大象传媒

There was a dairy in Simonstown where one could buy a glass of milk for 6d (2陆p). It did taste good. There was not a lot to do in South Africa and the locals were not very friendly. I went to the pictures and had a few drinks. We swam quite a bit in the sea by the docks which had a shark net all around, I got my hair very matted and had to have most of it cut off to resolve the matting.
was refitted. The new captain had a personal bath installed; everyone else had to make do with a shower. The old captain went on to command a submarine. The local ice cream is very good. I had my photograph taken and sent it home by sea mail. It would have cost too much by air mail. It gets very hot at midday but chilly at midnight. Not much rain, reddish brown terrain and green velvety trees.

The first week of the refit was the first week in March and I went ashore once or twice and slept in the Africa Station Club. After that, being broke, I stayed on board in dry dock. The plumbing was off again and we used toilets and wash rooms on the dock side. After roller skating once or twice I did not do much else. All there was to do was drink beer and wine and spirits when one had funds. The locals were suspicious of us which was natural as most of the matelotes were a rough lot when drunk.

On March 14th I went on leave for 14 days to a place called Heidelberg, about 180 miles from Capetown. We got on the train in Capetown plus plenty of brandy. Half of our mess went plus half a stokers mess. The journey took 12 hours and was wearisome. We had bunks to sleep in and an observation car at the rear to view the scenery. We got there at 05.30am, had a cup of tea and a sandwich of cheese, and then turned in.

We got up at about 10.00am having breakfast served in the bedroom by the coloured waitress. It was egg and bacon and was appreciated. After that we had a walk and then it was lunch time which consisted of barley soup, tomato stew, steak and chips, prunes and custard followed by coffee. We were in a hotel and it was posher than being on board ship. In the afternoon I had a sleep and then it was dinner time. Dinner consisted of soup, fish, mutton and vegetables, sweet and coffee. In the evening we sat in the lounge, singing and drinking.

The morning after, breakfast was brought up by a coloured boy. I think we should have got up for it. Did nothing in the forenoon, I think we should have gone for a picnic. Lazed away the afternoon in the lounge, it was cold so I put on my serge jumper. In the evening we went for a stroll then sat out on the hotel front. I Went to bed early, did not go to church as they were all Dutch.

March 19th 1945, went down for breakfast and had a walk until noon. Rested in the afternoon when it was hotter and went down for dinner. Read a book after dinner and had a smoke. There is hot and cold water in all the bedrooms. All the servants are coloured. Laundry is done every day and costs 2s/- (10p) per fortnight. We get 3 meals per day, breakfast, luncheon and dinner. There were three courses or more at meal times. Drinks could be bought any time in the hotel bar.

March 20th, breakfast was egg and bacon. Then I had another stroll round town. All the days seemed the same. For the second week I went swimming in the mornings followed by a short walk. Then I had another swim in the afternoons. It was too hot to walk in the afternoons. The locals did not take to us at all.

We stayed at Esperanto Hotel Heidelberg, about 200 miles from Capetown. The town was very quiet being about the size of Crawshawbooth (2000 inhabitants). It had a railway station, next to the hotel, single track railway, town hall, three churches, none of which were English. Scenery similar to that of home except there were no houses in the distance, just farm lands. The farmers lived in the town.

There was absolutely nothing to do, just walks, swims or sitting in the sun in the hotel garden. The locals seem to be of Dutch descent, certain sects speak English, all speak Afrikaans. When anyone does speak English it sounds a very thick accent.

The trains were better than ours. They had sleepers on them. In our compartment for six there were six beds. At the rear of the train was a verandah where one could view the passing countryside. It was in the open air and one could cool off there. Dinner was served on the train.

In the hotel lunch was at 1pm and dinner at 7pm. This took some getting used to as on board ship dinner was at 12 noon and supper at 6pm. The more courses one had the less one got on each course. There was no tea time, just coffee at 3pm. Breakfast was at 8am in the dining room or 8.45am in the bedroom. One got more if one got up and went downstairs for it.

The weather was always fine, it was late summertime. It was hot and cloudless. The grass was brown after the hot summer sun. The scenery is similar to Rossendale but there are high mountains in the distance. The soil seems good as wheat and many green vegetables for the table are grown. The fields are irrigated, little dykes run down the road and round the fields for water to run out of little gates. The water is red in colour. The cattle and horses are the same as at home except they do not have Clydesdales. The carts for transport are a poor second to Uncle John鈥檚 muck cart. The fields are the same as his but with more flies and ants.

The hotel was a resting place for the rail crews. They seemed to stop for an hour or so and drink in the bar. Perhaps it was a meal break for them. They had come 200 miles from the Cape but it took them 12 hours, Perhaps they had other breaks on the way up. People who worked in the town but did not have a home there stayed at our hotel. The stationmaster was one such person. He was a Nazi sympathizer and ignored us in the hotel. Another resident was the post-mistress who was an English sympathizer and spoke to us.

This leave ended and we returned to the ship. On April 1st I drew my first tot as I was now 20 years of age. It was a sore point that one could be drowned at sea under 20 years of age but could not draw one鈥檚 tot of rum. At first I felt quite tipsy until tea time. One got a good measure.

I went roller skating again and watched a game of hockey between a girl鈥檚 team and a boy鈥檚 team. They must have played one another before because the boys wore shin guards and the girls swiped out with their hockey sticks. The boys were on their honour not to swipe back.

