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Note: Born At Waghorn St. Ipswich Trade:Pastry Cook.Became a Marine Cook (Merchant Navy) in 1941.
Served in the Merchant Navy as a Cook through the Second World War.
Details of War service are as follows:
Ship's Name Port and Date Signing Off Port and Date
William McArthur Newcastle 21.10.1941 Sydney 24.12.1941
Iron Chieftain " " 29.12.1941 Newcastle 03.06.1942
William McArthur " " 21.07.1942 " " 23.08.1942
Mungana " "06.09.1942 " " 15.03.1943
Iron Master Sydney 03.05.1943 " " 25.06.1943
Iron Monarch Newcastle 28.06.1943 " " 18.11.1943
William McArthur " " 12.01.1944 " " 17.02.1944
Iron Warrior " " 18.02.1944 " " 11.05.1944
Iron Master " " 22.05.1944 " " 21.12.1944
Iron Duke II " " 16.01.1945 " " 28.07.1945
Awarded the following campaign service medals:
1939 - 45 Star
War Medal
Australian Service Medal
Pacific Star
Source: Dept.of Transport. Canberra.ACT.
In June 1942 was serving on the "Iron Chieftain" when she was torpedoed
by a Japanese submarine 35 miles off Sydney.(Newcastle Morning Herald4.6.1942)
"The late Captain P.J.E.Brady, was 2nd officer of the "Iron Chieftain" when she was torpedoed at about 10.30 pm on the night of June 3rd,1942. From some of his memoirs:- "I was awakened about 10.30 pm by a loud explosion and severe concussion, the vessel heeling slightly to starboard. Arriving on deck I saw a cloud of smoke rising on the port side aft about abreast of the funnel (this class of vessel had the engines at the stern) and a strong smell of powder, which confirmed my suspicion that the ship had been torpedoed." The ship sank in about 5 minutes. "The bow of the ship sank shortly after, swamping the boat as it went down, but we bailed the boat out and pulled (rowed) around the wreckage for about one hour and picked up 5 survivors....As we commenced to pull towards the land, one fairly large submarine surfaced about 50 yards from us. We all kept low in the boat in case he fired on us, but after inspecting us he sheered away again. To keep the men warm we decided to keep the oars out and as we could not see any of our rafts, I made a course for land." He was the officer in charge of the ship's starboard lifeboat which landed near Norah Head at daylight on the 5th with 25 persons, the Master & 11 others perished. The land had actually been reached the previous evening but "rather than risk a landing on an unknown beach in the dark I decided to wait until daylight." The Master of the "Iron Chieftain" was Captain L. Haddelsey. The Japanese submarine was the I-24 under the command of Commander Hiroshi Hanabusa, which had been involved in the midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour on the 1st of June,1942 and also was the submarine which shelled Sydney on the night of June 8th.Previously she had been one of 5 submarines which launched midget submarines at Pearl Harbour.
>From a BHP publication:-"On passage from Whyalla to Newcastle, "Iron Knight" was the leading ship in the starboard column of convoy OC68 (Melbourne-Newcastle). This comprised 10 ships, (named),accompanied by the naval escorts HMAS Townsville & HMAS Mildura. When sailing about 15 miles North East of Montague Island, "Iron Knight" was struck under the bridge by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-21.Fully laden with iron ore, the ship sank in approximately 2 minutes with the loss of 36 lives, including the Master, Captain D.Ross." "On the 4th of June, the day following the sinking of "Iron Chieftain", Scott Fell's "Iron Crown", on passage from Whyalla to Port Kembla with BHP iron ore, was torpedoed by the I-27 off Cape Howe (Victoria) and sank with the loss of 38 lives; only 5 crew members surviving." The BHP's "Iron King" was sailing in the opposite direction & witnessed the sinking of the "Crown".
George must have been pretty disgusted with the treatment of MerchantNavy Seaman by the War Department.
The minute the ship was sunk he was off the payroll.
The survivors rowed for three days around the Tasman Sea before they madelandfall at Teriga l NSW. No real effort had been put in to searching forthem.
It had been assumed that the ship went down with all hands.
He was not entitled to any benefits on offer to all other "enlisted"personell in the regula r services. No sick pay, no medical services,etc. With 3 children and a wife to support, it was no wonder he was back at sea within 7 weeks on the first available ship. At wars end he , along with all other Merchant Navy Seaman, was not even offered Repat. benefits.
No wonder he did not bother to collect his service medals.
In Feb 1948 he adopted the following children of Emily Phyllis Coward's
previous marriage to William Leslie SCOTT:
SCOTT James Leslie.Born 3/7/1931 at West Maitland
SCOTT Valerie Caroline.Born 24/5/1933 at West Maitland
SCOTT June.Born 12/5/1935 at Mayfield.(Note:Father of June Scott is actually
George Leslie ANDERSON(RIN1)
Source: Supreme Court of N.S.W. in Equity No.69 of 1948.
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