PORT WYNDHAM

My father Jack Brummitt was on this ship during world war 2. He was a Leading Seaman in the Royal Navy in charge of the armaments fitted to her . He was on board when it was attacked by the Focke Wulf bomber and remembers the machine gunning the boat. They came in right down at water level so none of the ships armaments could get low enough to fire on them. He will be 99 years old next week but still remembers the ship very well.

My father ( Brian Gingell) was on the Port Wyndham in the months before March 1942 when he was discharged in Liverpool. He was 17 and it was his first ship. I can see the list of ports it went to before his discharge but if only I knew where he embarked it might help me work out where he actually grew up (he was very secretive about everything in his past). It must have been so terrifying for your father to be on board and to be attacked by the bombers - leaving an indelible imprint. Thanks for telling his story!

In 1963 maybe 1964 our family sailed from Savanna Ga down through the Panama Canal and onto Brisbane Australia. We were on our way to New Guinea as missionaries. Awesome weather most all the way. I was only 13 at the time.

My Dad, Allan Cole, was an Engineer on board the trip they were attacked by the Focke Wulf. Dad never said much about his Merchant Marine service but this is a story I have - "they were not in a convoy and it was rough weather. She was a refrigerated ship and had carried NZ lamb and butter to Liverpool UK and were on route to New York. Dad was on deck washing his socks in a bucket when the lone FW Condor attacked them 700 miles from Ireland. He and another sailor dived inside for cover." We still have the ships' flag - with bullet holes - from that event. Dad said the Captain told him to "get that flag down - it will be shredded in the wind" so Dad souvenired it!