Information about Welfreighter, Bob Quinn's recollections
(See the letter mentioning Welfreighter "Training bases for midget subs in WW2")
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Dear Mac Gregory,
You asked for anybody connected with the Welfreighter to contact you. My name is Bob. Quinn. cnf. Photographs in A.W.M. P03810.001 and P03810.002, P00908.006 and P00908.005. The captions on the photos will serve as an introduction. I am eighty years of age and registered Blind. I was a Leading Wireman in the R.N. and my number was pmx635648. My number in SRD was AKN144.
I am not very skilled on the Computer and rather slow. If you want to hear my story and would be happy to take it in drifts and drabs please let me know.
I am delighted to hear from you, and sincere thanks for you taking time and the trouble to get in touch.
Your story would be welcome, and I appreciate it may take time to recount, but I am patient when a great story is about to come my way, and with your approval, we will put it up on AHOY, so that a wider audience may also read it.
Again, thank you, and I await the first instalment just when you are able to share it.
I am just in front of you age wise , I was 82 last February, but fortunately do not carry your burden of being registered Blind.
Does your RN Official Number, mean you enlisted at Portsmouth? I have lived at Pompey, when serving with the RN, and undertaking courses as an RAN Executive Officer.
Kind Regards and Best Wishes.
When I retired From Local Government in 1984 I bought a 14 ft open boat and lobster creels. I caught lobsters ,crabs, cod and mackeral. I kept the freezer full.
I started to try to put together what I remembered about S.R.D. service and the Welfreighter. Because of the tremendous secrecy surrounding the Welfreighter I realised that I knew very little. I wrote to the Australian Army in 1984. A Major Fogarty replied that all files and documents re. S.R.D. had been destroyed at the end of the war. I found out later on the Internet that this was done on the orders of General Blamey. Major Fogarty was most helpful. He sent me my S.R.D. number and confirmed that I had been on the strength of S.R.D........to be continued. Please edit where necessary.
Checking the A.W.M. site I noticed that the "Quarter Deck" was well represented in photographs, but no mention of the "Lower Deck".
I wrote to AWM. and asked if they were interested. They most definitely were interested and I sent them my photographs. A few months ago The AWM contacted me and asked my permission for an American to contact me re. the Welfreighter.He is a retired Analyst with the American Government. He intends to write an article on the Welfreighter on behalf of a relative of the founder of the firm which had built the Welfreighter.He wanted to know everything I could tell him about the Welfreighter.I have told him my story and he has been most helpful and kept me up to date with his research. He is an astute and clever man and very good company, albeit on e-mail.
I completed my torpedo course at HMS Vernon at Portsmouth towards the end 1943 I returned to HMS Victory and waited for a draft to a ship. A request for wiremen volunteers for dangerous and hazardous duty in the Pacific was posted on our Messdeck notice board. I volunteered and was sent to the Frythe (Research Station IX of the SOE,) The Frythe was a country hotel requistioned by the Government. I was interviewed by the CO. and a civilian. The CO was Colonel J.Dolphin of the REME. I had no idea who the civilian was. I was asked about my background and why I had voluteered. The importance of secrecy was stressed. I was told that the unit was called The Inter Services Research Bureau. I was given three sketches of Wiring Diagrams e.g. Ringmain and boat and automobile wiring and asked to identify them.I was accepted and had to sign the Official Secrets Act..........
`I signed the Official Secrets Act and was introduced to the extraordinary life of the Frythe. Quite recently while surfing the net. I came across the website of a retired computer boffin. Thus he described himself. He described his life at the Frythe while working there in the 60s and 70s. He gives a detailed history of the Frythe which is quite wonderful and is obviously written with great affection.
Jeffrey has one heading `Wartime Secrecy` which serves as a good introduction to the work carried out ar Research Station Nine of S.O.E. (Click on History of the Frythe.) It is interesting to note that in his his list of references at the end he cites` Welfreighter, building and operational use...ADM1/26903 in the Public Record Office. He also cites Special Operations Excutive papers in the Public Record Office. Jeffrey mentions the immense water tank built where the terraces used to be. Among other things that huge tank was used by divers using Davis Escape Apparatus to adjust and to practice fixing dummy limpet mines to appropriate hard objects. I had to do one of those dives. I had another personal experience of the tank which fifty odd years later still gives me the odd shudder.
I was one of a squad to take turns at going down alone in the Welfreighter. We were down four hours at a time keeping a wary eye on instruments and within reach of a telephone attached to our Chief at the surface. Captain Taylor R.E.M.E. was our Boss and Sublieutenant Williams R.N.V.R was the Chief Engineer. Both men can be seen on the Mark One Welfreighter in the A.W.M. photos to which I have referred early on in this story.
