Mahrie Locket

Radio Man: Marconi Sahib Mahrie Locket

Radio Man consists of never before published stories and pictures about the British Merchant Marine seen through the eyes of Ship's Radio Officer Alan Patterson. His diaries take us from 1938 through to the end of the war. Here is a glimpse of one day of his life as "Radio man". "Rangoon (1942)-The only way that Rangoon can be held is to keep the seaway open and they do not seem to be doing that. We saw no patrol ships at all while at sea, the poor old Merchant Service has to just plug along on its own with no protection and no guns. However, they had put a gun platform on our stern before we left, so we built an imitation of a gun on a mast spar and an empty oil drum. We hoped that if a sub saw it at a distance he might possibly mistake it for a gun and so prevent him surfacing and shelling us. We arrived in Calcutta safely-thanks to no one but ourselves. Shortly after this trip we were given guns and taught how to use them!" Alan and his crew managed to escape submarine wolf packs several times. On one especially dangerous run near India, he discovered that the fine bunch of courageous men from the ship he had just left had been blown to bits while returning to India on a British India vessel loaded with munitions. Alan writes about more than just the war. His diary is a wealth of information about both India and Burma during the pre-war years and then the devastation after those countries were bombed and plundered. Radio Man is a fascinating read and you will not want to stop reading until the very end.