1208 Able.Sea Leonard Tobin Royal Navy HMS Vindictive My father, Len Tobin, was part of the Royal Navy crew that sailed the Duchessa from Freetown to Greenock in July 1942.
Previously he had served on HMS Vindictive, a repair ship based at Freetown and volunteered to go to Lagos and prepare the ship for the voyage home.
They left Freetown as part of a convoy and on the first day out, she broke down. The rest of the convoy carried on leaving the Duchessa alone in waters known to be patrolled by U-boats. Eventually she was repaired and the journey resumed without incident, except the Bay of Biscay was particularly rough and food started to run out and corn beef sandwiches became their mainstay, until docking at Greenock. During unloading the Duchessa caught fire and sank at her moorings. She was eventually re-floated and with modifications became the Empire Yukon, and did sterling service on convoy duty. Then post-war she was re-named Petconnie.
Is there anyone out there who can add to the story of the Duchessa? If so, please get in touch.
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