Kazik's Polish Navy, The Betrayal by Kazimierz Kasperek & Pat McDonough

Author:Kazimierz Kasperek & Pat McDonough [Kasperek, Kazimierz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Terra Sancta Press
Published: 2012-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18: North Atlantic Convoy Duty

As predicted, the Garland finally went on escort to America. From then on, we were on the Atlantic convoys going either to Canada or America, or back to Scotland or England. We had to dodge U-boat attacks all the way. The U-boats traveled in big packs of 20 or more, so it wasn’t just an occasional submarine. When we were under attack, they harassed the convoy ships everywhere.

In September of 1942, when we left Scotland with the convoy, the weather was just terrible. We stopped in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, to refuel and get provisions; then, continued with the convoy. After a few days in the Atlantic, the weather developed into a hurricane. The waves were of tremendous height and frequency. In the storm, we lost contact with all of our convoy.

Because of the dreadful weather conditions, the convoy ships were blown in every direction. Sadly, some of the merchant ships sank. The rest of the ships sailed on as well as any of us could manage in these horrible weather conditions.

All we could do was battle the 110-mile-per-hour winds, and the, by now, 50- to 60-foot waves. We had tremendous damage to the Garland. Our lifeboats were smashed, and washed away. The high winds and waves pulled-off everything from the deck, and washed it overboard.

When crewmen from the engine room came up on deck to take a turn on watch duty, immediately a giant wave washed four of them overboard. The ship was blown away from them so fast in those heavy seas, we had no way to save them. We no longer had any lifeboats or even flotation rings to throw to them. The rain was so heavy, we couldn’t see anything.

This trip took 16 days to cross the Atlantic. Because of the heavy storm damage we had sustained, we were ordered to Boston harbor’s shipyard for repairs. We pulled into Boston harbor exhausted, and secured the ship. With such extensive damage, we assumed we’d be in Boston for at least two or three weeks. By then, we were ready for a good rest; something about the low barometric pressure when fighting with a hurricane leaves a person with real storm fatigue.

The morning we docked, engineers and dockworkers appeared, and immediately, got to work marking all the damage. Before long, the latest power tools were making the busy noises of repairs The place hummed with activity.

Since we had free time, we discovered that Boston had a big Polish community. They made us feel very welcome. That evening, the Polish Club threw a fantastic party for us with all the Polish goodies, including Polish sausage and all the other foods we yearned for. An orchestra played Polish songs all evening. We danced with the ladies, and had a wonderful time. The Polish community gave us such a warm, hearty welcome that I shall never forget it.

We got back aboard the ship in the early hours of the morning very tired, and maybe a little drunk, looking forward to our much-deserved long rest in port.

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