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I joined my first ship SS "Harmodius" in Glasgow October, 1940. I went to sea in October, 1940, aged 16'/2 years and was made redundant/retired in November, 1981. For those 41 years my career was with Clan Line, sometimes referred to as the Scotch Navy. The 15 years, before my retiral, I was in command of general cargo, refrigerated and bulk carrying vessels. You may ask why did I go to sea? Quite simply I wanted to go to sea. My parents of course tried to dissuade me, all kinds of careers were dangled in front of me. I remember one an Analytical Chemist - didn't mean anything to me then and I've never met anybody in that profession. When you elected to go to sea, especially as a Cadet, it wasn't that you THOUGHT it MIGHT be a good idea, it was — in most cases - a deep desire you might say and inborn instinct - to quote "the sea is in the BLOOD".
In 1940 you generally joined a ship direct from school, prior to that cadets came via various training/public school type of ships, such as HMS Pangbourae, Conway and Worcester.
I joined my first ship "Harmondious" a Houston Line vessel, a subsidiary of Clan Line, in Queen Dock Glasgow - the present site of the SECC - my first impressions were not at all favourable. Chaos seemed to reign and there was a huge heap of ashes on deck.

The Harmodious, was a coal burner, and there was other debris associated with a ship

that had coal and was loading general cargo.
We sailed from Glasgow for Birkenhead to complete our loading for Bombay and other
Indian parts. While at anchor in the River Mersey waiting to lock in on the next high
tide.
I experienced something that I was to associate with ships with Indian crews - the
SMELL of ghee, a vegetable oil used for cooking by the crew cooks, named BHANDARRIES. The crew had two galleys on the poop deck, one for the deck and the
other for the engine room crew. In 1940 the crews were quite large, certainly by modem standards. If I remember correctly, we had 22 deck, 28 engine, 10 saloon. 14 officers including the Master, total 74.
It wasn't long before I learned a few words of what is called Malim Sahibs Hindustani,
such as TIKI = O.K. BOT ATCHA - very good and what I thought were two very
expressive phrases EKDUM SUSTI WALLAH colloquially speaking A RIGHT LAZY
B——— or A KUTCH PAWPANI WALLAH meaning a COULD'NT CARE LESS
GENT.
It was all hustle and bustle alongside at Birkenhead. The "Harmodious" like most other
ships at that time had steam winches and boy-0- boy did they make a CLATTER - Aye
day & night.
During our stay in Birkenhead, apart from other tasks, I leaned the International Code
Flags and spruced up on my morse and commenced learning the International rules for

prevention of collision at sea. In those days you had to quote the whole 31 articles VERBATIM for your exams. I thought it was a good idea and still do, although nowadays it is sufficient to have a good knowledge of the rules. Loading completed, we locked out into the River Mersey and then joined a Convoy. At that particular period, October 1940, Convoys went out to 20' West (about 600 ms from U.K.) and then dispersed. The ships then headed on their own to whatever was their first Port of call.
I recall we encountered some pretty rough weather after we dispersed and to my chagrin -1 was seasick. This was completely unexpected, as I had been used to rough weather in small craft, yachts, motor launches, rowing boats, before I came to sea. Anyway sick I was and at one stage I would have welcomed a TORPEDO. The Chief Officer, whom I was on watch with, sent me down to get his monsoon coat - This was a wonderful coat that Paisleys in Jamaica Street, Glasgow, stocked. Made of waterproofed canvas and greatly favoured by Officers on the Indian Burma - Far East Trade. When I picked up the C/O's coat, I found it heavy, a feature of the coat was its light weight, Lo and Behold, I found lead weight in the pockets. I duly handed the coat to the C/O with not a word about the weight. It was obvious that he was not going to argue with the COLD of the Atlantic Ocean, should we be torpedoed and he landed in the water. Due to the enemy ACTIVITY we were unable to follow the usual rout to India via the Medi/Suez Canal and therefore we had to go round the Cape of Good Hope. As we proceeded South the weather of course improved and the ship settled into a regular

routine, except for the constant awareness that we could be attacked by a German surface raider at anytime.
My first sight at Cape Town with Table Mountain as a backdrop was quite awe inspiring. To arrive in Table Bay just after sunrise is one of the scenic delights of this World I have been fortunate to savour it many times in my career. After completing our storing and coal bunkers, we set off for another long haul across the Indian Ocean to Bombay. What was my first impression of India and I might say a lasting impression - the sheer seething mass of humanity - it still puzzles me to this day, how cities like Bombay and Calcutta manage to function.
After completion of our discharge, we commenced loading for the U.K. at various Indian West Coast Ports - Cochin, Calicut Allepey - our cargo was mainly tea, not a very STRATEGIC cargo but nevertheless the CUPPA was important. On completion of loading, we set off on the long journey back to the U.K. via Cape of Good Hope. Of course as a Cadet it was a constant learning process and at sea the Cadets had afternoons off for studying. We had written exams from time to time and every week we had oral exams. The Second Officer was normally in charge of the Cadets for TUITION We called again at Cape Town for stores and bunkers, then proceeded to Freetown, Sierra Leona, to replenish stores and bunkers and to form a convoy for our last lap to the U.K. We left Freetown in convoy with 55 other ships, a Corvette, 2 Destroyers and in the middle of the Convoy, the battleship "Malaya". Alas four days after leaving Freetown, the Harmodious and four other ships were torpedoed at 0200 hrs on 6th/7th March, 1941 300 miles N.E. of Cape Verde Island U-Boats U105 and U124

10 of our crew were killed, but the remainder got away in the lifeboats and we were picked up the following morning y the Destroyer H.M.S. "FAULKNER". We rejoined the depleted convoy shortly after. That afternoon I was asleep in the aft gun
platform when I was rudely awoken by the gun crew closing up, because the Scharnhorst and Gniesnau had been sighted. However when the enemy spotted H.M.S. MALAYA
steaming out from the protection of the convoy, Sharnhorst and Gniesnau shot off at a high speed. With no further incidents we were landed at Gibraltar. We spent a month on the Rock awaiting transport to the U.K. Finally reaching home on the Aircraft Carrier H.M.S. "FURIOUS" en route to Belfast for a refit. So ended a rather venturesome FIRST VOYAGE for a 16 year old.

James King Currie passed his 2nd mate certificate in 1944. He then became a 4th officer and was eventually promoted to Master at 41.

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