SS DUTCHESS OF BEDFORD

I'm researching the war record of a friend who travelled to South Africa
aboard the SS Duchess of Bedford in 1942. Your web site has been a great
help, especially the pictures that'll be sure to bring back fond memories for
him.

Lieutenant Ronnie Almond's journey to India started on 13 April 1942.
Seemingly the convoy was the second largest ever to have left Huyton
(Liverpool), up to that date. Despite six men being crammed into what would normally
have been a single-occupancy cabin, the ship's crew did them proud. The food
was good and the ship was "wet", in other words alcoholic drinks were
readily available, a most pleasant surprise for Ronnie and his mates!

After calling at Sierra Leone, when the ship arrived at Cape Town half
of the men in transit disembarked and the other half were taken on to Durban
where they received a fantastic reception notable amongst which was that from
the "Lady in White".

Thanks, again, for a really informative web site.
Regards,

David Thompson

Harry , I used to do a bit of painting since being retired and mostly of ships. Remembered I had done the Duchess and had downloaded a photo of it and thought you might like it
Regards Barney Warman

Good Evening old man, just been looking at your Web site re the Troopship Duchess of Bedford.
My unit the 22 Wireless Unit RAF, sailed on the Duchess at the backend of 1941, though we were4 meant to sail on some vessel from Greenock, we were in transit at Glasgow, we were shipped down to Liverpool and put aboard Duchess.
It was a very big convoy with the HMS Royal Sovereign as heavy protection.
We stopped at Freetown for a few days then carried on South. Other big liners in the convoy were the arundel Castle, Cape town Castle, the big new Dutch liner name just slips me, loads of merchant ships and other liners.
Half the convoy stopped at Cape Town and we carried on to Durban and after 3/4 days we saioled on Christmas Eve 1941. I believe from there on the huge convoy split up going their different ways, we went to Bombay.
My unit was split in two for some reason and I was in the half that landed on the dockside and marched along a way to board the Khedive Ismael which ship then departed solo up the Persian Gulf to Basra. Therer we were not known about and had no room for us so we were shipped in barges and sent down to Abadan. Eventually our unit was kitted out in Damascus and we were stationed along the Turco Syrian border, 6 man outpost.s
So friend I just cannot weigh up your time table for the Duchess.
Regardless though it is very very interesting. After the war and coming home from Germany , as lived then in Grimsby, I took up a position as Radio Operator on the deep water fishing vessels sailing from there., retiring from the sea in 1970

20 October 2005

Hello, Harry!

I am John Donald Cooper (Don) and ran across your "Duchess of Bedford" website while searching out dock areas in several cities. A bit of background on me -

The first ship I sailed on - 1932, was the Letitia and then the Athenia. Both ships were operated by the Anchor Donaldson Line and sailed from Greenock, Scotland to Montreal, Canada. I believe one of the ships was sunk during WW!!. Other sailings I had with my father, mother and sister were on the Duchess of Atholl, Richmond and Bedford, operated by Canadian Pacific.

All in all, I had been across the north Atlantic six times by the time I was 12 years of age. My Mum and Dad were Scots and both my sister and I were born in Toronto, Canada. We all got seasick everytime except for my mother who said, "Mothers are not allowed to be sick". I got out an old autograph book that the family had bought on the 'Duchess of Atholl'. It has a sort of chamois leather cover with a painting of the ship on the front cover. On one of the pages, I have an autograph that bears a date of 17/9/37 for the 'Duchess of Bedford'. Before that, we were twice on the Duchess of Atholl and finally in May of 1939, we were on the Duchess of Richmond.

Due to the depression, my dad went wherever there was a job. My mother's mother and family had already emigrated to Canada. My Mum, sister and me came from Scotland for a, 8 week holiday which is when we were on the Atholl and Bedford. I'm sure glad I have this autograph book to refresh this memory as I am now 78 years of age.

Have I stopped going to sea? No! No! I ( actually 'we', including my wife) just love cruises. Some of our destination have included several trips in the Caribbean; Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles; Cairns, Australia to Singapore; Valparaiso, Chile to Fort Lauderdale; Buenos Aires to Barcelona; Mombassa, Kenya to Buenos Aires, Fort Lauderdale to Rome; San Juan, Puerto Rico to Athens; Barbados to the Orinoco River; Athens to London, England; and this December, it will be Athens to Singapore. After this cruise, we will have circled the globe by sea.

Memories of "Duchess of Bedford" - going down the hall/companionway to the washroom, horse racing game on the deck, bands playing on the deck, heavy seas, fog off Newfoundland, fog horn. Calm seas and no forward motion was very eerie. At this time, I was 10 years of age. By the way, we travelled 3rd class!!

We always sailed Greenock to Montreal or Montreal to Greenock. Then came WWII. I have a clipping from a Toronto paper dated April 18, 1944 relating to the sinking of the sub by the "DOB". At the time, the captain was Capt. H.A. Moore who then transferred to the "Duchess of Atholl".

This is all I have for you now.

Regards,

Don Cooper

11 October 2005

Hi Harry, Thanks for your email. A quick search of the list shows a Daniel
O'Grady. If you would like just the cover page & page with his info I'd be
happy to mail it to you at no charge.

Cheers,
Jaime Cline
www.marway-militaria.com

29 August 2005

Hello Harry

My Granddad was a Mariner aboard the Duchess of Bedford and having read your website can remember him mentioning such places he docked in.
His name was Archibald Russell, was from East London and was a keen boxer - he is now 90 years old.
He has one of the framed pictures of the ship in his lounge.

Angela Balkwill Essex