WITH his ship filling with water after being torpedoed by a U-boat, Robert Edmunds covered himself in oil and jumped into the Atlantic.
On Saturday, the Mail featured the story of HMS Royal Oak, which was sunk just weeks after the outbreak of the Second World War while in Scapa Flow, the naval base off Orkney.
David Turner, the author of Last Dawn, discovered one of the survivors of the tragedy that left 833 dead, including boy sailors aged between 14 and 17, hailed from Hull.
Sadly, Mr Edmunds, of Bilton, died aged 93, in 2010. But his grandson, John Moody, who cared for him during his latter years, read the article and is able to fill in gaps.
Mr Moody, a forklift driver for Asda Bilton, said: "Grandad covered himself in engine oil to protect himself from the cold. The water in Scapa Flow was freezing. It's the Atlantic and it was October."
While Last Dawn discusses the events of October 14, 1939, it does not explore the background of crew members, other than the author's uncle, Lieutenant Ralph Lennox Woodrow-Clark, then the youngest Royal Navy battleship commander, who went down with HMS Royal Oak.
Mr Moody said: "Grandad lied about his age and joined the Royal Navy when he was 14.
"He rose through the ranks and was Chief ERA (engine room artificer) on Royal Oak and was in charge of 40 to 50 people," he said.
"Grandad told me how he was in his bunk when the torpedos hit. He went straight to the engine room.
"The ship was tilting and filling with water. It was on fire, people were on fire and it was going down.
"Grandad told his crew to get out and then got out himself.
"Somehow, grandad managed to swim four miles to shore. He was found on some rocks, shivering and trying to get warm."
Mr Edmunds, although badly shaken, was not injured and, with war raging, there was little time for him to recuperate.
Before long, he found himself on HMS Effingham, which ran aground and sank on May 18, 1940, while on escort duties off Norway.
Mr Edmunds spent the remainder of the war on a range of vessels, including motor torpedo boats, frigates and destroyers. He was also stationed in Malta.
Mr Moody said his grandfather completed 26 years in the Royal Navy, before working as a supervisor at Electro Furnace in Hedon Road, east Hull.
He spent 22 years at the company, retiring as general manager. He was married for 68 years to Janet, who died in 2008, and they had a daughter, Carol, who died ten years ago.
"I am exceptionally proud of grandad and what he did during the war," said Mr Moody.
"He was a great role model for me when I was growing up and a man of integrity – something that is lacking today."
Mr Moody said he is pleased to see the men who died on HMS Royal Oak, as well as the survivors who lived the rest of their lives haunted by memories of that October night, are being remembered.
He said: "Grandad lost a lost of friends on that ship.
"He always said to me, 'Lest we ever forget'."
