Why this Book?
Preparing
for a "Return to Murmansk" lecture cruise in June
2003, I researched many books on the Russian convoys.
One of the most interesting and certainly well-written
was "Coxswain in the Northern Convoys". Not about
admirals and captains, strategy and battles, but an
exciting account by an ex-fisherman of his experiences
off Norway
in 1940, with three of the best-known Russian
Convoys - PQ17,
PQ18
and JW51B/Battle
of the Barents Sea, and finally in coastal
forces.
Most
of the personal accounts of even World War 2 have
disappeared for ever. Even the few "lower-deck" books
have soon vanished from the bookshops -
"out-of-print!". They deserve better. This is why I
sought permission to publish most of this book on the
Internet.
For
that permission I am of course grateful to the
publishers, but even more so to Mrs Gladys Kerslake
and her family - sadly, Sid Kerslake died some years
ago.
My
hope is that readers continue to enjoy this tale for
many years to come.
Gordon
Smith, Naval-History.Net
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Foreword
by Vice Admiral B.B.
Schofield, CB, CBE
I am pleased to write this
Foreword as I know what valuable work these trawlers
performed during World War II. Painfully short of Escort
ships as this country was at the outbreak of war, fishing
vessels were requisitioned by the Admiralty, converted to
Anti Submarine ships and employed as Convoy Escorts.
Mr Kerslake, an ex-fisherman,
was no stranger to the fog, snow, ice, storms and
mountainous seas between Norway, Iceland and onto the
White Sea, but in wartime there were the added dangers of
enemy torpedoes and mines. He has written a fascinating
account of his four years' service in AST Northem Gem, of
around 600 tons and we must be grateful to him for
persevering over a period of seven years to do so. War
histories cannot concentrate on the individual so we must
rely on memoirs of the men who took part. They all added a
chapter to our Naval History of which this country may be
justly proud.
Dedication
First and foremost, I must
dedicate this book to my wife Gladys, and to my two sons,
Brian and Michael, not forgetting of course my daughter
Carol. They have all for years badgered me into writing my
experiences down on paper, with the view to getting them
published. Now peace reigns once more.
Secondly, I dedicate this book
to the members of the Fleetwood Branch of the Royal Naval
Patrol Service Association, of which I am a member. Also
to all officers and men of that service wherever they may
be, for they came from all parts of the world, to serve in
the 'small ships', the mine-sweeping and anti-submarine
trawlers, and the corvettes, to fight not only the common
enemy, but the sea in all its moods.
Many of these small ships were
not as lucky as the Northern Gem: many were sunk with a
great loss of life. The Royal Naval Patrol Service, for
its size, lost more ships than the Royal Navy, and had
more casualties than any other service, so great was their
loyalty to their King and country. They shirked nothing,
no matter what the odds against them were. They were, like
me, ex-fishermen, or men of the Merchant Navy, or in the
latter years of the war, Hostilities-Only men, some of
whom had never seen the sea before, let alone a ship of
any kind. This book is my story, and my story is theirs,
for they all went through similar situations at some time
or other, during the long hard slog of those wartime
years.
We Remember Them.
S.A.KERSLAKE
Fleetwood,
Lancashire
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