HMS Freesia

[Gerry]

HMS Freesia - Flower Class Corvette, Mombasa, 1943-1945- Telegraphist

[Ray Horne]

Hello Gerry im new to this so hope it works,My Dad. Coder, Horne J.T.(Jack)
PJX359910.was a crew member on the Freesia , from 22.4.43..to 11.09.45.if you manage to get this message i do have some photos of crew members that i could post on the Forum,if you would like.Regards Ray Horne

[stontamar]

Attached photograph may be of some interest. You may also know that HMS FREESIA became the merantile FREELOCK in 1946 and was wrecked while under tow off San Jorge on 1 April 1947.

Regards

stontamar

[Batstiger]

Here is the same picture as the one from Stontamar only a little larger, also some documents which may be of interest if you can read them.

Bob.

[Ray Horne]

Thanks Bob & strontamar for the pics,here are a few of the crew .1140

1141

1142

1143

1144

1145

1146

1147

[stontamar]

Excellent Ray, thanks for posting thse photographs - do you have any additional names, service numbers etc to go with the pictures?

Regards

stontamar

[tonclass]

Any chance of a larger photo of the ship pic Ray ?

Rgds

Rik

[Ray Horne]

Hello Rik,Bit new to this but here goes a bigger pic,Regards Ray

[Ray Horne]

Hello Stontamar,sorry i have no information on any of the crew members ,except for his best mate Ron French who visited him on a regular basis in the late 50s early 60s,and Dad likewise visited him at his home in Leamington Spa.
I know that somewhere i have a photo that Dad took collecting up the survivors of the sunken vessel (that slips my memory at this time )which was mentioned in an earlier posting,but after an afternoon of searching. Nothing.When it comes to light i will let you have a copy.
To Rik i hope the larger photo was what you require if you need it blowing up anymore i think i have it sussed,meanwhile i will have a go at the Officers plus a pic of another unknown crew member.And a picture i dont know where it came from but i think it is of HMS Defender.

[Ray Horne]

Sorry dont know what i did, but No pics.

[tonclass]

Nice one Ray. Could you do the same with the DEFENDER pic as well ?

Cheers
Rik

[Stan.J]

Nice to see mention of the Flower class Corvettes..They were immortalised in Nicholas Monsarrat`s book "The Cruel Sea" From what I gather they were a lively type...Pitch and roll..Constant seasickness. but they did a grand job, especially in the Atlantic.

[Batstiger]

I can't agree with you more Stan. Here is a brilliant site for Corvette's,Sloops, Castles etc:-

http://p214.ezboard.com/ftheflowerclasscorvetteforumsfrm22

You can get some excellent pictures here.

Bob

[Ray Horne]

Hi again Rik,here we go again with bigger pic of HMS Defender,i hope .Ray

[Batstiger]

I hope you don't mind Ray but I borrowed them as well for my collection.

Here is a picture of the Defender on a good day.

Bob.

[Ray Horne]

Just added my new avatar,trying it out to see if it has worked .It is the shoulder flash of my old mob RASC Water Transport.Regards Ray

[herakles]

Your avatar is most striking Ray!

[Ray Horne]

Hello Herakles.My shoulder Flash is the Blue Ensign with the Crossed Swords known as "Other Ranks Afloat" Regards Ray

[Gerry]

Hello Gerry im new to this so hope it works,My Dad. Coder, Horne J.T.(Jack)
PJX359910.was a crew member on the Freesia during 1941-2-3-4-5.? i think,if you manage to get this message i do have some photos of crew members that i could post on the Forum,if you would like.Regards Ray Horne

Thanks Ray,
I knew your dad well, and kept in touch post war until about 1955, He visited me when I lived in Stourbridge, but then I moved North and lost touch, He and I spent many hours on watch in the wireless cabin of HMS Freesia
I left the ship in Mombasa early in 1945 & returned to UK for Officer Training, but as I was not willing to sign on for 3 years I was demobbed late 1945 with pay until April 1946.
I also new "Tanky" French who was a good mate of your Dad.
Regards
Gerry

[AlZictorini]

Batstiger,

What a brilliant picture of Defender you posted, out of interest, do you know what the ships are behind her?

AlZ

[Batstiger]

Sorry Alz I can't but here is another picture of the Freesia.

By the way it's great to see a success story on the forum. Good work to all involved.

Bob.

[Gerry]

Hi There,
Yes I'm still around, and looking to see if any old crew members pop up in the Forum.. If so like me they will be well in their 80's
I've been retired for almost 30 years and now live in Gloucestershire
Gerry

[Gerry]

Thanks Bob & strontamar for the pics,here are a few of the crew .1140

1141

1142

1143

1144

1145

1146

1147
The horse riding episode was when Freesia was in Durban and the crew were given a few days leave on a sugar farm North of Durban

[Batstiger]

Gerry, you knew I couldn't resist having a go at them didn't you?

