大象传媒

CAPE TOWN

On Friday 25th Sepetmber we sighted Cape town. At about 0615 hours Table Mountain appeared through the mist, a breathtaking sight and a little later the city came into view in the early morning sun. All white and gleaming. It was not very long before we docked and leave started that very evening at 1730 hours.

Eddie and I went ashore and ate a first class meal, drank some beer and saw as much of the town as was possible. During the following three days I was able to go ashore either with Eddie, Ernie or Dave or all together. We were shown the sights by two or three local young ladies and we found the hospitality of the South Africans something quite extraordinary. When you think that thousands of soldiers from several of the ships in the convoy, all docking at the same time flooded ashore and so very many of them were looked after as we were.

Among the sights we visit were the Rhodes statue, the zoo, the oldest windmill in the province, the beach, shops and even the shanty town occupied by the black population. I was able to buy some presents, which the shopkeepers duly sent home and everywhere in the town the food shops were crammed to overflowing with goodies and with fruit of all descriptions being particularly cheap. On the 29th I was able to go ashore in the morning after PT and boat drill to have a last bite to eat before the boat sailed at 1600 hours and almost immediately ran into rough weather.

The Nieuw Holland was no longer in the convoy, being on its own. I must also explain here that before leaving Cape Town the Regiment was split into two sections with some of us remaining on the Nieuw Holland and the remainder, consisting mainly of the gun crews, artificers and attendant officers, transferring to the Nieuw Amsterdam and heading for the same destinations as ourselves, but taking the Red Sea route to Port Taufiq in Egypt, where they disembarked, collected vehicles and guns and made the journey from there onwards by land,

For the next four days we had to put with the cold and unsettled conditions. Since leaving Cape Town our workload had been increased, no doubt because we had completed over half our journey. In addition to PT and log rolling exercises each day, my section undertook quite concentrated 鈥渟pecialists鈥� exercises. Also a new competition between the various Troops in the Regiment was introduced and there were other goings on, such as medical inspections. The food had improved a little since leaving the Cape, but was still of poor quality, even for the Army and that was after taking into consideration our having become acclimatised to it! At least the cooks had managed to produce rabbit stew without the fur, which was a big step forward, but of course the conditions in which they worked, down in the bowels of the ship, must have been awful.

On October 3rd, we were told that our next port of call would be Bombay, half way up the West coast of India and all ranks were ordered to have their hair cut to no longer than one inch.

The very next day the weather began to improve, the air becoming warmer and the seas calmer. We settled into a routine and looking back the journey across the Indian Ocean was a very pleasant and happy experience. On one particular day I noted that after luncheon, when the morning鈥檚 work had ended, Eddie and I did our washing and hung it up in one of the bathrooms to dry and in the evening concentrated on writing letters. In the subtropical conditions we all slept well at night. Physical training continued without mishap but the log rolling was a bit rough from some of us, the gentle swell and roll of the ship making for a certain amount of unsteadiness.

There was of course a ship鈥檚 canteen which opened at set hours each day and I noted buying some sumptuous biscuits during this stage of the journey and they were consumed with a cup of tea at around 16.30 hours each day. On October 6th I was again detailed as one of the sergeants in charge of the ship鈥檚 guard. It rained heavily during the night, but I was able to avoid most of it for one of the good things about a passenger ship is that there is lots of cover and the sentries were also able to keep fairly dry.

The next day our quarter master sergeant gave us a lecture on his experiences in India. As a regular soldier he had served there in peacetime and his talk was interesting, informative and in parts both lurid and hilarious. So time passed by and three days later all parades were cancelled in favour of a concert, which was followed by a delicious supper of port, etc. In between times I read 鈥淭he Life of Lawrence of Arabia鈥� of which I cannot remember a single item, although I saw the film a few years and ago and that has stuck very firmly in my memory. I also spent some time writing letters home.

Then, for a few days we polished up our knowledge of semaphore, not for any particular reason, other than to occupy the time. There was a ration of ginger pop and a lecture on pay and on one afternoon I enjoyed a good sleep and felt much the better for it. Perhaps the best part of each twenty four hours during this part of our journey through the Indian Ocean was after dark, fairly late at night when if one stood and looked over the side at the bows, as the ship threw up the sea on either side, the foam contained hundreds of luminous sea creatures that shone like tiny fairy lights against he blackness of the ocean and if one pulled the chain in the loo late at night, in the semi darkness the sea water that was flushed into the basin also produced a similar effect. On several occasions during the day we came cross a school of dolphins that joined the ship for a few hours and gave us a lot of pleasure watching them at play. We also saw flying fishes and they were always very fascinating as they leapt through the air. At night the sky was a picture, perfectly clear like a great black velvet cloak studded with thousands of brilliantly sparkling stars. A veritable fairyland.

Somewhere along this leg of the journey, when wending my way along the deck in the pitch darkness, and trying to avoid sleeping bodies, I knocked my leg, just below the knee, on a stanahion. It made a deep and painful cut, which, when it finally healed, left a dent which is still faintly visible nearly fifty years later.

