Bill Brickley, Pip Errington & Jack Haslar - Port Said - December 1942
RAF MOTOR BOAT CREW at the
MARINE REPAIR BASE/SEA RESCUE ORGANIZATION
PORT FOUAD 1942-43
As Remembered By Pip Errington
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Bill Brickley, Pip Errington & Jack Haslar - Port Said - December 1942 |
I served - if that is what you called it - as RAF Motor Boat Crew at the Marine Repair Base/Sea Rescue Organization - later to be known as the Air Sea Rescue/Marine Craft Services - at Port Fouad on the other side of the Canal to Port Said. We were set out as four complete High Speed Boat Crews on the S.S. Orcades - 10,000 BOR's (British Other Ranks) had half the ship, the Officers the rest, in a convoy of some 30 odd ships. We were told we had an Air Craft Carrier escort but never set eyes on the thing myself. The Destroyers did however do us proud and we got down to South Africa without mishap and on leaving the convoy the Troopers and Freighters formed two columns astern to allow our escorts to steam between us, klaxons blaring on the way back to the UK!! Our sojourn in South Africa was spent at Clarewood Race Course. From there we were taken by the Dutch ship "Nieu Amsterdam" up to Port Tewfick then overland to our base. The British launches supposed to be coming out as deck cargo on a frieghter never arrived which meant local, fairly fast craft were commandeered to accompany the Eighth Army along the Mediterranean until we managed to get some American High Speed Boats,
I was in the Canal Zone from 26th August 1942 until 19th March 1943 when the powers that be sent several crews overland to Basra where we eventually manned, among other craft, more American boars whose task was to patrol the Persian Gult, Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
Marine Repair Base, Port Said 1942
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10ft Duty Boat &2520 American HSL
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High Speed Dalouka unloading sand |
ME1 |
Bringing ashore 2520 |
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Dalouka's on Suez |
Moving Dalouka when there is no wind |
Port Fouad Ferry & Police Buildings |
One of our bases was Aden from where four of us, later in 1943, were flown back up to Port Said for a Coxswains Course. We, as RAF 'erks, were not amused to have interlopers studying with us in the shape of senior Army NCO's of the Maritime Regt. The only consolation being at the Royal Naval Gunnery School - they were no more accurate than we were. It was rumoured the Royal Marine Gunnery Instructor who wasn;t human but hewn out of granite and didn't show any defences to rank of anyone who was not a Marine or R,N, so dispaired of ever making us marksmen, even with an Orlekdon Gun, broke down in tears before committing suicide.
