Merchant Navy Radio Officers

Don Verdin, Radio Officer, 1944-47

 Don Verdin lived in Wallasy, Merseyside, and was late getting into the war. He was employed in the shipyards, building ships for the Navy and Merchant Navy. Although he tried to leave, the government would not release him because he was in a reserved occupation. Finally in 1944, he got permission to study at the Liverpool Radio College. He then presented his certificate to his employer, and was released.

     He signed up with Marconi, and joined his first ship, the commodore ship, ss Mahana (Shaw Savill line, sailing under the Cunard flag). They sailed out into the Atlantic to rendezvous with a convoy. The voyage was uneventful, except for a few floating mines, and distress calls received from ships to the north of the convoy.

     When he returned to Southampton from New York, he was sent to Canada as a passenger on the Alcantara. This ship was carrying hundreds of injured military personnel back to Canada and the USA. In Canada, he was sent to Three Rivers,  Quebec, to join the MV Trevince of Haines of Cardiff, a ship that had run aground on Anticosti Island.

     His next ship was a Liberty ship, the Samur, which sailed up the Weser River to Bremen, Germany. When the ship glided over an acoustic minefield, the ship's engines were cut and the men were told not to make any noise. His next ship was the Baltara. His last ship was another Liberty ship, the Samaritan, under Cunard. When they were returning from Cuba with a cargo of sugar, the ship was badly damage in a raging storm in the Atlantic. The crew pumped water from No. Four hold for three days, and saved all but 100 tons of sugar. The ship reached port, where it was repaired and renamed the name Vandahlia.

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In 1948, Don emigrated to Canada.

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