In peril on the sea

STANLEY PATRICK was not the only soldier to survive the sinking of HMS Wakeful in 1940 (Weekend) after the evacuation of Dunkirk.

My father Michael Frazer, Royal Engineers, boarded the ship on May 29, 1940, and went below deck, where he promptly fell asleep.

He was awakened by a sailor and when Dad asked if they had arrived in Dover, the reply was: ‘Tommy, if you don’t get off you will go down with the ship. We’ve been hit.’ He was rescued by HMS Grafton.

Another survivor was Lieutenant Commander Ralph Fisher. From the bridge of the Grafton, he spotted some of his men clinging to Wakeful’s stern, which, like the bow, was poking out from under the water.

While trying to rescue them, Fisher warned the Grafton of the danger she was in if she stayed in that position. No sooner had he finished speaking than the Grafton was hit by one of two torpedoes fired by the U-boat U62. The resulting explosion blasted the ship out of the water.

Fisher was once again swept overboard, but survived. Most of Grafton’s crew and the troops on board were saved and transferred to HMS Javelin.

Dad never told us his full story of his experiences at Dunkirk other than odd snippets and we did not realise the full horror he had seen. He went on to serve in North Africa, Greece and Italy.

Mrs T. IRWING, Sunderland.