AB Tom Davison & The HMS Jervis Bay
Thomas Frederick Davison born 28th June 1912 in Acrise, Kent. Brought up in West Hougham and went to school in Church Hougham. Worked as a butcher's boy on leaving school but he wanted to go to sea so he had to go to Gravesend Sea Training School. His first ship was the Peter Hawsfield - a coal carrier plying its trade in the English Channel. In June 1935 he married Bessie Conley (also born and brought up in West Hougham) whilst waiting to go deep sea on his next ship - the Tacoma City. He later joined the Pathfinder before being called up as a Reservist and joining the HMS Jervis Bay in 1940. As a boy Tom had learnt to do magic tricks and between skirmishes with the Germans he often kept his shipmates entertained.
HMS Jervis Bay
Built by Vickers Armstrongs Ltd. in England for the Australian Commonwealth Line, (later Aberdeen & Commonwealth line) she was one of five sisters (3 built by Vickers and 2 others, almost sisters, built by William Beardmore & Co., Glasgow) intended for the England to Australia route. At just a little under 14,000 tons, these ships were designed to carry about 724 passengers. Jervis Bay was launched on Jan.17, 1922 and made her maiden voyage (London to Brisbane) on Sept.26, 1922. She continued to service this route until she was requisitioned by the Admiralty in Aug. of 1939.
HMS Jervis Bay converted as an escort ship
Jervis Bay was then armed with seven 6 in. guns. The guns, not the latest in naval technology, had been made around the turn of the century. In November of 1940 Jervis Bay was the only escort for convoy HX-84, a 37 ship convoy bound for England. Late in the afternoon of Nov.5th the Admiral Scheer spotted the convoy. Not having much daylight left Scheer attacked the convoy. The commander of the Jervis Bay, Edward Stephen Fogarty Fegen, ordered the convoy to scatter and aimed his ship straight at the Scheer. Hopelessly outclassed by the Scheer's 11 in. guns, this was nothing less than a suicide mission for the Jervis Bay. However, this action delayed the Scheer from reaching the convoy. (the Admiral Scheer later sunk between 5 and 7 ships in the convoy) The battle between the Jervis Bay and the Admiral Scheer lasted about 24 minuets. At one point the bridge on the Jervis Bay was hit killing several officers and removing Capt. Fegen's arm. He was later killed by another shell. There were 255 officers and men on the Jervis Bay, 65 were rescued by the Swedish freighter Stureholm. One hundred and ninety died in the attack. For his gallant action Capt. Fegen was awarded the Victoria Cross. (posthumously) © 2005 Michael W. Pocock - MaritimeQuest.com
A Moving YouTube Clip by MartinGlobalPictures
Jervis Bay survivors on the Stureholm
The following is an extract from a Canadian Newspaper printed days after the HMS Jervis Bay sank
While there’s life
Flashlight on Atlantic Saves Jervis Bay Heroes
Eleven Hours of Horror on Raft Told by Eleven British Tars
Halifax November the 16th (CP) – This is the story of a flashlight, a cigarette lighter and a flimsy raft on which 11 British Seamen lived through 11 hours of horror and an angry Atlantic.
It might have been the story of 14 men but 3 of them perished from cold and wounds in those bitter hours after they abandoned the hero-ship Jervis Bay – the British Armed Merchant Cruiser that came to a glorious end sheltering her convoy from the powerful guns of a German surface raider.
It was sunny and the seas were smooth when the Jervis Bay went into battle. But the ocean waves were riding high when the fight came to it’s inevitable end and the remnants of the Brits crew abandoned their blazing vessel.
Brave Men Murdered.
Many of those who had survived the uneven fight didn’t join their comrades as they scrambled down the sides. They were slaughtered “murdered”, survivors said by shrapnel hurled by the raider.
The British Seamen and members of the crew of the Swedish Freighter Stureholm, the vessel that finally rescued 65 members of the Jervis Bay’s crew, were guests of the Ajax Club here yesterday at a dinner, when they chatted with newspaper men about their experiences.
