bitt-erly cold with quite a few snowstorms and strong winds but everymorning the flight deck was brushedclear of snow ready for "ops". Itdidn't take long for the flight deckcrew to rig up the forklift truck witha cargo pallet rigged as a snow ploughand the deck was cleared in half thetime. The flight deck crew werecertainly the most active and happiestgroup of the Naval party, on deck allday in all weather; as soon as a heli-

Taking bunkers from SCOTTISH EAGLE inBerkeley Sound

Chinook about to lift a l4tessex off thedeck; Mount Low in the background.

lads ran out to it unu nrr* r*" ou, *,"JJ;'jri:Tr'"L"ll.tff,i:'5ff3Y* "tstaying they charged out with chocks for the wheels and lashing strops and betweenlandings they usually shifted cargo off the deck and occasionally they played deckgolf with their earthing sticks. An earthing stick is used to make the firit contactwith the underslung strop when "vertrepping" to release the static electricity fromthe helicopter; one end is a light chain which trails on the deck to completelhe circuit.A chinook can give quite a powerful shock and one of the Loadmasteri was thrownto the deck when he caught hold of the hook before contact was made with the stick.

On Sunday July I lth, at 1930, theGuard Ship H.M.S. ACTIVE reported that a

Gemini dinghy had been missing for about threehours and asked all ships to check that it wasnot alongside, visiting. The dinghy had lastbeen seen near York Island which meant that,with the wind blowing S.W.'ly at force 4, itwould drift down the harbour pastASTRONOMER.I asked the Guard Shipif we could break the black-out and use thesearchlight in an attempt to locate the boatand occupants and permission was granted sowe commenced sweeping the harbour. With asea water temp. of 30 C and air temperatureof -2o C, survival time was given as 40 min-utes in a "Once only suit". After 1% hourssearching we caught the boat in the beam ofthe searchlight and guided a Wessex and tugto the boat but sadly there was no one init. Later we heard that one Royal Marine wasmissing.

17

one beautiful calm night, (there were not many), we wele anchored at the

inner william anchorage when in urgent message was sent over the VHF from the QHM

that a soldier was in Port Stanley Hospital with a severe nose bleed which required

special tape to cure the bleeding. Ourihips hospital had been converted into a kander

.iu5 op.*ting theatre but our Doctor wis ashore at the time so the Petty Officer M-A'

was tuined to and he rummaged about until he found some of the required tape' QHM

was informed that we had it but the problem was how to get it to the hospital since- ^

it was nearly midnight and there *eti no helicopters and boats wele very scarce. H'M'S'

APOLLO sfarted to get their Lynx crew together and we started to break out accomm'

odation ladders and our boat, but an army work boat from Port Operations was handy

and it came alongside. The 3rd Mate handed over the package at the bottom of the

accommodation ladder and the boat seemed to crawl away ashore.It all seemed to take

so long, but in all only 40 minutes passed from the time of the request to delivering

the taie to the hospital. I was amaied to learn that ASTRONOMER was the only

ship in the Harboui to carry a supply ofthat particular tape - a lucky "Pongo".

COASTAL SI.]RVEILLANCE SHIPDuring the first week of August ASTRONOMER was out at sea making fresh

water for four -days.

During this time we took the place of H.M.S. LEDBURY and were

appointed coastal Suiveillince ship. we were "tasked" to patrol an area just East ofthe minefields off the Port and were required to report a1l echoes or ships sighted'

on the evening of the 5th August we sighted a ship's echo on the radar and

reported it to the Harbour Master. It turned out to be a Polish trawler with a sick

*- on board in need of medical attention. The ship identified itself as the ODRA

but he could not understand the instructions given to him by the Harbour Master to

pass safely through the minefields, so I offered to guide him through. This we did

and at 2130 his sick seaman was taken off by tug inside the harbour and taken to

hospital. We then took the trawler back to sea and off our "patch". It was a bit hairy

at timesbut we discovered that the trawler's compass was reading l0o out. The foll'owing day the barometer was down to 965 mbs with the wind blowing Force 10-14

wherlwe came across four ships. It was rather difficult to identify them in the

weather prevaitng but with the aid of our Naval Party we did and consequently le-p9,rt-ed them ty nurJto the Harbour Master. Next day we received a rocket from SNOFI

(Senior Naval Officer, Falkland Islands) who said we should report them as "friendlyT.F. units", not by name.

once back in Port william, (for once in those weeks it was not blowing a

gale) we discharged two containers and took an empty one back on board. We still

iad25 x 40ft. full containers to dischargefrom Devonport plus about 400 tons ofbreakbulk cargo loaded locally for safekeeping and about 40 tons of Arctic clothing

that had beenloaded at Ascension. The Army did an excellent job,working day and

night in atrocious weather,transferring cargo from ship to shore on their Mexe'floats(b"arges),but since they had no secure space left ashore they used ASTRONOMER and

BALTIC FERRY as lock up warehouses.

