HMAS Perth's Last Mission

March 2, 2010 - PRLog -- Each year, Nedlands Yacht Club (NYC) in Perth, Australia hosts a memorial ceremony and regatta to honor the HMAS Perth and USS Houston sailors lost in the March 1942 battle. One of the NYC members shares his story of one of HMAS Perth's last missions before the fateful battle.

By: Jim Marriott. N806.
Nedlands Yacht Club, Perth, Australia.

The boys packed their bags and reported for duty. Their girlfriends and wives did not hear from them for three months. Then word came through that Reggie Wilson was seen at Pymont getting on to a barge. Within hours the girls were down at the dock where the QUEEN MARY was tied up to No1 Naval buoy. They waved and whistled, blew kisses and Fran (Reggies girlfriend) lifted her blouse and jumped up and down. Reggie on the railing was slapped on the back by his mates to shouts and wolf whistles from the rest of the battalion. The next day the shore crowd swelled as word got around much to the annoyance of the army.

On the third day the mood was subdued and sombre, an air of confusion set in as no troops came on deck to catch a glimpse of their women folk. There was something wrong. Had the ship been attacked as she now had only two funnels not three. Slowly the realisation spread that the ship on No1 naval buoy was the QUEEN ELISABETH. It was the 13th of July 1941. The 105 Light Armoured Division had sailed for the middle east with three thousand men some of them never to return. The Chaplin on the wharf joined in the open weeping of the women. Elen, my grandmother stood trembling at the dock until coaxed away onto a bus by WRAN officers. To the day of her death she could not recall how she got home.

HMAS PERTH escorted the ship safely to Alexandria, Egypt. Months passed, the news was not good. Successful landings in Greece were followed by repeated retreats until in October 1941 the last attempted evacuation of Allied troops in Greece was undertaken. James George Marriott was amongst them wounded but carried by his mates to a waiting destroyer, HMAS NAPIER.

Jim was not good having a scrapnel wound to the lower abdomen, he was not expected to last out the night, if any of them did as Stuka dive bombers were harassing their retreat, the ship narrowly escaping being hit several times. Reggie was Jim's mate and asked if there was anything he could do. Jim replied "take me up on deck, I want to see the sun go down". A chair was nicked from the officers mess and Jim was made comfortable under the aft'er gun flash guard.  The Napier was carrying the mail for the Australia shore division when she was diverted to the evacuation. A cup of tea and a parcel wrapped in brown paper was given to Jim. After sipping on the tea a sailor helped Jim open the parcel to reveal an Australian flag tapestry that Elen had woven, with a note saying to bring it home with him and that just because he was at war was no excuse for getting out of mowing the lawn. Jim clutched it to his chest and fell to sleep.

A sailor woke Jim so he could see the sun go down.  Staring blankly out towards the West Jim called the sailor over saying "There, whats that there". The sailor could see nothing. A dark shape thin and upright with a person on it with a cap. Submarine!!. The sailor ran to report to the captain who sent flags to the flotilla commander on a British cruiser.  No one could see the dark shape. The Pommy captain refused to send a search vessel on the say so of a wounded and delirious Australian soldier.

That night three ships were torpedoed with the loss of 258 lives. Jim survived the night still clutching the tapestry flag and found himself the guest of the captain on the rear deck at sunset with tea and biscuits and a sailor each side in case he saw any more dark shapes. (wot sailors bein a suspissious lot. n'all)

Jim was transferred to the HMAS PERTH for the return trip to Sydney arriving in early January 1942 and disembarked, flag in hand, into the arms of his wife Elen and ten year old son Bruce. (Dad)

As we all know the Perth was lost in an action in the Sunda strait in March 1942 along with the USS Houston against overwhelming Japanese odds.

Pop gave me an Australian flag when I first began sailing at the age of eight saying "keep this with you and you will always be safe" so to Pop and Granny, the boys of the 105LAD embarked. The HMAS Perth and USS Houston I fly the flag on my yacht I-HYPO---.  Lest we forget.

ABOUT The 50th HMAS Perth Memorial Regatta
The 50th HMAS Perth Memorial Regatta was held 13:00 hours on Sunday 21 Feburary 2010 at Nedlands Yacht Club, The Esplanade, Nedlands, WA on the Swan River foreshore. The annual ceremony and regatta is held in association with the HMAS Perth Survivors Association and the Naval Association of Australia (Fremantle sub-section) to remember the sailors lost and survivors from the HMAS Perth and USS Houston in the 1 March 1942 battle.

Sponsors included The Perth Mint, The Court Family, The Croft Family, Prosser Toyota - Gosnells, EAF Automotive - Kewdale, Blockbuster - Innaloo, Windrush Yachts, Trident Underwriting, Dorren Hewitt Photography, Sports Medicine - Healthy Clubs

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Nedlands Yacht Club is a family oriented sailing club located along the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia. We teach Yachting Australia accredited sailing courses. Our club caters to all ages in dinghies, catamarans, keelboats and cruisers.