Surviving the Arctic Convoys - The Wartime Memoirs of Leading Seaman Charlie Erswell

A book that tells the story of someone actually at the sharp end, in this case an ordinary Royal Navy sailor in WW2, invariably has a special quality, a readability if you like, and this one is no exception. Its author, having acquired his material from numerous interviews with Charlie Erswell himself, tells the story in the first person as if it was indeed Charlie telling it and it succeeds admirably here. He saw more than his fair share of action from 1942 onwards, indeed as a 16 year-old telegram delivery boy during the London blitz beforehand. The son of an ex-soldier, he was brought up in Berwick-on-Tweed and then Hornchurch, Essex. Having lost his mother at an early age and also survived diptheria, his ambition was always to join the Royal Navy. His first attempt at 14 was unsuccessful (due, he suspected, to his father’s behind-the-scenes influence) but he joined up the day after his 18th birthday in December 1941, when dad could no longer stop him, and didn’t look back, finding naval life everything he’d hoped for. After basic and specialist gunnery training he joined the new destroyer HMS Milne, completing on the Clyde, as an Ordinary Seaman Gunlayer 3rd Class, his action station that of turret trainer in B turret, from which point his wartime experiences began in earnest. The first of these, and his baptism of fire, came almost immediately, with Milne escorting numerous Arctic convoys on the Kola Run and back in 1942, including through the worst of the Arctic winter into 1943. Charlie’s description of life aboard, of the actions he witnessed against enemy aircraft and U-boats and the relentless battle against the weather, not just against the cold, snow and ice in winter but in the supposedly milder months as well, enables a reader to relate to him and empathise, his own thoughts and impressions, so very well conveyed by the author, reinforcing this. A change of scene then took Milne to the Mediterranean and participation in the North African landings (“almost a holiday”, as Charlie put it, but still with its moments, including witnessing the torpedoing of a sister ship just abeam of them). The warmer climes weren’t to last, however, and after refit it was back to the Arctic, after which he was sent on a Higher Gunnery Rates’ course and a new ship, the destroyer HMS Savage, his action station now in the gunnery director above the bridge, which let him see even more of things, his personal anecdotes keeping us with him throughout. After yet another Kola Run Savage went south to help cover D-Day and subsequent Normandy landings, during which Charlie saw action against E-boats but it was soon the Arctic again, interspersed with supporting carrier operations against German airfields in Norway. Between refits Savage and Charlie continued the convoys until March 1945, then supporting further carrier operations until the German surrender. The war’s end then brought its reward when Charlie found himself in Oslo helping get things back to normal and enjoying the grateful Norwegians’ considerable hospitality! On his return to Britain however, he decided, surprisingly perhaps, to leave the Navy. An odd decision maybe, given his desire from childhood to join it, but the sheer range of his wartime experiences perhaps meant that continuing in peacetime didn’t appeal. For whatever reason, he left, but life and work ashore soon lost its appeal and the sea called him back, this time to the Merchant Navy. The last 4 chapters of the book chronicle his further experiences, adventures - and mishaps and are perhaps worth another book in themselves! Its dust jacket calls this book “Gritty, Visceral, Unputdownable” and this is spot on. The eagle-eyed may spot a few factual errors (e.g. confusing Catapult-Armed Merchant Ship (CAM) Hurricanes, which couldn’t land back on, with those from escort carriers that could; bosun’s call, not bosun’s whistle and his first merchant ship, the ex-liberty ship SS Winchester Victory most certainly wasn’t the sister ship of the well-known Empire Windrush) but these simply reflect Charlie’s memories of the time and actually emphasise the story’s personal nature. An excellent and well-illustrated read, thoroughly recommended.

The story of the heroes of the Arctic Convoys is so little known, and this timely and highly authentic book does it full justice. McKay's work is a fabulous addition to any WWII library

There are many good accounts of the history of the WW2 Arctic Convoys. What they often lack is the subjective aspect. What what did it FEEL like experiencing the rough, freezing, Arctic seas while being torpedoed by U-boats, bombed by German planes from nearby Norway, and with the ever present threat of lethal surface raiders like Tirpitz and Scharnhorst in the nearby fjords? Charlie's first voyage was Convoy PQ18 on a new destroyer with a mostly new crew. A good number of the crew spent their first ever voyage being seasick and what a place to go for one's first ever trip to sea: some of the roughest seas in the world. This memoir paints a vivid picture of what it actually felt like to be in the middle this conflict. John McKay has done an excellent job of documenting Charlie's wartime experiences. Well written and very readable. Highly recommended.