Heartbreak secret of death at sea (From Penarth Times)

Heartbreak secret of death at sea

A PENARTH man who was sent to work as a cabin boy on a Merchant Navy ship in the Second World War is desperately trying to contact the family of an old schoolfriend - because he doesn't want to carry the secret of his death to the grave with him.

Edward Eiles, who now lives in North Miami Beach, Florida, was a boy at the J A Gibbs Home in Penarth - now Headlands School - before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Mr Eiles said: "I was at the home with my friend Ronald Gunter.

"Most of the boys I knew there either had no parents or, as in my case, their parents didn't want them."

At that time the school housed around 120 boys.

Mr Eiles said: "It was the custom of the school that when a boy went past 14, he was either sent home or sent out to work. As Penarth was in the tri-shipping area with Barry, Cardiff and Swansea, many boys were put on old freighters as either cabin or galley boys.

"The headmaster of the school Mr W T Clark took both Ronald Gunter and myself to Barry Docks and left us on two different vessels.

"As the two vessels were in Barry some days before sailing, we both went out in the evening after work.

"I learnt on those occasions that Ronald Gunter was not happy on the ship. Like me he was given an empty mattress cover which he had to fill with straw to make a bed.

"He was placed in a cabin with seven other crew members. This kind of scared him. He was so frightened that Captain James Horsfield intervened and let him sleep in the Pilot's Cabin.

"When the ship went down during the war there is no doubt that his close association with the captain was the cause of him not being rescued.

"This death has played on my mind for many years and I promised myself that one day I would try to make amends.

"That is why I have been trying - with little success - to locate any remaining members of Ronald Gunter's family to express my feelings.

"I don't think any organisation would put 14-year-old boys on ships like this today.