Arbroath man torpedoed by the Japanese tells story of remarkable survival

Sandy Davidson set off for his first voyage as an apprentice sailor for the Merchant Navy from Glasgow to New York in June 1943 when he was just 17.

His ship, the Larchbank, was loaded with two motor torpedo boats in New York for delivery to Calcutta, and travelled in a convoy.

However, their luck ran out on September 9 1943 when the Larchbank was hit by one of two torpedoes fired by Japanese submarine I 27.

The ship sank quickly, with no time to send a radio signal. It took one of the lifeboats with it, and Mr Davidson found himself in the sea.

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It was just a huge whale surfacing nearthe boat. SANDY DAVIDSON

With the prospect of a shark attack at any moment, and the danger of being machine-gunned by the submarine, Sandy was hauled aboard a lifeboat.

With nothing but a compass, and limited supplies of food and water, they made for Sri Lanka, although they hoped to be picked up by a ship.

Sharks stalked the boat for 11 days, while the wind from the monsoon in the south west allowed the men to sail an average of just 24 miles per day.

After nearly two weeks at sea, the crew believed a submarine was surfacing near the lifeboat.

“We ripped off our insignia as we knew we could be shot if it was an enemy vessel,” said Sandy. “But it was just a huge whale surfacing near the boat.”

The men were down to their last day of food and water when they spotted land on the horizon on September 28.

After 19 days at sea they grounded on a beach at Sri Lanka.

The crew, by now extremely weak, crawled ashore on their hands and knees. Locals gave them food and water, collecting coconuts so they could drink the milk from them.

Mr Davidson continued: “As the day wore on they obviously decided something should be done about us. So, with an islander under each, arm we set off.

“We went through jungle and across the railways lines and ended up in a police station.”

Of the 69 crew members, just 23 had survived.

After returning to the UK Sandy continued his career in the Merchant Navy, reaching the rank of captain before he retired in 1986.

In 2013, exactly 70 years after he first landed on the beach, Sandy made an emotional return to Sri Lanka with his son Neil. They revisited the spot where he first made land.