225819 Tel. Alfred Douglas "Dicky" Moore Royal Navy HMS Atlantic Isle Alfred Moore served in the Royal Navy on Winston's Special Convoys (WS)
I'm writing my Dad's memoirs. Father recently died, so I am continuing to probe his life story without any input. There is simply nobody left in the family who knew him as a child or young man. Anyway, I have now received details, such as they are, from Naval Command of his Naval service during WW2. It cost £30 to have the records dug out and transmitted to me and they are very sketchy indeed. His record sheet has next to no information on it and so the archivists resorted to the Pay and Victualling Records to compile a table of dates and places. Disappointing. Dad was at HMS Royal Arthur in 1942, age 19, and trained as a telegraphist. On the basis of the dates provided by Naval Command I have managed to trace the schedule of the last of the WS convoys (WS33) - on which my father sailed from Clyde to Durban in South Africa on a DEMS carrying troops, including RAF personnel who were returning to duty in the Med. The convoy was escorted into Gibralter where his ship was fitted with toilet facilities for the African troops who were picked up later. This was on the SS Antenor. His papers include details of the increasingly dreadful conditions on the ship as it travelled along the east coast of Africa, picking up troops at various ports. From there he travelled to Durban and HMS Afrikanda for onward transportation to Tristan da Cunha aka Job 9, later commissioned as HMS Atlantic Isle. He worked at a gun loader/later as a gunner on one or more of these ships, earning an extra 3p a day on top of his naval pay. I don't suppose there is anyone still alive who remembers him from those years?
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