The Frythe of 1944 was an intense place but a good and happy place in which to work. The ground was heavy with intense young graduates in spectacles, harris tweed sports jackets with leather patches at the elbows and grey flannel trousers. Everyone was at ease with rhemselves and one another. Nobody pulled rank. Amazing things were done with what appeared to be casual ease and good humour. Whether officer or rating, if you could not fit in , then you quitely disappeared back to your regiment or General Service.
One glorious summer evening a group of officers and squaddies and ratings raced around the buildings, huts and gardens on Welbikes. The Welbike was a minature motor bike perfected at the Frythe. I believe that the genius behind the Welbike was a chap by the name of Harry Fletcher. I may be wrong with the name. After the war I remember hearing something about Harry Fletcher going into partnership with Colonel Dolphin to prorduce the Corgi. Years after the War, I remember sitting with a friend at the cinema when a news item flashed up on Pathe News. It was about Colonel Dolphin forming a company to produce a small family car.
1) The Time Pencil - a small delayed ignition device that could set off a detonator. Jeffrey says that the delay was caused by a solution of copper Chloride corroding a thin metal wire.12 million of these were produced at the Frythe.
2) The Welbike. A collapsible 48cc. motor cycle with a top speed of 30 mph. According to Jeff`s research it could be dropped together with it`s Paratroop rider. Some 4000 were manufactured in Birmingham by the Excelsior Motor Cycle Company. Some were used in the Arnheim campaign and the Normandy landings. Most were exported to the U.S.A. after the War. Apparently the Corgi Scooter was developed from the Welbike. I have already mentioned Col.Dolphin, Harry Fletcher (?) and the Corgi.
3) The Welman, a 20 foot submersible with a range of 33 miles.
4) The Welfreighter. Jeff describes it as a small submersible freighter that could carry a ton of supplies to Agents. With regard to specifics about the building and operational role of the Welfreighter please cfr. the Public Record Office Documents which will be posted soon on Ahoy. More in a moment about the Welfreighter and the wonderful firm which built it at Letchworth.
5) The Welgun. A compact lightweight submachine gun. It was intended for use by airborne troops but never replaced the Stengun.
6) Macuna - an itching powder derived from the beans of the plant Macuna Pruriens. It was known to be used to infect the uniforms of the enemy in Denmark.
6) Limpet mines.These were used on such operations as the `Cockleshell Heroes` raid on Bordeaux in 1945.............to be continued
We had private digs in the town. Apparently, with regard to amount and quality of the food and accommodation some landladies were more intent on making a quick buck at the expense of the mates lodged therein. I personally had no complaints and never went hungry as far as I can recall.
Colonel Dolphin and his staff were at the first Fishguard sea trials. Here I must give great praise to the firm which built the Welfreighters. Shevoke and Drury of Letchworth.They had no experience of building marine craft. In fact they built municipal utilty vehicles, milk delivery floats and so on. Some genius in Whitehall thought of S&D in Letchworth, and probably mentiond the idea to Mr. Churchhill over a very good dinner and a late night whisky or two. Who would ever think that a firm which built milk-floats could build a complete minature submarine! Well, it turned out to be an inspired and brilliant idea and the loyal and patriotic Mangement and Staff built a craft that was years ahead of its time. I think that they should have been feted with some public recognition at the end of the War.
I happened by chance on a Web Site run by Brian Carpenter. There is a history of S&D, and a wonderful collection of photographs, old and new utility vehicles. Studying and pondering over these wonderful photographs of strong, reliable and tough workhorses I began to see the birth of an idea, and that idea matured into the Welfreighter. By no stretch of the imagination could the Welfreighter be said to be a thing of beauty. But it is, or I should say was,strong, tough and exceedingly well built. I for one have grown to be very fond of her.For the promise alone that she brought to us in 1944 we should be grateful. There was a promise of great things but the promise was not fulfilled because time was not on our side. ......to be continued.
I must stop now Mac Gregory for a breather, but I must finish this story before Friday, as my wife and I are off to Torquay, Devon for a two week holiday....all the best, Bob.
