We sailed to England in 1941 on a British ship named the "Andes". Built in Belfast, she was 714 feet long. It was third in size to all British ships; only the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were longer. When we boarded, the ship had not made its civilian "maiden voyage" yet. It was used for troop transport service as soon as construction was completed. Andes was beautiful and luxourious. It had everything...two swimming pools, wonderful lounges, boutiques. I don't know how many troops were onboard during our crossing, but I would estimate more than 3,000 at that time. In addition, there was a large cargo of food and supplies on board for troops in England.
We left Halifax in a convoy of other ships heading to England. Part of my training in Canada included a three-week course in anti-aircraft tactics at Point Petre, Ontario. Those of us who took this course were detailed to man machine guns mounted on the ship's railings on each deck. We would do two hours on duty, four hours off. We did this for the eight days it took to cross the Atlantic. Once during each shift, we cleared our gun because of all the salty sea spray. to do this, we would fire at a 45 degree angle into the water. Every fifth shell was a tracer, and when these struck the water, they would glance off in all directions.
Three days out we were in the roughest weather imaginable. The waves were valleys and mountains. The convoy became widely scattered. The ocean tossed the ship around like a feather in a wind storm. It was difficult to move around on deck. The once good thing, was that we knew submarines couldn't operate in those seas.
On the ship, most of us slept in hammocks. It was quite a sight when I'd make my way to our quarters to see all those hammocks swinging in unison. It was quite a challenge to get into one with all the motion of the stormy sea. Even with the rough going, the abandon ship drill could be called at any time. This was to avert panic if we should be called upon to abandon the ship, and to be familiar with procedure if Andes was in distress and we had to abandon her.
Most of us didn't care for the boiled fish and hard boiled eggs served at meal times in the mess hall. We would buy things to eat from the stores on the ship and make do with that.
All who were on this voyage had an experience that would be in their memories as long as they would live.
