In 1946 Malcolm (Dick) Cunningham Owen wrote about an incident that took place on one of his Arctic Convoy voyages. He submitted his story to the National Broadcasting Service, hoping to have it shared with a wider audience. However, it was not accepted for broadcast.

His children were always fascinated by the story and now, many decades later, his daughter Judy Owen generously shared this significant piece of family history with us.

Judy Owen

Every Tuesday, Judy Owen volunteers her time and expertise to Online Cenotaph, working in the Museum’s Pou Maumahara Memorial Discovery Centre. She assists visitors with military research while also enriching the records of her own whānau, many of whom served in both World Wars.

Judy’s commitment to service extends far beyond her work with Online Cenotaph. As a New Zealand Registered Nurse, she dedicated 40 years (1980–2020) to the New Zealand Red Cross, including working as a delegate for the International Committee of the Red Cross. During this time, she worked in conflict zones around the world, managing health programmes and providing emergency medical support in Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and along the Thai-Cambodian border.

Between Red Cross deployments, Judy also worked at Whanganui, Greenlane, and Auckland City Hospitals. Reflecting on her career, she shared:

"I was lucky to have a qualification which enabled me to make a difference in people’s lives from the humanitarian point of view. The Red Cross working on both and sometimes multiple sides to a conflict was instrumental in this".

Judy’s background and her own experience in conflict zones is a large part of what makes sharing her father’s story so important to her.

"My father [served in the New Zealand Navy during World War II] and as many did, he served in a tough and dangerous environment. I have never been a member of any military but so much of what he experienced in his service I can relate to mine.

As a young girl I remember reading Dad's article. Then its impact was less. But after my first Red Cross contact in 1980, I started to understand the effects that conflict had. And as time went by with other contracts, Dad's story started to leave an imprint on me.

In the...waters of the Arctic Ocean where the cold, U boats, and attacks from the air were the enemy, here were civilians. While civilians unfortunately have always been caught up in wars, here was a Russian fishing trawler, in the middle of nowhere with 14 men, women and children. They had been shot at for more than an hour from my father's boat but all managed to survive and be rescued. It must have been terrifying."

Malcolm (Dick) Owen (1921–2004)

Malcolm (Dick) Owen was born on 19 August 1921 in Palmerston North. His parents Norman and Ruth Owen had three children and in 1923 the family moved to Whanganui where he attended Whanganui Technical College. In 1938 Dick was appointed Head Prefect and was a member of the Rugby First XV.

World War II broke out just as Dick graduated Technical College and he moved down to Christchurch to attend Teachers Training College where he obtained 6 units of an Arts Degree. In 1941, Dick returned to Whanganui with the intention of teaching, however he soon found himself enlisting in the Army while he waited for his application for Naval service to be processed. In 1943 Dick was approved and he moved to Auckland to begin his Naval Training.

When Dick eventually set sail, he was destined for England on the ship HMS Achilles. After arriving in the United Kingdom (UK), he spent three months on the aircraft carrier HMS Furious before joining the Flower Class Corvette, HMS Rhododendron, K 78. The Flower Class Corvette was a British class of 294 corvettes used during WW2 as anti-submarine convoy escorts. Dick was on the Rhododendron from 1943 to 1945, rising to the rank of Sub Lieutenant and taking part in seven of the 78 Arctic Convoys that played a crucial role in World War II..

Arctic Convoys

The Arctic Convoys sailed from the UK, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union - primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk, both in modern-day Russia. About 1,400 merchant ships delivered essential supplies to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program, escorted by ships of the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, and the United States Navy. Their typical cargo included tanks, fighter planes, fuel, ammunition, raw materials, and food. The early convoys delivered armored vehicles and Hawker Hurricanes to make up for Soviet Union shortages.

The Arctic route was the shortest and most direct route for lend-lease aid to the USSR, though it was also the most dangerous. Some 3,964,000 tons of goods were shipped by the Arctic route and a substantial 7% was lost. Dick recalled some of his most frightening voyages, including watching their sister corvette HMS Bluebell blown up in broad daylight just a few hundred yards from the Rhododendron. There was only one survivor from Bluebell’s crew of over 90 people.  Despite enemy threats, the greatest challenge for Allied vessels was not German submarines or aircraft, but the relentless Arctic storms and freezing conditions, which tested even the most seasoned sailor.

These convoys played a vital political and tactical role in WWII, demonstrating the Allies commitment to helping the Soviet Union prior to the opening of a Second Front, as well as occupying a substantial part of Germany's Navy and Air Force.

Dick’s story:

The following is a brief extract from Dick’s account of events aboard the Rhododendron, with minor edits for clarity. The full version of his article is available here.

“At 800 yards the Commanding officer decided that there was something irregular at stake and ordered the ceasefire. At 600 yards he took a bold step and will all guns ready ordered the starboard searchlight to be turned on. This was indeed a bold step for as previously mentioned, to show a light was almost a fatal step. However, the Commanding officer must have considered that that our guns would have already given away our position, so that this was the only course open. It was a tense moment. Imagine our surprise and I might say indignation when we perceived the outline, not of a u boat as we had hoped for and had visions of capturing, but that of an ordinary fishing trawler.

The Commanding officer immediately summed up the situation. To stop engines in the middle of this u boat pack might be fatal and yet in the interests of mercy and humanity what else could we do. Here was a fishing trawler, whether it be German, Russian or English, a defenseless craft that had been shelled and battered for the last half hour, lying adrift in mid ocean. Orders came down from the bridge that we were going alongside to pick up survivors and at this stage everyone on board probably wished that they were back home in bed not stuck out here in the middle of the Arctic Ocean with our engines stopped, ready to catch any stray torpedo that may have been floating about. It took a few minutes in the heavy swell to maneuver our small ship alongside this craft, but in the end, ropes were made fast, and the craft was brought alongside our starboard side. As we pulled the two vessels together signs of life began to appear on the other ship. In all we took off fourteen survivors, men, women and children. Most of these had to be assisted  on to our ship; their nerve had completely gone. Could we but doubt this having been shot at and shelled for at least half an hour.

