New York: ‘Torpedo leave’

9 September 1942.

In New York someone had let it be known that a ship with castaways had arrived and that was the reason why a large mobile canteen had arrived on the docks with a foursome of very friendly ladies in uniform who offered us different types of cake and coffee. We were not in the least bit hungry or thirsty but no matter what we said they smiled even in a more comely way and offered us even more delicacies.

Last page of report “Particulars of attack on merchant vessels by enemy submarine” (Source: National Archive Kew)

I do not know what they thought of us but I realized that we looked like a bunch of hobos; our white coveralls were still dirty from working in the engine room and our stay on that rust bucket which had brought us safely to New York had not helped either. Covering this was our uniform coat that had seen a bit of work lately and do not forget our really greasy and worn shoes we usually wore in the engine room. My belt with my bumbag and torch was all there, but I will not describe my cap. We had left our lifejackets on board the Wildestone.
We took a few donuts and a cup of coffee and while we were finishing those a taxi arrived from which a gentleman alighted who introduced himself as the representative of the Netherlands Shipping Committee and started to organize our visit to his office as if this was a daily routine. Of course that was exactly how it was.
Assistent Engineer Adriaan Kik

‘Certificate of registration’ , Issued to Adriaan Kik on return to England and stating the SS Macuba as his adress outside UK

We received a lot of papers both with and without official stamps and an advance in American dollars. Afterwards the same gentleman put us in a taxi and were driven to a middle class hotel. This ‘Times Square Hotel’ became our home for the next month. We were entitled to a month so-called “Torpedo-leave” and this was meant to be a respite from our misadventures. It turned out that most of our time was spent re-equipping ourselves with clothes and toiletries. The cost of all this was not small but we received a reimbursement called ‘Torpedo-reimbursement’ equivalent to eighty English Pounds. It was known that in England this amount was very sparse, in America everything was about 25% more expensive and to have to exchange Pounds for Dollars was a big loss for us.
Each of us was given a room with a shared bathroom in between which one could use if you locked the door to your neighbors room, but had to remember to unlock when you finished. After a long soaking bath we went downstairs to the dining room to fill our stomachs. Even then they played soft background music to stroke our taste buds.
When we entered a nearby menswear shop they looked at us with big frowns which we did not like but when we told them why we came, they totally changed their attitude. I think we were there for a couple of hours, measuring, trying on things and having a friendly conversation until we were escorted outside by the friendly smiling staff. Everything we had bought we were wearing, we looked brand spanking new. In our hands we just had a little parcel of spare underwear, another shirt and some socks.
What we wore when we entered the shop we could put in a big bag which the shop would deposit in the garbage bin. Now the shoe shop, where we repeated the same formula and were treated in the same way. Then to a couple of shops for shaving gear, comb, soap, towels etc. etc. Very light-on because of all the dollars we got rid of, we walked back to our hotel hungry to have a meal there, to save us a few dollars.
I am not going to write in detail about how we spent that month in New York. It is unbelievable what one has to do if one has to repurchase everything one possessed before. I still did not have enough money because now that I was in New York I also wanted to look around and that too cost money.
Assistent Engineer Adriaan Kik

Tanker SS Macuba in peacetime. (Source: http://www.helderline.nl/)

After five weeks I suddenly had a visitor from the office, just when I thought they had forgotten about me. He came with news and, as is always the case, such news is never good news. There was a ship, a tanker that badly needed an assistant engineer and it was leaving that day. He had the necessary paperwork with him and he stayed with me while I did my packing. There was even a taxi waiting for us. I was wondering whether or not I was some kind of criminal who was being arrested. He did apologize, but told me that it had happened that sailors when told of their next ship had absconded.
Arriving on the docks I boarded a tanker which smelled strongly of aviation fuel with which it was fully loaded. It was a Shell tanker called ‘Macuba’ which had been traversing the Atlantic Ocean for eighteen months and could tell the tale. I thought that there was not much difference between sailing on a ship loaded with ammunition or one loaded to the gunwales with aviation fuel.

In November we arrived in Liverpool unscathed. Back to where the voyage started over a year ago. We can speak with some truth of a “Long Voyage”.

So I was ‘HOME’ again. Or at least was was closest to it at that time….

Assistent Engineer Adriaan Kik