SURVIVORS’ ORDEAL

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 215, 9 August 1940, Page 8

SURVIVORS’ ORDEAL

SINKING OF H.M.S. GLORIOUS. DEATHS FROM EXPOSURE. The ordeal of survivors of the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Glorious, which was lost in the filial evacuation of Norway, is described vividly by Flight-] Lieutenant P. G. Jameson, D.F.C., in a ietter to relatives in Wellington. “We were the last to leave and hoarded H.M.S. Glorious,” he said. “Tlie day after the Glorious and her two attendant destroyers were sunk by the German cruisers Hipper and Leipzig. When we got the order to abandon ship, I went below to get my lifejacket from my cabin, but found the watertight doors closed, so had to jump overboard without one. I swam to a nearby float, on which there were already 28 people, including ‘Bing’ Cross (my commanding officer). This was about 5.15 on the evening of June 8“That night 19 of the chaps died of exposure, and our number had gradually dwindled down to seven when we were picked up at four o clock on the morning of June 11 by a Norwegian trawler. Two more of the chaps died later. “The Norwegians were wonderful to us. and after three days in their little ship of 350 tons we arrived at the Faroe Islands, where we were handed over to the care of British soldiers who looked after us extremely well. “Two days later wo boarded a destroyer, and after a very pleasant journey of two days we arrived at Rosytli, where we had a newsreel picture taken. We were then huddled into an ambulance and whisked through the beautiful Scottish country to Gleneagles, which used to be the best-known country hotel in the British Isles. “As far as one knows, only 37 men were saved, of whom five were officers. Four of us expect to l>e out of hospital in about a week, and then I suppose we will get some sick leave. The only thing wrong with us is our feet, which were swollen through being in the cold water so long. However, they aie nearly down to nornyil now.”