Olly Lindsay was 16 years old when he served as an apprentice on the British Botavon. He says they arrived Reykjavik at noon on Apr. 7-1942 (Convoy UR 18 - see Page 1, as well as a related thread on my Ship Forum starting here), and that afternoon, Botavon's Captain Smith and the captains of the ships that were to form PQ 14 attended a convoy conference on board a Royal Navy ship in the anchorage. At this conference, Botavon was appointed Vice Commodore of the convoy.

He continues:

"The Icelandic mountains with their mantle of snow looked very picturesque in the sunshine but the wind blowing off them was perishing. After darkness fell there were plenty of lights in the city, the headlights of cars could be seen, we were surprised at the lack of a blackout. No shore leave was allowed, apparently the Icelandic people were not very friendly disposed to the occupying forces.

Of the various books and articles I have read concerning Arctic Convoys, where PQ 14 has been mentioned and the names of ships in that convoy listed, there appears no record of the presence of the S.S. Botavon, she was most definitely in the convoy, so why the omission? Convoy PQ 14 consisting of twentyseven vessels, thirteen of which were British, ten USA flag, two Russian, one Dutch and one Panamanian with the convoy Commodore, Captain Rees RNR, on board the British S.S. Empire Howard, sailed from Reykjavik on the afternoon of the 8th April. On clearing Reykjavik the vessels formed up in a convoy with a Royal Navy escort consisting of two minesweepers and three anti submarine trawlers, to escort the merchantmen to rendezvous with the main escort 120 miles to the S.S.W. of Jan Mayen Island.

Within hours of sailing the weather started to deteriorate, the wind coming strongly from the northesat and increasing to gale force with hail and snow flurries, temperature falling. Vessel rolling shipping sea water on the weather side. The mountainous coast of Iceland to starboard providing some lee. At daybreak on the 10th April the wind was still strong and visibility was poor due to heavy snow, only five merchant ships and one escort of the convoy in sight. As Vice Commodore, after exchange of signals with the escort and the ships in sight we took over control of the group and the speed was increased to 10.0 knots to try and locate convoy. The weather and visibility improved during the morning but no other ships of the convoy were sighted. At noon the escorting naval trawler requested our D.R. position and advised that in the prevailing weather conditions she could not maintain the speed and so the speed was reduced to 7.5 knots. In view of the circumstances the course was altered for Akureyri, Iceland with E.T.A. 1700 hours, that day. Shortly after alteration of course a RAF plane dived through the clouds and signalled instructions, it was unfortunate that at this time a USA flag ship in our group chose to break radio silence and transmitted her position. On arrival at Akureyri, shortly after 1700 hours we anchored to await further instructions.

From the anchorage, in the beautiful sunset, the settlement of Akureyri with its background of hich snow covered mountains and quaint looking churches looked very picturesque, just like a Christmas card painting. The war could have been a million miles away. However, there was little time for such day dreaming, shortly after our arrival a Naval Trawler came alongside with sailing instructions, in company with three other merchant vessels we are to follow him to sea and he will escort us to rendezvous with Convoy PQ 14 and its escort in position Latitude 69.2 degrees N, Longitude 11.25 degrees W at 0900 hours, 12the April.

On sailing the weather rapidly deteriorated and on the following day the weather was grim with gale force wind, the ship shipping seas, the visibility very poor due to driving snow, at times there was pack ice in our close proximity, however the speed was maintained at 8 knots. On the open bridge the officers, lookouts and gunners were wrapped up in their Arctic clothing, but soon they were suffering from inflamed eyes due to the sea spray freezing in the prevailing conditions. Daybreak on the 12th the weather conditions moderated somewhat but only to be replaced by dense fog, due to poor visibility some pack ice made heavy contact as we proceeded on our course towards the rendezvous position. The escorting armed trawler had departed and only one of the three accompanying merchant ships could occasionally be seen through the fog.

On arrival at the rendezvous position we searched for but were unable to locate PQ 14 or its escort, consequently the Master decided to return to Akureyri. In very poor visibility an attempt was made to signal this intention by aldis lamp to the one accompanying ship which could still occasionally be made out in the fog, but at the time we were uncertain whether the message was understood. After which the course altered and set to return to Akureyri. In the afternoon the fog became more patchy and extensive ice was observed, however there was no sight of any other ship. The speed was increased to 10.0 knots but later reduced again due to a return of thick fog. The next morning with improved visibility the speed was increased to 12.0 knots and vessel arrived the entrance to the fiord leading to Akureyri at about mid-day 13th April. However, there was a blanket of fog within the fiord and it was not until late afternoon that it cleared sufficiently for vessel to safely enter the fiord and proceed inwards to the port, where she arrived and anchored at about 2100 hours.

Daybrek of the following day, 14th April, (my 17th birthday) showed every promise of a fine day. At about 1100 hours HMAT came alongside with instructions to immediately weigh anchor and proceed to Reykjavik as commodore ship of a convoy of several ships from PQ 14 which had also put back to Akureyri and had arrived the anchorage after the Botavon. The captain of the HMAT advised that he was to be our escort and enquired of our Master, Captain H. Smith as to what speed we could immediately proceed at. When told 12.0 knots, the reply from the Trawler was quote "Captain, my best speed is 10 knots and I am your escort" unquote.

The coastal passage was made in good weather apart from a heavy westerly swell and was without incident, the small convoy made good progress and arrived at the Reykjavik anchorage on the morning of the 16th April. Next day the Botavon shifted to the exposed and miserable anchorage at Hvalfiordur close to Reykjavik, it was here that ships were assembled whilst awaiting the next Arctic Convoy. After anchoring a repair gang boarded to attend to damages recently incurred.

On the 19th April we were to learn that the Botavon had been appointed Commodore ship of the next Arctic Convoy, designated P.Q. 15. Later that day, Commodore Anchor RNR and his staff of six naval ratings boarded and were accommodated aboard. Whilst at anchor the ratings were engaged in ship maintenance and the apprentices were employed on bridge watches and able to study and catch up on their correspondence course. On three occasions we received invitations from Depot Ship H.M.S. Blenheim to attend a film show on board. The weather during our period at anchor was, apart from one day when it snowed heavily for about six hours, mainly fine and dry but it was cold with the temperature between about freezing and minus 3 degrees C. and when the wind was offshore and blowing off the snow covered land and mountains there was an added chill factor.

Ships destined for Convoy P.Q. 15 were assembling in the anchorage and it was noted that there were fifteen USA flag vessels, seven British including the CAM* ship Empire Morn and ships that had 'put back' from PQ 14, also there was one Panamanian, a Russian ice breaker (Krassin) and a Canadian ice breaker (Montcalm) on a delivery voyage to her new Russian owners.

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The document that I received ends here. Convoy PQ 15 departed Reykjavik on Apr. 26 (having sailed from Oban on Apr. 10). Botavon was damged in an air attack and had to be sunk by the destroyer Badsworth. Another 2 merchant ships were also lost before the convoy arrived Murmansk on May 5-1942, namely the British Cape Corso and Jutland. The escorting trawler Cape Palliser was damaged by bombs. According to Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System", 21 of Botavon's crew lost their lives, while Cape Corso had 50 casualties and Jutland had 1. In his "Convoys to Russia 1941-1945" he adds that a total of 137 survivors from the 3 ships were rescued.

Page 1 - Ships in PQ 14
Page 2 - Narrative of voyage

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