09/06/2026
A good Merchant Navy group
1939-45 Star, Atlantic Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, 1939-45 War Medal all unnamed as issued but verified in accompanying letter and Merchant Navy records reference, Original Documentation and Photographs.
Horace Jack Brown was born in Ealing1907.��1920s trains as a Marconi Wireless Operator.��1925 engaged as an independent W/T Operator at dock Street London.��Horace Jack Brown’s first voyage as merchant seaman was on the 30th April 1925 to 8th July 1925. He served on board the SS Baltara as second W/T operator in the Baltic, his conduct being endorsed as “very good”.
At the outbreak of the second world war he is seconded for service with the Royal Navy signing a T124X agreement. Joining the King Gruffydd 21/22 October 1939 he would finally be released from this secondment 30th June 1943 and transferred back to the Merchant Navy.��World War 2 Service.��T124X - HMS Mersey:��HMS Mersey was a T124 base ship at Liverpool and was the parent unit for the little ships. At the outbreak of the Second World War, it was evident that the Royal Navy would not be able to man all the auxiliary vessels that would serve with it. To deal with the shortfall in manpower, a number of officers and men of the Merchant Navy agreed to serve with the Royal Navy under the terms of a T124 agreement, which made them subject to Naval discipline while generally retaining their Merchant Navy rates of pay and other conditions. The manning port established to administer these men was at Liverpool.��More than 13,000 seamen served under these conditions in various types of auxiliary vessels, at first mainly in armed merchant cruisers, but also in armed boarding vessels, cable ships, rescue tugs, and others on special service. The Liverpool Naval Memorial commemorates 1,400 of these officers and men, who died on active service aboard more than 120 ships, and who have no grave but the sea.��HMS King Gruffydd - Q-ship HMS RFA Maunder (X 28) and Armed Merchant Ship: ��21st/22nd October 1939 - 22nd August 1941.��On 14 Sep, 1939, the King Gruffydd was requisitioned by the Admiralty as Q-ship HMS Maunder (X 28). From 12 Mar, 1941 until 22 Aug, 1941, the vessel was used as armed merchant cruiser and then transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). The ship was reverted to the steam merchant King Gruffydd and returned to the owner in December 1941.��In 1939 Winston Churchill gave authority for a number of merchantmen to be requisitioned for service as Q-ships, although for security purposes they were referred to as Special Service Freighters. A fleet of nine small mainly coal-burning vessels were acquired , six for deep-sea work and three for coastal work. All were commissioned as HM ships under their original names but were given RFA cover names and on entering harbour and while in harbour they wore the Blue Ensign, behaved as RFA’s and adopted the RFA commercial practices. None of them was really suitable for their intended roles and met with a complete lack of success. Their Q-ship service officially ended on 2 March 1941.
HMS King Gruffydd / RFA Maunder - Operations 1939 - 1941.��14 September 1939 Requisitioned by the Admiralty for conversion into a Special Service Freighter by Chatham Dockyard��21st/22nd October 1939 �Horace Jack Brown joins the ship.
21 October 1939 �Commissioned as HMS KING GRUFFYDD
17 November 1939 �Conversion completed. Cover name RFA MAUNDER. Complement 99 under command of Commander Edward M. Loly R.N. Armed with 7 x single 4-inch guns, 4 x Lewis machine guns, 4 x single 21-inch torpedo tubes and 100 x depth charges
26 November 1939 �Sailed Sheerness for work-up in the Solent area
2 December 1939 �On completion of work-up sailed from the Solent.
19 December 1939 �Arrived Gibraltar
1 January 1940 �sailed Gibraltar
11 January 1940 �arrived in the Solent area and to Southampton arriving 14 January 1940
3 March 1940 �sailed Southampton arriving Gibraltar 26 March 1940
5 April 1940 �sailed Gibraltar returning 16 April 1940
17 April 1940 �sailed Gibraltar to Freetown arrviing 7 May 1940
12 May 1940 �sailed Freetown to Simonstown Dockyard arrving 7 June 1940
15 June 1940 �sailed Simonstown Dockyard to Durban arrving 20 June 1940
21 June 1940 �sailed Durban to Mauritius 15 July 1940
22 July 1940 �sailed Mauritius returning 14 August 1940
20 August 1940 �sailed Mauritius to Durban arrving 30 August 1940
4 September 1940 �sailed Durban returning 24 September 1940
2 October 1940 �sailed Durban returning 23 October 1940
26 October 1940 �entered dry dock at Durban
1 November 1940 �undocked from dry dock in Durban
22 November 1940 �sailed Durban to Colombo arriving 11 December 1940
16 December 1940 �sailed Colombo returning 6 January 1940
16 January 1940 �sailed Colombo returning 6 January 1940
16 January 1940 �sailed Colombo to Durban arriving 9 February 1940
12 March 1941 �openly hoisted the White Ensign for service as an Armed Merchant Cruiser with Pennant Nr: F 116 then served in the East Indies
1 May 1941 �East Indies Service ended
13 May 1941 �with HMIS CLIVE took part in Operation Chapter * - Cape Guardafui Channel the most easterly point of Africa. In order to facilitate the passage in this channel it was decided to undertake a combined operation to capture and operate the Cape Guardafui lighthouse and to clear the north east corner of Italian Somaliland. This was done and the Italian troops there had immediately surrendered.
