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Prologue
I approached Jack on the 23rd of March 1998 previously knowing
next to nothing about his life. Over the next seven weeks
we recorded interviews, mainly related to his life at sea,
during which my respect and admiration grew for him. I thank
Jack very much for the time he gave up and the effort he put
in.
Jack's story is about the working life of a teenage boy during
World War II. It focuses on his first job on a high country
sheep station, and his experience of war in the Merchant Navy,
and later the New Zealand Navy. This time in Jack's life is
of special interest to me as all this was done before Jack
was twenty years of age, which is how old I am now.
Anthony Streeter, May 1998.
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Chapter One: "You couldn't have worked any harder"
Jack Breitmeyer was born on the 8th of March 1926, in South
New Brighton, Christchurch where he lived with his mother,
father and older brother. His father died in 1933 from double
pneumonia. This made life in the depression even harder than
it had been. Jack's mother received a widows benefit, but
this was barely enough to look after herself and two boys.
These were the days when the question "What's for dinner
mum?" was answered with "Kettle broth", which
was pepper, salt, bread and water. Someone might give them
a rabbit to eat sometimes.
After one year at Christchurch Technical College (where Jack
was more interested in playing rugby than anything else) he
replied to an advertisement in the newspaper for a fourteen
or fifteen year old boy to work on a sheep station. Jack got
the job in 1940 on a four and one-half thousand acre sheep
station in Kaikoura. Jack loved the animals and got on well
with them. He taught himself how to ride a horse. Sometimes
when a horse needed breaking in Jack's boss made him get on
them. Jack liked working on the farm "It was a good life,
but a hard life."
Jack was paid seven shillings and six pence per week and keep.
He had to pay off his dogs (12-14 pounds each) and mustering
boots (about 2 pound 10 shillings per pair), which meant he
virtually worked for nothing a lot of the time. He lived in
a 'whare' which is no more than a tiny shack, which was always
full with rats. One day the shearers were on the farm and
they asked Jack how much money he was earning, when he told
them one guy (who was in a union) said that that was not enough.
From then on Jack was paid ten shillings a week, twentythree
and six per day for mustering, one pound per day for fencing,
one pound per day for pig hunting and two shillings per pig
shot. "He made me work a bit harder then... ah, naw,
you couldn't have worked any harder."
Seafood was plentiful in Kaikoura at this time and if they
wanted some crayfish they would scoop out the meat from a
paua shell and throw it in the water, then collect as many
crayfish in a sack as they wanted: "God, you've never
seen so much crayfish in your life... And now you don't see
them. You don't see paua either." Some the kids in the
area used to collect paua, throw away the meat and send the
shells to a jeweller in Blenheim, where they were payed about
three pounds fifteen shillings for a sack full.
Jack worked seven days a week and the work was "hard".
Sometimes when they were mustering for lambing, crotching,
shearing, dipping, or tailing lambs for example, Jack had
to get out of bed at 2am to milk the two cows, have breakfast
at 2.30am, saddle up the horses, ride to the back of the farm
by sunrise, muster all day, get back as late as 7pm, eat some
dinner and go to sleep before doing it again the next day.
The neighboring farm used to borrow Jack to help them muster
sometimes, at musterer's wages. Jack never got bored at night
or homesick while living on the sheep station because there
was "no time to get bored", he just worked, ate,
and slept.
There was a Home Guard in Kaikoura and the men used to get
together from time to time "I think they drank more whisky
than doing any war games... an excuse to get away from their
wives for a while I think." Jack and his boss had to
"sight up" (correct the accuracy) dozens of 303
rifles and an old World War I Hotchkiss machine gun one time.
Ammunition was hard to come by in those days, but the "cockies"
always had plenty. They had plenty of fun setting up targets
and shooting the guns, "especially the Hotchkiss machine
gun."
In 1941, when Jack was fifteen years old he filled out an
application form to join the Navy as a 'seamen-boy' for twelve
years. He had always wanted to go to sea and had been in the
sea cadets while at school. His brother was already at war
in the Navy. His mother signed the consent papers but Jack
never heard back. He thought it may have been since he was
in an essential industry at the time. Later he thought that
it was more likely that his mother never sent the papers.
One son at war was probably enough to worry about Jack thought.
