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Coffin Corner

Heroes Remember

Coffin Corner

Transcript
The convoy was seventy ships, not counting the navy ships that were escorting us, and that convoy was 10 miles wide and 3 miles long. Like, the convoys were always wide, from a protection standpoint. You can imagine, with the ships in the middle, they were a little better protected, like the oil tankers and, and ones... To get to that convoy, it was the fifth convoy that we went, like, because we had to come through the Panama and up to New York, Boston, Halifax, into Bedford Basin, and then over. That was the fifth convoy, and the Green Gables Park could have been assigned coffin corner five convoys in a row. We began to feel that somebody didn't really care whether we made it across or not. Oh, coffin corner, if you take a triangle and, as I said, the convoy was 10 miles wide and 3 miles long... Well, the aft, port and starboard corners of the triangle, that was the one you didn't wanna get on, because if you kinda drifted off, got a little slow and didn't keep up convoy speed, you could be picked off pretty easily ‘cause they were, were keeping an eye out for you. And so, when you got that corner, you were coffin corner. That was just a name we had for it. But they did this, depending on your cargo and various things, so I don't know. I think it was quite an honest way, I don't think anybody was picking on us or anything. But when we were in the North Atlantic at one point, it was just the point where the convoy was breaking up... In other words, some ships would be going to London, some to Liverpool, some to Firth of Forth. Some ships were going on the Murmansk run. And we were signalled in changing convoy, and I should point out, the enemy at that point picked an excellent time to attack because there was a fair amount of confusion, as you can imagine, with seventy ships all trying to get into certain little smaller convoys and get onto their... And the enemy attacked at that point, and we were watching the ship. It happened to be an American Liberty Ship that was taking our place. Of course, we'd been there for, as I said, five other convoys and just as he got in our position, he got torpedoed, so we were saying they were watching him when he got hit and the ship next to us, the... We had British corvettes at that point. We'd had Canadian most of the way and then, we just, at that point where they switch over. And the British Corvettes had signalled, I forget, it was a flag they put up. But when they put that up, you knew they had a sub, they weren't fooling around. They think they got one, they were after one, and they were dropping depth charges, and they went across our bow and the ship next to us put up the flags, 'Have hit submerged object'. Well, in the North Atlantic there aren't too many submerged objects in that particular time, except submarines. And the sound was so loud. Each column in a convoy was 600 metres apart and that's what you tried to keep. And they hit the, they'd obviously hit the sub, and it was so loud. Water, of course, transfers sound excellently and, and we ran out on deck because we thought we'd hit something. I was off watch at the time and, as I say, this signal came up of hit submerged object, and then we actually heard the submarine breaking up as it went down. And that's, that's a sound I'll never forget, and it's a scary sound. And you knew it could be you, but it was a, a submarine at this time, and you heard it break up until it finally just faded away sort of thing, you know, so. That was, that was a scary time and you, you didn't really have time to be afraid, but you were afraid after you thought about it. That was what it amounted to. That was one time, in convoys.
Description

Mr. White describes 'coffin corner', and recalls an instance when a nearby ship hit a sub and the hunt and destruction that ensued.

Alexander M. White

Mr. Alexander White was born in Craik, Saskatchewan, on November 15, 1923. His father, a Veteran of the First World War, survived being gassed in Ypres and returned to Canada in 1915. It was his fathers stories of the ships he had been on that began Mr. White's interest in sailing. As he neared the end of grade school Mr. White decided to join the Merchant Navy, and entered training as a radio operator when he had finished grade 12. After training Mr. White was sent to Vancouver to join the crew of a ship still in construction. In June 1943 they left port on the SS Green Gables Park. Mr. White stayed at sea for three years and suffered from seasickness for the first half of those three years. During his service Mr. White guided the ship as it ferried cargo across the North Atlantic and South Pacific either alone or as part of massive convoys. Although there were many close calls, including instances of ships beside them in convoys being torpedoed, the SS Green Gables Park luckily never came under direct attack during the war. Staying with the service for a year after the war ended in order to gain experience, Mr. White received his discharge in 1946.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
04:53
Person Interviewed:
Alexander M. White
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
North Atlantic Ocean
Branch:
Merchant Navy
Units/Ship:
SS Green Gables Park
Rank:
2nd Class Seaman
Occupation:
Radio Operator

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