Sunday, August 12, 2012

Anita Birt's Note Book

ATLANTIC CROSSING - continued

Assigned our cabins we were ordered to carry our life jackets at all times. Keep warm clothing beside our bunks. Leave our cabin door hooked open at night. Not allowed on deck after dark. In n emergency, gather in the saloon.

Our ship joined twenty other ships outside the harbour and picked up a few more before our small convoy sailed into a dense fog. Fog horns blew night and day. On the third day bright sunshine greeted us. To my astonished eyes I gazed at long lines of ship stretching to the horizon. It was as if a magician had swept aside the foggy curtain, waved his wand and prepared us for the next part of our journey in the company of other ships, large and small.

We had joined a huge convoy. Every night The Ariguani changed position but we were always close to the head of the lines and in and out of the first three port side lines. The north Atlantic heaved and rolled as oceans do but our little ship coped well with everything.

Royal Canadian Navy ships shepherded us across the Atlantic. Half way across, the Royal Navy took over. Days passed until we reached as point where the convoy separated. My part of the convoy sailed north heading for  the north channel, the other part sailed south.

Days passed  with only the sound of our ship's engines breaking the silence. Water foamed over the bow as we plowed through the sea.

Early morning, September 8, a huge explosion lifted me right up off my bunk slamming me down hard.

No comments: