This item was drafted a few years ago by Jeff Booth as background material for our Land Sea and Air educational programming. However, the story of St. Thomas resident, Bill Hough is far too compelling to be confined to a particular program, so we have added some images and further research. You will note that the survivors recounts differ on a few points, probably because they may have been in different lifeboats or just because memories are highly personal perspectives.
Bill
WILLIAM HOUGH was born in St. Thomas, Ontario on February 29 -- a leap year. By the time he celebrated his fourth birthday – according to the calendar – he had enrolled for active service in the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve. You could say that he joined the navy when he was 4 years old. His career continued as a member of the merchant marine wherein individuals signed a contract of agreement with the captain of a merchant ship.
The year was 1943 and the whole world was at war. It’s very hard for us to imagine the idea that most of the world had stopped living their normal lives. Fathers and uncles enlisted and all young boys and all women and girls, mothers, sisters, and aunts stayed home and went to work at jobs that the men had done. Factories that used to make cars and farm equipment were now making weapons for the war effort. Everyone at home, including children, collected scrap metal for the factories which were now making bombs. Everyone at home was asked to save, save, save and recycle. This was happening before current recycling programs in our communities. William Hough was one of thousands of Canadians who went to sea as allies to the British forces. Bill may have celebrated only 4 calendar birthdays but he had actually seen 19 summers.
The year was 1943 and the whole world was at war. It’s very hard for us to imagine the idea that most of the world had stopped living their normal lives. Fathers and uncles enlisted and all young boys and all women and girls, mothers, sisters, and aunts stayed home and went to work at jobs that the men had done. Factories that used to make cars and farm equipment were now making weapons for the war effort. Everyone at home, including children, collected scrap metal for the factories which were now making bombs. Everyone at home was asked to save, save, save and recycle. This was happening before current recycling programs in our communities. William Hough was one of thousands of Canadians who went to sea as allies to the British forces. Bill may have celebrated only 4 calendar birthdays but he had actually seen 19 summers.
At War - At Sea
Bill served as a merchant mariner on a ship called “Point Pleasant Park.” In August 1939, the Government of Canada took over control of all the ships in Canada whether they were in the navy or not. These ships were told what to carry and where to serve the war effort. Built by the Canadian Steamship Company in Quebec, 'The Point' entered service November 8, 1943 and Bill was one of the crew. She made several convoy crossings in the Atlantic Ocean without incident; but, on February 23, 1945, just 5 days before his birthday, the ship encountered a German submarine, U-510, under the command of Kapitainlutenant Alfred Eick. They were 500 miles northwest of Cape Town, South Africa.
S.S. Point Pleasant Park, a Canadian merchant ship.
The First Torpedo
| The first torpedo hit 'The Point' in the engine room crew’s quarters which immediately killed 8 crew and trapped 38 there in the dark with the ocean waters rushing in on them. Two officers broke open a sky light from above. By the time everyone was removed, including one sailor with a broken back, there was only 6 inches of air space left in the compartment. Right: Kapitanleutenant Alfred Eick commander of U-510 is considered to be an ace commander. |  |
| . | U-510 was awarded to the French at the end of the war. She was commissioned into the French Navy in 1947 and served until 1959. | . |
'SSSS'
Water continued to rush in, drowning the ship’s electrical generator which closed down the pumps. The radio operator managed to get off the “SSSS” U-boat attack alarm signal just as the main antenna was being torn off by the whipping of the masts. There was no response to their distress call. The ship was doomed.
Abandon Ship!
Twenty minutes later, the captain ordered “abandon ship.” Forty three men quickly scrambled into 2 small lifeboats. These lifeboats were made for 12 crew at the most and one boat actually ended up with 21 men aboard.
As the lifeboats moved off, the crew watched their ship creaking, groaning and listing. But more important, they were still in enemy territory and they knew the U-boat was not far away. Suddenly, they saw the U-510 surface and it shot two bursts of gunfire at the forward holds of the ship to flood it. Then the submarine left.
As the lifeboats moved off, the crew watched their ship creaking, groaning and listing. But more important, they were still in enemy territory and they knew the U-boat was not far away. Suddenly, they saw the U-510 surface and it shot two bursts of gunfire at the forward holds of the ship to flood it. Then the submarine left.
Hough and those aboard 'The Point', thought they were attacked by one U-Boat (U-510) when in fact there were two. It was U-532 which shot the bursts of gunfire.
Birthday in a Lifeboat
The lifeboats plotted a course for closest land, the coast of South-West Africa (today known as Namibia) over 300 miles away. The two life boats soon lost sight of each other and each boat had to survive on its own. Rations were 2 ounces of water per day per man. Imagine being surrounded by water and not being able to drink it. They also ate some pemmican – hard grain mixed with a lot of fat – two spoons full of that each day, two biscuits and a little piece of chocolate. These boys were truly on their own in the middle of the ocean. William celebrated his 21st birthday on one of these lifeboats.
The Night Sky
Each day they drifted and tried to steer their lifeboat toward the shores of South Africa. Each day, they endured the blistering sun of the southern hemisphere and they even survived a significant storm. They looked forward to night more than day for two reasons. One – because the blistering sun was gone. And two -- because each night they could check their course. They didn’t have a ship’s compass. Their compass was the stars and they were comforted especially by the Southern Cross constellation which appeared each night showing they were on course. Rather like we use the Big Dipper in the northern hemisphere.
Ten Days Later The Master, Captain Owen Owens and his crew made landfall at tiny Mercury Island in Spencer Bay on Namibia's forbidding Skeleton Coast on 2 March. They were rescued by the fishing vessel Boy Russell and taken to Luderitz , South West Africa. The other lifeboat, with many injured, was picked up by the South African trawler HMSAS Africana (T01) north of Spencer Bay on March 4 ten days after the attack and taken to Walvis Bay, South West Africa. After recovery in hospital, they went by rail to Cape Town and made their way back to Canada via the United States.  Captain Honoured with OBE  |  Lucky to Survive These merchant seamen, including Bil Hough from St. Thomas were “lucky” their ship was lost in warmer waters where the chances of survival in an open boat were much better than in icy northern waters where you could not expect to live more than five minutes. Lucky too, that they were found as the vast Kalahari Desert ashore offered even less than floating on the sea. William Hough was one of the lucky ones. He returned to St. Thomas where he died on New Year’s Day in 1994, one month shy of his 70th birthday or 17 leap years. Captain Owen Owens, Master of the S.S. Point Pleasant Park, was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his exceptional courage and ability throughout. This honour was posted in the Supplement to the London Gazette December 3, 1946. |
Monument Raised in 1967
Merchant sailors were not recognized as veterans by the Government of Canada until 1999. It was left to the survivors of Point Pleasant Park to raise the money to build a monument to their lost comrades in the ships namesake, Point Pleasant Park, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. When the memorial was dedicated in 1967, it is significant to note that one of the wreaths laid at its base was from Alfred Eick, the commander of the German U-510 who sent money for this purpose.
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