Jack got tired of the sheep station when he was sixteen years
old and moved back to Christchurch. He got a job at Toomeys
learning fitting and turning. There they were producing war
service supplies in case of Japanese invasion. It was from
here that Jack and a workmate (who he knew from the sea cadets)
decided to join a merchant ship from Lyttleton Harbour.
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Chapter Two: Off to sea. 1942-1943
His mate had always wanted to go to sea and said to Jack that
they should put their names down.
We put our names down on Monday and got a telegram Thursday,
reported there Friday. This blimin' old coal burner... old
tramp it was. Signed on the ship Saturday and sailed Sunday.
Put me age up, faked me consent papers, I was away before
anyone knew it.
This came as a shock to Jack's mother and she was quite upset
about his departure. Jack, his mate, and two others joined
the ship as 'trimmers'. Trimming involved wheeling coal in
big bunkers and shoveling it down a long shoot into the stoke
hold. At first (on their way to Cuba and New York) only two
trimmers were needed so Jack and his mate were doing 'daywork'
in the engine room, which included painting and other maintenance
work. When in New York "a couple skinned out there so
I had to go trimming then, across the Atlantic." The
big wheel barrows were very hard to control, especially in
high seas when the ship is rolling. You had to be eighteen
by law to work in the engine room, and Jack's papers said
he was only seventeen (even though he was only sixteen) so
he had to go 'uptop'. They would work shifts of four hours
on and eight hours off. Sometimes Jack would do overtime of
eight hours on four hours sleep.
Crossing the Atlantic the ship travelled in a large convoy.
There were fiftythree tankers alone, Jack was on a cargo ship:
We never lost a ship... which was unusual. Normally, that
time of the war, there was always ships getting sunk going
across.
The submarines would travel close to or even within the convoys.
Sometimes their periscopes would rise up in the middle of
the convoy and there was little the ships could do. They could
not lower their guns enough to shoot them and the destroyers
could not send down depth chargers because of the risk to
the convoy ships.
Once in Liverpool he was sent on another ship to Glasgow where
he went to North Africa running troops down through the Mediterranean
Sea during the North African landings in 1942 and 1943. Jack
made several trips from Glasgow to ports in North Africa during
this time, always travelling in large convoys for safety.
He was mostly doing laundry and on deck as a 'deck boy'. The
trips would usually take about three weeks. It took eight
to ten days to get there, then they would wait to meet up
with a convoy travelling back to Glasgow, then there was about
three weeks before the next trip. During that three weeks
Jack would get three or four days leave, during which Jack
and some of the other Merchant Navymen often went to Edinburgh.
In Edinburgh they would 'see the sights', drink beer, "just
muck around like you did in any place".
Jack got paid five pounds ten shillings per month plus five
pound war bonus, as a 'boy' in the Merchant Navy. 'Able-Seamen'
were paid twentyfour pound per month, fourteen pound and ten
pound war risk. Jack always wondered why the others got more
war risk "The risk is the same!"
This time was the height of the U-boat war with German submarines
sinking a lot of ships with torpedoes, and killing a lot of
men. The danger to the merchant ships was extremely high as
the enemy would target them more than the Navy ships because
they carried all the supplies (oil, munitions, tanks etc).
They had anti-aircraft guns on board but were mainly protected
by the Navy destroyers which had the depth-chargers to destroy
submarines. Air strikes were not uncommon:
Mostly the Itai's would drop bombs from high up... Not like
the Gerries (who had dive bombers) who would come in low.
They were paid 'Invasion Money' (which was a special kind
of pound note) from the British government at the time they
were making the trips to North Africa. This could be exchanged
for French francs at a post office, although there was not
much to buy except for "fresh fruit, souvenirs and picture
postcards". Arabs used to stand on the end of the wharves
wanting to buy soap and things off the sailors: "And
they would pinch anything those Arabs... If you turned your
back they were gone." Jack never got into any "trouble"
in North Africa but he recalls a man getting stabbed once
in Arab quarters (or Kasbah's) around North Africa.
In 1943 Jack spent time in a hospital in Glasgow having contracted
Malaria in Africa. While in hospital they contacted New Zealand
House to tell them the situation. When Jack was released from
hospital Mr Jordan the High Commissioner for New Zealand in
London sent for him:
He called up, I had to go and have an appointment with him.
