SHIPMATES who survived a German torpedo attack have been reunited after more than 60 years.

It was midnight on July 16, 1943, when Crewe-born Alan Davies, an 18-year-old radio officer serving on the City of Canton, took over the night watch from fellow operator John Hartley.

With a few potatoes as cargo, the Merchant Navy ship was not considered a prime target for a passing U-boat.

But en route from Beira to Mombasa in the Indian Ocean its civilian crew were targeted by a submarine. Seven were killed and scores left injured by the attack, shortly before 1am.

The explosion threw sleeping men from their bunks. A torpedo had hit the engine room, sealing the fate of the stricken ship.

survivors scrambled into lifeboats, a second strike sent the ship down fast.

For seven days in lifeboats drifting close to the Equator, men battled searing heat and dehydration, sharing sips of water and Horlicks tablets.

It's a tale of survival the old friends have told to many down the decades - but not to each other. Now new technology has brought them together for the first time in more than 61 years.

Mr Davies, now 80, of Wordsworth Drive in Crewe, said: 'A friend of mine, Eric Williams, has a computer on which he found some information about survivors of the City of Canton.

'My details were passed on and it wasn't long before I received a letter from John, now living in Ilkley in Yorkshire. We met at Crewe Station and recounted our experience over a pub lunch at the Sydney Arms. It was incredible to see him after all these years.'

After leaving the Merchant Navy in 1947, Mr Davies, a father-of-two and grandfather-of-four, worked for BT as an engineer.

He added: 'That night is etched in our memory. There were four lifeboats but one was wrecked in the explosion. The radios were down, so I couldn't call for help.

'Our position was 13.52 South, 41.10 East. After taking our Second Mate a prisoner-of-war, the U-boat left.

'The sea was rough and the lifeboats separated. One man died on our boat, unable to cope with the

conditions. John and I tried to share a joke to keep our spirits up but after several days of drifting we were too weak to speak.

'Just when we could survive no longer, we spotted the lights of a lighthouse and sent up flares. We were off the coast of what was then Portuguese East Africa [now Mozambique] and villagers rowed out to rescue us.'

Taken home on a Merchant Navy ship, the Highland Chieftain, the pair haven't seen each other since they docked in Liverpool.

Mr Davies added: 'John's 83 now and we'll be keeping in touch for as long as we've got left.'