At about this time one of INVINCIBLE'S Sea Kings landed on to refuel

before setting off across the sea to rejoin and the rumour flashed around the ship that

Prince Andrew was in the left hand seat; so maybe at last we had a "first". There

cannot be any other Harrison ship to have had a Royal Prince drop in by Helicopter.I was taken for a flight around East Falkland Island by the Army Air Corps

and I must say it was an unforgettable experience. For three hours we saw most of thebattle areas and the cemetery at San Carlos; well cared for, all the stones whitewashed,the brass plates gleaming in the sun - a sun they would never see again. They were allof a similar age to my Sons and it was a saddening experience.

We literally dropped in at a lonely farmhouse at Salvador Settlement andwere invited in for tea. A beautiful home, everything one could see was of Britishmanufacture, even to M. & S. curtains. During the flight I had noticed that practicallyevery farm had two or three Nissan huts in use, so I explained to the farmer that oneof our company's ships had brought them to the Islands during the last war. He toldus that after the war the Nissan huts were sold off to all comers for f,100 each,including contents. His father bought three which are now used as barns and a garage.A11 that I saw were brightly painted and looked to be in excellent condition.

The farmer told me that the Forces had become quite organised in theirsearch for fresh food and he had sold them live sheep but that they had great difficuitygetting the sheep into a net to be taken into Port Stanley as an underslung load on ahelicopter!

During the voyage Messrs. Dobson, Jardine, Eady and Hughes took lots ofphotographs to supplement my poor efforts with the ships Polaroid. To operate a

Polaroid on the Flight deck with even a little wasp whirring away, pulling tabs andfilm out and trying to get the film under your arm to develop because of the coldweather, one or two of the Flight deck crew thought I was going into a fit. Bits ofpaper etc., flying about are not appreciated by helicopter crews. On one occasion awessex landed on to have his nose cone changed and the pilot stayed to lunch. overlunch I asked if it would be possible to fly around the ship for ten minutes to takesome photographs of her at anchor. Mr. Dobson complained though that theWessex exhausts pass close to the door and sometimes one gets a blurring; afterthree months on a helicopter ship we got quite choosy!

Whenever we entered or left the Harbour there were groups of curiouspeople wondering what we had in the containers up forward. The first time we wentalongside FORT ToRoNTo for water, the Master asked me what I had up there andwas flabbergasted when I told him. Everyone thought the hangar roof was forlanding on. we did use it for winching people on and off when the flight deck wasfoul but it was not strong enough for landing on. outward bound I overheard a con-versation between the chinook pilots about damaging the deck of the ship if theycame down heavily. I assured them that it would not harm the ship but it certainlywould not do the helicopter any good. When I was flown across to the AVENGERfor lunch I was rather taken aback to see painted on the hangar roo{ in letters 5 fthighr"Fly Crab Airways". Obviously 18 Squadron up to their pranks. There werealso the makings of an R.N. reply which I dare not quote here!

During the last two weeks in July and the first two in August we had morethan our fair share of gales. we rode out two in the outer harbour at Port williamwith both anchors down;the wind speed rose to over 105 knots, which is as high as

the anemometer registers. The CEDARBANK and STRATHEWE both broke out ofthe ground and the SAXONIA lost her anchor and cable. With the most vicious looking

t9

metal mangling rocks I have ever seen only 800 ft. from the stern, it tended to make

one yearn for the sunny Caribbean again. In a quiet spell between blows we ran short

of water so I requested permission from the QHM to proceed to sea to make some

more. During that time we also performed Coastal Surveillance Patrol duties and

directed three Polish trawlers throughthe minefields as well as interceptinga Russian tanker on his way to bunkera fishing fleet to the South; at least

that's what he said.There must have been some

connection between my typewriterand the barometer for, every timeI sat down to type, the glass startedto tumble. The weather in the SouthAtlantic is not as predictable as in theNorth; it must be the South AmericanContinent and Antartica that produce

the prolonged furious Westerlies -no wonder it was regarded as anachievement to get round the Hom insail; I take my hat off to them.