[Ray Horne]

Hello Gerry,i am over the moon to hear that you knew Dad,unfortunatley we lost him in 1990,he was 81 years old,died peacfully in bed.He and mum kept the Post Office in the small town of Raunds Northants,until he Retired when my youngest Brother took over,He in turn has Retired and his Daughter has took over,the PO has been in the family for the last 4 Generations.
Are you in any of the photos paticulary in the wireless room?
With Best Regards Ray

[herakles]

Ray,

I do hope that the PO survives the latest ridiculous cuts being organised by the far-sighted government. (cough)

[Ray Horne]

Hello Herakles, it seems as though my Nieces PO, is going to be safe at the moment, as the powers that be have already earmarked 12 in the area to go.
with this lot you never can tell. Ray

[herakles]

No Ray. You never can tell! But your news is good at least.

[Ray Horne]

Hi All, i would like to thank all that contributed to this thread,even though Gerry started it off,i have found it very worthwhile & interesting,keep up the good work ,talk again soon no doubt,Regards Ray

[Gerry]

Hello Ray,
Good to hear from you, no I was not on any of the photos, the lad in the wireless room was Jimmy Green, also a wireless operator like me.
I left Freesia in Mombasa approx March 1945 to come back to UK for a course to train as an officer. I refused to sign up for the number of years they required.
I was a member of a skeleton crew that took a 'borrowed' Us escort ship back to Boston in the States in Dec '45, then demobbed finally finishing in Apl '45.
I just celebrated 85 years 'good conduct' and will In Sept celebrate 63 years with my wife.
Son Peter works for BBC on radio5 sports, so if you hear "our reporter Peter Slater" you will know where he comes from ! He has a son and daughter, son in Uni daughter 6th Form, Daughter Sue lives in Brighton and has twin boys 22 (leaving Uni this year) abd daughetr staring 6th Form In Sept.
That's me
really good to have heard from you. HOWEVER
I have had contact with dianeglascock@btinternet.com, whose Grandfather was on Freesia as a sick bay attendant, but he appears to have had a very varied career and used several names
Yours
Gerry

[Ray Horne]

Hello again Gerry,it has been a while since i looked at the site ,so a belated thanks for the info,i have had a contact with the girl you mentioned.
One more thing that i can remember my mother saying years ago ,that she used to cut clippings out of the Daily Mirror of the cartoon "JANE" that Dad apparently posted on the notice board in the Mess somewhere,don't know if you can remember that episode.
Hope to keep going as long as you, as i have just celebrated my 70th.this week.
Anyhow good health and happiness,talk again soon.Ray

[Ray Horne]

Hello fellas just found this certificate that Dad had
Crossing Equator.JPG,thought it may be of interest

[John Brown]

Very interesting Ray.

Thanks for showing us that. What's the story behind the alteration of 1942 to 1943?

Regards...John

[Ray Horne]

Hello John,i honestly don't know why the date has been altered,in fact i have 2 identical certificates which has the same alteration,on the same date, so i don't
know if they were on a "Jolly" to cross the equator and revert back to God knows where.Regards Ray.

[Batstiger]

Could I suggest that they were a stsndard certificate printed for 1942 and that they didn't have any printed with 1943 so to save time, expense etc they thought it better to use the ones they already had and just change the date?

Bob.

[John Brown]

In the absence of any other explanation, that sounds reasonable to me Bob.


Regards...John

[alanbenn]

Only just got round to this thread, but here's a good photo of Freesia.

Going to take years to go through all these threads, but worth it.
Alan

[Ray Horne]

Hello alan, nice to see the thread is still alive ,were you anything to do with the Freesia,just interested to know how you come to pick up on this thread.Nice to hear from you anyhow,hope to hear from you soon regards Ray

[alanbenn]

Hi Ray, I didn't have any involvement with the Freesia myself, I joined the forum a short while ago and since then have slowly been working my way through the threads to see what everyone is interested in...and lo and behold like myself just about everything Navy.
Regards
Alan

[starshell]

Hello Ray

I run the Flower Class Corvette Forums website (see link below) where we host the largest online collection of Flower Class Corvette images and I was wondering whether it would be OK to host your images on that website as we have very little information on Freesia so far and crew photos are generally rare for every ship.

Regards

Mark Walters

[tonclass]

Hi Mark, gave your site a plug just the other day. Should have got in touch sooner as I've a few more 'Flowers' I should have sent you by now (And it's not even Valentine's Day ;))
Glad you're onboard here.

[jbryce1437]

Interesting site Mark, I clicked on the link last night and was "away" for three hours and still only got around halfway through the site.:D

[Ray Horne]

Hi all,just a quickie to say that i have found the dates that Dad was a member of the crew of Freesia and have ammended the opening thread regards Ray

[Ray Horne]

Hi Mark,don't know if you are aware but i have sent you a PM.But have had no response,Regards Ray

[starshell]

Hi Mark,don't know if you are aware but i have sent you a PM.But have had no response,Regards Ray

Apologies Ray! Just been catching up on things and failed to notice you had PM'd me. Reply sent via PM

All the best

Mark