AB Tom Davison kept his flashlight as he plunged from the Jervis Bay and boarded the “bit of a raft”. There were 13 other men aboard when they shoved off into the pounding waves.
For hours they sat in water that came up around their chests, or if they stood, around their knees. Huge waves thrust them from their posts and flung them into the sea. And time after time they pulled themselves back again.
LS. John Hanlon of London, secured himself by tying his wrist to a piece of the raft with a bandage he ripped off an injured part of his arm. “It saved me more than once” Hanlon recalled.
Flashlight Only Hope.
As darkness fell Davison and the other looked to his flashlight for help. But, to their dismay, it would not light and Davison almost decided to throw it away. Then he changed his mind and dropped it to the floor of the raft. Minutes later he looked down and the light was glowing. That happened 3 times that night and morning and each time it shone Davison desperately signalled the freighter Stureholm. The second time she can heartbreakingly close, only to veer off. On the third try, with the flashlight refusing to go off, the freighter picked up the half dozen seamen. Hanlon was the man with the cigarette lighter. It had one lonely flair left in it but that was enough to light on cigarette of the package a survivor had saved. From that the other lit up their cigarettes and enjoyed a smoke more than ever had before.
Heroic Scot Praised.
This is the story, too, of AB Dan Bain, a Scott who is a patient in a military hospital. They did not know it then but he lived through those hours with terrible burns suffered from en exploding shell.
“I cried when we got aboard the freighter and I saw those burns” Hanlon said. “I had been rubbing that raw flesh for hours to keep him warm and he never even let out a murmur. There, boys, is a hero”.
Canadian survivors of the Jervis Bay left for their homes later in the day. The Britons will sail as passengers aboard a liner, for their homeland. Before them looms a long leave, their first in a year, and after that berths aboard different ships.
Home is in Dover.
His leave will mean out of the frying pan into the fire for AB Tom Davison. He plans to spend it in Dover, where his home has nearly been destroyed several times.
The Jervis Bay survivors were seated around open fires in the club when Captain Sven Olander of the Stureholm came in, his broad face wreathed in smiles. Three mighty cheers went up for the heroic skipper and his crew. From then on Captain Olander was the central figure of the dinner party. He grinned and grinned, had his picture taken singly and in various groups and shook hands with man after man he had saved from a watery grave.
No news at home for 8 days
For 8 agonising days Tom Davison's wife could have only feared the worst, news of the battle and the terrible losses broke in the news within hours of loosing the HMS Jervis Bay & casualties were reported as "heavy". On the 13th November the telegram arrived - what could have been going through her mind when the Telegram Messenger walked up to her front door?
Reunited At Last
Tom Davison was repatriated from Canada to England where, after a brief survivors leave, he joined the HMS London for the remainder of the war where he saw more action looking for the Bismark, in Russian waters, Ceylon and eventually Australia.
Tom Davison with his daughter Sheila
Tom finished his service as a Petty Officer and came home in August 1945 with 7 medals:- 1939-45 Star The Atlantic Star, The Africa Star, The Pacific Star, The War Medal, The Defence Medal and The Long Service Medal.
Hero of the Jervis Bay battle tells his story
After gaining national recognition AB Tom Davison appeared in and advert for "EverReady Batteries":
The Stureholm - A sad end to a heroic crew & ship
The Stureholm was sunk by the U-96 on Dec.11, 1940 (36 days after the Jervis Bay) with the loss of all hands. This included several members of the Jervis Bay crew, who had signed up to crew the Stureholm.
AB Tom Davison - After the war
After the war Tom worked as a Bricklayer's Labourer but by 1950 he went back to sea on the Pilot Cutter's supply ship The Kihna. By 1961 he was working on the Tugs in Dover Harbour then DHB's mooring gang and finally as a fitters mate in their dockside workshops before retiring on his 65th birthday in 1977. He died in August 1986.
