Extract from a letter from Jim Coulson (survivor) to his sister Nell written from 112 AGH Brisbane on 18 May 1943
I expect by this you know how lucky I am. I was awakened on the 14th at about 4am by a terrific explosion & some heavy burning object falling through two decks to our sleeping compartment & then to the bottom of the ship. I was on my feet & had my life belt before I was awake. I grabbed the water bottle – I filled it that day for the first time for over a year – a blanket and the emergency kit. I ran up with others two small flights of stairs putting on my life belt as I ran. The rafts and the foredeck were all ablaze with burning oil.
I then ran to the starboard side about 10 yds & endeavoured to get to some small rafts but the waves broke over the deck & washed me against the boom.
I went down in that position and after it seemed ages came up very close to a small raft where I got on and stayed for 36 hours…
We, another chap and myself, got a piece of timber and managed to get to another small raft 3 on it anyway before daylight. There were about 7 small rafts and two medium ones tethered together & we stayed like that until we were picked up. One chap died of burns and another was very badly burnt.
Do not believe any of the yarns printed by papers, the are all hoey (sic) (heroes?).
Sister Savage was on the medium raft with our party, also the Lieut.Col… We were all only partly dressed men, singlets and underpants, some in singlets none fully clothed. The tub sank in seconds so one could be excused.
The sharks were in droves & it continually rained as the sea washed over our raft constantly…
Twelve of the 19 got out of our quarters and only 6 out of 20 from the stern where both Maynards were… The oil, four months supply, exploded and the boats were full of blazing oil.
I’m going to a con camp maybe today as I’m okay I had a few scratches and bruises to mend. The Yanks gave us a wonderful time after picking us up. They sure did turn it on one cannot say enough for their consideration.