We had a good feed when we got back off leave. There was variety of food on leave but not much in quantity. We must have lived well on board. I was getting fatter. There was a ships mascot, a dog, but it was mangy and ugly.

When I got back off leave I was sent daily to Klaver camp, the Simonstown Signal School, for a week. I read Morse all day and had procedure lessons. There were a few of us. O/Tel going in for Tel, Tel going in for Tel/TO and Tel/TO going in for Leading Tel. (For O read Ordinary, for Tel read Telegraphist and for TO read Trained Operator). We all took the same examination and I came out top of the class. The signal bosun recommended me for promotion to Leading Telegraphist but my own captain would not recommend me. I did not have enough sea service behind me. As a compromise he authorized my promotion to Tel/TO which was an advance on Tel, the one I had entered for. As a Tel/TO I was promoted Telegraphist on one day then Trained Operator a few weeks later. I think it was my fleet experience that earned me good marks, some of the others did not have that experience. Also I knew how to operate the transmitters and most of the others did not. My extra pay was 1s/3d (6陆p) for Telegraphist and 2d (1p) for Trained Operator, a total of 1s/5d (7陆p) per day. The TO grading gave the right to put a star above one鈥檚 butterfly wings.

My swimming has improved. I can do 录 of a mile easily now and 陆 a mile with a rest now and then, lying on my back for a breather.

I had received a letter from Taffy, a pal from training days, who was now in an army camp at Barnard Castle. He had transferred to the Army in August 1944 but wished he was back in the Navy. He is in the Tank Corps reading morse at a slower speed. There were one or two who had changed over, whether they volunteered or were conscripted I do not know. There had been heavy casualties in the tank battalions in Normandy. Replacements were urgently needed and some of these were trawled from the Navy. Telegraphists were already trained to read morse, which takes time to learn. My own brother was badly wounded in his tank in Normandy and received hospital treatment for 12 months Then he was discharged from the army. He did a Douglas Bader and fought back his injuries to have a successful career in the Civil Service.

When I joined the Navy I met a friend who had transferred from the Army as a signaler .A lot of ships were being sunk and crews lost. Replacements were obtained from the Army.

One or two others out of the same class at Dundee are out here in the Eastern Fleet.

On April 29th 1945 I was in another town. It was Durban. We had left Simonstown after our refit and sailed round to Durban. Simonstown was nicknamed Snooky. Durban was a nice place, there were plenty of canteens and ice cream and fresh milk. I had a ride in a Zulu rickshaw. He was 6 feet tall and in national dress. It was warmer again and I put my blanket away again at night time. We went back on watch-keeping. I had now served two years in the Navy, another year鈥檚 service and I will get 1s/9d (9p) a day extra pay for good conduct, if I behave myself.

I had got blisters on my feet from roller skating. The food was good, plenty of eggs, milk and lager. The one drawback was the number of flies and mosquitoes and I had been bitten all over. The insects were supposed to be non-disease carrying. There were clubs in which one could stay the night for 9d (4p), with clean sheets which were changed every day. It made a change from being on board all the time, when funds permitted. Spirits were in abundance, peppermint, ginger aniseed, cherry and many other varieties of brandy. In two months time I shall have done half my overseas service. I offered to get some more photographs of myself but did not get any requests, anyway there would not have been time.

We were two days out at sea when the war in Europe ended. If we had still been back in Durban we would have all got drunk. As it was, the 鈥淢ain Brace鈥� was spliced i.e. we all got an extra tot of rum. It is an old custom in the Navy. Apparently there is no official instruction written down in the signal book to give such an order. The Main Brace was on the old sailing ships and if it had actually been spliced the whole rigging would have collapsed.

As the war in Europe was over our ship was paid off when we got back to Colombo in Ceylon. Most of the crew came back to the UK having completed two years overseas service. I and a few other replacements stayed back on board the ship. We got a new ships鈥� complement, mostly South Africans. They were shorter in stature than the British on the whole. The warm climate in South Africa must have an effect unless it was due to inbreeding.

The story goes that some of the old ship鈥檚 crew joined the ship out east. Having been deserters from the Atlantic convoys they were sent to prison for a spell and then sent out east from where it was difficult to get home after desertion. It was said that they were marched to the quayside in handcuffs which were taken off before they walked up the gangway. One of them was a Quartermaster, called Jock, and was billeted in our mess. I became friendly with him and he confided in me. He had been sunk on an Atlantic convoy and had the good fortune to be picked up. After his survivor鈥檚 leave he deserted, I suppose he was traumatized. He eventually stayed at home and even turned out for Celtic Football Club on a regular basis. His family had migrated to Glasgow from Southern Ireland. Eventually he was caught, the next door neighbour reported him to the authorities and they came for him. She had a son on the ground staff of the RAF who had a cosy existence by comparison in the UK Midlands.

He chummed up with a replacement signalman in our mess. Paddy came from Belfast and was a staunch Orangeman. They became good friends and exchanged notes about their times in 鈥渃ells鈥�. I do not know what Paddy had done but he vied with Jock to tell tall stories of harshness in the Naval prison. Sometimes he was going to insult and run down the Pope but Jock always checked him and Paddy backed off. Paddy had a fine ginger beard and had boxed with Rinty Monogan in the training gym in Belfast. He said he was one of his sparring partners.

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