Arctic convoy veteran

Born: November 4, 1924;

Died: May 1, 2018

ARTHUR McWatt, who has died aged 94, was a veteran of the Arctic Convoys during the Second World War, which Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously described as representing the “the worst journey on earth”. Under constant threat of attack by German U-boats and aircraft, the convoys, which took vital supplies to the Soviet Union, also had to deal with severe cold, storms, and ice floes.

By May 1945, the Arctic route had claimed 104 merchant and 16 military vessels and thousands of Allied seamen lost their lives

When he was 90 years old, Mr McWatt was the first person in Scotland to receive the Russian Ushakov medal for bravery for serving on the destroyer HMS Walker, which was built at Denny’s Leven shipyard in his home town of Dumbarton, where his father had been an employee.

HMS Walker was part of the fleet with the hazardous task of escorting merchant ships between the UK and the Soviet Union.

Just 18 at the time, Able Seaman McWatt said his ship was leaking like a sieve when it sailed through mountainous seas alongside the destroyers HMS Beagle and HMS Boadicea, and four Flower-class corvettes.

Although the convoy endured German air and submarine attacks during its passage, it suffered no losses among its ships and arrived safely at the Kola Inlet on February 28, 1944.

Two months later, HMS Walker joined the same vessels as close escort for the returning convoy, carrying from Russia reciprocal supplies of timber, coal, fur and magnesium, when it was attacked by German submarines. However, it arrived safely at Loch Ewe in Scotland, on March 10.

When the Ushakov medal was first presented to Mr McWatt, he said: “I certainly didn’t feel like a hero. I was just a teenager at the time, too young even to qualify for a tot of rum.

“I just did what I had to do and that was that. The conditions were atrocious and our ship, which was built here in Dumbarton, leaked like a sieve. We were up to our knees and sometimes up to our waists in freezing water.”

Mr McWatt was born in Mandalay, Burma, where his father worked as part of a team from Denny’s shipyard building the Irrawaddy fleet. There was always a strong Scottish connection with Burma. Until independence in 1948 most of the 200 British staff in Burma were Scots and almost all the powered paddle steamers were built on the Clyde.

Mr McWatt returned with his parents to Dumbarton as a teenager and went to Dumbarton Academy for two years before taking up a post at the old Employment Exchange in College Street. It was there that he signed up for service in the Royal Navy.

He married a farmer’s daughter, the late Margaret McKinstry Hebenton, of Ardardan Farm, in July, 1952, and worked as a civil servant until his retirement.

He was well known throughout Dunbartonshire and beyond as an enthusiastic golfer and had been a member at Cardross Golf Club since 1948. He was a respected past captain and vice-president of the club.

Mr McWatt was also the proud possessor of the Arctic Star which the British Government created in 2012 following a long campaign for the convoy veterans to be recognised. He is survived by his three children, ten grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

BILL HEANEY