# Captain Roland Scott Rouse



## ian d.cameron (Jul 3, 2005)

Hi Guys.
Awhile back I wrote a letter to all the Rouses in the BT online phone book for the Tyne-Tees area and the South Shields Gazette online, looking for family and friends.

This is the letter.

I am hoping to find relatives of Captain Roland Scott Rouse. He was the Master of the Merchant ship Empire Guillemot in 1941. 

On the 24/10/1941 the Empire Guillemot was torpedoed by Italian aircraft while returning form its third trip between Gibraltar and Malta. My uncle Gilbert MacLellan was sadly killed when their lifeboat was swamped; there were a total of eleven souls lost.

As I was researching the event I came across do***ents from the National Archives at Kew relating to Captain Rouse. 
The survivors were interned in Algeria and the do***ents are a correspondence between the Foreign Office, the American Consulate in Algiers and Mrs. Ethel Rouse. It doesn’t contain much but there are two hand written letters in Mrs. Rouse’s handwriting.
Their address in 1941/42 was.
37 Vespasian Avenue
South Shields 

If by any chance you are related to Roland and Ethel I will be happy to send you the do***ents and a photograph of the Empire Guillemot.

There was no response so either Ronald and Ethel had no family left in the North East or they moved elsewhere. So I thought I’d give it one last go and I can’t think of a better place than SN


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## gdynia (Nov 3, 2005)

Ian

I sailed with a Captain Rouse in the 80,s whilst I was with Souters he came from Swarland in Northumberland but will be long retired by now


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## ian d.cameron (Jul 3, 2005)

Hi gdynia. 
My Captain Rouse was born in South Shields on the 22nd Sep 1907, but yours might have been related.


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## Sister Eleff (Nov 28, 2006)

Swarland is not that far, about 30 miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne, just off the A1. (I used to live in the next village Newton-on-the Moor) The Tyne-Tees phone book might not cover that area, you might have to extend the search up to the next one.


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## gdynia (Nov 3, 2005)

Ian

Captain Rouse I believe came from along line of seafarers so could be connected in some way


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## ian d.cameron (Jul 3, 2005)

Thanks you both for your replies.
It seems Ethel had a wee fight on her hands regarding Roland’s status as a Merchant Officer and not Royal Navy.
At some point Roland was awarded the DSC and Ethel had the job of convincing the French Government to the fact that it was a long established custom for Officers of the Merchant service who may be acting under orders of/ or in close collaboration with HM Ships to be awarded this Naval decoration.
If the French thought otherwise and with the activities of the German Armistice Commission at that time, then he faced the prospect of captivity for the rest of the war. Fortunately Ethel’s efforts were successful and Roland was repatriated to the UK with the other survivors on the 23/11/1942.

Ethel was also active in trying to make sure parcels and pocket money got through to the Mecheria interment camp in Algeria.
The letters show Ethel as a fine and dignified Lady who did her best for her man. And that is why I have been trying to return them to their kin.


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## Sister Eleff (Nov 28, 2006)

Fascinating stuff, she sounds quite a girl! Even if they didn't have children, hopefully they had nieces or nephews of the same name. Well done Ian, in going to so much trouble to find their descendants.


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## ian d.cameron (Jul 3, 2005)

Hello Sister Eleff.
They might have had offspring that are ex-directory or I might just be missing them or they emigrated or a thousand other reasons but with the wider community of SN I might strike lucky, maybe some day someone will log on and find it.
I tried Swarland but came up with an address I already wrote to, I don’t think there is anything else I can do except wait and see.


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## andysk (Jun 16, 2005)

Hi Ian ...

Maybe you have already gone this route, but what about the local family history societies ?

Cheers

Andy


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## ian d.cameron (Jul 3, 2005)

Nice one Andy you’ve got me going again, I’ll look into it


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## KeithyD (Nov 28, 2014)

Hi Ian, I currently work in South Shields library and I've had the daughter of Captain Rouse and Ethel in asking about your enquiry, she's left me an e-mail address if you wish to get in contact?




ian d.cameron said:


> Hi Guys.
> Awhile back I wrote a letter to all the Rouses in the BT online phone book for the Tyne-Tees area and the South Shields Gazette online, looking for family and friends.
> 
> This is the letter.
> ...


