Ray Carruthers - Bismarck, Dorsetshire and Memories (A Picture Book): ?I was an eye-witness to the sinking of the Bismarck!?

Bismarck, Dorsetshire and Memories

Author Ray Lock

Copyright @ 2004 : Ray Lock

This 3 rd edition published by Craig Lock of Golden Dawn Publishing (New Zealand)

To the song SINK THE BISMARCK ~ by Johnny Horton

Click on www.youtube.com/watch?v=KecIdlEAKhU

Original layout and d esign by Cheryl van der Merwe (Durban South Africa)

Edited by Craig Lock in a labour of love

Above: Dads note to me in his book.- a gift I really treasure

DEDICATION

A labour of love dedicated to our dear dad, Raymond Carruthers...

Love

Glenda, Tracey and Brendan and all your grandchildren in various place

May peace come to the world... one sunny day.

I write,I share, I dream

C (November 17 2014)

Submitters Note:

Ive just started working on republishing my dear dads book today (17 th Nov 2014). I still have to scan and insert the various pictures. However,here is a rough (very) draft of the text. only.

I thought Id post up at Amazon in the meantime, as I work on this labour of love

Thought you may enjoy in the meantime, as I learn more about the publishing process

total non-techno

craig

D EDICATION

This book is dedicated to the crews of HMS s Dorsetshire, Cornwall and Hermes, not only to those who lost their lives, but also to the crew members of the three ships, both wounded and unwounded, who experienced the ordeals resulting from the the Japanese carrier-borne air attacks in early April 1942,

Author's No t e

The reader should please be aware that this is NOT an autobiography, nor is it intended to be an official record - correct in every detail - of the events described in the book.

It should rather be viewed as a sincere attempt by me to record what I saw and experienced of events which happened over years ago. I did not keep a diary at the time (I don't think that we were allowed to).

As mentioned elsewhere, my physical position in each of the ships or boats in which I served al l owed me an excellent location to view what was going on and it is my recollection of these events, to the best of my capability, which I have attempted to record.

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge and thank the following persons who have been instrumental in me completing this book:

Bob Griffin - my friend who cajoled me into settling down and dictating my experiences. He took my dictation down

in longhand, typed it on his computer in his own time and presented me with the typed manuscript, until he was located out of Durban, by which time the bulk of the dictation had been done.

Jane McCarthy - who voluntarily took over the typing from Bob after his relocation.

Commander Mac Bisset of the SA Naval Museum - who supplied me with a tremendous amount of material which I have been able to incorporate into the book.

Ian Morrison - my friend and a patent attorney who took over the legal requirements for publishing the book.

Geoff Wardropper of Photoworld, La Lucia, Durban - who reproduced the pictures appearing in this book, many of which had been showing signs of their age since they were originally taken over years ago.

Michael Green - Editor-in-chief of the Daily News and Sunday Tribune until his recent retirement, my friend for over years, for his advice and encouragement.

Those persons - too many to name individually, who encouraged me to place on record my experiences.

My dear dad

RAYMOND

CARRUTHERS LOCK

This book is not about Ray but about events that happened during World War II. He was fortunate enough to have been an eye-witness - but an eye-witness in the truest possible sense - in that he was

present at a number of major historical incidents in different oceans of the world during the war at sea. Numerous books have been written

and TV documentaries made about these important occurrences.

A number of people have persuaded him to place on record his personal experiences. I also persuaded him to set out a brief resume of his life which is as follows:

He was born on January, 1923, in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). That made him 81-years-old when the first page of this book was written.

His education took place at SACS (South African College School), South Africa's famous and oldest school, which was founded in 1829. incidentally, it was also the foundation of the University of Cape Town.

He joined Old M utual i n 1938. O l d Mutual was, and still is, the l argest l ife assurance company i n South Africa and, from 1958 to 1963, he was the top salesman nationally. From 1964 to 1967 Ray was New Business Manager of the Cape Town Branch . He res i gned in 1967 and

joined Metropolitan Life as National Marketing Manager.

In he was appointed Managing Director of Associated Insurance Brokers, Life and Pensions. Whi l e in the employ of both Metropolitan Life and A.LB. they became quoted companies in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Ray was app r oached in 1973 by Standard Bank F i nancial Services and began with them as a Consultant and, in 1975, was appointed Regional Manager, Natal, and subsequently a Director. He retired in 1988.

Sport was extremely important during his life, with motor-racing being h i s major sport in the late 1940s and early 1950s. he participated in numerous races, trials and hil l cl i mbs throughout the country and, in

1950, won the Royal Automobile C l ub Trials Champ i onship - the R.A.C. was then the national body controlling motor sport i n South Africa.

Go l f was also a major past i me. In 1968 he captained Nomads Western Province Golf Club and also participated in the South African Amateur and South African Open Championships.

Community service also came into the reckoning when he retired and, from 1990 to 1992, was Chairman of the Durban Publicity Association. In 1992 he was appointed Directo r of the Greate r Durba n Marketing Authority and served as such for two years.

He i s happily married to Shirley and has two sons: Craig, who is an author and l ives in New Zealand, Brendan, the pastor at 'Joy to the Nation', a Church in Walmer, Port Elizabeth. G l enda, his daughter, lives in Cape Town and Tracey, his stepdaughter, lives i n Vryheid - b oth are home e x ecutives.

Ray's war services was with the Royal Navy from December 1939 to

January 1946, but more about that later

- Bob Griffin

Note to cover picture:

This picture is of a painting which was presented to me when I retired in 1988.

Knowing my love of the sea and my respect for the navy, my colleagues commissioned the late Tom Hamilton, a naval artist, to paint the 100cm x 70cm picture which is greatly appreciated by me.

Tom Hamilton used a fair amount of artistic licence and, in order to give a more accurate impression of what actually happened on Tuesday May 27, 1941, I wish to point out

the following differences.

The Bismarck and Dorsetshire were never as close to each other, whilst the Bismarck was still firing, as what is depicted in the painting. We were much closer than this after the Bismarck had been silenced.

Our Walrus aircraft was never launched on that day and, had it been, would never have been able to land on the very heavy seas that were running then. I cant recall any aircraft being in the air over the battle scene that day.