14 Dec 1941, Colin McEwan Diary

During the morning Mike and Tai having to go out to H.Q. I spent the time at Punjabi H.Q. I just returned from there to find a telephone call to report back to meet Tai who drove me up to the Middlesex H.Q. in Leighton Hill. (Mike O’Conner’s house) Evidently a ship lying off Taikoo Docks – M’sex area – had been boarded by an observation party of Japs. and, for some reason, never clearly defined, shell fire could not be brought to bear on it. Here was our chance to try out our “toys” and by some curious twist this problem was the very one set me during our training course. Time, however, was short. The “toys” had to be made ready and no reconnaissance had been carried out nor indeed had we identified our object.

At Taikoo things happened with a rush. Contacting Chris Mann who was in command of that special area we reached the docks – a strange contrast from their usual appearance – quiet and deserted. No one seemed to know the exact position of either ship or the pill boxes which were our reference points. This was later partially explained by the fact that the M’sex had only newly occupied them but, after searching and help from the dock people, a few of whom were around, we established her position. Back at H.Q. Tai and I set off for Ah King’s to find some kind of boat and luckily almost at once discovered a small yacht dinghy and two sawn off paddles. When we had this transported back Mike had the first toy ready and as soon as No.2 was ready we fed and at 21.00 hrs – when the tide was turning – we slipt out to the Ritz (this replaces ‘lido’) launched the dinghy and immediately realised something we had overlooked – the phosphorescent light caused by movement in the water. Still it was too late to worry now and with a queer feeling in the pit of my stomach I stepped in beside Mike and off we went.

Tai remained to give directions and control the M.G. fire which was, if possible, to divert attention from us and keep the Jap. heads down as we approached. ((Footnote here referring to Sheet 14 (?) but the original Sheet 14 gives no clues: looks like Vickers a/q – Tarhard(?) – no way of digging/dragging 1’4 (?) feet/feel with a Currets(?) tool/loop – possibly concerning position of covering fire?)) Later we were to learn that the guns were mounted on concrete but, luckily for any peace of mind we had, this was not known to us. Incidentally how Tai ever guessed his times and distances for fire will remain a problem for me since obviously no cut and dried timetable could be arranged and the soldiers would give no guarantee of real accuracy. Paddling out proved a beast of a job. The tide was running like the devil. We did not want to paddle too forcefully on account of the phosphorous in the water but had to counteract the tide. The night which previously had seemed dark, now to my eyes, seemed bright as daylight  and we seemd about the size of a battle cruiser.

Suddenly a burst of M.G. fire went over our heads and it was a moment before I realised it was our own fire and from then to our first bearing, another ship which was on fire, the odd burst kept coming at irregular intervals. The blazing ship spread a lurid glow over the water  and, unluckily for us, the wind kept blowing the smoke away from us. We were however getting nearer but by a mistake in our judgement of tide we found ourselves about 200 yards astern of our target and tide against us. So paddle we had to and maskee noise and to add to our discomfort a light kept appearing at intervals on the Jap. Shore. My mind was full of ideas – the Japs. might be relieving their post – perhaps at that moment one of them was sitting in the stern with an automatic laid on us (later Mike said his idea was some one with a grenade) and I kept wondering what it felt like to have a burst hit us and queerly enough drew comfort from the fact that the fire would probably set off the “toys” and let us out quickly. About 100 yards astern there came a burst of fire – ours – hitting the superstructure of the ship, our paddling became furious and under the stars we slid safe, at least for the moment.

We hung on to the sternpost and took our bearings. We could hear faint voices above but no undue noise and noticed a large lifeboat attached to the gangway on the port side. Using it we pulled ourselves round the port side and reached a point about ¼ way up the ship. I slipt over the side and thought at first it wasn’t cold. In a minute though the water soaked through my clothing and “Wow” was it cold! Taking the first toy I sank down to get depth and “slap” on it went and with it most of the skin from the tips of my fingers on the barnacles. When I came in the tide had swept me nearly to the sternpost but by means of the lifeboat I pulled myself back up. Putting the second one on was slightly more difficult as we wanted to make absolutely sure. I was afraid that the barnacles would deaden the magnetic attraction and when it was on tried to pull it off but luckily it proved all we had been taught it was and behaved like its name. It is peculiar how the mind works since as I was coming up I found myself admiring the phosphorescent bubbles coming out of my battle pants. Once in the dinghy again our problem was to get away. We let her drift down stream and now our or rather my feeling was what it would feel like to have a burst in the back. Once clear, our spirits rose and, apart from one scare when we fancied we saw another small boat, we paddled back speedily and as Dai (Tai?)said later our last 100 yards was a procession. Getting ashore and a large tot of rum revived me considerably and I began to feel like carrying out our second job of attending to some of our prominent fifth columnists. ((There is another footnote here which says ’Cut the lifeboat clear’)) This however was postponed and after a change of clothes we hopped home where Betty, as always, was waiting with her ever welcome hot coffee.