[?]U[?] He’S Still Happy

[?]Hn Ward, Of "Tulagi"

[?]D Bulolo", Retires

[?]Ith The Sea

By Alan Fitzgerald

» In almost 50 years at sea—36 them in the Islands —John Ward s survived 50 wartime bombing d torpedo attacks, a sinking, a d-ocean collision, and an epic ft on a raft, hut he still reckons s sea is all right. 0 prove it, he’s recently retired —to fishing trips on his 20 ft launch. He runs it out of Syd r’s Gunnamatta Bay, near where now lives. bhn Ward (who is sometimes ck” or just plain “Wardy”) was ;il his retirement the chief en eer of the Burns Philp vessel 1010. He was with BPs for 36 rs, a lot of them spent in the Dmons on small ships. [e was also for a long time on Malaita, but it is his service the Tulagi —the one before the sent ship—that brings the mem s back for Wardy. e joined her as chief engineer before World War II started, little ship went to work for war effort, and ran as far as US, Canada and Mexico, hen, with Ward still aboard, set off in a convoy for a raid Jap held Timor—but got driven k and was bombed at Darwin, his was 1942—but the Tulagi dved that raid—and in fact, by ober, 1943, 50 other major raids, he end came in March 1944. ulagi, then 1000 miles south of )mbo, was hit by two torpedoes a midnight attack, and sank lin minutes. hirty-nine men went down with —l5 others, including Ward, got y. They floated about on sev rafts, and despite their pre ous situation, most managed to out a following typhoon. But months later only seven of the vere alive, 1 the beginning, on Ward’s raft, i man was rationed to three oz resh water in the morning, and ;e in the evening. Later, this to be reduced to one oz in the ning, and two oz at night.

Drank Salt Water ut Ward also managed to ik six to eight oz of salt water ay, and still retain his sanity, ir food, the men originally had jw biscuits, some chocolate and ted milk tablets, but this didn’t . They caught fish when they d and ate them raw—together i two sea birds and a turtle.

Dr one period the castaways e without food for 13 days.

Another time they had nothing to eat for 10 days, and were reduced almost to skeletons.

Ward recalls an odd feature of that drift, which lasted for 59 days.

“Everyone of us, including a boy of 16, celebrated a birthday”.

The raft finally touched an island 250 miles east of Madagascar.

Survivors were Ward, the second officer, named Jacobs, the purser, two Malays and two Indians.

Postwar Sequel

There was an odd postwar sequel to Ward’s epic raft drift. He was on the Burnside in Penang one day when the mate of an American ship came board to ask him if he had been the Ward of the Tulagi.

The American said a Malay aboard his ship had often told of the raft drift after the Tulagi sank, but he didn’t believe the Malay and wanted to check his story.

The story was right, said Ward.

Said the American, “The Malay was killed this morning when the block and tackle carried away as he was painting the mast”.

Ward has an OBE and Lloyd’s Silver Medal for bravery at sea, as a memento of that raft trip.

Mr. John Ward