For the information of the

An "A" class frigate anchored aheadof LYCAON, LAERTES, GEESTPORT , FORT TORONTO & G.A.WALKER in Port William Sound

statisticians, by the middle of August,(some seven weeks after arriving at the FalklandIslands),ASTRONOMER had anchored 20 times, berthed alongisde other ships 6

times, repaired and serviced 14 Wessex and landed 995 helicopters. At this time Lt.Cdr. R. Gainsford, our original S.N.O., flew home for leave before joining the OmanNavy and was replaced by a Lt. R. Bevan. We also changed Doctors'

MORE..SICK BIRDS,'After the mid August gales,(two of which we weathered out at sea making

fresh water on Coastal Surveillance),we anchored in a different spot; Berkeley Sound.

With the combination of a hangar ort deck and our draft, once the wind reached

Force 6 or over the ship sheered about, sometimes up to 50o either side of the wind.Even dropping the other anchor underfoot did not stop her to any great extent and

in the Inner harbour of Port William Sound one was never more than two cables

from those vicious rocks. (It states in the "Pilot" that the holding ground is good

but I rather think that what was good holding ground for men of war and survey ships

is not so good for the ships of today, especially of the size and windage of ASTRON-OMER). One night the RANGATIRA, BALTIC FERRY and ST. EDMUND were all

adrift in the inner harbour and there is barely 3-4 fathoms of water in there. The

CEDARBANK had a little skirmish with the tug YORKSHIREMAN putting a hole

in the "YORKIE'S" starboard side. However, we were happily cruising and patrolling

the North Coast at the time of this "excitement", as the Naval Party calls these

incidents.Having completed our Patrol and the QHM unable to give us a safe berth in

harbour I decided to try Berkeley Sound and in I l-12 fathoms of water it was quitegood,with very little swell,being reasonably sheltered from the West. I required

20

shelter, with no swell, so that the MARTSU (Mobile Aircraft Repair Transport Salvage

Unit) team could carry out some heavy maintenance work on the helicopters, gear-

boxes, etc.For our patrol work we receive a"B.Z." from H.M'S. BRISTOL, the ship

flying Rear Admiral Reffell's flag.B.Z. is Well Done in the Navy and we were requested

to wear theB.Z. badge of office for the day. This is an aluminium plaque on a chain withB.Z. engraved upon it. We subsequently found out that the Russian tanker RIJEKAhad slipped through the outer screen and our interception was the first anyone knewof its presence in the vicinity.

Another "Task" that I agreed to perform was to escort SIR BEDIVERE fromPort Stanley to Port San Carlos. She had suffered complete Gyro failure and the Master

had no faith in his magnetic compass. (I wonder what old Captain Vincent, the

examiner, would have to say about that?) The QHM wanted me to lift a work boat ontothe deck, escort the BEDIVERE, discharge the work boat at San Carlos and pick up a

"sick" one, and return it to Port Stanley. Unfortunately this task was delayed byanother gale but after it blew itself out we completed the job and returned toBerkeley Sound for some peace and quiet.

We had not been anchored long before we received a signal to be at San

Carlos at 0900 the following morning to receive a Lynx gearbox, by "vertrep", fromthe FORT GRANGE.To send a ship of our size 80 miles to San Carlos to collect a

gearbox weighing roughly 2000 lbs, which could easily be underslung on a Wessex

or Sea King, seemed a bit odd but H.M.S. BRISTOL said they wanted to make sure we

got it on board so we left at 0400, picked up the gearbox and had returned by 1500'

At 2200 we were instructed to rendezvous with H.M.S. BIRMINGHAM at sea toreceive her very "sick" Lynx which could not fly far. We weighed anchor at 0530to make our rendezvous and steamed alongside the "BRUM". She adjusted to close

to 600 ft and the Lynx was flown across the icy stretch of water - with no oil inits gearbox-to be landed on our deck by a very pleasant young man, Lt. Wyman' The

helicopter pilots are a first class bunch; some are only 19 years old but they can

certainly handle their machines. After that we had to stopto receive her maintenance team withall their tools and equipment. Thiswas carried out by whaler quite safely,although BIRMINGHAM had a devil ofa job retrieving their boat. We proceeded

back to Berkeley Sound to anchor and

enjoyed a few peacefulwindless days

working on the helicopters. Unfortun'ately, the new gearbox that we got fromthe FORT GRANGE for Lt. Wyman'sLynx was also faulty and we pulled his

leg about his "bird" not flying. But itwas gratifying to see the change inhim and his maintainers after a weekon board ASTRONOMER.

