Favourable Winds - free book to download

Favourable Winds - A Twentieth Century Odyssey tells the personal story of Gerry O'Neill, who sadly passed away last year.

Gerry was a member of the Merchant Navy during the Second World War, and while this book covers his entire life, the chapters relating to his wartime experience are of particular interest. I have extracted these from the table of contents to indicate a flavour of the content of Favourable Winds.

Growing Up in North Dublin and Going to Sea 1925-41

Canadian Pacific Steamships, 1941-42

• R.M.S. Empress of Asia
• Escape from Singapore

Irish Shipping Limited, 1942

• s.s. Irish Larch (ex Haifa Trader)
• The Matriculation Examination

British Merchant Navy, 1942-43

• s.s. Lornaston
• Air Raid on London Dockland
• Invasion of North Africa

Ministry of War Transport, 1943

• North Africa – Interpreter, Algiers and Oran
• Spared by a German Airman
• Danke Schön, Fritz, Für Unserer Leben, und Guten Reisen

Marriage and a Brief Honeymoon, 1943

• Another Welcome Respite from the War
• Du Bist Mein Ganzen Herz

Special Exercises, 1943

• Operations Mincemeat and Cockade
• We bury "The Man Who Never Was" at Huelva
• An Abortive Invasion Attempt
• Liaisons Dangereuses

Canadian Pacific Steamships, 1943-44

• R.M.S. "Empress of Australia"
• A Passage to India and the East
• A Venture into the Carpet Trade

The Loneliest Christmas I Ever Spent, 1943

• A Bleak Day in Belfast
• No Room at the Inn

Stranded in Cork, 1944-

• A Most Opportune Football Match

Farm Labourer, 1944

• A Welcome Break from Hostilities
• A Few Peaceful Days in Bangor, North Wales
  

Further Episodes on the R.M.S Empress of Australia, 1944

• Encounter with a Hurricane
• Momentous First Visit to New York

Russian Convoy, 1944

• Repatriation of Soviet Prisoners from French Labour Camps
• Inability to Save Lives at Sea
• Libera Nos a Malo

Flower Class Corvettes

• North Atlantic Convoys

North Atlantic Convoys, 1944-45

• The Toss of a Coin and the Loss of a Friend
• A Great Personal Tragedy
• Non Nobis sed Vobis

Off to War in the Pacific, 1944

• A Frightening Passage through the Panama Canal
• Russian Roulette in New Guinea

The Battle of Leyte Gulf, 1944

• The Most Incisive Battle of the War against Japan
• “War is too important to be left to the generals” - Winston Churchill

The Battle of Iwo Jima, 1945

• A Hard-Fought Encounter with the Japanese
  

The Last and Costliest Battle of the War – Okinawa, 1945

• Fortunate to Survive a Near Fatality

Sojourn in Honolulu, 1945

• Experience of U.S. Care and Attention

Favourable Winds is downloadable free of charge in PDF format, or you can purchase the print edition from Lulu.