20 May 1941 �sailed with 23 officers and 96 prisoners of war and landed them at Aden on 24 May 1941
4 June 1941 �joined the Red Sea Force
22 June 1941 �sailed Aden
5 August 1941 �berthed at Simonstown Dockyard
14 August 1941 �sailed from Simonstown Dockyard
1 September 1941 �at Port Elizabeth reconditioning for return to commercial service
22 September 1941 �transferred to MoWT control as KING GRUFFYDD
8 January 1942 �sailed Port Elizabeth independently to Cape Town arriving 12 January 1942
13 March 1942 �sailed Cape Town independently to Rio de Janeiro arriving 28 March 1942
5 April 1942 �sailed Rio de Janeiro independently to Freetown arriving 18 April 1942
4 May 1942 �sailed Freetown in convoy SL109 to Loch Ewe arriving 28 May 1942
31 May 1942 �sailed Loch Ewe in convoy WN290 to Kirkwall arriving the next day
3 June 1942 �sailed Kirkwall in convoy WN291 to Methil arriving the next day
6 June 1942 �sailed Methil in convoy FS822 to Hull arriving the next day
15 July 1942 �sailed Hull in convoy FN761 to Methil arriving 17 July 1942
17 July 1942 �sailed Methil in convoy EN112 to Loch Ewe arriving 19 July 1942
19 July 1942 �sailed Loch Ewe and joined convoy ON114 until it dispersed on 4 August 1942. Then sailed independently to New York arriving the next day
6 August 1942 �sailed New York independently to Norfolk arriving 8 August 1942
23 August 1942 �sailed Norfolk independently to New York arriving 26 August 1942
27th August 1941 �Horace Jack Brown leaves the ship.
�* Operation Chapter:��'Chapter' was the British capture of the Cape Guardafui area on the extreme north-eastern tip of Italian Somalia (13 April/24 May 1941).
The task of supporting the British overland advance was entrusted to a pair of the Red Sea Force’s ships, namely the Indian sloop Clive and British special service vessel/armed merchant cruiser King Gruffydd. Departing on 13 April, the ships steamed in company to Dante, 80 miles (130 km) to the south of Cape Guardafui, with orders to be ready to make a gunfire bombardment in the event that Brigadier A. R. Chater’s land force encountered any opposition. On 16 May the two ships anchored off Hurdia Point without meeting any opposition and a boat was sent ashore to establish contact with the Italian army at Hurdia, whose small garrison had surrendered on the previous day without offering any resistance. The Italian prisoners were then transported by sea to Dante.�
After this a conference between Chater, the senior RAF officer in the area, other army officers and the two ships' captains decided on the tactic to be adopted for the seizure of Tuhom and Guardafui lighthouse. The original scheme of landing at Bargal and Tuhom was cancelled, largely as a result of the bad landing conditions along the east coast, and it was decided instead to effect an air-supported landing at Damo on the north coast, about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) west of Guardafui lighthouse. Single platoons of infantry were then embarked on Clive and King Gruffydd, which got under way at 16.00 on 17 May.��At 06.40 on 18 May the ships anchored off Damo, and a party of Italian soldiers was seen retreating inland. Clive opened fire and the party dispersed, no further activity then being spotted. The disembarkation of the two platoons began at 07.25 and, despite bad weather, the landing had been completed by 11.30 using local surf boats without encountering any opposition. At 12.00 Major Musgrave moved off with the two platoons to make contact with the Italians. At the same time Clive weighed anchor and made for Tuhom to support the troops advancing overland from Damo, and anchored at 14.35 in preparation for gunfire support should this prove necessary.��King Gruffydd remained at Damo and landed an armed party to occupy Guardafui lighthouse, an operation which had been completed by 17.30.