INGHAM's Lynx, fully repaired and with a Harrison

2t

After redelivering BIRM-Line flag container sticker neatlY

Dawn rendezvous with H.M.S. BIRMINGHAM

applied to the underside ofits nose, clear ofthe radar, we received the Lynx fromrl.M.s. SoUTHAMPTON for similar repairs and servicing. This was supposed to take

6 days but actually took 8. Obviously the ASTRONOMER'S 5 star rating for services

had been passed around the fleet for with each Lynx came 8 maintainers for recupera-

tion.The change in appearance of people who had been on "full alert" for months

on end after a few days of peace and quiet and a few nights of relaxing sleep was quite

dramatic. The strain must have been tremendous and it showed but no one begrudged

them a thing and when they left ASTRONOMER they were different men.

on Thursday the 19th August we were visited by Rear Admiral Reffell who

spent 30 minutes on board inspecting the haniar and our facilities. He seemed very

impressed and was most complimentary. I was pleased when he spoke to a couple ofmy crew and asked if they had any complaints. They replied "No Sir", standing toattention as near as possible - you can't really tell with all the heavy weather gear on.

On three occasions Admiral Reffell invited all ships Masters to a curry lunch on board

BRISTOL but each time it was blowing a gale and few turned up. I apologised for notattending but he said he understood perfectly - that the harbour was not really fit forlarge ships.

A SPELL ASHOREThe following day the

weather was calm with a glassy sea

so I decided I had better see PortStanley before leaving theFalklands. I was whisked awayin a Wessex, was in town in tenminutes and spent the next twoand a half hours strolling around.It was very dirty underfoot but Iwas told it had been cleaned up a

lot since the Argentines left. Amost interesting few hours.

I courdn't reave without Real4dmt{fr! Reffelknsp:cts therhelicopter repair

having a can of beer in the "Globe", which is the grottiest pub you evel saw;but everyone

goes there. I had a chat with QHM and SNOFI there,who told me that ASTRONOMER was

definitely due to depart on November 1st. However, following the Admiral's visit we

were subsequently visited by the Staff AEO and then the AEO from ILLUSTRIOUSinspected our facilities, so the prospect of further employment as a ship helicopterrepair facility seemed on the cards. All the BIRMINGHAM maintenance men said itwas wonderful to work on a stable ship.

I met a pilot off INVINCIBLE whilst ashore. It was his first trip ashore since

leaving the U.K and it was really amazing that I should have met him in a pub in the

Falklands. After I was introduced and as soon as the ASTRONOMER was mentionedhe said "that's a Harrison ship". I agreed and he told me his Fathel was a Licensed

Waterman on the Thames, living in Gravesend. He knew all our river pilots, Pat Potter in22

Trinidad and many more. We had quite a natter and he then offered to fly me back so

he could tell his Father he had landed on the ASTRONOMER. It was a most interestingencounter since he had taken part in all the air actions and he described how the Argent-ines found the SIR GALAHAD and SIR TRISTRAM by accident after they had been

beaten off from San Carlos Sound by our defences; they carried on down the Sound,turned to Port and sighted the unprotected ships at Port Pleasant where they set uponthem.

SIR GALAHAD became a War Grave and SIR TRISTRAM was towed intoPort Stanley, her bridge structure completely collapsed, where she was used as a storeship in Stanley Harbour, but was rather an embarrassment to the Harbour Master. She

was moored alongside the jetty at Naly Point, which is a good concrete structure. The

other two berths, Government Jetty and Public Jetty, had all but collapsed after thegales and heavy usage during July and August. One jetty, which was an oid sailing shipwreck, with the masts and spars used to connect it to the shore , had completely collapsed,making berthing space very sparse indeed. The Mexe-floats had to run their bows ashoreto get cargo off, and there was not a crane available with a lifting capacity over 5 tons.If the heavy cargo was not on wheels, it had to be lifted by Sea King or Chinook.

