WW2: Prisoner on the High Seas

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2018

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A surprise attack, a ship sunk, a crew captured - a veteran of the British Merchant Navy remembers his encounter with a German commerce raider in the South Atlantic in May 1940. At the time, Captain Graeme Cubbin was just a 16-year-old cadet on the British merchant ship, SS Scientist when it became the first victim of the German commerce raider, the Atlantis. The crew of the Scientist spent nine months as prisoners on the German raider, as it wreaked havoc on Allied shipping in the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. Capt. Cubbin spoke to Alex Last about his memories of the attack and the sacrifices made by the Merchant Navy in World War Two. Photo: The Atlantis, a German commerce raider, which operated in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean for almost two years. (UK Govt)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
0:35.4	Sounds.
0:36.4	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:40.9	My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned
0:43.0	podcast for BBC Sounds.
0:45.0	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality,
0:49.0	featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:54.4	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
1:00.9	poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories, and that's just a few examples.
1:06.4	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
1:11.6	Sounds. Hello and welcome to the witness podcast from the BBC World Service with me Alex Last.
1:18.0	And today we have a rarely told story from the Second World War
1:22.0	as we hear from a veteran of the British Merchant Navy
1:25.0	who experienced life as a prisoner on the high seas. We came round the Cape, we were heading up the South Atlantic towards Freetown in West Africa to join a convoy to Gibraltar and convoy to England.
1:47.8	In May 1940, Captain Graham Cubin was just a 16-year-old cadet on board a British merchant ship, the SS scientist.
1:56.7	The SS scientist had just delivered war materials from Britain to South Africa and was on its
2:01.6	way back with the cargo of tobacco and valuable ore.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.