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10 Volume 73 Number 1
15 February 2021
home fleet in WW II and many Canadian warships were placed in the ship’s bomb room on the star-
were moored there also). Four months later HMS board side, amidships 3 decks down. Petty officer
Cairo shipped 200 cases of gold bullion addressed Reg Levick who had helped load the gold told
to the Bank of England in London. “Uncle Joe” Commander Jeffries also present that he had a
Stalin was paying up all right. As 60 members of bad premonition about the forthcoming trip. It
the crew of HMS Edinburgh were about to find out had been snowing when the cases were brought
when the ship set sail in May 1942 from Kola Inlet aboard and much of the cheap red Russian paint
with Russian gold on board. The Edinburgh and had dissolved in the damp and streamed across
the bullion would never reach port. the deck and down the side of the ship. “Russian
Gold dripping with blood” PO Levick had reflected
On Saturday at the time.
25th April
1942, Captain Edinburgh set
Hugh Faulk- sail on Tues-
ner Com- day April
manding Of- 28th, 1942 in
ficer of HMS charge of a
Edinburgh, convoy QP11,
anchored in consisting of
Kola Inlet, 13 merchant
Murmansk ships and 18
and signed a escorts. The
receipt for 93 outbound
small wooden convoy PQ11
boxes deliv- (note the re-
ered to the verse letters
quayside by to indicate
the Red Army. direction) had
The contents been 13 mer-
were secret chant ships
and only and 13 es-
Faulkner and corts and had
a handful of arrived at
his officers Murmansk
and Russian without inci-
officials were Routes of the Arctic Convoys dent) In
supposed to charge on the
know of their https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6454549/Stunning-photos- QP11 return
contents. reveal-brutal-conditions-faced-sailors-protecting-WW2-Arctic- run was Rear
Beans, the Convoys.html Admiral Stuart
crew were told was the cargo, but also told that if Bonham-
any box fell over the side the person responsible Carter (related to Helena Bonham-Carter the ac-
would be going into the water to retrieve it! tress who portrayed HRH Princess Margaret in the
recent TV series “The Crown”) Captain Faulkner
10 tons of gold bullion in 465 bars were encased was on the bridge of Edinburgh and in sole charge
in the boxes. The disguise involved meaningless of the ship. Bonham Carter instructed Edinburgh
jargon in Russian cyrillic painted on the sides in to sail ahead of the convoy by 15 miles to locate
red Russian paint so as not to attract too much the edge of the ice pack to navigate as far away
attention. The gold came overland and most of from German land air bases as possible. Edin-
the country it travelled through was in enemy burgh took a north-westerly course zig zagging as
hands. Rumours of the contents were dispelled a precaution against U Boats. The German flag
when a crane lifting one of the boxes slipped and officer for Norway knew as soon as they left port
the box fell to the deck and split open spilling thanks to recognisance aircraft and very soon U
gold bars. That was all the crew needed to know boats had picked up their track. kapitänleutnant
exactly what they were loading aboard. The gold Max Teichert in U456 spotted Edinburgh at 1120
was worth about £2 million sterling. The boxes

http://www.noabc.com/