More Lives Than a Ship's Cat

More Lives Than A Ship’s Cat By Jeremy Stoke and published by

Pen & Sword Books - £20.00 - Hardback - Pages 288

By any standards Mick Stoke’s experiences in the Royal Navy during the Second World War were remarkable. Aged nineteen, he was ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his courage during incessant bombing during the Siege of Tobruk.

He survived multiple torpedo attacks, firstly serving on the cruiser Glasgow, which was hit twice; on the battleship Queen Elizabeth at sea and blown up by human torpedoes at Alexandria; and on HMS Hardy, struck in January 1944, while escorting Russian Arctic Convoy JW56B.

In 1942, he was serving on HMS Carlisle during the fiercely fought Malta convoys and took part in the Battle of Sirte. Later that year he was awarded the MBE ‘for outstanding bravery, resource and devotion to duty during very heavy bombing’ at the port of Bone during Operation TORCH. He went on to serve at D-Day and later in the Pacific on HMS Rajah.

It is a privilege to read Mick Stoke’s graphic and modest account of his naval service in the Second World War. Readers will appreciate and understand how he became ‘The Most Highly Decorated Midshipman in the Royal Navy’.

I have to say from the start out that this is a brilliant title for a book, in this one title it really does encompass the whole book. This book follows the adventures and very near scrapes of Mick Stoke, the most decorated Mid Shipman in World War Two. This man spent the war serving on the Glasgow, Queen Elizabeth, Hardy, Carlisle, Operation Torch, took part in the D-Day Landings and was on the Rajah out in the Pacific. One could see him as a brave man awarded for his gallantry and bravery, or you could say he was unlucky too.

This was a well-written book by his son, it reads very easily and reads just

like an adventure story. In fact, I enjoyed it so much it only took me a couple of

nights as it was hard to put down, I was kind of thinking surely he can’t survive the

next attack. The reports from his Naval Records near the back of the book were a

nice touch and showed how much he was held in high regard. I highly recommend

this book about one of life’s good guys.