A very rare Second World War “Operation Harpoon” C.B.E., Lloyd’s Medal for Bravery group of eight awarded to Captain W. G. Harrison, Merchant Navy, Master of the S.S. Troilus: few Malta convoys, “Pedestal” included, were as heavily contested as “Harpoon”

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Civil) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, in its Garrard & Co. Ltd. case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals; Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea (Captain W. G. Harrison, S.S. “Troilus”, 12th June 1942), in its fitted case of issue, with campaign medal forwarding slip in unlabelled card box, nearly extremely fine (8) £3000-3500

C.B.E. London Gazette 22 December 1942. The joint citation with Captain N. Rice and other crew members of their respective commands, the S.S. Troilus and the S.S. Orari, states:

‘The two ships took part in an important convoy to Malta [“Operation Harpoon”]. During the passage they were subjected to enemy attack on a very heavy scale. As always in such operations, the Merchant Navy played a most gallant part, and it was due to the courage and devotion of the Officers and men concerned that relief was brought to the beleaguered garrison [of Malta]. The ships, one of them being the Commodore’s, were exceptionally well handled throughout by their Masters. The gunnery was excellent, many attacks were driven off and much damage was caused to enemy aircraft ...’

And the original recommendation states:

‘Captain Harrison, though quiet, is a man of great character. He is quite unruffled under all circumstances and by his example instils confidence in others. From a diversity of characters he has produced a very efficient team of officers who are exceptionally easy to work with.

Throughout the voyage [“Operation Harpoon”] I found Captain Harrison’s co-operation invaluable, and the efficiency of his ship contributed largely to the safe arrival of Troilus and Orari at Malta.’

Just 50 C.B.Es were awarded to Officers of the Merchant Navy in the Second World War.

Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea Lloyd’s List and Shipping Gazette 31 August 1943. The joint citation with Captain N. Rice of the S.S. Orari states:

‘The two ships were engaged in a vital convoy operation [“Harpoon”] by which essential supplies were taken to Malta. During the voyage they were subjected to heavy and incessant air attacks and were for a time engaged by enemy surface ships until these were driven off by the escort. The gunnery was excellent, many attacks being repulsed and much damage was done to enemy aircraft. Captain Harrison and Captain Rice handled their ships with great skill and determination throughout the engagements, and their splendid example inspired all on board.’

Walter Gordon Harrison was no stranger to the dangers of enemy air attack, having already served with distinction in the evacuation of British troops from France in June 1940, on that occasion as a Master of the S.S. Glenaffaric. Having embarked troops at Brest, he took the Glenaffaric south down the Biscay coast, first to Quiberon Bay and thence to St. Nazaire, at which latter place, on 17 June, the Lufwaffe was much in evidence. As confirmed in a letter of thanks from the War Office to the Chairman of the Holt Line, Harrison showed great skill and coolness in subsequently getting clear with a final tally of some 4,000 soldiers:

‘On an ebb tide and without pilot or tugs, the ship was skilfully and safely brought into the quay, where the embarkation of the remaining troops was quickly carried out. After a trying night, during which the town was raided twice by enemy aircraft, the ship was brought out of the harbour under the most adverse conditions and, the convoy already having departed, the Master proceeded unescorted to a British port [Plymouth]. Our men pay glowing tribute to the cheerful manner and quiet confidence displayed by Captain Harrison ...’

Glenaffaric returned to the Bay of Biscay shortly afterwards, this time with a volunteer crew of ratings, but with Harrison still in command, in a valiant effort to repeat her earlier accomplishment. Turned away by the French authorities at Bordeaux, Harrison continued south to St. Jean de Luz, ‘keeping close inshore all the time and watching for any parties of soldiers they might be able to rescue’ (A Merchant Fleet in War, by Captain S. W. Roskill, R.N., refers). At length, however, she returned empty handed.

We next find mention of Harrison in Roskill’s account under tragic circumstances:

‘When he [Harrison] reported at the head office for his ‘outward interview’ prior to the Malta convoy operation of June 1942, he had just received word that his son, who was serving in Bomber Command of the Royal Air Force, had not returned from a night operation over Germany. Mr. Lawrence Holt at once offered to find another Master for the Troilus: but Captain Harrison insisted on sailing with the ship.’

Thus it was that Harrison became embrolied in “Operation Harpoon”, both he and the Troilus receiving suitable recognition in Roskill’s extensive account of that desperately fought Malta convoy:

‘The convoy set out from the Clyde for Gibraltar on 5th June [1942] and the first part of the voyage was comparatively uneventful. By the morning of the 12th all forces had passed safely into the Mediterranean ... The first serious action took place on the morning of the 14th, when about forty torpedo and dive-bombers from Sardinian airfields attacked in two waves. A furious air battle developed around the convoy: but the carrier-borne fighters and the A.-A. gunners in the warships and merchantmen put up a very resolute defence, and only one of the convoy was lost. The Troilus’s Third Mate, Mr. D. A. Keller, whose action station was on the bridge, saw her port Oerlikon shoot down one torpedo-bomber, and the 12-pounder gun scored a direct hit on a dive-bomber, which broke in two. Later in the forenoon and again in the evening Italian high-level bombers made a new series of attacks, and several sticks fell very close to the Troilus. But she suffered no damage beyond a severe shaking. Shortly after sunset that day (the 14th) the convoy reached the entrance to the Skerki Channel, and the heavy ships of the escort turned back for Gibraltar. One A.-A. cruiser, nine destroyers and four minesweepers carried on with the merchantmen. To attack in the evening or morning twilight, when the defences were handicapped by the reduced visibility, was always a favourite enemy tactic, and before it had become dark that evening the Troilus had a very narrow escape. While she was silhouetted against the western sky a heavy bomber suddenly swooped down on her out of the gloaming and dropped a stick of heavy bombs, all of which fell close along her port side. Again she was severely shaken and showered in a cascade of water. But her machinery had been well designed, and her engineers kept her moving. The ship’s gunners had no time to open fire before the bombs were dropped, but as the aircraft pulled out of its dive they replied with all their weapons and had the satisfaction of seeing their assailant crash and burst into flames ...’

