her sister in Melbourne. Inevitably the subject came to the War and Mother enquired as to whether she had any family serving,
“Yes I have a son in the Royal Navy and he is commander of a submarine and may God help any poor German ship he met as he is the cruellest and most ruthless man alive and would take no prisoners and he would revel in the slaughter of any survivors. I say this because I know my boy and I know his character”
This was the first time that I had heard of sheer cruelty from our side. It sent a shiver down my spine and as a youngster prayed that we would never meet an opponent like him should we be attacked on our voyage . It was one of those memorable conversations that all these years later still resonates in my head!

So our fateful passage was booked, and we said goodbye to shore life, our friends, the hustle and bustle of a big city, my school days at Melbourne Grammar, the endless Jazz and boogie woogie tunes blaring from the radios everywhere and headed for the port.
There she was the “Nankin” 7131 tons moored against the wharf whilst all round there was frenzied activity as stevedores loaded cargo into giant nets which cranes lifted and deposited into the bowels of the ship. I looked at the vessel looming up over us and then we walked up the companion way to board the ship. She was a substantial vessel but about a quarter of the size of the Cunard “Mauretania” that we had sailed on her maiden voyage from Colombo to Australia in February 1941.. Later that evening, tugs arrived, there was a throb of vibration through the vessel, a swirl of eddies in the water around as the propellers slowly started, as we slipped our shore lines and sailed from Melbourne on the evening of Thursday 23rd April 1942. The ‘Nankin’ was under the command of the Master, Captain C. Stratford an elderly bald and greying man with rather a gaunt face and a quiet self contained taciturn manner. He rarely laughed or joked and seemed to be a man who was very conscious of his responsibilities on a wartime voyage with so many souls under his care. There were 321 people aboard, made up of 104 passengers 39 of which were women and children; 46 Lascar seamen from a British Tanker that had been sunk in a bombing raid on Darwin, 26 Officers (mostly Australian) and an Indian crew of 145.. The ship also carried a cargo of 5,300 tons consisting mainly of wool but also a considerable quantity of tinned food, meat, butter, cheese, tinned fruit, lime cordial, and flour. There were also a million rounds of .303 ammunition, 4” cordite charges, and other NAAFI stores.. Most of these supplies were destined for the British Army in Burma. It was quite an explosive cargo to be sharing ones destiny with in the middle of a World War! These were days long before Health and Safety Regulations had even been dreamt about.! We had a small pokey cabin which although first class, was I suppose well appointed for a ship built in 1910 that was originally coal fired. There were two bunks one on top of the other, and being young and nimble I slept on top. Under the lower bunk and in a small cupboard we stowed our clothes for the voyage, the rest of our heavy metal cabin trunks were locked away in the ship’s hold which we visited occasionally. As we headed out from the shelter of Port Phillip into the open sea of the Great Australian Bight the wind rose to storm force and the seas became mountainous and stayed that way for a week whilst we battled against the gale towards Fremantle. The ships rivets continuously creaked and groaned , but I was told that it was a good thing as it showed flexibility and strength under adverse conditions, and certainly she was a tough well built ship as she dived through the enormous rolling breakers that engulfed the bows that always thankfully rose again.

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