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Location
At Sea - Halifax to Liverpool
Age
17 Years

26th August 1940

At about 9am this morning, we sighted the Sydney convoy coming to join us. In a few hours time we were  all one big convoy – about 34 ships, which, at a very low estimate, average about 7,500 tns of cargo each. This means that something over ¼ of a million tons of cargo are transported across the Atlantic every 4 or 5 days! (Somebody thanked the merchant navy in a speech yesterday!!??).

The speed of the convoy has been increased today. We are right in the front, so if they put the speed up to 9 or more knots, I can see the “Ethel Radcliffe” dropping back into a less conspicuous position!

The mate said this morning that if the commodore put up the signal 9 knots, he was going to put up the signal “Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye”!

Another thing I forgot to mention when we were in Halifax, was the fact that we had to put up an emergency aerial. It had to be done in a different place to the present one. It took all day, and was energetic work but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.