Their stern had been completely blown off, their main mast had been shot off, their wheelhouse was battered, and we could see where cannon shells had ripped up the deck. Most of the survivors collapsed on deck after being taken on board and it was several minutes before, we realized that our new passengers were Russian. Imagine our surprise.

The Commanding officer of the Russian Trawler could speak no English, and it was several minutes before we were able to fathom out the fact that they were Russians and that they were lost in the Arctic Ocean.

We could not linger in this precarious position, so as soon as all survivors were on board our engines were at full speed ahead and we proceeded to join our merchantman.

The amazing part of the whole story and probably one of the most amazing episodes of the whole war was that not one Russian was even wounded. This was not bad shooting on our gun crews either. As we learnt later, four out of first five shots from our 4 inch gun were hits or very near misses on our target. As Lieutenant C J McCalvey, RNVR, later remarked, it was one of the best shoots we had ever put up. However the amazing part of the story is yet to come. The Commanding Officer realized that such a small craft would be a menace to shipping and could not be left afloat, so at 400 yards range ordered the the vessel to be sunk. With open sights and out layer and trainer both on a shot was fired. Lo and behold it missed. Our gunnery officer was naturally very disgusted after we had had several hits at 400 yards range, but the Commanding Officer could linger no longer.

What became of this vessel no one knows. Today it may be found as some wreck on the Northern Coast of Norway or it may have been salvaged by Russians or Norwegians and may to this day be used in the industry fishing. We do not know... Thus ends this incident that occurred on one of our many Russian convoys. It is not a glamorous story, nor is it a story which I suppose the public has ever been told about. It is just one of those stories which happened daily…”

Other sources

A brief account of the same event was documented by fellow sailor Arthur James Simmons and is in the Royal Navy Archives in the UK.

“Further Convoys were escorted in November and December.
January 1945 brought a New Year and HMS Rhododendron sailed from the Clyde to take part in more Artic Convoys right through until May. After one convoy in March, we had to go out from Murmansk about 60 miles to pick up a merchant ship (straggler) that developed engine trouble; we missed her in the dark then got a radar contact like a submarine. The search light lit up and the 4” gun fired almost at the same time. Fortunately, no damage was done as the contact was a Russian fishing boat that was drifting out of control with engine failure. We brought the boat alongside and a family came aboard. The children were frightened, so we looked after them, made sandwiches and mugs of cocoa from grated chocolate which they thoroughly enjoyed. We signalled the Polynarno (signal station) and docked. The Russian officials came on board and enjoyed a few drinks in the wardroom before thanking us and returned to Murmansk with a relieved and happy family.”

Contributed by Arthur James Simmons, Article ID:A8546565 Archive List Royal Navy.

Post War

Dick was discharged from the Navy in 1945 and returned to Whanganui, where he joined his brother Norman in business. He later established his own company, Owen’s Drapery Limited.

In 1949, he married Olwyn Picard from Eltham, Taranaki, who had moved to Whanganui for nursing training. Together, they had three children—Richard, Judith, and Mark.

In the 1980s, Dick received a medal from the Soviet Embassy in recognition of his role in escorting supply convoys from Scotland to the Kola Inlet in Russia.

He remained in Whanganui for the rest of his life with Olwyn. Olwyn passed away in 1999, followed by Dick in 2004. Both were buried in Aramoho Cemetery in Whanganui.

Remembering the Arctic Convoys

As Dick’s words illustrate, the Arctic Convoys were among the most gruelling campaigns of World War II, yet they remain relatively unknown. Sailors endured extreme cold, enemy attacks, and treacherous seas to deliver vital supplies to the Soviet Union, playing a crucial role in the Allied war effort.

For many years, their contributions were largely overlooked in national historiography. However, research by Grace Penlain in her Master of Arts thesis, From the Southern Cross to the Northern Lights: New Zealanders in the Arctic Convoys, 1941-45 (Massey University, 2022), has been instrumental in identifying and acknowledging the individuals who served. You can read her full thesis here.

New Zealanders who served in the Arctic Convoys were only formally commemorated in the early 2000s. A plaque on the Wellington waterfront, unveiled on 9 May 2005, ensures their legacy is recognised. It reads:

"In memory of all New Zealanders who participated in the Arctic Convoys to and from Russia in World War II 1941-1945."

More recently, interest in the Arctic Convoys has grown in public consciousness. International films such as Greyhound (2020), starring Tom Hanks, depict the dangers of the Battle of the Atlantic and the perilous convoy missions supplying Allied forces. The Arctic Convoy (2023), based on true events from 1942, follows a cargo ship that was part of the ill-fated convoy PQ 17. These films have helped bring wider recognition to the hardships faced by those who served.

We have created a list of New Zealanders who took part in the Arctic Convoy's. Please contact the Online Cenotaph team if you are aware of an individual who is not represented on this list. 

Ngā mihi

Thanks to Judy Owen’s generosity in sharing her father’s account, we gain a deeper understanding of these perilous journeys and the men who served on them. Her ongoing mahi with Online Cenotaph helps ensure that the histories of New Zealanders like Dick continue to be preserved for future generations. Ngā mihi, Judy, for helping to keep these stories alive.

Additional Reading:

Penlain, Grace. From the Southern Cross to the Northern Lights: New Zealanders in the Arctic Convoys, 1941-45. Master’s thesis, Massey University, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/17843.