John (Jack) Maddock (submitted by his son, Clive Maddock)
John (Jack) Maddock, age 20, was the 12th. Electrical Officer on the HMT Pasteur from 1940 to 1941. He was then transferred to the HMT Grey Stoke Castle (re-named after the war to "The Freetown"). Notations from his diary and the following photographs are from his personal collection and submitted by his son, Clive Maddock.
Pasteur making ready to sail to New York for Canada from France. Port location unknown, date is sometime in 1940.
The 3-stacker in front of the Pasteur is a French destroyer.
(Mr. Maddock's son Clive Maddock writing) "...The two photos of the Pasteur with the French destroyer where taken in unusual circumstances by the French Crew who gave them to my father. The ship sailed shortly afterwards on her maiden voyage to New York. I am not sure if the French destroyer went with her as escort or not.
Children's dining and play area.
The chapel.
Promenade deck.
Tennis courts.
Club and games deck.
Menu, May 24th., 1942
Dock pass, May 22nd., 1941
Neptune certificate. Given out upon crossing the Equator, March 14th. 1942
The following is from Mr. Maddock's personal diary:
Sunday 27th October 1940. QSTS PASTEUR in Huskinson Dock after fitting out at Camel Lairds as a Royal Navy Troop Ship. 4" guns fore and aft two antiaircraft guns amidships upper deck.
Monday 28th October 1940. Leave Huskinson Dock and tie up at the landing stage pier head Liverpool all shore leave cancelled.
Tuesday 29th October 1940. Troops loaded all day, Army , Navy and Air Force.
Wednesday 30th October 1940. Left Liverpool 8.30am and arrive River Clyde opposite Greenock at 9pm. Escort consisted of 2 planes of coastal command , 2 Destroyers, Sea rough and green.
Thursday 31st October 1940. Left Clyde at 2pm weather cold but sunny, escort consisted of The Ark Royal, Cruiser Glasgow and four destroyers, /sea rough.
Friday 1st November 1940. 3.45pm destroyers drop depth charges and we pass north coast of Ireland. Sea stormy.
Sat 2nd November 1940. Raining and stormy HMS Berwick and another destroyer join escort.
Sunday 3rd November 1940. Weather warmer sea calmer, going to Gibraltar the long way round.
Monday 4th November 1940. Escort have gunnery practice. Escort now consists. 1 Aircraft Carrier, 3 Cruisers, 6 Destroyers. joined by another Cruiser HMS London and 2 destroyers.
Wednesday 6th November 1940. Enter Gibraltar 5pm town all lit up no black out, Spain and African coast clearly seen and also lit.
Thursday 7th November 1940. No Shore Leave, Weather hot, No blackout at night. Anchored 50yards from Spanish shore line.
Friday 8th November 1940. still in Gibraltar no shore leave, air raid sounded but no planes seen.
Saturday 9th November 1940. Left Gibraltar 6 pm. Air raid warnings sounded all day.
Sunday 10th November 1940. Going at full speed with no escort.
From the 10th to the 14th the Pasteur averaged 20 knots with no escort arriving in the Clyde at 3am on the 14th and anchored opposite Greenock.
Friday 15th November 1940. Take on Australian Troops.
Saturday 16th November 1940. Troops taken off. Pasteur going into Glasgow for repairs.
Sunday 17th November 1940. Shore leave allowed.
Saturday 23rd November 1940. Pasteur moved to Greenock.
Wednesday 27th November 1940. Leave Clyde at 3pm. Two engines fail . one repaired at sea.
Thursday 28th November 1940. 3 engines now running, Escort sank a submarine at 10.30am. 10.45am engines fail again 80 miles off the Irish coast. Stranded 3 hours in the danger zone and we passed lifeboats and other debris. Another submarine sank by the escort at 1pm.
Friday 29th November 1940. Escorts leave while we make repairs, one destroyer sunk by torpedo shortly after leaving. We are with the Cape Town Castle who stayed with us.
Saturday 30th November 1940. to 4th December 1940 traveling to Canada unescorted.
Wednesday 4th December 1940. Arrive at Halifax Nova Scotia 7am Snow and ice very bad.
Stayed in Halifax from the 4th to 16th December 1940. Pictures showing at the cinemas seats cost 55c. "Before I Hang" "Orpheus" "I Married Adventure" "Jesse James" "Arise my Love"
Monday 16th December 1940. Leave Halifax at 8.30am with two destroyers, Cape Town Castle and two other ships.
Tuesday 17th December 1940. Weather very bad, ports smashed by waves and had to stop for ? hour
Wednesday 18th December 1940. Now in convoy with Cape Town Castle, HMS Royal Sovereign, HMS Pennland, one destroyer and a motor vessel loaded with TNT.
Saturday 21st December 1940. HMS Royal Sovereign leaves the convoy, The Pasteur is now the convoy flag ship.
Monday 23rd December 1940. Motor ship breaks down with TNT aboard. Cape Town Castle wont stop and gets bombed and machine gunned 20 miles further on. We wait with motor ship all night but have to leave her Christmas Eve morning as it is getting too dangerous. Hebrides light house on starboard side at 4pm and coastal command give us an escort. German bombers reported to be looking for us.
Tuesday 24th December 1940. Enter the Clyde and anchor near boom defense. On leave for Christmas
24th March 1941 Left Clyde for Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Coast of Africa at 11pm.
Friday 4th April 1941. Arrive Freetown at 12 noon.
