oil in the Caucasus. Once we have that we will be unbeatable. Already we have the whole of Europe, and with the oil we will then finish off England once and for all. With our U-boats no supplies can get through anyway . It is just a matter of time”
He would puff out his chest and there was little that we could say to answer him. Little did he know that by the end of the year, Rommel would be defeated by Montgomery at El Alamein, Stalingrad would hold and would become a mincing machine that ground down the whole invincible German Army, and the battle of the Atlantic would start to be won with radar, airpower and the cracking of The Enigma Naval Codes all causing havoc to the U-Boat flotillas, and all the time the ever increasing power of the RAF Bomber Command would wreck unimaginable destruction over the cities of Germany. The Chief Engineer had a lot to learn in the not too distant future of the full horror of war that the Nazis had started.
Apart from this isolated fanatic, most of the crew were pleasant, and there were only very minimal rules to obey. When I woke up I could go out on deck into the warm mellow air. Breakfast was served at 8 am with unlimited black bread, jam honey and coffee. Dinner was usually a nourishing and tasty stew served with potatoes from the Nankin, which everyone helped peel. There was also a dessert of tinned prunes or peaches etc. Tea was at 5.00 pm again with unlimited bread , margarine and tinned meat and real tea. All the food of course was courtesy from the Nankin’s cargo! There was no set time for bedding down. The dim lights in the hold were on constantly so it was immaterial what timed one turned in. Out on deck at night, the stars were brilliant in the inky blackness of the night with the huge Southern Cross riding high above us, a wonderful spectacle to witness from the depths of the Southern Indian Ocean, thousands of miles away from any city lights. Forehead in the mens quarters the Norwegians from the Aust had an accordian, two banjos and a violin, and would make up a band, and there would be a good deal of singing far into the night.
Eventually on the 27th May we were visited by the Raider again; this time to replenish stores from the Nankin, after which on the 28th it sailed off with the Nankin. The Regensburg meanwhile steamed South West for four days. The albatross glided close to the bridge scarcely moving a wing but keeping a steady watchful eye on us only going off periodically to do some fishing by dipping down to the ocean. Then on the third day, the 31st May, at about midday we made a rendezvous with a ship, strangely still wearing its normal buff coloured peacetime paint. The sea at the time was fairly choppy with quite a brisk wind under a bright blue sky, but in spite of this a fuel hose was run out, supported by buoys from our new arrival to the Regensburg, which took on extra fuel. The new ship was the “Dresden”, and in turn she also took on a whole load of food supplies from Regensburg. This continued all afternoon with rafts of cargo being ferried over.
Finally very late in the evening at dusk and at very short notice all the Nankin’s first and second class passengers, including the Service Officers, Capt. Stratford, the Purser, Chief Steward & Stewardess, and cadet Crocker, together with twenty merchant seamen mostly from from the British tramps were hurriedly put into floats with their belongings and transported about twenty at a time. The weather as mentioned was quite rough with a strong south westerly wind, and the women and children were all hoisted in baskets at either end. It was 10 o’clock at night before the final transfer took place. The women and children myself included, all bedded down for the night in the dining saloon on the floor. Next morning by 8.30 am the Regensburg had completed the re-fuelling, and a few hours later departed, returning to the Nankin and eventually she arrived in Yokohama 16 days after us, although at the time no one was aware of where we were heading.