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In the back of an old diary belonging to Dad there was a note mentioning a Mr Troop, radio operator, a company name and a question mark.
The company in Liverpool have their own website ( www.jamestroop.co.uk ) so I decided to send them an email asking about John Troop:
3 February 2004
Hello,
I am sorry if this sounds like a bit of a strange question, but I am researching my late father’s wartime experiences in the Merchant Navy and I have found a mention of your company.
My father was torpedoed in 1942 on the “Tower Grange”. The radio operator on the ship, then aged 22, was a John Troop from Liverpool. I would not normally have immediately thought of your company, but I have found a diary of my fathers with your company name in the back and a mention of John Troop.
Do you know if John Troop was connected with your company? He would be 84 years old now.
My father passed away in 1984 so I can’t ask him about this note in his diary. Dad was 19 years old in 1942 and was the Purser on board the ship. Did he try to make contact with John Troop in 1977?
I know this is all a bit vague, but if you think there may be a connection, please get in touch.
Thank you.
David Ransom
The next day I had the following reply from Bob Troop, Chairman of James Troop & Co Ltd:
Dear David
Thank you for your e-mail sent to James Troop & Co Ltd.
The information contained therein certainly sounds like my Uncle John. He is still alive and in fact still retains a directorship with us and until two years ago was the Company Chairman of 40 years standing. He is now in his 84th year and still very active. I have forwarded your mail to him and hopefully he will respond to you in due course.
Kind regards.
Bob Troop
On 6th February, John Troop sent me this message:
Dear David,
I was in the office this morning and Bob told me all about the exchange of e-mails that had taken place between the two of you. Most interesting…
I had several email conversations with John over the next few weeks and I have re-arranged these in the form of the interview in the box on the right.
An interview with John Troop, the 22 year old Radio Operator on the Tower Grange in 1942.
(Q) Do you remember my father from that fateful voyage of the Tower Grange?
(A) I though I had lost all contact with the Tower Grange crew but you have awakened old memories. I remember your father well especially as were literally in the same boat. He was lucky to be in his pyjamas, all I had was my underpants which I put on my head as a protection from the sun.
(Q) What do you think of the newspaper report (from the Sussex Evening Argus)?
(A) The newspaper account was rather flowery but basically correct. I think we owed our lives to the bravery of two of the young members, an apprentice called Geoff Maude of Keithley and an ordinary seaman from London whose name I never knew. They risked the sharks and swam across to the liferafts which mercifully had floated free, tied them together and paddled them over to the two waterlogged boats from which all but two clambered out leaving the remaining pair to bale like mad to bring the boats up to a decent level. From then on the description was fairly accurate and we were picked up by the Baron Belhaven the following Wednesday.
(Q) Can you tell me what cargo the Tower Grange was carrying?
(A) I joined the Tower Grange at Barrow early in May 1942. We took on board all the armaments (guns, ammunition and rolling stock) for an army unit (can’t remember the size of it). We set sail via Capetown (the Meddy being closed of course) and arrived off Bombay late in July. We had to anchor there together with many other vessels and endured monsoon condition for nearly four weeks, then we went to Karachi where we discharged our military cargo. From there we went via Colombo to Calcutta where we picked up 30,000 chests of tea (imagine all that going to the bottom – such a waste!). From Calcutta to Madras to collect nearly 2,000 tons of iron ore thence to Capetown.
(Q) Would you like to comment on Captain Williamson’s report of the loss of the Tower Grange?
(A) I must say Captain Williamson dramatised things somewhat and mentioned incidents of which I have no recollection. He was completely wrong about the ship’s emergency transmitter as I was responsible for consigning it to the deep as it was half full of water and wouldn’t work. Goodness knows what piece of equipment he handed over at Trinidad thiking it was the transmitter.
(Q) And what do you think of Captain Brown’s entry in the Baron Bellhaven log?
(A) There were two boobs in Capt. Brown’s Baron Belhaven log. He picked us up on the afternoon of Wednesday 25th not the following day and he quoted the capacity of the jollyboat as being 12 when actually it was 9. There was a notice to that effect painted on the inside just where I was sitting. I saw it every day for a week so I should know!
(Q) Did you enjoy your time in New York?
(A) New York was bitterly cold when we arrived there on the Castalia - a mere 3 degrees F and the Hudson was steaming!. The temperature was up to 50 three days later. And we think our climate goes to extremes… I went to couple of live broadcasts at Radio City and saw some plays including one at the theatre opposite the Woodstock. It featured Alec Guiness (still a relative unknown) in a Terence Rattigan play. Like your father I received invitations to people’s houses for Christmas but declined them all and stayed at the hotel.
(Q) How was your return journey to the UK?
(A) The trip back home was horrible too. It was also on the Castalia and we experienced a strong easterly gale nearly all the way across. I’ve never seen such mountainous seas and it took us nearly four weeks to reach Methil. What a relief it was to get ashore.