At 04.00 on 19 May Musgrave radioed King Gruffydd to report that as a result of the strong position taken up by the Italians and the fact that his men were still suffering the effects of sea sickness while landing through the surf, he had pulled his force back to cover the defence of Damo village and the lighthouse. Musgrave then came on board King Gruffydd for another meeting, and Clive did not establish contact with the land force until about 07.00 on 19 May. At 08.15 she received a signal from Musgrave, who was in King Gruffydd, requesting that bombardment of the wadi to the west of Tuhom village as soon as possible. Just as this signal was being received, a party of Italians was seen advancing toward the beach carrying a white flag, so Clive did not open fire and informed Musgrave of the surrender.��During the course of the day all the Italians from positions to the west of Tuhom village were brought into the village without any resistance, and the embarkation of the prisoners (19 officers and 61 men) was completed between 15.00 and 06.30 on 20 May.��Clive weighed anchor at 06.45 and proceeded to Damo, where she anchored at 07.50, transferred all the prisoners to King Gruffydd and 17.00 departed for Dante. King Gruffydd embarked Musgrave and his companions, leaving one RAF officer and a platoon of soldiers to guard the lighthouse and occupy the area of Tuhom. The ship reached Alula at 08.30 on 21 May, and a landing was effected without opposition.��The ship then embarked four officers and 35 enlisted men as prisoners of war, and proceeded to Aden at 04.00 on 22 May.��At 06.45 on 21 May Clive anchored off Hurdia Point and started to embark Italian prisoners of war from Dante in the ship’s boats. Embarkation was completed at 19.00, and 15 minutes later Clive weighed anchor and steamed to Aden, which she reached at 16.15 on 23 May. All the prisoners of war were landed and passed into army responsibility.��King Gruffydd arrived at Aden at 08.00 on 24 May and also disembarked prisoners. The total number of Italian prisoners landed at Aden was seven officers and 58 men from Clive and 23 officers and 96 men from King Gruffydd.
HMS Empire Oriole:��10th November 1941 - 30th June 1943.��DELIVERED as a C2 type freighter in October 1941, the Extavia / Empire Oriole was in cargo carrying service two years before being chosen for use as a troop carrier. Conversion of the ship was accomplished by Todd Shipyards' Erie Basin plant in Brooklyn between late September and late November 1943. She was technically allocated to the Navy for operation in the joint pool.��The Empire Oriole was a 6,551 GRT Type C2-S-A1 ship that was built by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. Completed in October 1941 as Extavia for American Export Lines Inc as one of four variants of the C2-S-A1 type intended for the Spanish, North African and Black Sea trade built slightly shorter than the basic design, 420 ft (128.0 m), in order to navigate rivers to inland ports.[3] To MoWT in 1941 and renamed Empire Oriole. To United States Maritime Commission (USMC) in 1942 and renamed Extavia. Converted to a transport ship by Todd Shipyards, Brooklyn, New York, completed in November 1943. To American Export Lines in February 1946. Scrapped in July 1968 in Alicante, Spain.
HMS Empire Oriole Convoy Operations:��
Convoy WS 14 - 9th December 1941:��Sailing from the Bristol Channel, Liverpool and the Clyde, the convoy assembled off Oversay on 9.12.41
Es**rt was provided as follows:
Destroyers BEVERLEY, CROOME, LANCASTER, NEWARK, SHERWOOD, WESTCOTT and WITHERINGTON and auxiliary AA ship ULSTER QUEEN 9 to 12.12, FOXHOUND, GURKHA and NESTOR 9 to 13.12, VANQUISHER 13 to 14.12 and VOLUNTEER and WITCH 13 to 15.12. The battleship RAMILLIES, and destroyers BADSWORTH and BEAUFORT 13 to 21.12. The armed merchant cruiser CILICIA was with the convoy throughout the passage to Freetown.
Local Freetown es**rt of the destroyers BRILLIANT and HURWORTH joined 18.12 and VANSITTART and WILD SWAN 19.12 until the arrival of the convoy at Freetown on 21.12.41.
The convoy sailed from Freetown 25.12 in a different order.
ABOSSO detached to Takoradi on 26.12, ORESTES fell out with engine defects 27.12 and thereafter proceeded independently to Durban, ANDES was sent ahead on 3.1.42 to Capetown subsequently rejoining the convoy on 5.1.42.
