Convoy ON(S)122 to Halifax and New York
17 August 1942 Outward bound North (Slow) 122 is the name of the convoy that left England at August 15th and by now has sailed clear from the English coast on the way to Halifax (Nova Scotia) and New York....
The Last Voyage: week by week
Abbekerk, ON(S)122 and U-604 enter the North Atlantic.
22 August 1942. Over the next week a lot is going to happen in a short amount of time and therefore I’ll be posting daily. To be able to describe all the events well I took the liberty to stretch...
Unplanned and unwanted: contact with convoy ON(S)122
23 August 1942 On August 22 a submarine was reported by radio, which was on our projected route about 500 miles ahead. On August 24 at 08:15 ships time a position was recieved of a submarine on August 23 at...
Under attack: nowhere to run or hide
Abbekerk, August 24, 1942, 15:15 In the afternoon the lookout in the crow’s nest observed, just for a short moment, a black object on the horizon at about 55 degrees. After that, using good Prisma binoculars, from the bridge and...
Torpedoed! “So that’s how it goes…”
23:45 (August 24 1942) When I stepped on deck the ship received an enormous bang. The large vessel sluggishly staggered a few times from left to right. ‘So that is the way it goes’, I thought and raced along all...
Sunk at 52° 05′ North, 30° 59′ West
25 August 1942, 00:10. I was completely alone in the dark water, my lifejacket held me floating while I saw the big ship slowly settle and sink beneath the waves in the moonlight between the clouds. I had been thrown...
Two lifeboats, 62 men, 700 miles from nearest shore
27 August 1942. No SOS was sent. The impact of the torpedo destroyed the radio antenna and the emergency transmitter in the lifeboat does nothing. The 62 men are completely on their own in two overcrowded lifeboats. It turned out...
Saved by HMS Wallflower and radar
29 August 1942 Three days and three nights passed without us seeing anything on the horizon. Which wasn’t that far since our little boats hardly stuck out of water giving us a very short horizon. But then, after three days,...
HMS Wallflower rejoins the convoy
30 August 1942. First of all the cook had quickly made a soup. This soup was the tastiest food I have ever eaten. Not a surprise really. We were accommodated in a couple of mess-rooms. I can remember that walking...
Just in time. Storm to New York
2 September 1942. Me, the captain and some others were transferred to the Dutch SS Jan van Goyen. We had been picked up just in time: already in the afternoon winds became stronger and around midnight we found ourselfs in...
Peter