And he called me into his office and there were big leather
chairs. He says "Sit down John"... And he come along
and sat on the arm of the chair and he says "What's your
real age?... I'll send you home."
It was approximately five or six weeks before Jack boarded
his ship for the journey home. Mr Jordan sent him to live
at the Red Ensign Club in the east end of London. The club
was for British Merchant Navymen. The east end was frequently
bombed, and there were underground bomb shelters people could
go into during air raids. Anti-aircraft guns were situated
all over London and were often fired by women. These were
to shoot the German bombers and keep them from coming down
too low.
During this time in London Jack came across his brother who
had been at sea with the Navy since 1939 and was on leave
while his cruiser ship was getting refitted in Newcastle.
They "got on the booze" together and each got a
tattoo. They did not know when (or 'if') they were going to
see each other again so the tattoo's were 'bonding' symbols
and something to remember the occasion by. A lot of the seamen
got tattoos, usually once they were "half boozed".
Some seamen would get them at different ports around the world.
The tattoos were usually done with an electric needle but
Jack got one once from a British seamen which was done with
an ordinary needle. Jack said that the tattoos were "Just
a fad... Just when you're young and stupid... Always wish
you'd never got'em."
While Jack was staying at the Red Ensign Club he and two English
mates joined the Anglo Saxon Pool where you got two pounds
a week while you waited to be put on a ship:
You had no choice where you went... It was luck of the draw.
It could be a Russian convoy... or iron ore from South America.
If a ship full of iron ore gets torpedoed it goes down in
about three minutes. There's not much chance.
Jack did not want to go home and was going to join a tanker
with his two mates. They were being sent to Avonmouth to join
the ship and had to verify who they were to get a rail warrant.
When they saw Jack's New Zealand passport they checked with
New Zealand House to confirm who he was and they said "he's
not going anywhere, he's staying here." The two English
mates went away on the ship and got torpedoed and killed.
The trip back to New York from Milford Haven (Wales) took
twentythree days in June/July 1943. They traveled in convoy
up around Iceland and Greenland amongst huge icebergs and
thick fog. This was to keep away from the enemy submarines.
Three submarines were sunk. Jack thinks that one of them was
sunk because one of its messages was decoded by the Navy and
they discovered where it was. Three ships were damaged hitting
icebergs, but no ships were sunk. The ships in the convoy
communicated through Morse code on their whistles and flashlights
during the day, as they had to maintain radio silence. The
convoy travelled at five knots (which is slow) and 'zig-zagged'
regularly. Jack's ship and one other ship lost the convoy
in fog below Greenland. They put out 'fog-bouy's' behind the
ships which throw up a spray that the ship that follows you
can see:
They can't see your ship but they can see the fog-bouy, and
they follow it... You only had to do a zig instead of a zag
and you'd be all by yourself... the convoy is somewhere else.
Jack was a 'deck boy' on the ship, learning things, scrubbing
out quarters, mess rooms and painting. He got back to New
Zealand in August 1943 at the age of seventeen and a half.
Chapter Three: Taking a dive. 1943-1945.
Within three weeks of coming home Jack had applied to join
the Navy. Christchurch seemed dead after being in places like
New York and London. A lot of Army men had just got back from
the Middle East, including a lot of guys Jack knew. Needless
to say that a lot of drinking and partying was done in Christchurch
at this time. They found it hard to get used to the pubs closing
at six o'clock and "a lot of after hours drinking went
on".
Jack worked back on the sheep station for three months while
he was waiting to get called up for the Navy. In December
1943 he recieved notification from the Navy and went to Tamaki
Island in Auckland for three months training:
I was lucky I was fit from running around the hills all the
time. It was pretty hard on some of the guys. A lot of PT,
a lot of physical stuff and gunnery. A few lectures on gunnery
and stuff, and a bit of football... The GI's, Gunnery Instructors,
the ones that drill you, they're pretty tough, yeah, they
are tough, they gotta be, got to be efficient. They sort you
out... if you're no good you're out.
They guys at the training camp couldn't understand why Jack
wanted to join the Navy and go back. Jack thought it was probably
because his brother was in the Navy: "Just another adventure".