Es**rt on sailing was the battleship RAMILLIES, destroyers BEAUFORT and HURWORTH and sloop BRIDGEWATER until 4.1.42 off Capetown where they were relieved by the armed merchant cruiser DERBYSHIRE, while the old cruiser CERES joined on 6.1.42. The destroyer BRILLIANT also sailed from Freetown and detached with ABOSSO while the destroyer VIMY was present from sailing until 27.12; the convoy arrived at Capetown 5.1 and Durban 8.1.42.
ANDES, ATHLONE CASTLE, CAMERONIA, DUCHESS OF ATHOLL, DURBAN CASTLE, ESPERANCE BAY, HIGHLAND PRINCESS, ORONSAY, REINA DEL PACIFICO, SCYTHIA and STRATHALLAN formed the Durban contingent.
The Capetown convoy sailed on 9.1.42 as follows
Local es**rt was provided until 10.1 by the corvettes HOLLYHOCK and VERBENA, the battleship RAMILLIES sailed to the Durban rendezvous.
At the Durban rendezvous on 13.1.42 a considerable re-organisation of the convoy took place, ORCADES leaving the convoy for Durban
DUCHESS OF ATHOLL broke down, returned to Durban and transferred her troops to ANDES which joined the convoy 16.1 taking the position of THYSVILLE which straggled on the first night out of Durban.
The cruising order of the convoy was so organised that columns 1 and 2 formed the Aden detachment, columns 3,4 and 5 (less DUNERA) the Bombay section, and columns 6 and 7 convoy DM 2 for Singapore.
Es**rt from Durban was the battleship RAMILLIES to 20.1, cruisers CERES 16 to 22.1 and COLOMBO 20 to 22.1.�
Convoy WS 21P - 17th July 1942:
�This convoy sailed from the Clyde 17.7.42. An unusual feature is the juncture at sea with an American convoy (AS 4) which had sailed from the USA with supplies for the 8th Army in North Africa. After the juncture the following formation was used, prior to that the ships from the UK had steamed in their original numbered positions. The ships joining from AS 4 are indicated by A after their convoy number, the rendezvous was made on 5.8.42 in 09.05S 011.07W:
Es**rt was provided by the destroyers BUXTON to 20.7, GEORGETOWN to 22.7 and VIMY from 25 to 27.7. The cruiser ORION and destroyers NEPAL and TJERK HIDDES es**rted throughout the passage to Freetown, where the convoy arrived 27.7.42.
Sailing from Freetown on 2.8 the es**rts were the destroyer BOREAS to 6.8, corvette COMMANDANT DUBOC to 13.8 and the ORION, NEPAL and TJERK HIDDES to Capetown where the convoy arrived 13.8.42.
When the convoy sailed from Capetown 16.8, only 10 ships were present:
EXHIBITOR, with defects, detached to Mozambique 22.8.
The cruiser SHROPSHIRE and destroyer DUNCAN es**rted until 19.8, destroyers NEPAL and TJERK HIDDES 19 to 24.8 and the cruiser ORION 19 to 29.8 on which date ships dispersed off Aden.�
14 September 1939�Requisitioned by the Admiralty for conversion into a Special Service Freighter by Chatham Dockyard��21st/22nd October 1939 �Horace Jack Brown joins the ship.
21 October 1939 �Commissioned as HMS KING GRUFFYDD
17 November 1939 �Conversion completed. Cover name RFA MAUNDER. Complement 99 under command of Commander Edward M. Loly R.N. Armed with 7 x single 4-inch guns, 4 x Lewis machine guns, 4 x single 21-inch torpedo tubes and 100 x depth charges