After dark the convoy rounded Cape Bon, turning to the south-east towards Malta, but early the following morning, on approaching Pantellaria Island, a new threat loomed up on the horizon - the Italian Navy. Roskill continues:

‘An Italian squadron, consisting of two cruisers and five destroyers, was suddenly sighted coming in from the north, and very soon shells began to fall around the merchantmen. The British destroyers at once moved out to attack, while the Commodore turned the convoy away to the south, and ordered all ships to make smoke. Unfortunately at this critical moment a series of dangerous air attacks took place, just when the escort had been depleted in order to deal with the Italian warships. One merchantman was sunk, and the only tanker in the convoy was damaged and had to be taken in tow by one of the escorts. As soon as the threat from the enemy warships appeared to have subsided the Commodore turned the surviving ships back towards Malta ... But the convoy was allowed no breathing space, air attacks were soon renewed and another merchantman disabled. The Senior Officer of the escort now decided that his best chance of getting the two comparatively undamaged ships (the Troilus and the New Zealand Shipping Company’s Orari) through to their destination lay in concentrating all his diminished strength on protecting them ... In the afternoon and evening there were more air attacks, but the fighters from Malta were now able to reach the convoy, and no more losses were suffered until the long ordeal was almost ended. In the early hours of the 16th, when just outside Malta, the convoy ran into a minefield. The Troilus caught one mine in her port paravane, the Orari was damaged by another, and no less than four ships of the dwindling escort also struck mines. Though a destroyer was lost, the two merchantmen and the survivors of the escort, nearly all of which were damaged in greater or lesser degree, managed to struggle into harbour - to be subjected to yet another air attack as they were docking ...’

Air raid or no air raid, the reception awaiting the two merchantmen was momentous, as John Slader describes in The Fourth Service, Merchantmen at War 1939-45:

‘Orari and Troilus with some 20,000 tons of supplies on board, were given a rapturous welcome by Maltese crowded on the ramparts of Valetta. Lord Leathers, Minister of War Transport, sent a message to the two masters: ‘I congratulate you on your gallant conduct in delivering vital goods to Malta. Please convey congratulations and best wishes to all on board.’ During the fifty-four days Orari was under repair she was subjected to 289 raids, yet day and night the repair work proceeded.’

Roskill concludes:

‘As for the Troilus herself, she had encountered and overcome ‘the violence of the enemy’ in every possible form - torpedo, high-level, low-level and dive-bombing from the air, submarine attacks, an action with enemy surface forces, and, in the final hours, the hidden menace of mines. But her crew had defended their ship with the utmost resolution and devotion ...’

However, this was not the end of Troilus’s saga, for inevitably she had to return to the U.K. And the time selected for her breakout from Malta was deliberately set at the same moment “Operation Pedestal” was in progress. Roskill continues the story:

‘The little convoy sailed at dusk on 10th August [1942], twelve hours after the “Pedestal” ships had slipped through the Gibraltar Straits shrouded by friendly fog, and set course to the south. During the night all four ships painted Italian colours on their forecastle heads, and at dawn they hoisted Italian ensigns. Guns’ crews were kept handy but out of sight, since the little group was simulating an Italian convoy returning to its home ports from Tripoli. The ruse seems to have been successful, since hostile aircraft several times flew close around the ships, but did not attack. After dark on the 11th, when rounding Cape Bon, a warship, which was probably French, approached and challenged. On receiving no reply she opened fire, but the leading destroyer replied, hit her and drove her off. The French batteries on Cape Bon must also have sighted the convoy, and Captain Harrison expected them to engage his ship as they had done when the Deucalion passed that way during her escape from Malta in August 1941. But for some unexplained reason the shore guns remained silent. That night the order was given to scrub off the Italian colours painted on the ships’ decks: but one destroyer, which had used oil instead of water paint, was unable to remove her disguise - a mistake which may have had the fortunate result of confusing hostile aircraft which were still around, and so saved the merchantmen from unpleasant attentions. British colours were now rehoisted, the convoy passed south of Galita Island, and thenceforth any aircraft which approached in an unfriendly manner were engaged. That day, the 12th, the Troilus’s men heard the sounds of heavy firing, which undoubtedly came from the battle then in progress around “Pedestal” convoy away to the north; but she herself continued on her way unmolested to arrive at Gibraltar on the 14th. Next day she and the Orari sailed homewards, still with an escort of two destroyers. Heavy weather was encountered in the Bay of Biscay, a brief action was fought with a German bomber to the west of Brest, and there were numerous submarine alarms ... However, all went well, and on the 21st August Captain Harrison berthed his ship in Liverpool to complete as adventurous a voyage as was made by any Holt ship during the war.’

Postscript
‘The British steamship Troilus, on a voyage from Colombo to Aden and Liverpool, was torpedoed and sunk by a submarine on 31 August 1944, about 250 miles E. of Socotra Island. Four of her crew and two passengers were lost.’

[A Dictionary of Disasters at Sea refers].