John R. McKay - Surviving the Arctic Convoys: The Wartime Memoirs of Leading Seaman Charlie Erswell

Surviving the Arctic Convoys

The Wartime Memoir of Leading Seaman Charlie Erswell

As told to

John R. McKay

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by

Pen & Sword Maritime

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright John R McKay

ISBN 978 1 39901 303 1

eISBN 978 1 39901 304 8

Mobi ISBN 978 1 39901 305 5

The right of John R McKay to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Pen & Sword Books Limited incorporates the imprints of Atlas, Archaeology, Aviation, Discovery, Family History, Fiction, History, Maritime, Military, Military Classics, Politics, Select, Transport, True Crime, Air World, Frontline Publishing, Leo Cooper, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing, The Praetorian Press, Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe Transport, Wharncliffe True Crime and White Owl.

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact

PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

E-mail:

Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Or

PEN AND SWORD BOOKS

1950 Lawrence Rd, Havertown, PA 19083, USA

E-mail:

Website: www.penandswordbooks.com

For Betty Erswell, without whom this book could never have been written .

This book has been a labour of love. I have enjoyed every aspect of its production, from that first meeting with Charlie and Betty in December 2019, to the endless exchange of emails that have flown almost daily back and forth between us in the process of completing the manuscript.

I would like to thank the following people for their contribution to the book: my brother Paul McKay and ex-US Navy sailor David Samaras, for offering their thoughts and advice on the early drafts; my wife Dawn for her encouragement and love and also for supporting me on the original decision to embark on the project. I would also like to thank Ian Martin of the KOSB Museum in Berwick-upon-Tweed and Anne Moore, Keeper of Collections at Northumberland Museums, for assistance with some of the research. Thanks go to Keith Nisbet Photography, Woking for permission to use a photograph.

Thanks to all at Pen & Sword, primarily Matt Jones, George Chamier and, in particular, Henry Wilson, who agrees with me that it is historically important that the stories of these men should be told.

The following books have proved invaluable in my research:

Peter C. Brown, Voices from the Arctic Convoys

Vice-Admiral Sir Ian Campbell & Captain Donald McIntyre, The Kola Run

Bernard Edwards, The Road To Russia: Arctic Convoys 194245

Peter C. Smith, Convoy PQ18 Arctic Victory

Michael G. Walling, Forgotten Sacrifice The Arctic Convoys of World War 2

However, most valuable of all has been the time I have spent with Charlie, during which he has regaled me with tales of his time at sea. So a huge thank you to Charlie Erswell, ex-Leading Seaman/Gunner RN, for letting me tell his story.

My final (huge) debt of thanks goes to Charlies wife, Betty. I am fully aware of my incessant haranguing of her for information and I know that she has spent many hours in front of her computer screen replying to my constant stream of emails. She has done this with immense good cheer, and I will be forever grateful for the time, effort and love she has put into this project. Without Betty, this book could never have been written. The book is therefore deservedly dedicated to her.

For more information on the Arctic Convoys please take a look at the website of the Russian Arctic Convoy Project, a museum dedicated to the convoys in Aultbea, near Loch Ewe in Scotland. www.racmp.co.uk

For more information on all my work: www.johnrmckay.com

I first met Charlie Erswell and his wonderful wife, Betty, just before Christmas 2019. They had contacted me by email to offer praise, which was greatly appreciated, for my Arctic convoy novel, The Worst Journey in the World . They happened to mention that if I was ever passing Wakefield I would be very welcome to pop in for a cup of tea and a chat. Charlie informed me that he had served on HMS Milne and HMS Savage during the Second World War, both ships having sailed in numerous convoys to Russia and across the Atlantic.

Coincidentally, I was due to visit my brother-in-law in Mansfield the following weekend, and so, on our return home, my wife Dawn and I paid them a visit.

It truly was an honour to meet them both, and the stories Charlie told me of his time aboard the two destroyers got me thinking once again about the Arctic convoys and how recognition of what happened during those voyages has faded over the years. As Charlie says, no films have been made about those voyages, and the literary world has also ignored the chance to tell such amazing tales of adventure and heroism.

In fact, it is not only the entertainment industry that has overlooked the story of the convoys; successive governments have too. It took a long time, nearly seventy years, before the British government recognized these brave mens achievements in that theatre of war, with the award of the Arctic Star. Prior to this, they had only been allowed to wear a lapel pin and a white beret to indicate they were veterans of the Arctic convoys. Cynically, it might be suggested the new award had only come about after Britain was upstaged by the Russian government awarding those sailors the Ushakov medal in 2014.

After hearing Charlies story, I suggested we collaborate and write his autobiography, as a way to record his recollections of those times for posterity. I was extremely pleased that he agreed to this. The following pages are a story of a life well lived, a life that could very easily have been cut short on many occasions by the sea, diphtheria, Nazi bombs and torpedoes and, on one or two other occasions, by misadventure!

You could describe him as an ex-gunner on HMS Milne and HMS Savage , or simply as a veteran of the Second World War, but to do so would not do justice to the mans service record, and so it deserves to be given in detail. He is a veteran of ten Arctic convoys (in both directions); he is a veteran of the Battle of the Atlantic; he is a veteran of Operation Torch; he is a veteran of D-Day; he is a veteran of the liberation of Norway. He is all of those things. And what makes it doubly impressive is that he was not conscripted. He volunteered for it all and was only eighteen years old when he first went to war.

Charlie is the recipient of many medals, including: the 193945 Star, The Atlantic Star, The Arctic Star, The North Africa Star, British Campaign Medal, D-Day Veterans Medal, Lgion dHonneur, Ushakov medal (Russia), and the Soviet 40 year Jubilee Medal.

What comes across strongly of Charlie is his humour, humility and sense of fun. Had I been of the same generation, I would like to think we could very easily have been mates. I can just imagine going on the lash with him in the bars of Gibraltar, Naples and Valletta. In essence, he is just a normal bloke who has done a lot of extraordinary things in his life, many tales of which are now recorded in the following pages.