26 November 1939 �Sailed Sheerness for work-up in the Solent area
2 December 1939 �On completion of work-up sailed from the Solent.
19 December 1939 �Arrived Gibraltar
1 January 1940 �sailed Gibraltar
11 January 1940 �arrived in the Solent area and to Southampton arriving 14 January 1940
3 March 1940 �sailed Southampton arriving Gibraltar 26 March 1940
5 April 1940 �sailed Gibraltar returning 16 April 1940
17 April 1940 �sailed Gibraltar to Freetown arrviing 7 May 1940
12 May 1940 �sailed Freetown to Simonstown Dockyard arrving 7 June 1940
15 June 1940 �sailed Simonstown Dockyard to Durban arrving 20 June 1940
21 June 1940 �sailed Durban to Mauritius 15 July 1940
22 July 1940 �sailed Mauritius returning 14 August 1940
20 August 1940 �sailed Mauritius to Durban arrving 30 August 1940
4 September 1940 �sailed Durban returning 24 September 1940
2 October 1940 �sailed Durban returning 23 October 1940
26 October 1940 �entered dry dock at Durban
1 November 1940 �undocked from dry dock in Durban
22 November 1940 �sailed Durban to Colombo arriving 11 December 1940
16 December 1940 �sailed Colombo returning 6 January 1940
16 January 1940 �sailed Colombo returning 6 January 1940
16 January 1940 �sailed Colombo to Durban arriving 9 February 1940
12 March 1941 �openly hoisted the White Ensign for service as an Armed Merchant Cruiser with Pennant Nr: F 116 then served in the East Indies
1 May 1941 �East Indies Service ended
13 May 1941 �with HMIS CLIVE took part in Operation Chapter - Cape Guardafui Channel the most easterly point of Africa. In order to facilitate the passage in this channel it was decided to undertake a combind operation to captrure and operate the Cape Guardafui lighthouse and to clear the north east corner of Italian Somaliland. This was done and the Italian troops there had immediately surrendered
20 May 1941 �sailed with 23 officers and 96 prisoners of war and landed them at Aden on 24 May 1941
4 June 1941 �joined the Red Sea Force
22 June 1941 �sailed Aden
5 August 1941 �berthed at Simontown Dockyard
14 August 1941 �sailed from Simonstown Dockyard
1 September 1941 �at Port Elizabeth reconditioning for return to commercial service
22 September 1941 �transferred to MoWT control as KING GRUFFYDD
8 January 1942 �sailed Port Elizabeth independently to Cape Town arriving 12 January 1942
13 March 1942 �sailed Cape Town independently to Rio de Janeiro arriving 28 March 1942
5 April 1942 �sailed Rio de Janeiro independently to Freetown arriving 18 April 1942
4 May 1942 �sailed Freetown in convoy SL109 to Loch Ewe arriving 28 May 1942
31 May 1942 �sailed Loch Ewe in convoy WN290 to Kirkwall arriving the next day
3 June 1942 �sailed Kirkwall in convoy WN291 to Methil arriving the next day
6 June 1942 �sailed Methil in convoy FS822 to Hull arriving the next day
15 July 1942 �sailed Hull in convoy FN761 to Methil arriving 17 July 1942
17 July 1942 �sailed Methil in convoy EN112 to Loch Ewe arriving 19 July 1942
19 July 1942 �sailed Loch Ewe and joined convoy ON114 until it dispersed on 4 August 1942. Then sailed independently to New York arriving the next day
6 August 1942 �sailed New York independently to Norfolk arriving 8 August 1942
23 August 1942 �sailed Norfolk independently to New York arriving 26 August 1942
27th August 1941 �Horace Jack Brown leaves the ship.
29 August 1942 �sailed New York for Cape Cod Bay
2 September 1942 �at Cape Cod Bay joined convoy BX36 to Halifax arriving on 4 September 1942
5 September 1942 �sailed Halifax in convoy SC99 to the Clyde arriving 20 September 1942
4 October 1942 �sailed the Clyde in convoy ON136 to New York arriving on 26 October 1942
28 October 1942 �sailed New York independently to Philadelphia arriving the same day
15 November 1942 �sailed Philadelphia independently to New York arriving the next day
25 November 1942 �sailed New York in convoy SC111 but returned to Sydney, Cape Breton Island with collision damage on 3 December 1942
10 December 1942 �sailed Sydney, Cape Breton Island in convoy SH68 to Halifax arriving 13 December 1942
16 December 1942 �sailed Halifax in convoy SC113 to Liverpool arriving 2 January 1943
24 January 1943 �sailed Liverpool in convoy ON163 to New York arriving 17 February 1943
5 March 1943 �sailed New York in convoy SC122 to the UK
17 March 1943 �while en route in convoy SC 122 from New York to Loch Ewe she was torpedoed by U338 (Kapitänleutnant Manfred Kinzel) and sunk with 24 of the crew being killed at 51°55N 32°41W. They are remembered with pride on the Tower Hill Memorial. The ship was carrying a cargo of steel, to***co and explosives. The German U-Boat arm referred to attack on convoy SC122 and HX 229 as "Geleitzug Nummer 19". Of the fifty ships in convoy SC122 nine were sunk with a total weight of 53,094 tons. Those rescued from King Gruffydd were taken on board the Convoy Rescue Ship Zamalek. With a total of 165 survivors rescued from ships in this convoy the Zamalek sailed under es**rt directly to Gourock where they were landed on 22 March 1943.
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