Arrived a tGarden Island. Sorry that I am vague on dates. So sorry that I had to hand in my Australian Army Pay Book at the end of the War. Every detail of my life in Australia and Morotai is in that book. I have been advised that I can trace it in Army Records and check the date stamps etc. More about that later. ................
full of life.... Then we were flown to Morotai, an island in the Halmahera group in what is now Borneo but was in the Dutch East Indies in 1945. There was great uncertainty about what was happening in the War. We could not see a quick end to the War in the Pacific. The Japanese were certainly on the decline after Midway. The writing was on the wall for them. We thought that they would never give in or surrender and that we would have to drive them them out of thousands of islands one by one and that could cost thousands of allied lifes. Then the Atomic Bomb was dropped. When news of the Japanese surrender came through we went crazy with delight and thanked the Good God. I have just read on Ahoy the letter from Truman and his long deliberations with Churchhill about whether to use the Bomb or not to use it.
The dropping of the Atomic Bomb saved many allied lives. Some weeks ago Lieutenant Ian Fraser R.N.V.R. was being interviwed on T.V. In 1945 he and his co-driver Leading Stoker McGuiness drove their X Craft beneath and alongside a Japanese heavy cruiser Takeo, and crippled her. They were both awarded the Victoria Cross. When they returned to their mothership the H.M.S. Bonaventure they were ordered to return and finish the job and sink her. In the interview Lieutenant Fraser mused that the chance of success on the second attenpt was very small. He mentioned in passing how the Japanese beheaded the men of the Rimeau Operation on their capture and it was not a very happy situation. They were all prepared to go and the Atomic Bomb was dropped and all was well. ( Incidentally it was interesting to note that the reason Lt. Fraser picked McGuiness was that he was an electrician.) In the modern Submarine electricity is essential.
... So there we were on Morotai when it all ended. All the ` high head yins' both Allies and Japanese gathered together to sign the Instrument of Surrender. We were all invited to the ceremony and presented afterwards with a copy of the Instrument of Surrender. After our holiday I will get my Angel of the Computer, to send you a copy if you like. I don`t trust my own skill or lack of it in sending photos.
The Instrument of Surrender
At the signing ceremony thousands of Aussie and Allied vererans S.R.D. men included, stood waiting in the tropical heat ( as you well know Morotai was on the Equator) for the official party to leave their post prandial gins and sign the b.....! paper. We had been promised that the great Joe Louis, Heavy Weight Boxing Champion of the World would give sparring exhibitons. After waiting about for hours Joe and his heavy gang of minders appeared to wave vaguely in our direction and then disappeared in their jeeps. I hope that you can imagine some of the pertinent Aussie benedictions aimed at the unfortunate Joe and the idiot who had arranged this thoughtless farce.............
Private Charles Quinn of the Irish Guards killed in Action 1st. Sept. 1918.
I hate War and its terrible stupidity and the killing of innocent life. But I do respect and honour patriotism, love of one`s country, service to that country in time of need. I think that this present War is a complete and utter disaster especially to the women and wee bairns of Iraq. However, enough of that for the moment!
After Peace had been declared 15th. August,1945, we had a great deal of time on our hands waiting for everything to wind down. I spent as much time as I could as a helping hand on a Broome ( i.e. from Broome, W.Australia) Pearl Lugger, owned and skippered by a one-armed wonderful Aussie in his sixties and perhaps even older. I should point out...
When I use the term ` Aussie` ( use it quite a lot in this story and it is one of affection.) I love the Australia I knew all those years ago, ` Anzac Day` `R.S.L` and the `mateship` and the lot. But I recognise that today Australia is a modern vibrant powerful country more than holding its own within the brotherhood of nations. Having said , that I can sit back and enjoy such masterpieces of the young Australia as depicted in Peter Weir`s `Gallipoli`. In the 50s. H.V.Morton my favourite` Writer` Travel in his `In Search of Australia` described Melbourne as a ` staid comfortable broad-bosomed old lady. I revisited Australia in the 60s and what a change within twenty odd years! A great country.
To continue with the Aussie onearmed skipper from Broome. He had a Malay crew of two. They worshipped him. Before the War his men dived for Pearls off Broome. He was a well known and respected character through the whole of W.A. I cannot recall his name. After the War I read in the papers that he had been made Commodore of the Perth Yacht Club.
Good Morning and thanks for everything. I did not know why we called the R.N. the`Andrew`.! Great stuff! Did you get the Photos re. H.M.S. Speaker which I sent last night? Today will be my last `writing` day until we return in two weeks time. I have been to Broome twice and I fully agree with you about the Beach and ths sunset. For the last fifty odd years I have been building a beloved formidable library. Although I am not a Tory I added to my Library last year the "Memoirs of Alistair McAlpine" (ex. Tory Chairman) mainly because of his passion and love for Broome. I believe that he is a partner in a Pearl farm there! I first visited Broome in 1945 when we flew up from Perth and broke our journey somewhere in that direction. You mention the Kimberleys in your Diary! Also in my Library is "Kings of Grass Castles" by Mary Durack. Wonderful reading about tough days in W.A.....
