|
Letters
Ken Cartwright one of the survivors aboard the Curacoa in her collision with Queen Mary Hi, my name is James Bourne.I recently witnessed one of your web discussions relating to the Curacoa and Queen Mary disaster of 1942. I thought maybe you would be interested to know my Grandfather is one of the survivors aboard the Curacoa. His name is Ken Cartwright. He is currently alive aged 84 years.
Thank you for that, I am always delighted to learn of a survivor from a tragedy at sea, and the QM chopping the British light cruiser Curacoa in two was a nasty incident in WW2. It is good news that your Grandfather is still going strong at 84, please give him my best wishes, could he give us his account of that fateful day, that we might share on AHOY ? I have recently had my 85th. birthday, and being sunk in HMAS Canberra in 1942, I can imagine a little of the trauma your Grandfather experienced.
Best wishes.
Thank you for your response to my email, I have spoken to my Grandfather and passed on your best wishes, he Say's Thank You very much and is delighted someone is interested. My apologies, his age is 85 and he has many stories to tell. I will ask him for the full story again for you as he is a Hero in our eye's and I remember he Tell's it like the Titanic. How the water was so cold and many lost their lives through hypothermia. He was in the ship at the time of collision and all went dark, he remembers the horrific noise as the water hit the engines then the cold silence. He does not go into to much detail but I'm sure he will now he has had this response, I remember him telling of the frightening screams which he still remembers fresh in his mind and always will, he said there was a lot of oil in the water which covered them and it helped protect from the cold a little. Then there was the long wait for rescue at which time he held on to a friend as long as he could but unfortunately the oil made it hard to keep a grip and he kept sinking until eventually hypothermia set in and he could not hold on any longer. It is very Traumatic to hear the full story and very sad, when any film is on TV like Pearl Harbor for example I think of my Grandfather and all that he had to go through any experience like this, and it breaks my heart as it really brings it home to me. Like I said He is a Hero, and if it wasn't for him and others we wouldn't be here today which I am very,very grateful for. I am sorry for you to have had a similar experience and how great your are here to tell the tale. Once again many thanks Regards |
