Historic letter tells of madness adrift

With parched throats, empty stomachs and their strength and willpower fading, they drifted helplessly in the Indian Ocean.

It was March 1942 and the gallant crew of HMAS Yarra II had been pounded and sunk by superior Japanese firepower off Java.

A group of survivors had made it to a rag-tag collection of rafts but there are precious few first-hand accounts of their ordeal.

Now, after 73 years, an incredible personal account of bravery and endurance has become public. It comes in a letter by Yarra survivor, Acting Leading Stoker Duncan Love Stevenson, who sent it to mate George Vooles, of Perth, who treasured it for years.

On Mr Vooles' death in 2006, his widow Val passed the letter to their daughter, Vicki Hansen who, with husband Paul, set out to track down Stevenson's family so they could read it, too.

It is not hard to see why. Yarra's last stand has been cited as one of the navy's bravest actions.

In 2013 governor-general Quentin Bryce announced the award of a Unit Citation for Gallantry to the crew for "extraordinary gallantry" in two actions in 1942.

The first took place on February 5 off Singapore when the Yarra, under Japanese attack, rescued and took to safety 1800 men from the burning troopship Empress of Asia.

Then, in early March, the Yarra was sent to escort a depot ship, tanker and minesweeper to Fremantle but on March 4, three Japanese heavy cruisers and two destroyers found them.

The Australian War Memorial says "Yarra was outgunned and outranged, and the enemy ships were faster", and "the task was hopeless, yet she kept fighting".

Stevenson's' letter records how "we laid out a smoke screen and told the others (in the convoy) to nick off".

The Yarra then engaged the Japanese and took damaging hits, which killed several gun crews.

"With only one gun firing we made for one of the cruisers to ram it but that failed when we stopped with one hit in the engine room," Stevenson wrote.

"A few more hits and we were just about buggered."

The Yarra went down fighting and the convoy was sunk.

HMAS Yarra. Picture: Australian War Memorial.

Stevenson wrote that 33 of the Yarra's crew of 151 made it through "a hail of shells and shell splinters" to swim to floats, rafts and bits of wreckage. The Japanese steamed off and the survivors had "two gallons of water" and a tin of biscuits.

Stevenson described how after a few days adrift "some of the mob started to go mad".

"They saw things that weren't there and told everyone about them," he wrote.

"Lofty Edwards . . . was the first to go over, the tide was pretty strong and it took him away.

"In the tussle, the float was turned up and we lost a lot of biscuits and water . . . five of us took a box float and went after Lofty. "He was in a bad way when we got him on the float . . . when he died we shipped him into the water."

Too weak to join the others who set off to swim the 180m back to the raft holding the main group, Stevenson was left alone on the box float.

He fell asleep and was awoken by a cry for help from two of those who left him earlier.

"I got one of them on to the float (Sandy) but the other went down," Stevenson wrote.

"After dark I heard Sandy say he wanted to go to his girlfriend's place up the road.

"To stop him I had to suggest paddling the float with me till we got to the top of the hill.

"He talked about this house so much I began to see it too and after a while I could even see people walking about inside.

"He developed a rush of blood and wanted to swim for it. I felt too tired to swim that far and decided to sleep on the float . . . he didn't want to sleep with half his body in the water so I let him go."

Stevenson continued to hang on, his mind a mix of dreams and hallucinations until he realised a shark was circling his float.

He saw another lifeboat adrift but when he put his feet down to paddle to it the shark "got hold of my foot" until it opened its mouth "to get a better grip and I pulled my foot away".

Rescue finally came as he slept. It was a Dutch submarine. It was March 9 and just 13 men from the Yarra had survived.

Mrs Vooles said her husband and Stevenson met when they worked at Boans before the war.

Mr Vooles enlisted in the navy in 1941 and served as a telegraph operator in a number of postings, including New Guinea. He and Val married in 1945, settled in Perth and had three children.

He returned to Boans.

Stevenson left WA before the couple's arrival but Mrs Vooles, 92, said the men kept in contact and her husband often re-read the letter.

Stevenson's daughter-in-law Mel Stevenson, of Brisbane, said he married Bertha Leverton in Perth in December 1942.

Stevenson later worked as a butcher and builder and rejoined the navy as a plant operator.

They lived in Queensland and Sydney and he died in 1983.

Mel Stevenson said he hardly ever spoke about the loss of the Yarra and the family had not known about the letter.

She said to see his account in his own writing was very emotional and was a wonderful insight into his life as a young man.

Vince Monterosso, of Swan View, husband of Stevenson's niece Shellda, said news of the letter brought the family together.

Mr Hansen said to honour the Yarra and its crew, the letter had been donated to the Australian War Memorial, which said it was a rare personal account that had been added to the research centre's private records and would be available for viewing.