Anti-Submarine Trawlers in WW2: William Gordon and Shipmates

My father, William Gordon, died in 1973 without really talking much about his time in the Navy, though it was obvious he liked boats. During my childhood he was always up for a trip on a ferry, or a rowing or motor boat when we went on trips to the Clyde coast. We didn't have much money, otherwise I'm sure he would have bought one.

William Gordon on the left

I don't have his service record, so timeframes are approximate (unless I have a specific date for something). I don't know when he signed up, but I know he was at HMS Royal Arthur shore establishment to start with (see photo above). He had training at the Royal Navy School of Cooking at HMS Europa in Lowestoft, and other training, perhaps at Chatham. He always said he was a gunner/cook, but more likely, cook/gunner.

My father getting taught how to make a pasty

The RNPS consisted of the smaller boats, minesweepers, auxiliary vessels, patrol boats and so on. The trawlers and drifters were used as minesweepers (M/S) or for anti-submarine duties (A/S), also known by the abbreviation ASW (Anti Submarine Warfare).

My father's first boat was Harvest Reaper which was an old drifter used for minesweeping and harbour defence. At that time he was based in Belfast. He then was posted to a bigger vessel the trawler HMT Imperialist, which was part of the 7th Anti-Submarine group based in Gibraltar. After that he then moved on to the HMT Haarlem, which was similar in size to the Imperialist. He was on the Haarlem at least from 1944 to 1945 as there is a photo of the ship's football team with him at centre-forward.

After the war he returned to Paisley where he met my mother, who had been a cook in the WRNS, and they married in 1950. She obviously didn't think much of his cooking, assuming he ever did any for her, because, as a child, I don't remember him cooking anything at all!

Petty Officer Christina Mitchell

In the pages of this blog there are photos from the Imperial War Museum and other sources. However, my father was a keen amateur photographer, and apart from the usual studio photos, some of the photos below from his album could have been taken by him. There are some photos where the ship is known but he hadn't identified the men. And there are men whose names have been noted down but not which ship they were on. Then there are a few photos which have no information at all.

But I've added all the album photos to the blog.