Eighteen year old Neil Grano was aboard the Australian troopship Aquitania when they discovered a drifting lifeboat with 18 German sailors in it. It was unclear why they would be inthe Indian Ocean, 250 kilometers off the western Australian coast. No one on the Aquitania spoke German, and none of the Germans spoke English so they didn't find out that these German sailors had just been inthe Kormoran- Sydney battle.
Grano said it was the most action he'd seen since joining the Merchant Marine at age 17.
PQ 17 CONVOY
He was aboard the SS Paulus Potter, one of 38 ships in the ill-fated PQ 17 Convoy that sailed from Ireland to the Soviet Union. The Potter was one of 25 vessels that didn't` make it and Grano and 20 survivors were forced to float in the Baron Sea which was bitterly cold. Dodging icebergs, almost frozen from head to toe, and thinking that every day would be their last, they never even knew what time it was as they were in the "Midnight Sun."
Finally, a passing ship picked up the crew and Grano spent three months recovering from severe frostbite in a Soviet hospital.
He later joined the US Merchant Marine and saw service in the Caribbean and Pacific until the end of the war.
This is another one of those stories that lead to other stories and the story of the PQ 17 Convoy and RMS Aquitania are interesting enough, especially since I'd never heard of either one.
tHE sTORY cONTINUES. --Cooter
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