The whole affair was a wonderful exercise to our three Services, and an eye-opener for them on how sophisticated Merchant Shipping is today in order to remaincompetitive. We had to bring our containers on to the deck, unstuff them and make uppallet loads to be llfted by crane on to the Mexe-float. By working with the crew of theMexe-float we managed to organise it so that we put the container on the float, putour fork-lift on board and unstuffed the boxes that way. When I asked if they had trailerson which we could land the containers so that they could be towed away to the discharge

site, I was told there was not a trailer on the island. We were by no means the onlyship with containers.

By the end of August we had put ashore I 5 containers for different purposes,

some for use as "lock-up" stowages, some for living quarters. The last six forty'foot unltswere spread all around the harbour as accommodation for the Rapier site crews. Theirsites were on the hills surrounding the Port and they had a particularly hard time dueto the weather. I was told that they were livlng in 40 gallon drums and of course duringthe black-out they could not even have a fire at night.In some locations they could notwalk about to keep warm either, for fear of mines.

The airport, as they call it, re-opened on the 28th August as predicted. Consid-ering the weather conditions we experienced, the Royal Engineers did a magnificent job,working 3 hours on and t hours off. The runway is now flt to take Phantoms and

Hercules but not commercial jets; apparently the ground is too soft to accept airllners,and there was talk of constructing a completely new airport at Fitzroy.

At the end of August we had our 1000th landing on the flight deck and a bottleof "Task Force beer" was handy to give the pilot. We were all expecting the winner to be

our friendly Wasp who did the mail run at 1630 every day, but 1o and behold a Sea

King from INVINCIBLE dropped in to refuel on the way back to his ship so he gotthe prize and well deserved it was too.

THE JOURNEY HOMEIt was now apparent that ASTRONOMER was likely to remain in the South

23

A Wessex eye view of ASTRONOMER ona quiet day.

Atlantic for a further period and in the first week of September we heard that we wereto be relieved. The new crew were on their way out from the U.K. so it was decidedto replenish oil, water and stores so that they could take over a full ship. Arrangementswere made to go alongside FORT TORONTO for water and SCOTTISH EAGLE for

oil and whilst taking the water wereceived a supply of Main Engine lub.oil, delivered to us from the G.A.WALKER, with the kind assistance ofthe Royal Marines and their craft H.M.S.TANGO 1.

When the NORLAND arrivedat San Carlos on September l3th, withour reliefs on board, they received atypical Falklands welcome. It wasblowing force 12 from the West, withlow cloud and occasional showers,making the Islands look really bleak.The ferry came round to Port Stanleytwo days later and we arranged for thefive Senior Officers to be transferred tous as soon as possible in order to achieve

a proper handover. With so many people to disembark it was late afternoon on the l5thbefore Captain B.W. Jones and his colleagues arrived by Wessex, wide-eyed at thechanges to the ship.

Next day we weighed anchor and went into Port William to take water againfrom the FORT TORONTO. Whilst there the new crew came aboard from one of theTango class landing craft, their gear was lifted off by the storing crane and my crew puttheir gear aboard the craft" The change over was complete in an hour. On completionof watering we left for Berkeley Sound, anchoring again at 1530 with Captain B.W.Jones now in Command. I gather we all sounded rather strange to the reliefs; we hadhad three and a half months ofgetting used to Navaljargon and abbreviations andthey were all aghast at the gobbledegook we were uttering but I have no doubt thatthey soon learnt to understand it.

The next morning after breakfast we started to assemble on the Flight deckwith our gear to await our Wessex which was to take us to the NORLAND. All theNaval Party Officers and Petty Officers were there to see us off. It was a sad andemotional farewell for they were an excellent crew. One of our "own" helicopters,Xray Echo, took us across the narrow strip ofbarren land separating Berkeley Soundfrom Port William Sound and as if it was not sad enough to be leaving the ship, we sawan old comrade of ours, the SAXONIA, aground on the North side of the Sound. Thewind was still blowing from the West at force 9.