We were now only a few days sailing from our next port of call and in addition to our usual routine, we now included marching drill. Rifles and ammunition were also drawn from the store in readiness for our ultimate departure from the ship.

My weapon, being a Tommy gun, was quite a compact instrument, a little heavier than a rifle, but of no use for arms drill. We also carried out simulated exercises with our infantry which was of particular help to our Observation Post parties in the way of getting to know their opposite numbers among the foot sloggers.

I washed all my dirty clothes, including shorts and shirts, which took all day because of the restricted conditions and everybody having the same idea. The ship took the form of a gigantic washing line and would have been a wonderful target for any lurking U boat.

BOMBAY

On Saturday 17th October we sighted Bombay, India at about 1000 hours. The ship dropped anchor in the harbour, but the word went round that we would have to wait several days before going ashore. The City looked very enticing in the sunlight from where we were at anchor and to those of us who had never before left England, and that was pretty well everybody, except for the regular soldiers, it was like a dream, or being in another world. Indeed, I was able to achieve one little thing that previously I would never have imagined myself doing and that was to buy some coconuts off a native in a small boat alongside the ship. The constantly changing scenery as a result of all kinds of different types and sizes of boats passing by was fascinating. There was never a dull moment!

Three days later, after filling in some of the time swatting up all the details of army rangefinders and doing more washing, we learned that the ship was due to be re-provisioned the next day and we docked at 1130 hours on October 21st. The first think I noticed was that there were banana trees growing alongside the wharf giving a picturesque touch to a very busy and somewhat untidy area.

Eddie and I went ashore at 1530 hours and were immediately surrounded by many hawkers and beggars. However, with many shouts of 鈥渋mshi鈥�, 鈥測allah鈥�, 鈥渢allahini鈥�, we managed to get free from the crowd, found our way to a small restaurant and tucked into a lovely meal of lobster and salad. We purchased some presents to be sent home and had our photos taken and by then decided on another meal, afterwards buying some picture postcards of the city. We were most interested and intrigued with everything we saw and personally I was amused by the constantly changing scene, by the different garments worn by the various religious groups and the mixture of buildings from magnificent to slum.

The next day, Ernie, Eddie and I went ashore together at about 1420 hours. We had a rather difficult job posting our parcels, but managed in the end to send them registered post. The Post Office in Bombay was a most imposing building somewhat similar in its ornate style to the Victoria and Albert museum in London and in the main postal area we were able to have our packages suitably sealed, stamped and so on for the payment of only a few 鈥減ies鈥�, probably amounting to one or two pence. Eventually they reached England without mishap. After that adventure, a good meal, always on a soldier鈥檚 mind, then back to the ship to change our clothes and in the evening out again for a stroll and a jolly good supper.

Over the next two days we went for a bus tour of Bombay for eight Annas or twelve shillings in English money. We saw a Tower of Silence on top of which the Parsees placed their dead, the hanging gardens, some vultures, the zoo and son on, all of which we found of great interest. We ate in several different places, such as the Ezna Khans Services Club and Ballard Pier Caf茅, listened to a good dance band, had a few drinks and finally arrived back at the ship with one penny between the three of us. With this we purchased a mug of tea from the ship鈥檚 canteen and shared it among the three of us who were now temporary paupers.

On one morning during our stay here there was a 鈥淏attery March鈥� through the City at 5.00 am, which was disrupted because the troops had to pick their way over endless lines of beggars sleeping in the streets. Luckily for some reason I cannot remember, I did not take part.

We left Bombay on October 25th at 1230 hours, but the ship was not really under way until 1600 hours. The time was put back half an hour I believe, as soon as we were outside the harbour. Everybody was pleased to be on the move again and I was unlucky enough to be the first sergeant of the ship鈥檚 guard for this part of the journey. It was not a hard job and I spent a large part of the time reading artillery manuals and writing letters, although the latter was difficult because of the strict censorship. At this stage of the voyage our ship was joined by a queer sort of ship which also flew a Dutch flag. It鈥檚 shape was somewhat similar to that of our ships and it constantly belched out clouds of black smoke. Over the next two days I had to take all of the specialists on a lecture dealing with the use of the 鈥渞angefinder鈥�. As it鈥檚 name implies, an instrument for obtaining an accurate measurement of the distance to a given object, but somewhat unwieldy and not in fact used when we reached Tunisia and Italy.

The clocks went back a further half hour and a sailor was taken on board from some rocks at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. At this time I noted that I felt very hungry during the day and managed to scrounge a supper now and again at night. Possibly my body was anxious to make up the weight I had lost on the first leg of the voyage. We received a most interesting lecture on Madagasgar by some of the soldiers who were in the attack on and capture of the island and who had joined the ship since leaving Cape Town. The weather had turned much hotter and I was anxiously awaiting another payday.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.