大象传媒

Joining the RN on 09 March 1943 training at HMS Collingwood and Whale Island Gunnery School.
The training was short around ten weeks, as I recall,and then to a transit camp waiting a draft to a Ship.
Fially about mid June 43 I was drafted alone to Sheerness to join HMS Aristocrat.
I boarded a liberty boat to be shipped out to where she was swinging on a buoy, as we came alongside I was amazed to find she was a Paddle Boat.
To say I was disapointed would be an understatement, I was dumbstuck they had told me it eas an escort vessel.

My disapointment soon disapeared as I found life onboard quite exciting enough. As I settled down and got into the ships routine gettig to know my shipmates and receiving further training as a gunner on my gun station the after Pom-Pom. Our duties as an Anti-Aircraft ship was to patrol out of Sheerness into the north sea Giving anti- aircraft defence to covoys and on occassions first line defence against enemy bombers on raids on London and the south east. This type of operation gave me a great deal of satifaction being able to retaliate after all the air raids we suffered, and being bombed out, and our house made uninhabital early in the war, but that is another story.
The operation was carried out with a number of ack ack ships anchored just off shore in the known flight path of the bombers approach.
When within range and located by radar the lewis guns armed with tracer would bear on on their location and open fire, all the other guns opening fire in the same direction, crude but efficient.
Often the bombers taken by surprise would jetsion their bombs and fly home, now and then planes would be shot down as well.

The ships company was a cross section of the British Ilse of ages from 17 to 55, although I am not sure about the age of the eldest at 17 any one over 30 looked old. We had some three badge Able seamen who had,I assume been recalled from the reserve, and had 12 or more years of service.

People from all walks of life formed the ships company,Including a film star of that period Ian Hunter. He was a likable person with a great sense of humour, which he needed, because of a scene in a picture he appeared in called "Lifeboat"(directed by Alfred Hitchcock 1944) where he is wounded and calls for water water in plantive voice, he had many imitators needless to say.
We also had a lot of scotsmen who come with the ship so to speak, these were engine room crew, as we had rather special disel electric engines unique I believe at that tme.
Their expertise therefore, was needed. Named before becoming a RN ship as PS Talisman, she was built on the Clyde for LNER railways, and well built she was.
I can vouch for that, in seas she had not been built for, in the north sea, she always brought us back to harbour safely.

The morale onboard was very good we were a happy ship and I can endorse what Winston Churchill's said "The lower deck of the Royal Navy is the best university in the world" we certainly learnt a lot
not least self relience, how to cook, good house-keeping and tolerence. We learnt cooking because we had what was known as canteen messing,where we took turns being canteen manager, having a certain amount of money per head (can't remember how much) with which we purchased the food we ate. we also took turns to prepare food ready to cook in the galley by Watty the cook. We consumed a lot of tinned herrings in tomato sause, abreviated to herrings in. We also had really good food most of the time.

We also learnt tolerence by living with such a vairiation of men with different backgrounds ideas and beliefs,of course we had disagrements and arguments, but basicaly bound together with one objective to get the war over as soon as possible.

Runs ashore were what we all looked forward to, although on two shillings a day a couple of beers and chatting up the girls in Woolworths, were the highlights. I recall with pleasure the Railway Hotel our local when ashore, where the landlord had cheese and onion rolls and served a good pint. His daughter was delicious too, who served in the salon bar,when I came in the salon showing my interest in his lovly daughter he promply banned me, such is life, and my intentions were honourable!

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