Evan Desmond Davies - known as Desmond - joined the Merchant Navy in 1942 when he was only 16 years old. His family lived at 4 High Street, Aberystwyth. The choice of the Navy was perhaps not a surprising one for him as his father was both a fisherman and a member of the Aberystwyth lifeboat crew.
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| Desmond in his naval uniform sitting on a defused sea mine on Aberystwyth beach, 1943 or 1944 |
After the outbreak of war in 1939, Desmond was very much affected by seeing the people around him doing whatever they could in various roles to help the war effort. Of course, many people who could do so had joined up, but in Aberystwyth he was impressed by those who were still at home serving in organisations such as the Local Defence Volunteers (later known as the Home Guard), the ARP (Air Raid Precautions), the Auxilliary Fire Service and the RNLI.
The reality of the war was underlined by the fact that in the town many hotels, boarding houses and church halls had been commandeered by the military. The harbour was under the control of the military and many evacuees mainly from the Liverpool area were living in the town. Also based in Aberystwyth was a training wing of the RAF.
One group which had a particular impact on the young Desmond was the members of the British Expeditionary Force who had been evacuated from Dunkirk in June 1940 and came to Aberystwyth to recuperate from their ordeal before being redeployed elsewhere. Desmond got to know some of these men and collected their signatures, messages and drawing in an autograph book. This is a typical entry signed by a member of the BEF, W. Bancroft, and dated 13 June 1940.
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| A page from Desmond's autograph book |
In later life, Desmond had hoped to write a book about his experiences and he made a good start by describing the early impact of the war on him and how he came to join the Merchant Navy. His first real taste of the war came during the school summer holidays of 1940, when he was 14 years old. On August 1st 1940, the had been out fishing for mackerel with his father, Evan James Davies, in their family fishing boat, he Belle Isle. As they landed their catch on the slipway on the Prom at around 7am another local fishing boat, the Emerald Star - whose skipper was Ben White - came in with two RAF airmen aboard and the body of a third.
At about the same time an official of the local RNLI – Colonel J. Rea – arrived and told them that the coastguards had reported seeing an RAF plane firing Verey lights out at sea at around 6am and that the Aberystwyth lifeboat had been told to stand by. The RAF survivors confirmed that they had been a crew of four and, as there was still one man unaccounted for, Col. Rea suggested that he together with Desmond and his father should put out to sea again to search for the missing man.
Desmond remembered:
“When we arrived at a position roughly where Mr White had picked up the three airmen (some two and a half to three miles west of Aberstwyth), a Saro Lerwick flying boat circled above us and then landed on the sea nearby. We went alongside the aircraft and were told by them that from the air that they had seen the body of the fourth man nearby. We followed their directions and found the body, lifted him into the Belle Isle, removed his parachute harness and attempted artificial respiration but sadly to no avail. We then started our return to the beach meeting the Aberystwyth lifeboat, the Frederick Angus, en route. The body of the airman was then transferred to the lifeboat. I was 14 years old.”
He also wrote
“Hardly a week went by without news of someone we knew being killed or wounded including a friend who was in St Michael’s Church choir with me and a cousin. The war seemed to be coming closer to home. Some of the boys I knew had falsified their ages to join up … and I feared that the war would be over before I had had a chance to do my bit. I badgered my father to let me do the same but he, having seen service in the Royal Navy throughout the First World War, had seen the awful realities and would have none of it. Several months later my father came home and told us that he had been talking to a friend of his who was home on leave from the Merchant Navy. Captain Thomas Brodigan of Trefechan was willing to take me on his ship as an Ordinary Seaman. A few days after he had gone back a letter arrived telling me that I was to join his ship the Lotte R in Preston. A couple of days later I went on my first deep sea voyage bound for Iceland. It was an eventful trip dodging U boats and Raiders in awful North Atlantic weather during which Captain Brodigan earned his MBE. I was 16 years old.”
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| The Lottie R |
On his trip to Iceland, Desmond’s rank was that of OS (Ordinary Seaman) but once he had completed his training he was described as EDH (Efficient Deck Hand).
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| The document Desmond received on completing his training as a gunner. |
Desmond was fortunate to survive the war and continued to have an impressive and long career in the Merchant Navy. His war service finished in August 1946 by which time he had served on five different ships. He returned to sea from 1951 to 1953 when he served on seven more ships and then for a final third time in 1977 aged 51 until he finally retired at 65 in 1991. This amounted to a remarkable further thirteen years and 41 voyages.
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| Desmond's discharge certificate from the Merchant Navy in July 1953 at Birkenhead |
Blog by Frances Foley
With thanks to John Evan Davies, Desmond's son, for loan of his father's papers
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