大象传媒

HMS Barham 鈥� Durban, 1941

The following are extracts from censored letters written from the Barham by my father, Surgeon-Commander E.R.Sorley, RN. The Barham spent two months undergoing repairs to bilges and the damage to 鈥淵鈥� turret inflicted by aircraft operating out of Scarpanto during the Battle for Crete, May 1941.

31st May, 1941, Durban for repairs:

鈥淭his must be a very hurried scribble. I usually love to settle down to my letter cards and spread myself, but I am afraid that this time I can't. Please don't worry if there is a long silence now from me, but bear in mind that the silence may be to our advantage. I cannot say more than that now. As for my safety, I shall think there is every reason for you to be cheerful, all other things being equal. What a tragedy that I must leave those other pages vacant - but I must stop now.

I feel I should like to walk ashore with a knapsack and some sandwiches and sprawl upon a mountainside, pleasingly exhausted after the climb. But I am afraid that, for the time being, is out of the question. The pleasures of peace are not easily had here, apart from the pleasure to the eye which surrounds us in our harbour. Even war can never destroy the beauty of sunlight and trees and earth and sea.

As tennis is now an impossibility, I have to fall back on medicine ball in a big way when the times are propitious. Then I muster my forces, summon up the members who are reluctant - and the quarter-deck resounds with the smack and thud of heavy ball on quivering flesh.

I wonder if you can guess what I am reading now. Robinson Crusoe. I have n't read this epic since schooldays and I am enjoying it tremendously. One could not have finer "escapist鈥� literature than Robinson Crusoe, with its tale set in an age which knew not the dive-bomber and the submarine.

I wonder what the next move in this great game of war is going to be. Hitler seems hesitant, even if his legions are on the borders of Greece and Turkey; and I hope we have something up our sleeves at last. We've had plenty of time to consider this latest move.鈥�

Note: The Barham must have arrived at Durban having put in at either Mombasa or Dar-es-Salaam.

17th June, 1941:

I'm sorry about the hiatus of silence, but that was quite inevitable. I started a real lollapalooza of a letter to you two days ago - telling you all kinds of interesting things that we have been doing - and now to my dismay I find that practically all of it cannot be mentioned, at least not yet. Most disappointing, but there it is, and I've started again on a new tack.

It remains for me to cudgel my brains to find out what I can tell you - and I'm afraid it isn't much. However, I can say that our sojourn during the past three weeks has been very hot - the weather I mean - and I have been subsisting very largely on fruit - or paw-paws and mangoes. This hot weather has n't troubled me so much as the other, but the inside of the ship has been like a furnace. Now we are out of the hot belt and are feeling full of beans. The weather is sunny and cold. During the hot spell, I took the opportunity of sleeping on deck clad in a pair of shorts, and during the day we used to turn the hose on each other to keep cool. When we get to port again we shall be in a part of the world (1) I have never visited before, but which both you and I have always wanted to visit. See what you can make of that. Also I may say that on our way we visited a place I know well in my journeyings (2) in 1930 and 1931.

About letters. Where we are going, I did n't think it is much use your sending airmails, certainly not airmail postcards, but then again, we do not know how long we shall be staying at this new place - and our movements after than are uncertain, although it is very likely we shall go back whence we came. I am going to stick to sea-mail for the present, and then later I can let you know by cable when you can resume the airmail service. It is all very difficult. Please don't worry about me, I am very well and looking forward to seeing a new part of the globe and also to having a respite from the excitements of the last few months, which have been pretty hectic. There is a good chance that when we reach port we shall get some mail. Naturally, we have n't had any for weeks, all I am asking is to have news of you again.

Did you hear Winston Churchill's short speech to America last night - on the occasion of his becoming honorary LL.D of Rochester University, New York State? His remarks must have made a fine appeal to the Americans. He was right when he said it is a privilege to be alive at this time in history, when a new world is being shaped, when mankind is in the process of being rescued from a relapse into the Dark Ages. Marshall Sherwell and I were discussing the other day the future of things and we asked each other what period of the world's history we would choose to have lived if we had the chance to order our lives anew. Then, we both plumped for rebirth round about 1840, and the leading of happy placid lives undisturbed by great wars and aeroplanes and wireless and all that. But those happy fancies must stay as fancies, and still I am happy and proud to be alive now and to be conscious of life, and laughter and love. I hope my world will never lack laughter and love. It would be my warren if it did - and certainly not worth living in.

And now I have returned to the hectic social round here. - and to a renewed meeting with John and Jessie(3). Today I continued (not without difficulty with the powers that be regarding a "pass鈥�) to get John and Jessie on board. I showed him round the ship, and he stayed to lunch. It was quite impossible to get a pass for Jessie - regulations being exceedingly strict about female visitors.鈥�

Notes: (1) South Africa (2) Serving on HMS Enterprise, East India Squadron (3) His brother, working as a doctor in Nigeria, and his wife).

23rd June 23, 1941: Durban:

鈥淵esterday (Sunday), Pay and I attended an E.N.S.A. concert given for the Navy. It was of the highest class - and included Alice Delysia, who made a great hit with the sailors. I'm going to try to keep quite quiet, although it is going to be difficult, but I do want to save up for my leave. I am being given (as a head of Department) 6 days later on and I want to get right away from the ship. I plan to go to one of the most picturesque cities (4) in the world, for here is an unique opportunity of seeing it. I've already got one letter of introduction to people up there. It will be great fun if it can be managed, and very healthy, too, - higher than Fraser's Hill (5) - and bracing to the point of thick underwear.鈥�

Notes: (4) Johannesburg (5) Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

20th June, 1941, Durban:

鈥淚 wonder how you are. I have had no news of you for over a month now - but I hope you have got all my letters from the last place, and my last cable. What do you think of the latest development - Hitler's attack on Russia? It places Great Britain in a funny position, but the only thing to do is to accept anybody who is fighting Hitler as our allies. The Prime Minister's address last night was in his best style, and I thought he smoothed over the Communist difficulty rather well. I don't know how the new situation will affect our movements. There has been no news of the "Gloucester" survivors, if any, so that I can't let Jessie Sorley know anything about Ronnie, her brother. Joe Mansell was in that party, too. I fear for him; he was very popular on board, and we all hope he was taken prisoner. That is the most we can hope for, I think.鈥�

To be continued

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