On arrival on the Flight deck of NORLAND we were ushered into the SnugBar where we were interviewed by Sgt. Major McKenzie. We had to assure him thatwe were not carrying any Argentinian guns or ammo. Al1 the M.P.'s had gone ashoreand it was their job to search our effects for these items. The Officers who had boardedthe day before had secured a section of alleyway on "B" deck on the port side; therooms all had Harrison Line flags on the doors. I was lucky and had one to myself but

24

everyone else doubled up. The room was clean but had no bedding or soap and Iwas adivsed to get hold of the 2nd Steward and rig the room out before doinganything else. I managed to see the Purser who promised to organise things. In themeantime I attended a meeting of Senior Officers where I met the Master of theNORLAND, Captain D. Wharton, S.N.O. Lt. Cdr. L Hughes, the Master of ST.EDMUND ANd SCNiOT OffiCErS Of thE STENA INSPECTOR, AVELONA STAR ANd

RANGATIRA as well as Senior Officers of the Army units. We were more fortunatethan our reliefs; they came down with a complement of over 900 - we were only450. The object of the meeting was not only to make each other's acquaintance butto organise our respective groups into cleaning gangs allocated to different partsof the ship. This did not go down very well with the crew of ST. EDMUND andRANGATIRA at all.

NORLAND had both anchors down with the wheel manned and one enginesteaming slow ahead. The Master wanted to sail as soon as possible but we had towait for some engine spares and for the Chinese crew from SIR BEDIVERE. Thelatter were at the airfield and ready to fly home but were transferred to the NORLANDat the last minute to do the laundry. Later on one of their group was seen regularlywalking about with a bulky canvas bag. Apparently they had a gambling schoolgoing on in the lounge; you could sit in on this if you possessed 9500 - I was toldthat thousands changed hands every day.

Lunch was quite an experience. We lined up to be confronted by two stewards

in T shirts and jeans; one sniffing and wiping his nose on his hairy arm. There was an

enormous steel tureen containing the "soup of the day" which looked like congealedbrown wallpaper paste with lumps of monosodium glutomate in it. A choice of twodishes was available and "smash" with everything. This was quite well cooked and,quite obviously the galley staffwere good but the serving staffleft a lot to be

desired. Following a few complaints at our daily meetings,things improved.After lunch we all assembled in the Forward lounge and were addresed by

Major General Jeremy Moore. Considering the weight of duties that must have beenthe lot of the Commander of I-and Forces, we greatly appreciated his taking time off tothank the Merchant Service for our co-operation and invaluable help throughout thecampaign. He bade us farewell and wished us all a good leave. He left us with theimpression of being a hard, fit and determined man and I heard one man say that he

was "bloody glad I wasn't in the Argentine Army".We sailed from Port Stanley at 1830 on Friday, September l7th, just as it was

getting dark. It seemed strange to steam down the harbour as an onlooker. It was

still blowing hard and very cold. With a good following sea and breeze the anchorlights of ASTRONOMER, twinkling in the black of night in Berkeley Sound, soon

"dipped" and I became a passenger.For the next few days the weather remained cold with a very strong SSW'1y

breeze and heavy swell. The stabilisers worked very well so it was not uncomfortable,although the ship creaked very loudly and the whole structure seemed to be "working"just beneath my pillow. Still, since I had four bunks to choose from, I found a quietone. Our alleyway was supposed to be in the care of one steward, but he was rai'elyseen doing anything but walking around carrying a plastic garbage bag,so we alllooked after our rooms, showers etc., and kept the alleyway swept and tidy. I even

25

remembered how to fold my sheet and counterpane and set it down neatly on the bunk,just like in my Cadet days; Mr. Eady pronounced it not a bad job "with respect"!

As is usual with the Services, it was not long before Sports and Recreation

Comrnittees were set up. Football and volley ball teams were organised. It was 5 a side

lootball, and games were played in the car deck each afternoon.Our reliefs Southbound had won the Footbail League and did well in the

volley ball but we were knocked out in the semi-final of the Football by a big strong

army team who looked like the S.A.S. in squaddies clothingl We did quite well in the

volley ball and excelled at Dartsi it was all very friendly and enjoyable.As we approached Ascension Island, arrangements were made for our flights

home. At first we were all flying together in a V.C.10 but these planes were in short

supply, so it had to be a l{ercules. We had heard of the hair-raising re-fuellingexploits of these planes on their way to Port Stanley; because of the difference inspeed the Hercules goes up to 30,000 ft. and into a dive, catching up the Vulcantanker, connecting up and passing fuel whilst speeding towards the sea. It is said thaton one occasion two planes were only 5000 ft. from the briny when they had to break off.Still, the "Herc" was said to be very reliable, if cold and noisy, and we soon foundout.

