Arctic Rescue: A Memoir of the Tragic Sinking of HMS Glorious

Ronald Healiss

Aug 2021 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Chris MacDonnell

About this audiobook

On the 8th June 1940, the Nazi battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau opened their guns on the aircraft-carrier HMS Glorious. Within minutes the Glorious was taking on water and the order was given to abandon ship. Hundreds of men leapt into the icy waters of the Norwegian Sea. They hoped and prayed that nearby ships would have heard their distress signal and send help. Yet, they did not come. Men were left to tread water, hold onto small inflatables, or clamber onto overcrowded lifeboats. The situation looked bleak for the few who survived the first twenty-four hours; there was nothing to eat and men resorted to drinking saltwater and their own urine to slake their thirst, but the effects of hypothermia and delirium began to take their toll. Over 1,200 men lost their lives as a result of this tragedy. Only forty men survived this ordeal, one of which was Royal Marine Ronald "Tubby" Healiss, who served as a member of a 4.7 gun crew on the Glorious. His award-winning account is a true and terrible record of suffering, which uncovers one of the greatest undocumented naval stories of the Second World War.

About the author

Ronald Healiss was a Royal Marine who served as a member of a 4.7 gun crew on the HMS Glorious. Healiss's experience on the Glorious is chronicled in his memoir, Arctic Rescue. He passed away in 1980.

Chris MacDonnell is a classically trained actor who holds a degree from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. His theater credits include London's West End and the Royal National Theatre, and he has been featured in British TV shows, BBC radio-drama, commercials, and films. Chris now lives in Southern California.