SAVING THE SHIP

personal experiences of PO John Priscott served aboard 1940 -43 LAYFORCE ( Force Z) THE CANAL  CRETE Queens Royals Account ACCOUNT A E WEBB BLACKIE BOY (CONT) AE WEBB - CONT 2 TROOP TRAINING TORPEDOED (with photos) MAP MAN THE PUMPS SAVING THE SHIP THE TOW NO ROOM IN HARBOUR REPAIR WORK BEGINS FORCES MAGAZINE ARTICLE REPORT  on VOyage back to UK D day D DAY 2nd Devons Account 1946  her last job FAREWELL  1946 newspaper Article OFFICIAL REPORT ON SALVAGE OFFICIAL REPORT HULL DAMAGE OFFICIAL REPORT ENGINEERING COMMENDATION Letter Louis Mountbatten COMMENDATIONS  DECORATIONS PHOTOS by CPO John Turner Gunner PHOTOS  more follow MOVIE OF GLENROY Contact

GLENROY WOUNDED

See the Caiques stacked on deck and the Carley floats on the slips. She must have been painted as the camouflage is not present in the Cape town Photo taken just a few 8 months earlier.  We were beached just a few miles off Mersa Metruh just a few minutes flying time from enemy airfields .

Refer map

plenty of freeboard

Just a quick  photo before i scramble into  my raft.

An ML assisting attach the tow rop   at Glenroys stern.

NOte the coastline in distance .

port side

towed sternfirst unto a sandbar off Mersa Matruh . by AA Cruiser Carlisle escorted by destroyers  Avondale   and Eridge  Where she settled till bigger pumps  could be brought aboard.

She was refloated  on 27th November,

Look at how close the coast was.

We had no power, No lights,no cooking,  no water. our freeboard aft was under a foot, it was originally fifteen.No 6 hold and the tiller flat was keeping us afloat, We beached on a sandbar at Mersa Matru and waited for salvage pumps to be brought aboard from Alex.We had to stop up the leaks , no easy task. hundreds of small wedges had   top be cut by hand , all the cables holes plugged as well as the boundary angles,  Then  the  panting bulkhead  keeping us afloat  had to be  shored up with bulks  of timber,  All this  without light  in the dark  amid  the sound  of rushing water , deep in the bowells of the ship.With the threat of further air attack.

 

 

view of port side

The engine room and troop decks were flooded, The aft and forward cargo holds were the only buoyancy chambers keeping Glenroy afloat. These were rapidly flooding by pressure leaks at boundary angles, electrical cable conduit etc, these had to be stopped urgently and quickly so pumps could cope with the flow of water and more buoyancy restored, The salvage expert Lt commander Taylor said that all leaks had to be stopped, holes plugged,glands chopped away and plugged and wedges driven in at boundary angles. I had to try and stem the flow of water for the front and rear holds. NOT an easy job in the dark Using plugs and wedges and driving them home, around all manner of circular and angular gaps, I couldn’t put my arm over my head for a week afterwards .  I was assisted below decks by a volunteer, phys Ed instructor"Clubs"; who helped me all week from dawn to dusk except during the air raids. Tthe other Chippee; Wilfee( Wilfred Streeter) had been hit on the head by a boom when the Tin fish hit us and was not really in a fit state to climb up and down in the holds. To give me piece of mind I was quite happy for him to keep a lookout on deck for the Yellow warning flags from the AA Cruiser. . If it was flown from the cruisers he was to yell down to us in the hold and we would get out of there smartly, which we did at times 

POSITION WHEN TORPEDOED 31.40N 26.28E

approx   ha;f way to Tubruq( TOBRuK). towed to near Mersa Matruh

Free