Derek Brierly
Steward Utility / British Merchant Navy

©

1941: Britain had been at war for three years. Fifteen year old Derek Brierley of Sale, Manchester, was tall for his age and had joined the Home Guard as a private. All Derek's school friends were older than him and they had already joined up for military service. In those days, you had to be at least 17 years 3 months to get into the the British Armed Forces.

September 1942: Derek was now old enough to join the British Merchant Navy. Their minimum age requirement was 16 years 6 months. He entered the National Sea Training School on board the Training Ship the TS VINDICATRIX at Sharpness, Gloucestershire. For the next three months he would learn the basic skills needed to become a member of the deck department of a merchant ship.

December 1942: After graduating from the "Vindi," Derek joined the New Zealand refrigerated cargo ship MV KAIPAKI as a deck boy. After a six and a half week trip carrying food to Oran, Derek returned to Manchester.

January 1943: Derek's next ship was a coal-fired Dutch ship, the SS STAD ARNHAM. He stayed with this ship for the next fifteen months, earning his Ordinary Seaman papers. The first trip was to take a supply of Welsh coal to St. Johns, New Brunswick, for resupplying the coal fired ships. The return trip carried Canadian grain back to the Great Britain. On the next trip, they first loaded iron ore in Halifax, then went down the St. Lawrence River to Carleton-sur-Mare to load over 1 million feet of cut lumber. A third trip found them carrying coal to Bone, North Africa, and then loading manganese ore from Casablanca for Britain.

1944: After spending a couple of months working on ships in Manchester Dockyards, preparing them for sea, Derek joined the Liberty ship SS SAMDART as an Able Bodied Seaman.

1945: Derek was an AB on the tanker MT TAGEOS.

1946: The troopship RMS ALMANZORA.

The SOCONY Oil tanker SOVAC.

1947: Derek left the Merchant Navy and worked for a while in the Manchester cotton industry. After getting married, Derek and his wife emigrated to the United States, coming to live in Baltimore, Maryland. He worked briefly at Maryland Drydock.

1947-1970: Worked for ESKAY for 29 years.

1970-1980: He retired from General Motors after twelve and a half years.

Derek now lives in Joppa, Maryland.

1988: Derek saw a notice in the Baltimore Sun announcing a meeting to discuss the projected restoration of the Liberty Ship SS JOHN W.BROWN. Some fifty to sixty people were present, and Derek was selected to be one of the crew for the tow from Norfolk to Baltimore.