The Navy was Robert Spence’s first choice for the war effort, but the navy rejected him on health grounds. He tried the Air Force and again was rejected. Then when the Army turned down it was the last straw. As a child, Robert had juvenile arthritis in both legs, making him unfit for all the forces, but it didn’t stop him from trying.
He was apprenticed to his father who was a building contractor. During the war they were not allowed to build houses, so Robert and his father made aircraft crates on the Fremantle wharf. Here he became friendly with the crew of the Centaur. In the days before her conversion to a hospital ship she used to take supplies to the people in the north west of Western Australia. They needed a ship’s carpenter, and Robert got the job. He remained ship’s carpenter during Centaur’s conversion, and later during her short career as a hospital ship. On 14th May 1943, he became one of her 268 casualties.
Like many families of the Centaur merchant crew, the first Robert’s family was heard was on the radio. Their telegram from Dalgety’s came later. He was only 21 when he died. He is survived by his three sisters.