We reached the Island on the 27th and heard that five of our crew would flythat day and the remainer on the following night. Having been flown to Wideawake

Airfield by Wessex we were searched again in a rubber blow up hangar, and briefed;the Hercules would be cold at the back, warm at the front, noisy in the middle and

cotton wool would be necessary for the ears. For the next two tense hours we drank

the tea urn dry and trod a well worn path to the toilet tent but at 0100 we were taken

out to the plane. The back door was still down lor cargo operations and our gear was

stowed on the door, covered by a net.lt looked suspiciously as if we wele to fly withthe back door open, but fortunately not and we were soon clalnbering aboard and

settling in, lacing fellow passengers with our knees only 4 inches apart. Seat belts on,

iiferaft instructions, Elsan toilet half way up the back ramp, cotton wool in our ears

and we were off, climbing rapidly to i 5000 feet.It certainly was noisy and conversation was out of the question. Cardboard

boxes were passed around containing a good inflight meal - not plastic food as

served by most airlines. The dimmed lights were about 12 ft. above us which made

reading difficult, so most of us tried to sleep but this was difficult without disturbingone's opposite or adjacent neighbours. Most of us managed to cat-cap in between

dressing and undressing,as the l,oadmaster adjusted the temperature when checklng the

equipment in the hold.It was certainly a great relief to land at Dakar and stretch our legs. We were

told to keep a low profile and not wander about too much for fear of embarrassing

the SenegalGovernment by our presence. Clouds olsmoke arose from behind a warehouse

in the morning air as the first puffs of cigarettes were taken for 5 hourqsince smoking was

forbidden on the plane. When reboarding the aircraft we were taken aback to see a

loadmaster with a "pony tail" hairdo;we thought we had left all "those" behind on

the ferry but she turned out to be a genuine article, a most efficient lady Loadmaster.

The next nine hours of the flight proved to us that the Hercules reaches parts

of the body that no other aircraft can. A doze, a look round, try and find a part ofyour bottom that you had not sat on before; its no wonder paratroopers jump willingly

26

from these things. What a relief when the pilot told us we were only an hour away fromR.A.F. Lyneham and what a difference in the scenery as we descended; after 3% monthsofbrown grass and barren rocks and hills, the approach over beautiful rolling green

fields with proper trees was marvellous.After a nice smooth landing we were quickly through Customs and were

ushered into a room reserved for ASTRONOMER wheTe our wives and relatives werewaiting. The banners arrived a little late but there were a few and we were pleasantlysurprised to be welcomed by Sir Thomas and Lady Pilkington and Mr. & Mrs. Rosselli,who presented us each with an engraved tankard as a most treasured memento ofour involvement with the Task Force, together with some beer to put in it.

I had been blessed with excellent Officers, a very good crew and most of alla fine,well found ship.

{.{<**.

One ofonly 36 tankards, specially engraved for Messrs. T & J, Harrison, forpreseitati6n to the 34 members ol the $ew that volunteered to serve aboardm.v. ASTRONOMER during the italktand Ishnds con!'lict. The renwining twohave been retained in Mersey Chambers and Charente House.

27

rri :::i j:ii;:j:iti.!:i!:rii:illil

rrr:., i:,,ar:li,:,1,,l:r

Havtng been transported by coach from Liverpool, Captain B.W. Jonesand his relieving crew flew from R.A.F. Brize Norton, by V.C.10, onSeptember 2nd, to Ascension Ishnd, where they transfeted to the NORLANDfor the voyage to the Falkhnd Islands. The NORLAND arrived at Port Stanleyvia San Carbs Water, on the 1Sth Septmber and the transfer of men andeffects took place during the next two days.

Captain Jones assumed Command of ASTRONOMER from C,aptainBhdon on the 1 6t h aft er which the relieved crew joined the NORLAND andsailed North the next day. The ferry returned to Ascension on September 26thand &ptain Bladon's crew flew home by Hercules transryrt to R.A.F. Lynelwmon the 27th and 28th. The majority anived home on Tuesday 28th, iust 16weeks after leaving Devonport.

irtriitffiiii-

Relatives waiting for the crew to disembark from the Hercules at R.A.F. Lynehamon Tuesday, September 28th.

