What Makes a ‘Happy Ship’

Heroes Remember

What Makes a ‘Happy Ship’

Transcript

Difficult to say. The, the corvette was an extremely good sea boat. She was designed partly after northern island trawlers, therefore she could handle very bad weather. You had a sense of security even though they were very small. I think we only carried something like ninety people, ninety men. Life was a bit tough, but we used to look forward to the kai (sp) on the bridge at night, that’s the chocolate, hot chocolate. Food was hard to, to manage because you were never sitting still, even though you know you’re chair was chained to the deck and the fiddlies (sp) were on the table so your plate wouldn’t land in your lap. The plate and the table landed in my lap once on the deck, whole thing went over. But there, I mean, that was the way you lived. You’re wet half the time. We were in berths and the officers were in berths. I sometimes think it would have been much better to be in a hammock. Trying to wedge your knees against one side of your berth and your back and your elbows against the other to stay in there, wasn’t easy. Right down through, I think, I think it’s the captain, and what he imparts, the first lieutenant and, and so on down through and how the guys all get together. If they, if they’re happy with the captain, you get a happy ship, basically. First of all it was Western Local, what was known as Western Local, that was St. John’s, Halifax, New York. Interview: So the triangle run, was that it? Yeah the triangle run. And then North Atlantic, or Deep Sea, you went St. John’s - Londonderry. So, I didn’t get into that til I joined the Magog. Well actually, didn’t get on with Magog either because we got torpedoed before we took a convoy.

Description

Mr. Stanger talks about the advantages of a corvette, the disadvantages of sleeping in berths, the components of a “happy ship”, and shipping routes in the North Atlantic.

Edgar Thorne (Peter) Stanger

Mr. Stanger was born on September 19, 1923 in Montréal, Québec. His father was an electrical engineer for Southern Canada Power in Montréal and also served in the First World War. His father had told him of memories of Vimy and Passchendaele when he was part of the artillery. Mr. Stanger started as a midshipman when he was 17 and from there he went to Kings College at the age of 18 and received his sub-lieutenant stripe and then went to sea. He was recommended for the navigation course in 1944. He believed they were grooming him to take over command on one of the ships, but the war had ended before his training was complete. During a convoy in early 1944, up the St. Lawrence, their ship was struck by a torpedo. As a result, they ended up spending two days waiting for a tugboat to rescue them and take them back to land.

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