Monday 7th April 1941. Leave Freetown 2.35pm for Cape Town.
Wednesday 9th April 1941. Crossed Equator for the first time at 3pm.
Wednesday 16th April 1941. Arrive Cape Town 11am
Sunday 20th April 1941. Left Cape Town for the Suez
Monday 28th April 1941. Crossed the Equator for the second time at 12 noon
Thursday 12th May 1941 Enter the Gulf of Aden and passed through Hells Gates.
Friday 2nd May 1941. Bury Sergeant Major at sea in the Red Sea.
Sunday 4th May 1941. Passed the 12 Apostles in the Red Sea
Tuesday 6th May 1941. Arrive Suez at 10 am
Wednesday 7th May 1941. Tie up alongside Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth
Sunday 11th May 1941. Leave Suez at 6.13 am homeward bound.
Tuesday 13th May 1941. Passed the Mauritania, Aquatania, and Isle De France at 6am in the Red Sea.
Wednesday 14th May 1941. Gulf of Aden
Thursday 15th May 1941. Indian Ocean.
Friday 16th May 1941. Crossed the Equator in the Indian Ocean for the third time.
Wednesday 21st May 1941. Stopped opposite East London waiting for HMT Andes.
Thursday 22nd May 1941. Arrive Cape Town 6am.
Friday 23rd May 1941. Leave Cape Town at 4pm for Trinidad West Indies.
Saturday 24th May 1941. In South Atlantic.
Sat.31st May 1941. Crossed the equator for the fourth time at 1am.
Tuesday 3rd June 1941. Arrive Port of Spain Trinidad.
Wednesday 4th June 1941. Leave at 5am for St John New Brunswick Canada..
Sunday 8th June 1941. Anchored in Bay of Funday St John New Brunswick.
Monday 9th June 1941. Enter St John.
Sunday 15th June 1941. Try to enter dry dock but have to go back due to fog.
Monday 16th June 1941. Another try at the dry dock but the fog returns.
Tuesday 17th June 1941. Give up trying to dry dock.
Wednesday 18th June 1941. Leave St John in fog for Halifax Nova Scotia.
Thursday 19th June 1941. Arrive at Halifax in thick fog.
Saturday 21st June 1941. Sail for England in fog and ice.
Friday 27th June 1941. Passed over turned boats and debris in Atlantic.
Monday 30th June 1941. Arrive in the Clyde at 7 am and anchor.
Saturday 26th July 1941. Transferred to the Greystoke Castle in Gladstone Dock Liverpool.
Thursday 31st July Sailed on the Greystoke Castle at 5am from Liverpool.
Sunday 17th August 1941. At Anchor in Bermuda.
Friday 22nd August 1941. Arrive Cristobel.
Saturday 23rd August 1941. Pass through Panama Canal.
Sunday 24th August 1941. Enter the Pacific Ocean.
Sunday 21st September 1941. Arrive Melbourne Australia.
Friday 26th September 1941. Leave Melbourne for Sidney.
Monday 29th September 1941. Arrive Sidney.
Saturday 18th October 1941. Leave Australia for England
Sunday 9th November 1941. Pick up fake QQQ from a German Raider. Admiralty reports a German submarine working in the Panama area using a Japanese supply ship.
Thursday 13th November 1941. Sub sinks ship behind us we pick up QQQ.
Friday 14th November 1941. Arrive Bilboa at 5pm
Saturday 15th November 1941. Pass through Panama Canal 5.30 pm
Sunday 16th November 1941. Leave Panama
Friday 21st November 1941. Sight a ship giving no recognised signal and not changing course as two ships are supposed to do. Send QQQ and get an answer from a Bermudan ship and she changes course.
Tuesday 25th November 1941. Arrive Halifax.
Wednesday 3rd December 1941. Greystoke Castle leaves Halifax as Commodore ship with an Admiral and staff on board.
Sunday 7th December 1941. Corvette in collision with another ship in convoy only 15 crew saved. Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
Monday 8th December 1941.Destroyers drop depth charges and orders all guns to be loaded ready for firing
Tuesday 9th December 1941. Reports coming in on the radio of Japanese planes flying over San Francisco and New York has an air raid alarm.
Wednesday 10th December 1941. Radio report of the sinking of the HMS Price of Wales and the Repulse near Singapore.
Thursday 11th December 1941. Cyclone hits the convoy and the destroyers are trying to keep the ships together. The Cyclone stays until Wednesday 17th December 1941.
Friday 19th December 1941. Arrive at the Clyde Holy Lock.
Additional remarks by Mr. Maddock:
The Pasteur left France for New York with a German captain and German first officer and a mixed crew on arriving in New York they and the crew deserted the ship leaving only the French Chief Engineer and French Electrical Engineer and the French Chef. The Electrical Engineer was killed when the power control panel exploded when the ship sailed for Canada.
The claim that the French Gold was on the ship was denied by the remaining French Crew as the ships hold was empty when it left New York for Canada under the British Flag.
(His son, Clive Maddock writing) "I asked him about how the British took charge of the Pasteur and he is (adamant) that the ship was taken over in New York when the crew abandoned her, I also asked him about the gold she was supposed to have on board and he said that the remaining French crew denied any knowledge of the gold and the ships holds were empty."
"My father is a bit unclear about how he joined the ship in New York I think he sailed on the Mauritania to New York, but he is definite that the French Electrician was killed on the journey to Canada from New York when the electrical control panel exploded."