Voyage One
SS David G. Burnett - Page 3
I can't remember what happened exactly, maybe his officer was giving him too much duty or the sailor came back to the ship drunk, but he got cross ways with the officer commanding the guard. They had some words and my friend threatened to give his officer a real ass-whipping and the Ensign knew that he meant it and would do it. The officer just stayed away from him the rest of the voyage, but when we got back to the States from England a motor launch of armed Shore Patrol came out to meet the ship before we docked. When the sailor saw the S. P's. he said, "that fink's preferred charges. I'm in for it now. I won't be seeing you for a long time. " Last I saw of him he was waving to me from the launch as they took him away.
When we left New York and went out into the North Atlantic a lot of times it was foggy and you couldn't see anything, but when it was clear there were ships as far as you could see. I never knew how many ships there were in those big convoys. They stretched over many square miles of ocean. The two ships that you did pay attention to was the one off the bow and the one astern. I sent Della a post card from Canada just before the convoy started for England.
(The SS David G. Burnett left New York 5/31/43 in a convoy of 55 ships escorted by two British destroyers and two corvettes for a position off Halifax, Nova Scotia. From Halifax to England the convoy was 63 ships, four destroyers and four corvettes and from June 9 until June 12 a small aircraft carrier provided air cover. Upon entering the Irish Sea ships proceeded to their various port destinations. The Burnett was in the company of approximately 32 ships that proceeded to Liverpool. Time and date of arrival: 1000, June 15, 1943. - armed guard report of Ensign Edmund Murphy, USNR. )
That first time across
we had pretty good weather. I was up on deck every chance that I got because
it was so unusual. On Sundays I had lighter duty and I would go all over that
ship looking for some spot I hadn't been before. I mean, all you have is the
ship and the water. I got to know a couple of others in the crew that I would
ship out with again.
One of the able bodied seamen was a nice guy from Dallas named Huffaker and another messman was a kid from Galveston named Clyde Couch. Another Galvestonian, Johnny Johnston, who was a couple of years older than me was a deck hand and we became good friends during my first trip.
One day it was clear and brisk with great big swells. I was aft. I don't know why or what I was thinking, but I went on deck. When I left the doorway it was like walking downhill and I kept picking up speed. I got to the railing and grabbed hold with both hands and then the aft end started up into the air. When you were down in the swells you couldn't see any other ships just a wall of green water. It was like looking up at the side of a building. The stern went up and up like an elevator and just for a moment perched on top the swell where you could feel the vibration of the screws through the deck plates underfoot; and then the bottom fell out. It was like coming down too fast in an elevator .
My feet came completely off the deck. I was holding on with both hands to the railing as tight as I could and then it hit with an explosion of white water and foam.
It scared the hell out of me. I realized how easy it would be to be thrown overboard into that, and nobody would know you were gone - or ever know for sure what had happened to you. I waited until she started back up so that I was walking down an inclined deck back to the doorway and I got the hell back inside. That really shook me and made me think. After that I was a lot more careful when I went out on deck.
I'm pretty sure that it was this first voyage that there was commotion on deck. I followed when the Bos'n came and called out a group of deck hands. The chains that secured one of the Army tanks had come loose. The tank was moving as the ship rolled. They were trying to tighten the chains when we hit a big wave and the tank just slid over the side and took the gunwale with it. One of the deck crew had been between the tank and the gunwale. The tank was there one second and gone the next. All we saw on the deck was this man's cap. We all thought that he must have been crushed or swept overboard with the tank. But he was OK. He saw when it started to go and had managed to flatten himself next to a hatch cover. The ocean is powerful because one of those tanks weighed thirty tons and it just vanished in a split second.
( The Comodore's report for Convoy HHX-242 states that the British tankers Nicania and John A. Brown struck icebergs in foggy weather on June 5, 1943. The Nicania was too damaged to continue and returned to St. Johns, Newfoundland. On June 8, 1943 the Comodore received warning from NSHQ Otawa that: "TRANSMISSION OF 37 GROUP ENIGMA AT 0107Z ON 7647 KGS SERIES 2 LINE 2 INDICATE U-BOATS WITHIN 120 MILES OF O47-30 N O43-00 W THAT MAY BE REPORTING YOU. " On June 11 the Admiralty warned: "D/F BEARING ON 7647 KCS AT O219Z 11TH INCICATE U-BOAT IN YOUR VICINITY WHICH MAY HAVE REPORTED YOU. " On June 18th the Admiralty advised the convoy that German long-range aircraft had severely damaged a ship off Iceland on 16 June. Convoy HHX-242 was at the farthest point North of its route and within range of enemy aircraft. )