John Kendall's son Alan sent on this biography and a number of pictures.

John (or Albert as he was known to his Merchant Navy comrades) was born on 6th September 1914 in West Drayton, Middlesex.

The eldest of the seven children of John Snr., a railway worker with a fondness for the bottle and Esther a tireless mother, John left school at the age of 14 to work full time to supplement the family income.

He had the foresight though to enroll at night school to study engineering, and it was that engineering course that would shape his life.

The qualifications he gained over the next few years allowed him in 1937 to join the British India Steam Navigation Company as a 23 year old junior engineering officer.

John then spent the next three years learning his trade on the sea routes of the Indian Ocean until on the night of 17/18th November 1940 fate played it’s hand.

At a position of about 500 miles due west of Freemantle, John’s ship the B.I.’s S.S.Nowshera, on which he was the 4th Engineering Officer was spotted by the German commerce raider the H.K.Pinguin.

With three weeks to kill before heading south to attack the Antarctic whaling fleets, the Pinguin’s commander Kapitan Ernst Krüder decided it was time to overhaul her engines, which had been running non-stop for five months. On the evening of November 17, with these repairs nearing completion, and with both engines stopped, smoke was sighted.

On one engine, the raider started in pursuit as darkness fell, and later on, with both engines running, caught up with the 7.920-ton British freighter around midnight, and stopped her in the glare of her searchlight. On her way from Adelaide to Durban and then the UK, she was carrying 4.000 tons of zinc ore, 3.000 tons of wheat and 2.000 tons of wool, and a mixed crew of 145. Although armed with a Japanese 4-inch gun and some protection, she had not resisted or attempted to transmit any signals, and so, having taken what goods and provisions his ship required from the freighter’s holds, Krüder, in order to save ammunition ordered her to be scuttled in a rather novel way. With the scuttling party ordered to remain on board in case further charges were needed, aircraft bombs were suspended over the ship’s sides against her hull and detonated.

The entire crew of the Nowshera were taken on board the Pinguin and then subsequently transferred to the captured Norwegian oil tanker the Storstad, but not before the Pinguin had also accounted for the S.S.Maimoa, S.S.Port Brisbane and the S.S.Port Wellington.

With a hold full of prisoners the Storstad set sail on 6th December 1940 for Bordeaux. This was the start of John’s journey into incarceration which would end at Marlag und Milag Nord and last until the end of the war.

Always a keen and very able sportsman (soccer, cricket, athletics), John was one of the movers and shakers on the sports front in Milag Nord, and was instrumental in organizing several annual sports days. He was also active on the theatrical side as well.

At the end of the war John returned to sea with the B.I. until in 1949 his long time sweetheart Joyce finally persuaded him to settle down.

Again though his night school devotion paid off, and he secured a position of with Bitumen Industries Ltd which eventually led him to become Plant Manager for them.

John stayed with Bitumen Industries for the rest of his working life, retiring in September 1979. Straight away John and his wife moved from their home in Windsor to where he was happiest. By the sea.

Retirement didn't last long for John though.

On 16th March 1983 John's clock suddenly stopped ticking.

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Some pictures taken at Sandbostel. The British officer is Capt. Cavaye of the Iceland.
	The following logbook entries are an account of the voyage to France after the Nowshera was sunk and the subsequent train trip to Sandbostel.
	Additional pages had autographs and messages similar to other logbooks.
John Kendall is fourth from the left in the front row in the next picture.
Christmas 1942 - The Menu
Merchant Navy Theatre John like George Shaker was involved in the theatre and kept a number of programs. Many of the following were also in Tommy and George's logbooks.
	The Rose Marie cover is in a number of logbooks. Interesting to see a full colour print from a POW camp in the midst of WWII. The cover was printed by a local German printer and purchased by the prisoners.
For many Merchant Navy men their pay stopped the moment their ship was lost. This letter is interesting in that it continues John's pay.
After the war, John returned to BI. This picture is from the SS Ekma taken on Christmas Day 1947 in Bombay. He is on the left, front row.