Sent By Andy Bogle Houston, Texas.

My dad,Bob Bogle, was a PO Stoker on the H.M.S. Edinburgh and served on her from her maiden voyage until her sinking. She was a frequent visitor to the Middle Docks in South Shields where several of her crew met and married local lasses - my Dad included. The Middle Docks named its canteen Edinburgh Hall. My Dad is 88 this year, in reasonable health and living in Bedlington.

I grew up knowing the Edinburgh - a mystery ship as my Dad liked to call her, although he never talked too much about the sinking. I suppose being down below he really didn't know a lot of what was going on but it had to have been a terrifying experience in those rough, dark waters. When they abandoned ship, he remembers it being so cold that they had to put blankets over the rails to prevent their hands from "sticking" to the cold steel. Once aboard the H.M.S. Forester, an officer took my Dad below and rubbed his hands for an hour to warm them up. He claims that the officer's actions saved him from severe frostbite (although he still gripes that because of this he missed his tot of rum that he claims was being issued on the upper decks!)

Many, many years later I was working for a manned submersible company in Leith. We provided underwater services to the North Sea offshore oil and gas industry. I remember the management meeting where it was announced that we were considering joining a salvage consortium to liberate "several million pounds" worth of gold from a World War II wreck. The name H.M.S. Edinburgh brought my attention to a focus. On the phone that night to my Dad, I questioned him about the gold and why he had never mentioned it before. It turns out that he had in fact been in charge of one of the loading parties and claimed that the Official Secrets Act had kept him from mentioning it to anyone! I remember his disappointment that someone was even thinking of desecrating a war grave.

I only heard about the book "Last Call for the H.M.S. Edinburgh" a couple of years ago from an old high school friend - coincidentally his Dad was also on the Edinburgh - and only then did I learn of the real story, surely one of the most heart-rending stories of the war.

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