An Adventure In The Merchant Marine

Harold Richards

Harold Richards was a member of the merchant marine during World War II. In 1941 he joined the ship Kitty's Brook. She was owned by the Bowater paper company when she crossed the path of a German submarine in 1942.

FIRST I WENT ON THE OLD STEAMER, the Meigle, firing, shovelling coal. She got off dry dock in Montreal, but we broke the cylinder head off her engine coming down through St. Lawrence River. We had to go in Sorel and we were there two months. We came back to St. John's, and she was all lopsided. She was never upright. I think she was built that way.

When we got in to St. John's, the Kitty's Brook was there. This was in 1941. My buddy and I went on board her. They wanted two deck hands. What was I going to do, deck hand, after working in the engine? Anyway, we went aboard of her, me and my buddy, Stan McKenzie.

You know, I learned the compass overnight! We came out of St. John's and I knew nothing about a compass, only what I learned in the Boy Scouts years ago. She was carrying paper most of the time, but if there was a chance to get a load to bring back you would get it.

This time, it was May 9, 1942, ten o'clock in the night. We left New York that morning and came down through Cape Cod Canal. We had a general cargo of sugar and 500 tons of cement and heavy equipment. The deck was loaded with heavy equipment. They had ladders going up on one side and coming down on the other, to get around.

Ten o'clock in the night we were coming across the Bay of Fundy when this sub came up. She came up on the port side and went across the bow. She was all lit up, too. She came down on the starboard side and let us have it!