大象传媒

THE DAY I SUNK THE SHIP

I was born Hilda Sparrow in a little house in Green`s Passage which ran between Saturday Market Place and Lairgate in Beverley, in 1925.

I went to work as a Kitchen Maid for Lady Hotham at the Hall, South Dalton. My hours of work were from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. for which I was paid 拢1. 00 per month.
I worked under the guidance of the Head Cook who was a wonderful cook.

I lived with my sister at Coronation Cottage, The Green, Lund, and it was at this time I met my fianc茅e at The Wellington Inn. He was with a group of four young men, who gradually spoke to us and introduced themselves. He was 6` 4鈥� so stood out among the others. He worked at the ship-yard, Beverley, where he was on the gate as a Time Officer for 25 years, after serving in the Coldstream Guards.

As the war went on I saw an advertisement to join the W.R.E.N.S so I applied in 1943 when I was aged 18. I was posted to Mill Hill, London. On arrival at King`s Cross station I got on the wrong train to Mill Hill. I was due there at 2 p.m. but with the help of a friendly porter I eventually arrived at 8 p.m., totally exhausted and desperately hungry. I was brought a salad, and to my horror a caterpillar crawled out from under the lettuce leaf, so I was unable to eat the scanty meal.

I was shown to a cabin, sharing bunk-beds with five other girls and being the last one to arrive was allocated a top bunk. The following morning a claxon sounded at 6 a.m. and one of the other girls showed me that the bed must be stripped and completely re-made with envelope corners. The bedspread, blue and white like all the others, had an anchor design woven into it. I made the bed as well as I could and went for breakfast where I was ordered to report to the Chief Officer at 900 hours.

I was still in my civilian clothes but was ordered to stand to attention and address the First Officer as Ma`m. She blistered me by accusing me of 鈥淐ommitting the worst crime in the British Navy.鈥� 鈥淒id you know you`ve sunk the ship鈥�? Totally confused I was taken by an Officer to view the scene of crime. There was the bedspread with the anchor motif upside down, for which offence I was placed on seven days` jankers. I cried, being quite unaware of the significance of this misplaced anchor, being a sign of distress.

It was two weeks before we were issued with proper uniforms but I was provided with a boiler suit and by 10 p.m. was ushered to an office across the parade ground where five other girls, also on jankers, were issued with big gas masks with huge tubes for breathing, and also with tin helmets and ordered to put them on. We were shown to a very tall building with a metal ladder and ordered to climb to the very top and through a trap-door on to the roof, wearing the gas masks round our necks.

I was terrified of heights but ordered to climb up and through the trap door where we emerged on to a flat roof with no parapet, so I crawled to the middle of the roof before I felt able to stand up. It was a fine night and we were ordered to `Stand at ease.`
Then through the clear night air came a humming which I recognized to my horror as German planes. The air-raid sirens came on and powerful searchlights picked out the German planes when with a long whistle and boom they began to drop bombs around us.

I panicked and although still under orders to Stand at ease` from the Officer, I replied 鈥淚`m not standing here to be killed`, and disobeying the order got on the ladder, legs wobbling and giving way under me, my whole body shaking in terror, I began to crawl down the long ladder, still hampered by the ungainly gas-mask. I can`t remember getting down as I passed out half-way down the ladder. The tin helmet cut into the nape of my neck and I woke up in sick-bay, where I took six days to recover.

On discharge from the sick-bay I was ordered to report to the First Officer. For my crime of disobeying an order I was sent to the galley where food was prepared for 800 W.R.E.N.S. Although there were machines for peeling the bags of potatoes I was ordered to peel them by hand as a punishment. My hands became raw and sores broke out, and eventually the cook took pity on me and gave me other duties.

