大象传媒

A JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN

We arrived in Peebles on the 22nd December 1940 and were billeted in a small military hospital about a mile from the town. I managed to get myself some work in the only ward. It was interesting although the Sister in charge had no trust in men and gave me one job and while I was doing that she would come and give me another. After couple of days I asked if I could begin the mornings work and be left to do it. She was not at all pleased, she said she could not believe a man could remember to do a mornings work properly that way; however she risked it for that morning. I believe that she had a shock when that morning turned out satisfactorily, but she was not very pleased. I did, however, enjoy the work and learned quite a lot towards what was necessary for my getting what was required for advance as a radiographer when that time came.

Some weeks later we were fitted out with new battle dress. Soon the rumour went round that we were going to Finland, but shortly that was forgotten and we carried on for several weeks and then we were provided with kit for a hot country. On the April 9th we moved to Glasgow and boarded a ship that was being made ready for troops, so we spent most of the days on land except for meal times and nights which we spent in bunks in what had been a store room below water-level. On April 10th the ship moved out into the Clyde. It was just at the time that men were moving home from their work in the docks. As we passed them great cheers went up. When our ship was somewhere out between North Ayrshire and Bute we stopped until dusk before we moved past Arran into the North Channel and past Islay. As we went I had looked south and noticed faint lights at the coast, they were at Saltcoats where John and Vera Brown, friends from my university days, were living.

The next day we were told to alter our watches and clocks to an hour earlier. We were still travelling towards America, but every quarter of an hour a flag was raised and copied by other large ships. When the master of our ship, who was commander of the fleet, gave the word a whistle was blown on our ship and repeated by other large ships. At this, the whole fleet changed direction to avoid enemy submarines. (I wonder what would have happened if the work being done by the Germans with respect to codes had been more advanced). On various days the times of the day were altered as the ships were nearer or farther from the American coast.

The weather was getting warmer as we sailed south. One day we saw some tree branches and leaves on the water. One of the ship鈥檚 officers pointed this out and said it was from the Azores beyond the horizon to the west. One morning early we realised we were travelling north-east. Before long land was seen ahead and shortly all the ships anchored about 3 miles from the land. To the west of the land was a hill with a church at the top. We were at Freetown in Sierra Leone. I was rather excited. I wished I could go ashore, for I knew the headmaster at the school by the church and his wife who was a friend of Joan, my fianc茅e. In the afternoon it began to rain. Almost to a man the troops on board had stripped off and we were enjoying out first opportunity to have a good bath.

Two days later we set sail in a south west direction still changing directions as before, every quarter of an hour. Before many days we were nearing the Equator and the crew arranged for the usual arrival of Father Neptune. Of course he could not deal with all of us who had not crossed the line previously, but it was fun. When we were getting near to South Africa our bright colonel had a bright idea, so he thought. On two evenings we 鈥榦ther ranks鈥� paraded on the deck in columns of three and marched backwards and forwards for about half an hour to the amazement and laughter of the others on board. Eventually the ship was sailing from the south west direction into Table Bay. As we drew near to the docks a small boat came between our ship and the land and a man hailed us shouting 鈥淎 note for the 11th General Hospital鈥�, and threw it aboard. On our leaving the ship we learned that we were to change to another ship about a hundred yards away where we took our kit bags. That was not all we were to do. Although there were Africans waiting to move all that was to be moved, our colonel used his usual phrase 鈥淢y men did it in 1914 and they can do it now鈥�. Consequently we were unable to go into the town until late in the afternoon and be back by 9pm. The town was quite away up the steep hill from the docks but Cliff, Steve and I managed to get up there and see quite a large part of the place.

We learned next morning from the master of the ship that there had been a strong wind throughout the night and the ship had been able to make only four knots an hour most of the way. Men in a boat were trying to untangle two wires which should have been one each side of the ship but both were between the ship and the shore. In the end they gave up and cut away both.
About 10 o鈥檆lock each morning the master checked the guns on the ship. The first morning I noticed he did not check the one at the rear so when he said 鈥淎ll鈥檚 well鈥�, I mentioned that. His reply was 鈥淚 never risk that. I鈥檒l only do that in emergency. It鈥檚 liable to blast the whole of the back and I don鈥檛 care to risk it.鈥�

One morning the purser asked three of us if we would help him below in the store, so down we went. We were handed over to another member of the crew who was moving big boxes of fruit, and we helped him stack the huge boxes in different places so that they were more easily to get at. We did this for about three quarters of an hour. When we were about to go back up we were given an apple, a pear and an orange each and told to put them in our pockets and not let the purser know. When we got to the top of the ladder to go on deck the purser was standing there. He said 鈥淭hank you chaps鈥�, and handed each one of us an apple, a pear and an orange.

When night came we could see lights from towns on the South African shore, first at Port Elizabeth and the next evening at East London. In the daytime we saw flying fish about 200 or 300 feet from the ship passing us going in the same direction. On the fourth day we arrived at Durban. On the next morning the sergeant major had been given orders for us to parade and go out into the country for a march. It was quite a lovely day and the country was quite interesting. After our mid-day meal we were allowed into the centre of the city. This was very much alive with local people, black and white. There was a striking building in the centre that we would call a Town Hall. The one thing I did not investigate, I waited whilst my friends had a satisfactory look. It was a lovely pool surrounded with shrubs and a small island towards the centre and there were high railings all around. It had lizards and snakes there.

The next day we went to the docks to join a ship. The man in charge we learned to highly respect and when we were in Madagascar we were pleased to see his ship come in and we welcomed him heartily if he came to us at the hospital.

Late in the afternoon we set sail. As the ship turned northwards the ship rolled from side to side. There was a small aeroplane across the roof of the entrance to the day room and until the breakers on the sea near the shore had been passed, the ship was being affected. It was not until next morning that we learned where we were going. Early next morning we were passing some islands on the port side; we were told that they were the Comoro Isles and we were travelling east. A short time later a military ship rushed by and as she passed we were told through a loud hailer that she was going ahead to investigate that all was well and that we should continue as we were going.

Our ship and another carrying equipment for those already at our destination caught up with the military ship as we turned southwards at the end of an island which we were now told was Madagascar. We passed through a rather narrow opening into a large lake. There was a town in the distance, about 4 or 5 miles away to the west. To its north a fair sized hospital ship was standing; at night time it was all lit up and had lights declaring it was a hospital. Near to the southern bank were two small military ships. The three who had just arrived stayed side by side facing the southern bank, presumably to wait for words from the British troops at the headquarters at the town, which we learned later was Antsiranana. Later, about 3 o鈥檆lock, a plane, very high up, flew over from the south for about five minutes and then flew off to the south. The officers thought it would be a French plane from the south 鈥� the French of course, were enemies.

It was getting dark shortly after 6 o鈥檆lock and as the captain had not received word to go down to the landing stage at the town he decided to stay where we were. The other two ships decided the same. Later on when it was definitely dark we heard three explosions nearby. Later we were told that the ship furthest from us had sunk and the ship nearest was listing; it had been hit at the back but was not taking in water. Our ship, fortunately, had been missed altogether. By the time we had learned all this the small ships had been able to get up enough steam to search around, but they were unable to find the enemy. We were to learn a day or two later that a two-man Japanese ship had been hidden on the north shore. After a short time our ship鈥檚 master decided to go to the landing place at the town.

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