THE HOMECOMINGTo greet the men home, Harrison's arranged for two coach loads of relatives

to travel to Wiltshire from Liverpool, whilst others came by car. Although the planewas a little early and the coaches were late a rousing welcome was given the returningcrew and a private room was set aside for the gathering. Sir Thomas and Lady Pilkington,Mr. & Mrs. Rosselli, Captain M.D.R. Jones and Mr. Dick Knock were also on hand and aceremony took place when each member of the crew was presented with an ASTRON-OMERiFALKLAND ISLANDS beer tankard, specially produced for the Company, inrecognition of the services performed by our volunteers who served with the Task Forcein the South Atlantic. Messrs. Greenall Whitley donated two cases of Champion pale ale

to christen these tankards.Subsequently, Captain Bladon presented the Liverpool and London Offices each

28

with an ashtray, fashioned from 105 mm shell bases which had been fired by Britishtroopsduring the attack on Port Stanley. The ashtrays had been prepared a6oard theASTRONOMER with a Falkland Islands coin inserted in the centre of each.

Captain Bhdon looks a little tired buthap.py, having returned home safely andcollected his tankard from Sir Tho'nmsPilkinston

Radio Officer F.D. Farthins turns awav as C.p_O.D. Coogan is about to be wblcomed h6me bv theChairman, Catering Officer A.D, Eady is ne"xt in-line.

Motorman W.O'Bien shakes hands with SirThomas while others wait in line,

21d!-nS. G.W. Ellis collects his mug fromSir Thomas Pilkington while StewaVdS. Ellis looks on.

29

Chief Cook K. llakerleY receiveshis iouvenir, followed by J, Donaldson,Assistant Cook, and 3rd EngineerM. Kavanagh.

P. Littlewood, Seamtn Grade 1 acceptshis mug as l. Brown, Seaman Grade Imoves on and F, BerrY, Motortunawaits his tum.

C,P.O.D. Coogan makes off with a

case of Champion ale to celebratethe oicaion.'Capt. M.D.R, Jonesis to the left of Sir. Thomas.

30

Chief Officer R.J. Dobson dispkyshis tankard to his admiring lilifeand his Mother

We should like to thank the following for allowing us to use their photographs inthis booklet:-

P.H. Rosselli

Capt. J.B. Mitchell

Capt. H.S. Bladon

R.G. KnockR.J. Dobson

N.A. Jardine

L.H. Hughes

S. Green.

3t

Our IalklandVolunteers

WetakethisopportunitytopaytributetotheHarrisonLineofficersandRatings, who volunteerii to *un tfre ,q.S1RONOMER when she was seconded to the

Falklands Task Force. ertrrlrlrr the vessel did not finally arrive in the war zone until

after hostilities had ceased, thlse men volunteered at a time when the action at sea in

the South Atlantic was at its peak and heavy British losses had been incurred'

Master

Chief Officer2nd Officer3rd Officer

Catering OfficerRadio Officer

Chief Engineer

2nd Engineer

3rd Engineer

3rd Engineer

4th Engineerlst Electricianlst Electrician

H.S. BLADONR.J. DOBSON

N.A. JARDINEJ. MURRAY

A.D. EADYF.D. FARTHTNG

R. CAMERONG.W. ELLISM. KAVANAGHR. MILNEA.R. GARGANS. GREENL.H. HUGHES

Petty Officer Motorman J. FITZGERLAND

Motorman Grade I W.O'BRIEN

Motorman Grade I F. BERRY

Carpenter D.W. JEFFERY

Chief Petty Officer D. COOGAN

Seaman Grade I P. LITTLEWOOD

Seaman Grade I J' BROWN

Seaman Grade I M. HI']NT

Seaman Grade I J. ROWLANDS

Seaman Grade II I.D. GI'IY

Seaman Grade II A. BOWEN

Seaman Grade II T. O'LEARY

Chief Cook K. WAKERLEY

Chief Cook M. ROSTRON

2nd Cook S. ARMSTRONG

Assistant Cook J. DONALDSON

Assistant Cook \{. GEORGESON

2nd Steward A. BOWYER

Steward S. JOHNSON

Steward M. BURROWS

Steward S. ELLIS

*d<*

IntheHouseofCommons,onJunegthlgs2,SirDavidPriceM.P.sponsoredtr,.rouo*ingmotionwhichreceivedthesupportofoveronehundredMembersofParliament.

..ThatthisHousesalutesthemenandwomenoftheMerchantNavyserving

with the Task Force in the South Atlantic; mourns the loss of life among British Sea'

i*.rt i, upholding the democratic rights of the Falkland Islanders and of the intern-

ationalruleoflaw;andreaffirmstheimportancetothedefenceoftheNationofastrong and prosperous Mercantile Marine"'

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