"Seaboots" Munroe
The story of John Roy "Seaboots"
Munroe was first published in the November 2002 issue of the DEMS newsletter.
My thanks go to Doug Sephton, Jack Stapleton and Bill Shields, for permission
to reproduce the story here. Bill Shields lives in Churchill, Maniboba,
where he is the port pilot at Canada's Northernmost seaport.
This story was told to Bill while he was
a prisoner in a Cuban jail in 1949. Canadian seamen had gone on strike
and the crew of his ship the Canadian Victor were thrown in jail.
A crewman called "Seaboots" Munroe told this story while there.
Bill wrote down what he could remember a couple of years later. Seaboot's
name appears as John Roy Munro on the official crewlist of the AD
Huff.
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Before the ship left Halifax after repairing English Channel bomb damage,
a 4" gun was installed on her stem. Seaboots" said they steamed
out of Halifax for gunnery practice, and to acquaint the crew with gun
laying and training. The shells were ancient, having two brass rings around
each. The cordite, or charges, were spilling out of mildewed bags. The
Naval gun instructors were leery of the ammunition, and rigged a heaving
line to the gun's lanyard, 'had all hands' crouch behind the stem winch
for a test shot. 'Seaboots' said: 'the Naval PO yanked the lanyard and
the gun went off with a great f—— roar, belching smoke and
flame. Broke all the portholes aft and shellshocked the cockroaches!"
'Seaboots' said: " We were in a small convoy of only four ships.
One morning the naval escort had disappeared and later that day we were
attacked by the battle cruisers "Gneisenau and Schamhorst'. The 'Gneisenau'
warned us by signal lamp not to break radio silence, or they would change
their shots across their bow to us... and they were very accurate.
Our Captain, an ex-Royal Navy Officer who had seen service at Jutland
wanted to fight?... ..Fight! With an antique 4" gun against 18-11
inch guns, twice that many smaller caliber, a dozen torpedo tubes and
32 knots against our maybe -9knots! He ordered the Sparks to send the
Surface Raider Signal, 'R-R-R' - holding his revolver to his head. (George
Shaker was the Sparks and he says this did not happen.) First there
was a hit on the forward anchor windlass that dinged it all to hell -
right above our fo'c'sle quarters - then another hit amidships saw an
eruption of steam and smoke on the starboard side....
The Captain had ordered our Naval Gunner: To engage the enemy!
Rapid fire!" The Naval Gunner said nothing, but looked at the
rapidly approaching battle cruisers with more than concern. He was
clutching the lanyard with white knuckles... .but didn't fire! The
'Old Man" was screaming at us from the bridge, waving his revolver
and calling us "Colonial Cowards.' I was part of the gun crew,
as was one of the firemen. I was standing there with one of those
Boer War shells, while the fireman—a New Brunswick Frenchman—was
clutching a rotten, leaking bag of charge exclaimed: "Maybe
that Scotch-Limey Captain is dead... and we get off dis bucket!'
But no?... out of the smoke and steam on the port side storms the
Captain pointing his pistol at us. I order you to fire at the enemy,'
shouts the Captain to the Gunner.
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Drawing from the Royal
Canadian Naval Association DEMS Newsletter - April 2003.
The Gunner looked at the battle crazed Captain approaching us and waving
his pistol: "Captain... that battleship is not in range yet and...
I am not going to fire. It is plain suicide for all of us." I thought
the Captain was going to shoot the Gunner, "Coward, cowards! All
of you! Train and elevate that gun and fire. Just then the engine stopped
after slowing down. The Captain charged amidships to find the Chief Engineer
for "Emergency Full Ahead." The Gunner said "Geez! Let
s get off here while we still can!" The Germans had stopped firing
so the Sparks must have stopped sending the R-R-R, or the loss of power
stopped the transmissions." (This is a different
story from Ernie Shakleton's or Fred Hutson's.)
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The Chief and Second Mates disarmed the Captain, and gave the code
books the deep six. Amidships, the one shell had piled into the top of
the engine room, killing the Third Engineer, and Oiler. Other damage was
to the companionway leading to the Bonded Stores Locker. After salvaging
a few of our belongings from the split open and burning foc'sle, we stocked
up well on booze from the Bond Locker.....(Preston
Ross in "Running the Gauntlet by Mike Parker mentions raiding the
Bond Locker.)
Then we launched the boats. We pulled away well before the launch from
the 'Gneisenau' boarded. We set a course North West to Newfoundland, and
were well into the rum and scotch when the Gneisenau caught up with us.
They weren't going to let us get away, but by then most of us didn't care.
Some had to be hauled up in cargo nets and dumped on the deck of the battlecruiser.
The Germans were slightly amused at our condition, but singled out our
Captain and gave him a hard time. They were now in a hurry for fear the
Royal Navy received our R-R-R signal and position. A couple of Royal Navy
battlecruisers were indeed out looking for them.
"We were later transferred to their supply ship, the 'Emiand', continued
'Seaboots' and landed in France. Eventually we were confined in a Stalag
near 'Mariag und Marlag Nord', inland from Bremerhaven. We were still
there near the end of the war."
"Seaboots" completed his story with-"I was shot at and
sunk by the German Navy, spent three years as a
Prisoner of War (actually four years)...
now I have been shot at by the Cuban Navy *
and am in a Cuban jail! What have I done
wrong?"
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