Collection search - Timbrell, R.W.(Bob) - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Timbrell, R.W.(Bob) - Interview

Item number (ISN):

305406

Series title:

Seasoned Sailors : Talking with Senior Survivors of Canada's Wartime Navy

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1999

Item number (ISN):

305406

Type of material:

Moving images

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

RYAN, David Patrick

Accession:

1999-0056

Media:

Video

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

1999

Release date:

1999

Production credit:

director/producer, Pat Ryan

Description:

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Rear Admiral R.W. (Bob) Timbrell recites this fasinating story in an arresting manner. He leaves West Vancouver in 1935 at 15 to train as a cadet in "HMS Conway" - in hopes of someday entering the Canadian navy. He succeeds, and in 1937 with 9 other Canadians training to be Midshipmen, joins the training ships "HMS Erebus", and "HMS Vindictive". Matriculating to "a snottie" he is sent to the battleship "HMS Barham" in the 1938 Mediterranean Fleet.~Then comes the war!~Escorting the first Canadian troopship convoy to Scotland. Timbrell recounts the horror of observing the trapped crew of the capsized destroyer "HMS Dutchess" calling for help from portholes - open but too small for escape. After Barham, he joins "HMS Hood" and then "HMS Warspits". In early 1940, his group of midshipman go ashore to become Sub-Lieutenants.~What follows, appears, without doubt, the most deeply etched of his war experiences in May 1940 he commands a large yacht and "pick-up" crew to Dunkerque to help rescue the Allied (mostly British) troops retreating from the Germans. In all he leads three trips to the beaches and returns some 900 soldiers - for which he was duly decorated.~Next comes his first Canadian ship, the "HMCS Margaree" newly transferred to the RCH. Here he describes how all, except he and 26 others, perished when she was lost off Ireland. Back in Canada, he joins "HMCS Annapolis", previously "USS Mackenzie" built in 1917, and provides a first hand accounts of life at sea in these old ships. Then comes his time in "HMCS Ottawa(2)" with EG11, Escort Group 11 under Commander J.D. Prentice, when the ships of that group destroyed 3 U-boats in rapid succession in the Channel and the Bay of Biscay.~Timbrell concludes by summanzing some of the developments with which Canada led the world's navies in the postwar years, some of which - such as unification of the Armed Forces were not unqualified successes. <51mn 41s>

Language:

English

Original number:

Set 4, No. 2

Detailed holdings information:

Show detail Hide detail

Vault ISN:

354762

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

V1 2001-01-0043

Number of items:

1

Duration:

51:35

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

354763

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

V7 2001-01-0017

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

SOF

Duration:

51:35

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

817693

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

305406.MXF

Number of items:

1

Made from:

V7 2001-01-0017

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

817694

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

305406.MP4

Number of items:

1

Made from:

V7 2001-01-0017

Status:

REF
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Consultation copy number:

V1 2001-01-0043

Restrictions on consultation:

~No Restrictions / Pas de restrictions

Reproduction access:

With written permission of Donor / Avec la permission écrite du donateur

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