Stan Mayes

 

9. Cape Howe

This page describes Stan’s account of his voyages on the ship. There is a history of Cape Howe with photographs on the Benjidog website HERE.

Joining Cape Howe

 

With Ron Wood a pal from Grays I went from a refresher gunnery course at Southport to Glasgow. Few 'deep sea' ships were coming to London and there was a better chance from the busy West Coast ports. Ron had recently paid off a troopship Orontes. Prior to that he had been in an old Welsh tramp Llandover when she was torpedoed and sunk by U 124 in convoy ON92 on 12th May 1942. All 45 crew were rescued by Rescue ship Bury before the ship sank.

 

Ron and I reported to the MN Pool on arriving in Glasgow and we signed on the newly built Cape Howe and joined her at Port Glasgow. She was a Standard cargo ship of Y-4 type and was equipped with A.N.D.gear -torpedo protection nets.

 

Voyages on Cape Howe

 

Her Master was Captain P.Wallace and Chief Officer D.Allan. Many of her crew were from the Western Isles and were a good crew to sail with.

 

Following engine trials and checking the A.N.D. gear we went up to Glasgow and loaded 600 tons of ballast which was brick rubble from bomb damaged buildings.

 

Convoys ON 166 and ON 169

 

On 13th February 1943 we sailed from the Clyde to join convoy ON 166 from Liverpool but returned to port next day to land an injured seaman. ON 166 was 31 ships and the Commodore ship was City of Canberra.

 

A few days later we sailed to join convoy ON 169 from Liverpool and we took Position 114. This convoy had 37 ships and the Commodore ship the Norwegian ship Geisha. From first day we experienced atrocious weather of gales and blizzards and on fourth day we became a straggler during the hours of darkness.

Later Baron Kinnaird also became a straggler from that convoy. She was sunk by U 621 - there were no survivors.

 

We in Cape Howe received a radio message to proceed to Canada independently. We sailed North toward Iceland until we entered slush ice where U boats could not operate and then to a Westerly course for many days until we became frozen in within sight of the coast of Labrador. It was impossible to use the protection nets during this time.

 

About three days later we were seen by a patrolling Catalina flying boat and after an exchange of signals it flew away. Next morning a Canadian corvette arrived to assist us - tossing a depth charge onto the ice it then steamed clear until detonation. This procedure was repeated until our ship was freed from the ice and we could sail clear.

 

The corvette then escorted us to Halifax arriving on 16th March 1943. Our ship was leaking due to the crushing ice and series of explosions so we entered a drydock for repairs. Sea water had mixed with the old mortar in the ballast rubble and it was a difficult job to discharge it as it had hardened and set. It had taken 30 days Clyde to Halifax.

A few days in drydock and we then moved to a wharf and here we loaded Army tanks into the lower holds. These were sealed and covered with tarpaulins and then 8,000 tons of grain was loaded into the same holds. Loading completed we went to anchor in Bedford Basin to await assembly of a UK bound convoy.

On 8th April 1942 we sailed with other ships and rendezvoused with convoy HX 233 from New York making a total of 51 ships; Devis was Commodore ship.

 

More Convoys

 

A few days later we met a blizzard and lost touch with the convoy. Sailing independently, we came across a New York bound convoy ON 177 on 16th April 1943 and joined them - but diverted into St John's NFL next day.

 

Moored to buoys in St Johns harbour was a Dutch cargo ship Madoera and we berthed alongside her.

Madoera was a survivor from ON 166 our first convoy. A huge hole was in her bows caused by a torpedo from U 653 on 24th February 1943.

 

The ship was abandoned by her crew but was re-boarded next day by the Captain and 16 crew who then sailed her to St Johns arriving 3rd March 1943.

 

U 591 and U 753 came across two lifeboats full of survivors. They took the Dutch crews as POWs but left many native crews in the lifeboats; they were found some weeks later all frozen to death.

 

On 22nd April 1943 we sailed from St John's and later rendezvoused with convoy HX 235 from Halifax. This convoy had 40 ships with 19 escorts. Another ship in that convoy was Clavella -  a Dutch Shell tanker and I found recently that SN member Bernard McIver was a Radio Officer in her at the time. So Bernard and I were sailing within a mile of each other for many days - 66 years ago!! Commodore ship was Pacific Exporter.

 

It was a reasonably uneventful convoy to the UK with the occasional sound of detonating depth charges. Approaching the Scottish coast, Cape Howe and a few other ships diverted into Loch Ewe on 3rd May 1943. Next day a convoy of 35 ships WN 423 left Loch Ewe for Methil and arrived there on 6th May. On 7th May we sailed in FS 1109 - six ships for the Thames - and arrived London on 9th May 1943 and berthed in Millwall Dock. We paid off the following day.

 

Research has shown that Cape Howe as a straggler from two convoys in the North Atlantic for many days had sailed through thousands of miles of U boat infested ocean. It is incredible that our ship passed through the operational areas of 40 U boats and came through unscathed.

Image 1 shows the course of ON 166 onto which Stan has added information about the course of Cape Howe.

Image 1

Image 2 shows Stan’s wage slip from Cape Howe from February to May 1943.

Image 2

Basic Data: Cape Howe

Type: Cargo Ship

Registered owners, managers and operators:

Cape of Good Hope Motorship Co Ltd,

Glasgow

Builders: Lithgows

Yard: Port Glasgow

Country: UK

Yard number: 976

Registry: N/K

Official number: 168749

Signal letters: N/K

Call sign: N/K

Classification society: N/K

Gross tonnage: 6,999 tons

Net tonnage: N/K

Deadweight: N/K

Length: N/K

Breadth: N/K

Depth: N/K

Draught: N/K

Engines: Triple expansion steam engine with

                 cylinders of 24.5”, 39” and 70” -

                 stroke 48”

Engine builders: D Rowan & Co. Ltd.

Works: Glasgow

Country: UK

Power: N/K

Propulsion: N/K

Speed: N/K

Cargo capacity: N/K

Crew: N/K

Images

 

1. Images #1 and #2 courtesy of Stan Mayes