I was very unhappy and homesick and cried until one of the Officers spoke to me.
鈥淚 want to go home, I can`t do anything right鈥� I told her. She reminded me that I was only there for eight weeks, she knew it was hard for me, but advised me to `Stick it out.`
After eight weeks I was accepted, told I had done very well, and was to be posted `back home`. My posting was to Spurn Point for a year where I was to act as a cook for 20 W.R.E.N.S. who were living in huts down there. After arriving at Paragon Station I caught a `bus to Kilnsea where the little train waited for me, its wheels going clickety-clack all the way. I loved every minute of it, being teased as W.R.E.N Sparrow, as 鈥淭wo little birds鈥�. We sometimes walked down to the few houses where the life-boatmen lived with their families, and the W.R.E.N.S helped with deskwork under the supervision of a Petty Officer.

After a happy year at Spurn I was posted to Butlins at Skegness which had been taken over by the Navy. There living in chalets were 2000 personnel, some being French, Dutch and Belgians. To feed them were four cook-houses named after Royal Dukes, Windsor, Kent, Gloucester and York, and I was assigned to York.

There were many different duties and initially I was assigned to butter bread. This sounded a simple task, but there were very long loaves, which machines cut into slices, then the slices had to be laid out by hand on wooden trays and fed under the buttering machine. This machine was a large shiny metal globular shape with a lid on top through which the chopped up butter was inserted. All went well for a little while, until bread began to emerge unbuttered. My supervisor told me to cut up more butter and fill the machine. All at once the lid flew up and a stream of butter covered the ceiling and all nearby surfaces. I was covered, butter in my hair, my eyes, and over my clean white overall. I was told `I had put too much in` and was transferred to peeling onions. We peeled onions as a team, wearing goggles for the fumes, but were a happy crew.
There was good entertainment at Skegness and occasionally we W.R.E.N.S were invited over to Cranwell the R.A.F. station when a dance was held. Transport was provided as the R.A.F. sent a truck to collect us. We always had a good time.

After ten months I was posted to H.M.S. Royal Arthur which was land-based at Corsham in Wiltshire. Here were 3000 sailors and my duties began at 3 a.m. when we prepared breakfast on a vast scale, with 100 rashers of bacon on a metal tray, 50 eggs at a time and sausages placed under hotplates. We started serving at 6 a.m. until 8 a.m. and the men prepared their own toast in machines located in the dining room. I will never forget the cook preparing massive Christmas puddings for all the men, the ingredients mixed in huge vats and the officers appeared and poured in six whole bottles of rum.

After two to three months I was transferred to the Officers` Mess and ordered to cook the meat. It was good food with six joints of beef, six legs of lamb and six joints of pork at a time. One morning at 11 a.m. I had the meat in the ovens when Prince Philip stood by my shoulder. 鈥淕ood smell on鈥�, he remarked. 鈥淵es Sir, it`s the meat鈥� I replied. 鈥淲hat part of the country are you from鈥�? He asked me. 鈥淵orkshire Sir鈥�. 鈥淲ill you make a Yorkshire Pudding鈥�? he asked me. 鈥淣ot today as I`m going to Buck House鈥�. It was well known that he was courting Princess Elizabeth, and travelled to London every weekend in his little two-seater blue car. On the Monday night I cooked roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and it was served in the dining room. Back came the message to say it was beautiful and could he have the recipe for Buck House. I refused, saying only Yorkshire girls could cook it properly. He was so handsome, and all the girls admired him. He married Princess Elizabeth in 1947.

I was demobbed in 1946 and didn`t want to leave the W.R.E.N.S. I was still at Corsham on V.E. day, where a big party was held, and many sailors were being demobbed so there was much activity.

I found it hard to settle back at home, it was so quiet, so went to work at Deans and Light Alloys down Grovehill Road, making `bus seats which was hard work. Two years after I was demobbed I was married at Lund Church, and rented half a large house in Walkergate. Through the good word of Alderman Godbold Miss Christie, the Housing Officer, allocated us a house which was then two years` old. I have lived there fifty years and brought up three sons there. I later worked for ten years at `The Lilacs`, a residential home for those with learning difficulties.

My interest in the Navy surfaced again in 1997 when the replica of Captain Cook`s 鈥淓ndeavour鈥� sailed into Hull. I applied for the post of a guide and worked on the ship. I still have my straw boater and sailor`s blouse that was issued to all the guides.
I still march on Armistice Sunday and collect for the British Legion. When I look back I have no regrets.

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