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## Emslie (Sep 9, 2019)

Dear Ian - Hopefully you, or someone else on this thread is still looking for descendants of Captain Rouse? Last night, whilst putting our six-year-old twins to bed, completely out of the blue, my daughter said, 'Daddy can you tell me a story about when the bombs used to drop' - so I told her about my Grandfather, Captain Roland Scott Rouse and his exploits during Operation Propeller in 1941 and his spying activities on the Yan Xi river in 1948 - she was so enthralled that I had to write the stories down for her to take to school this morning. Out of curiosity, I searched on his name and found your thread. Roland died of a heart attack in the mid-1950s (so I never met him) but my grandmother Ethel lived into her late 80s, dying in a rest home that fittingly used to be the Merchant Seamen's Hotel, on the Law Top in South Shields (close to Vespasian Avenue) - and yes, she could be feisty! My mother Avril (b.1935), Roland's elder daughter is still alive and living on the clifftops at Seaburn. Unfortunately, their younger daughter Pamela (b.1937) died several years ago. I now live with my family, in the New Forest, just outside Southampton and Roland's name lives-on as 'Captain Rouse' - our motor-yacht moored at East Cowes. Please feel free to get in touch, Dr Christopher (Chris) Emslie


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## Norman Best (Oct 4, 2005)

Hi Emslie. How good is that. It just shows what SN can do.Welcome to SN all best to you and yours. Norm.


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## Norman Best (Oct 4, 2005)

Hi Ian, Just read Emslie's reply to you. That is some story, that was great to see after all this time you have reached your goal. Very well done. All best to you and yours. Norm.


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## Hugh MacLean (Nov 18, 2005)

Great to see this thread revived again. Ian was so hoping to be able to get in touch with Captain Rouse's family - sorry to have to say but sadly Ian crossed the bar a few years ago. A good friend and sadly missed. 
Regards
Hugh


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## Emslie (Sep 9, 2019)

Hi Hugh - Thank you very much for getting back to me and such a shame to hear of Ian's passing. My grandfather was clearly quite a character and it would be very interesting to see how the historical record supports family anecdotes, or not? It is true that he was from a sea-going family, but even that cannot be traced very far back because his father, my great-grandfather was a foundling, left in a basket, on the steps a church in London's East End and brought-up by the Navy on a 'training ship' moored on the River Thames. If my understanding is correct, both of 'Roly's' older brothers went to sea and may even have run 'Guns and Butter' during the Spanish Civil War. There is also a wonderful story that actually made the front page of the News of the World in 1942, involving a doll bought for Pam's (my aunt) 5th birthday being transported from Southampton up to Newcastle via breeches-buoy, one RN destroyer and a merchant ship - with the change from the 10/- my grandfather had attached to the doll's dress to pay import duty returning to Southampton via the same route! I offered the story to the Sea City Museum - but the problem was, being wartime, the NOTW could not say where the event happened, or which ships were involved. Other gems include the use of varnish and dried egg powder for the yellow paint used in various disguises used for the Empire Guillemot during Operation Propeller and the hiding of the maps and sketches he made of installations on the Yan Xi / Yangtze in 1948 in rolls of Izal toilet paper, whilst the ship was searched, almost daily by both Nationalist and Communist forces. If anyone else has any 'facts' (or even potential fictions!) to share, it would be fascinating to see if the all square-up. I did have a chance meeting with MI6 about five years back and whilst his exploits on the YanXi in 1948 remain somewhat shrouded in mystery, the peripheral evidence seems to stack-up - all the way from the gold Swiss 20 Franc pieces that are in the family to the very nice, middle-class home Roly was able to buy, outright in the late 1940s (a far cry from a rented room on Vespasian Avenue). So, if anyone has any stories to tell - they would be very gratefully received, Best, Chris


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