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Like many other men of that time I was prepared for the job I was to do, by completing a ten week training cores at, ‘H.M.S. Raleigh’, a shore establishment at Plymouth. This had been followed by a five-week specialist course at ‘H.M.S. Valkyrie’, a shore establishment in Douglas, Isle of Man, where along with other selected rating we were trained as RDF operators. This at the time was one of the Navy’s secret weapons, and later in the war became known as ‘Radar’, and those rating trained in the use of this equipment, and became radar operators. To complete the course we had been sent for a fortnight’s further training aboard the ‘Isle of Shark’, which cruised off the West Coast of Scotland between Greenock Lamlash on the Isle of Arran, where we eventually passed out as fully trained RDF operators.

Having completed all that was considered the necessary training, I was then posted to what was known in naval jargon as the ‘Pool’, and this was situated at Bootle, near Liverpool. This was a large enclosed building where all the various branches of the Royal Navy were represented, these were men who were fully trained and were awaiting postings to ships, as replacements for men who had been lost at sea, or who had to leave their ship for one reason or another.

After a few days in this overcrowded establishment, I received a call over the address system to report to the regulating office, where I was instructed to report to the medical officer, who examined me in the usual naval fashion. This being the removal of all one’s clothes with the exception of one’s trousers, when you stood in front of the Medical Officer, you were then ordered to drop your trousers and raise your arms above your head, while the M.O. examined you from head to foot by means of an inspection lamp. The purpose of these examinations, which were carried out at every ship or naval establishment, was to ensure you were not carrying any lice, V.D. or other contagious diseases, which might be contracted by other members.

My examination successfully completed, I returned to the regulating office, where I was told that I was being posted immediately to act as an urgent replacement on board the ‘K65’, owing to one of its RDF operators having been taken ill. I must have been very naïve at the time, I remember thinking and wondering if the ‘K65’ was the sister ship to the ‘King George V’, battleship, but I was soon to be disillusioned. It did not take me long to collect my kitbag and hammock, and assemble for transportation to ‘Albert Docks’, where I disembarked from the naval jeep which had transported me there.

I was very soon informed that the ‘K65’ was a Flower class corvette; the name of the ship was ‘H.M.S. Myosotisn’, which had been built in one of Scotland’s shipyards shortly after the outbreak of war. The design of these corvettes; had been based upon the whale catchers built for the Antarctic whaling fleets, although originally known as patrol vessels, they were to do excellent service in escorting convoys in the North Atlantic, they were about 700 tons unladen weight, although with all the extra equipment, munitions etc, required for long periods at sea, their laden weight was a great deal more. Their main armament consisted of a four inch gun situated on the forecastle, a hedgehog thrower, twin Lewis machine guns situated either side of the bridge, one multiple ‘Pom Pom gun, for the use against aircraft, two depth-charge throwers on both port and starboard side and two depth-charge shoots at the rear of the ship. In addition they also carried Asdics listening equipment for underwater detection, plus ‘RDF’ equipment for locating surface vessels and aircraft.

The vessel was designed for a full compliment of between fifty and sixty men, however this number was exceeded due to all the extra equipment and was subsequently added to enable it to fulfil its role as an escort vessel, numbers of men on board the ‘H.M.S. Myosotis’ when I joined the ship, was four officers and seventy two other ranks. The captain was a Royal Naval Reserve lieutenant. He was perhaps the most experienced member of the crew and also the oldest being a man in his mid thirties, the average age of the crew was about twenty one years of age. The crew was a very mixed bunch and they came from all different places, they consisted of Jocks, Taffies, Paddies, Cockneys, Scousers, Geordies and many more who came from all parts of the country. Apart from the captain, coxswain yeoman signaller and the chief boatswain’s mate who were all regular full-time naval personnel, the remainder were all what were called ‘HO’s this being short for ‘Hostilities Only’. Most of the men were married with young families, although there were a few of the younger men like myself who were free and had no female attachments.

The flower class corvette was not built for pleasure or comfort, especially in wartime, it was a flat bottomed ship driven by a single screw and had a top speed of seventeen knots, being painted a drab grey and white as camouflage, it was the able to blend in very easily with the North Atlantic waves, which I had still to experience. Due to the manner in which it was built, it would roll on a millpond, and could therefore roll and pitch at the same time in heavy seas; it has been recorded rolling at an angle of fifty-three degrees and coming back onto an even keel.

