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(In 1939 the ship was first fitted out as an armed merchant crusier and later as a troop transport ship in 1944. She was also used as a Canadian hospital ship during World War II. In 1946, the Letitia II was purchased by the British Government Minister of Transport and was subsequently renamed the Empire Brent. She was later renamed the Captain Cook in 1952. The vessel was broken up in 1960). |
We boarded the Letitia, where we ended up somewhere in the bowels of the
ship. The food on ship was horrible, (apparently it had not been revictualed in
Canada), so we only had the poor British food. Fortunately, we found a storage
area full of tins of bully beef and soda pop and ate this the ten days or so
while we were at sea. There was a mixture of Airforce and Army on the ship. It
was mid December and the Atlantic was very rough. We tossed about like a cork
and the other ships and escort vessels would disappear in the trough of a wave
and then bob up again. The deck, cables and everything were covered in ice due
to the severe cold. The British civilian crew were a handy, prognathic lot and
worked without complaint. As Airforce we had got used to being tossed about in
training planes but the poor Army fellows suffered greatly from seasickness. I
rather enjoyed the sea voyage, it was all very new and exciting. I remember
deciding to take a shower but the ice cold salt water did not make for a very
good shower.
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