The day Desmond Peter McDonagh cheated death

MAY 1954: A SKERRIES man has spoken of his escape from a burning ship near Algiers.

Desmond Peter McDonough (32) went to London in 1940 and joined the Cunard White Star Line in 1946 and served as a steward on the Queen Elizabeth for five years.

He then left and joined the New Zealand Shipping Co Ltd and was posted to the ‘Empire Windrush’ and visited Hong Kong, Singapore, Aden, etc. He spends three months at sea and six weeks on shore.

On his last trip, the ship visited Kure in Japan, where there is a major American Naval Base.

It was while sailing toward Algiers that Desmond was involved in a dramatic incident recently.

‘I was awoken by a strong smell of burning rubber and looked out and saw the fire fighting crew running into action,’ he states.

He went to his emergency station and waited as 1400 men, women and children were embarked onto the lifeboats.

Then the ‘abandon ship’ call came across the tannoy and all floatable items were thrown overboard as the fire raged.

The crew slid down ropes into the cold water.

‘It was early in the morning and we were about 80 miles North East of Algiers. I spotted a few soldiers in the water in a bit of difficulty and pushed some timber over towards them to help them stay afloat,’Desmond recalled.

After an hour he was finally taken on board a lifeboat, launched by a rescue ship.

He was then taken on board the P and O ship, ‘Socratra’ and four hours later landed in Algiers.

He was then flown back to London and stayed with his sister, Mrs Fagan in Hampstead and returned to Skerries soon after.

‘I lost everything I own on the ship,’ he stated.