Having received my instructions from the coxswain, I went below to seek out the mess to which I was now posted, there were six messes and they were numbered one to six, there were between eight and ten men to a mess. I was posted to number six mess which was the one allocated for the Asdic and RDF operators, in addition we had the sick bay attendant, store keeper and the RDF mechanic in our mess. There was no doctor on board, and the sick bay attendant dealt with the needs of all, he was referred to as the ‘Quack’. The seaman’s, signals and stokers mess were situated to the front of the ship, the Petty officer’s mess was to the rear of the ship, the officers occupied cabins adjoining the wardroom in the centre of the ship.

There was another smaller deck below the messdeck, and this was the bunk deck which was fitted out with some twenty bunks, they were occupied by the engine room branch, all the remainder of the crew had no sleeping accommodation, they used to sling their hammocks in any spare place they could find on the messdeck. Owing to the limited amount of space, men had to lash up and stow away their hammock every day, then hang them up again when they were ready to retire. Cleanliness was something which was drilled into naval personnel and was absolutely essential on small ships at sea, although I think it was overlooked on corvettes, because there was only one bath on board, this was situated in the wardroom for use only by officers. We had one small wash room in which there was only one hot water tap, there were three wash basins. To obtain water for washing and bathing, you had to pump the water by means of a manual pump into a bucket, then having washed yourself down, empty the bucket of water over your head to rinse off. With regard to toilets the situation was worse. There only three toilet pans for all the crew, (apart from officers and petty officers, who had their own toilet situated in their own part of the ship}. Onboard ships the toilets are referred to as ‘Heads’, and the seamen designated to look after them and keep them clean were referred to as the ‘Captain of the Heads’. During severe weather the seamen’s toilets were nearly always in use, and it was quite common to find several men waiting there for someone to vacate their seat, so that they could then use it, there were no urinals as such for use onboard corvettes.

To complete the picture I should explain the messing arrangements, they were unique to small ships in the navy. Each mess had one senior member in charge, who organised the running of the mess, the person usually the most senior member, and he divided the other mess members into pairs, who acting on a daily rota, were responsible for the preparation of the food that day, also the serving up of meals and the general cleanliness of the mess. Every member of the crew was allocated a daily allowance for the purchase of food which was obtained from the store run by the store keeper, this man was always referred to as ‘Jack Dusty’, no actual money exchanged hands, what ever was obtained from the store was debited to the mess account and subsequently deducted from that account. This arrangement worked exceptionally well, it meant that each mess could eat differently; some of course therefore ate better than others.

There was a very limited amounted of space on the messdecks, each mess had their own table with a wooden form on either end of it, this being securely fastened to the deck to prevent movement, the sides and ends of the tables had raised edges to prevent utensils sliding off when the ship was rolling. Round the sides of the decks were wooden lockers, which acted as extra seating, each man was allocated one of these lockers to store his clothing and other essentials. All other equipment was kept locked away in their kitbags which were stowed in a space provided on the deck below. There was also a space on the mess deck for the storage of hammocks when not in use. The lighting aboard ship was rather dim and in view of the fact that nearly everyone smoked, the visibility, smell and atmosphere may be left to your imagination.

I now introduced myself to the rest of the mess, in order to learn glean from them what information I could about the ship and duties of the various crew members. I soon learned that the ship was under sailing orders and I or no one else for that matter would be going ashore that day. Within the space of an hour I heard the shrill sound of the ‘Boson’s’ pipe calling everyone to their respective stations ready for leaving harbour, and at the same time calling all members of the crew who were not in uniform to clear the upper decks and keep out of sight. Those of us who had no actual duties to perform lined up on the forecastle as soon as we had cast off; we remained in this position as we sailed down the river Mersey making our way past the famous Liver Buildings towards the Bar at the entrance of the Mersey channel. I recall a seaman standing next to me telling me to take a last look at those Liver Buildings, and informing me that may be the last time we will probably see them. I never new if he meant that German planes might have destroyed them by the time we returned or we might become a casualty of the war and not return. With those thoughts in my mind we were called to stand down and resume normal routine, and I prepared myself for a great battle and adventure which lay ahead.

To read chapter two of this story please go to A6558366

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