Survivor: The fortunate story of a Radio Officer from Hull in the Merchant Navy during WW2

This is the true story of one of the underappreciated men of the British Merchant Navy.

Jack Stringer had just turned 19 years old when the Second World War began on the 3rd of September 1939.

Within seven hours of the declaration of war the first British ship, the liner SS Athenia, was sunk by the Germans in the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, Jack was on board another liner the SS Arandora Star with a hidden cargo, sailing parallel to the Athenia. As Jack’s route was further south, this was the first of many times that he was fortunate to avoid being attacked.

Following training as a radio officer at his local college in Hull, he was thankful to survive the horror of being torpedoed on his first two trips in the Atlantic, only three months apart. After the safe completion of several hazardous return trips, Jack’s next ship was attacked and sunk off the coast of West Africa. By pure chance he then evaded the destruction of the ’second Pearl Harbour’ at Bari, Italy, in the Mediterranean. He lived in fear of being attacked throughout the five years he was at sea on predominantly old, poorly maintained cargo ships, with weather that was often atrocious. He then faced bombing raids on returning to his home city of Hull, Yorkshire.

After the war, the Captain of U-Boat-123 which had sunk Jack for the final time in the Atlantic, provided his photos of this attack.

This book showcases these photographs, along with more than 70 other photos and documents, mostly in colour, forming a unique collection.