H.M.S. Speaker. 1945 Hong Kong. Red X Hospital Ship in background
Planes dumped from H.M.S. Speaker
From Morotai I was flown back to Sydney and H.M.S. Speaker. She was a Lease-Lend Carrier. Please see my photographs. We made four trips to Hong-Kong to bring back Australian P.O.Ws. Then we sailed to Norfolk Island,Virginia. U.S.A. and returned the ship. I was demobbed 1946 and worked as an electrician until 1949.The U.K. Government had a similar deal to the G.I. Bill for the Americans and Australia to enable returning servicemen to undertake full time Higher Education leading to qualification. I was accepted in 1949 and began another wonderful adventure. I qualified in Mental Health and Generic Social Work. I worked as a Probation Officer and Social Worker and entered Local Government. I open my old tool box from time to time and do all my own repairs ... It saves a lot of money.! I still have to tell my tale of travel across Australia.........
I believe that the luxurious Transcontinental trains of today are simply wonderful. When we crossed the Nullabor during our seven day trip from Sydney to Perth we stopped at some one-horse town or shack and lifted down a 1914-18 vintage type cooking boiler. The Cooks lit a fire under it and cooked our meal. At every State line we had to change trains because each State had a different gauge. I believe that it is all one gauge now. We played Poker right across Australia. Black deuces were Wild cards. The make-do card table consisted of a ground sheet or coat being slung across knees. Oh, happy times!
Dear Mac Gregory,
First of all, thank you kindly for the scanned Form re my Paybook with the all important dates enclosed therein. Cynthia and I have just returned from our tour of Brixham and Plymouth. We had a wonderful and most interesting break. Naval week is coming up soon and the Port was packed with Warships from all over.
Cynthia and I are going down to London on 31st. inst. for few days to visit old neighbours and to ferret around the Public Record Office, Kew re. the Welfreighter. On our return I will send you all relevant information.....to be cont.
Incidentally, I was fascinated to read in your Travel Diary about your travels to St.Petersburg and beyond on the Samarkand trail and beyond! My Daughter Fiona returned last year from Mongolia where she had spent two years working for V.S.O. trying to establish a pedagogical nursing base. In her E Mail diary to us she raves about many of the
places you mention............
Welcome back, we have missed you. Do not worry about talking too much, go for your life whenever you are so inclined. I think that the digressions that take us down different pathways always add to the main subject in hand, I add something, and away we go in a new direction. So don't stop!!
The trip by bus and train over 33 days across China/Asia was some experience, and in hindsight, Denise and I often recall some small item, and have a reminisence about that journey.
Dear Mac. Gregory,
Thank you for the kind words! How nice! Great stuff! In spirit I agree about ignoring old age but I`m not so sure about the body.! From Aberdeen to Plymouth we did 1400 miles by coach and yesterday I was walking around like Charles Laughton as Quasimodo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame!
With every kind wish,
With every kind wish,
Thought this letter I wrote in 1982 may be of interest. The Gordon Highlanders is the great family Regiment of the North East of Scotland. There is great pride in the Regiment! The Letter is in two parts.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004 15:49
Dear Mac Gregory,
Good Morning to all on this bright, bonny day! By all means pass on all to Terry. He is a treasure!
Please tell me what you think about the following idea. When I retired twenty years ago a chance inquiry about St. Ninian in the Michell Library started our Hebridean travels in the footsteps ( with back pack and stick) of the great Celtic saints i.e.Columba, Aidan and their wonderful companions. It has taken many years but it has been a wonderful voyage of discovery. They were wonderful sailors and the sea is always there. But I`m not sure if such tales would be right for `Ahoy` and your readers? The starting place is usually Iona or Lindisfarne! Please let me know what you think. Thanks for the Perth E Mail.
With every kind wish,
Your travels in the steps of the Great Celtic Saints sound quite wonderful.
If we have exhausted the Welfreighter story, ( Terry there are some more detalis that Bob shared with me that you have yet to ctach up with, they will be on their way shortly ) then we should roll over to your Hebridean Travels ( stick and all )
Press on whenever you are ready Bob.
I totally agree on your comments about our mutual Treasure in Terry of Atlanta Georgia!!
My best wishes,
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