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Index for Personal Stories on AHOY
Work in progress
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Into The Maelstrom - The Wreck of the Rohilla by Colin Brittain
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 The angle at which the Rohilla was jammed on the Scar presented her broadside to the waves. Her bow had risen over the edge of the rock forcing the stern lower into the water, the sea constantly washed over the well decks and spray was thrown high above the height of the bridge. Captain Neilson ordered all hands to lifeboat stations but five unfortunate seamen were known to have been washed overboard and drowned as they made their way to posts. With twenty lifeboats there were more than enough places for those on board, provided that the boats could be launched. Read the article.
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Saved by Walter Schmietenknop
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 U-767 was detected by the British Support Group 14. Fame attacked. She reported 2-3 hits at 95 feet, and U-767 was doomed, sinking in 240 feet of water.
Only one crew member from her complement of 50 escaped, and this was Walter Schmietenknop. He was picked up by HMS Fame and now tells his remarkable story, "Saved."
Read the article.
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Athenia Manuscript authored by Judith Evelyn
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Judith's Manuscript ( tied up with ribbon ) covered her sailing, being sunk, and rescued from the liner Athenia, in the first casualty of the WW2 U-Boat war in the Atlantic. The ship was sunk by U-30 on Sunday the 3rd.of September 1939 the very first day that WW2 had been declared.
93 passengers and 19 crew members died. Read the article.
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Meet Mac news paper article
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 This interview featured in the Melbourne morning paper The Herald Sun dated today, Tuesday the 11th. of April 2006, Anzac Day is on the 25th, and the paper is wanting to involve schools in a competition to promote that day. Read the article.
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We Remember. Bob Quinn, a Scottish friend, a contributor to AHOY, who died suddenly on the 24th. of February 2005
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 At my first contact with Bob, he was 80, legally blind, but had recently discovered the computer, and was willing to share his time in Australia etc with the Welfreigher Project. Over the ensuing period we quickly developed a close relationship, our mutual wartime Naval Service providing a strong bond, we talked via E-Mails almost daily. I felt I had known this strong character for a long long time, and he became a dear friend. Read the article.
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Interview with Willy Schruefer, sailor in Ramses, captured by HMAS Adelaide
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 In 1942 whilst serving as a Sub Lieutenant RAN in the Australian Light Cruiser HMAS Adelaide protecting a convoy in company with the Dutch Cruiser Heemskerck, we came across a Merchant Ship which proved to be the German Blockade Runner Ramses. A combination of our shells and scuttling charges sank this ship. We picked up all her survivors. In 2003, I was contacted by an American freelance journalist working in Germany Ward Carr, who had interviewed in the Spring of 2002, Willy Schruefer, who was a sailor ex the Ramses. This means that back in November 1942, both Willy, now a Prisoner of War, and myself were both in HMAS Adelaide at the same time. Read the article.
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H.M.A.S. Canberra and the Battle of Savo Island
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 I hurried to my action station in the fore control - there was an explosion amidships, we were hit on the 4" gundeck, the Walrus aircraft was blazing fiercely on the catapult. A shell exploded on the port side just below the compass platform and another just aft of the fore control. The plotting office received a direct hit. The shell that demolished the port side of the compass platform mortally wounded the Captain, killed Lieutenant Commander Hole, the Gunnery Officer, wounded Lieutenant Commander Plunkett-Cole, the Torpedo Officer and severely wounded Midshipmen Bruce Loxton and Noel Sanderson. Read the article.
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Letters and other correspondence
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September 1939 brought the outbreak of the Second World War and Capt. Downer laid aside his British India uniform for that of the Royal Navy. His service was mainly in corvettes and frigates, first taking part in anti-submarine patrols off Norway in the Narvik area, and then in the Western Approaches, based at Liverpool and Birkenhead. 
