[bearoutwest]

From Peter Smith's book "Arctic Victory - The Story of Convoy PQ18", there are five eye-witness accounts of the explosion of the Mary Luckenbach, by:
1. Lt Waller - (corvette Bluebell)
2. Captain Adams - (Ulster Queen)
3. Ensign Daniel Rooker - (Campfire)
4. Lt John Landers, USNR - (Virginia Dare)
5. Lt Billings - (Nathaniel Green).

Of those 5 accounts, only one - Daniel Rooker of the Campfire - records a survivor of the Mary Luckenbach being rescued. Unfortuneately, no record of the survivor's name or any mention of his unintended flight. Billings of the nearby Nathaniel Green does describe the ferocity of the explosion; and notes the damage to his own ship (due solely to the Mary Luckenback explosion) included:
- cargo boxes on deck smashed open,
- room interiors in shambles,
- cast iron ventilators buckled,
- a piece of angle iron impacting through the ammunition ready box and through a 4-in shell but missing the primer;
- aft hospital practically demolished,
- pointer platform on 4-in gun completely disappered,
- tank machine-gun ammunition (from ML) dispersed on the NG deck (together with spent shells from strafing Heinkels);
- 2-ft square side plate, found on deck.
"... It is impossible to put into words the force of the explosion or the amount of debris to hit the ship. "

Brian, there is also continual reference, by Peter Smith, to another book "Through the Waters" (By William Kimber 1956).
...geoff