Jack spent the rest of the war (1944-1945) on landing craft
and said that the action had settled down somewhat after D-day
(the Normandy landings) 6th June 1944. August 1944 was the
height of the doodlebugs, the V1 and V2 flying bombs. You
could hear the V1's coming and hear the engines cut out:
You didn't wait around. You had a look, and if it's daylight
you could see where they were going. At night time you don't
know where they're going so it was best to take a dive.
Hundreds and even thousands of people lived in the underground
tube stations because their houses had been destroyed and
it was safer. There were air raid wardens, blackout wardens
and fire spotters who were mostly children. There were sirens
and bells going all the time. There would be the air raid
siren, then an all clear siren, then an air raid siren again
and so on.
One time when Jack was on leave staying in a place in Victoria,
London, and he spent time in the sick-bay there with 'quincy',
a kind of throat infection. It was there that he had "a
near miss":
Everytime these things come over you put your head under the
blankets in case any glass flies around. You didn't bother
going to a shelter or anything. I had a near miss there one
time and all the blackout curtains came down around me and
everything... it shook me up a little bit.
Jack was "lucky to get a fair bit of leave" in London.
During this time they would hang around the New Zealand Forces
Club where they could get free tickets to concerts, dances,
movies, and theatre performances. They could also get a "half-way
descent meal", usually "sausages and mash. That's
about all you got, bread sausages and dehydrated spuds."
The 'Kiwi boys' were popular in Britain and Jack had no trouble
meeting people and making friends.
A big part of leave time was spent drinking. In fact drinking
was a feature of wartime and life at sea. During the North
African landings the seamen would queue up each Saturday night
for a drink. It was soft-drink or alcohol, depending on what
they did on the ship:
You could be a young person doing a man's job and you got
a rum, if you wanted it. Or if you were just a boy you got
soft-drink, ginger beer or something. It also depended on
what ship you were on.
In the Navy they got a tot of rum everyday. If they did not
want it they got three pence. Some guys, "the alkies"
would get drunk because others would give them their rum.
"You had to be twenty to be issued with rum, but on birthdays
all the blokes gave you rum no matter what age you were."
Sometimes they would go on leave and run out of money. Jack
used to get work from time to time at Watneys Breweries where
he got twelve shillings a day and free beer at lunchtime and
after work. Other guys used to go to the Lyons cornerhouse
(a restaurant) and wash dishes for a free meal.
While their ship docked they had shore-patrol duty watches.
They wore white arm bands and white gaiters and were accompanied
by an officer. They would arrest crewmen who got in "trouble".
On one occasion Jack had to escort two New Zealand sailors
who had been stealing silverware from the officers ward room
and selling it on shore. They were each given ninety days
in a Navy jail, which was 'hard' time, "Break your heart
in there so I believe."
In 1945 when the war had just ended, Jack came across the
local South New Brighton milkman in the New Zealand Forces
Club in London. Jack was combing his hair in the toilet mirror
when he recognized the man next to him combing his own hair.
The milkman had recently been liberated from a prisoner of
war camp and was more than happy to "have a few beers"
with the lad he used sell milk to.
Nowadays there are counsellors available to talk to people
about certain memories and events. Jack and his mates went
to the pub instead, "That where we got our counselling."
It got to be a thing you got used to. You'd see a guy and
have a booze up with him or something and you'd say Gidday
or Hooray and he'd get killed and that was it. So you never
got real close, real close buddies you would feel it more,
you were just mates.
But, you remember the good times more than you remember the
bad times.
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Epilogue
Jack returned home to Christchurch on Christmas Day 1945 on
an aircraft carrier in Lyttleton Harbour. He was discharged
from the Navy in March 1946 and went back to sea as a Merchant
Seamen until 1961 when he came ashore. He spent about eighteen
months working at the Christchurch Central Fire Station, during
which time he struck the tragic Ballantynes Fire in November
1947. Jack then worked as a Stevedore until he retired in
1986.
The sea was Jack's job. He loves the sea. Jack does not know
for sure what drew him to the sea. He thinks that maybe adventure
is in his blood, as his family made a courageous voyage to
New Zealand from the border of France and Germany to be among
the first settlers in Akaroa in 1840.
Jack is now doing voluntary welfare work with the Returned
Service's Association in Christchurch. He has two dogs which
he walks everyday around South New Brighton where he still
enjoys living.
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