A colourful patchwork of houses paints a peaceful portrait of Tobermory on the Scottish Isle of Mull. Once the location for the BBC children’s programme Balamory, the picturesque fishing harbour was a very different place in 1942 when Ordinary Signalman Brooks arrived. During the opening months of the ‘phoney war’, combatants in the Battle of…
Whilst training at Western Isles Signalman Brooks briefly joined HMT Tranquil (FY 920) from 23rd April 1942 to 29th April 1942 under command of Temporary Lieutenant William Postlethwaite, RNR. Launched in 1912 as the Good Luck (1497), HMT Tranquil was a converted minesweeping trawler, one of many requisitioned by the admiralty in 1939. On 2nd November 1940, T/ Ltnt. William…
Also known as HMT Ephreta, the Admiralty Steam Drifter Ephretah was built at Oulton Broad, Lowestoft in 1918 named Quicksand. She was one of the many pre-war trawlers requisitioned by The Admiralty for minesweeper or anti-submarine work. The trawler, though not an ideal anti-submarine craft, was a cheap and accessible resource for that duty. The guns they…
For the next 14 months (26 July 1942 until 11 October 1943) Signalman Brooks served under Skipper Jack Mawer RNR aboard HMT Windermere (FY 207.) HMT Windermere belonged to the Lake Class of anti-submarine whalers. There were six in the class, originally designed and built as commercial Norwegian whalers but taken over by the Admiralty…
Hostilities Only Signalman Brooks would see out the remaining months of the war on the minesweeping trawler HMT Celia (T134). Aside from brief spells attached to the trawler depot ship HMS Marshall Salt and five days back at Sparrow’s Nest, HMT Celia was home from June 28th 1944 until February 11th 1946. Celia was one of 12 ships of the Shakespeare Class trawler. She…
The ‘Instrument of Surrender’ that concluded the end of hostilities of World War 2 was signed at Reims at 02:41 Central European Time (CET) on 7 May 1945. The signing took place in a red brick schoolhouse, the Collège Moderne et Technique de Reims which served as the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. It was…
