NAVY DAYS By Chris Probert The late Chris Probert wrote this manuscript for possible publication. He was a sailor in the former Soth African Navy. His daughter, Lara, married Christo de Beer, son of Karel de Beer. Subsequently we are still trying to get the manuscript edited and published. THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HELPED ME. My thanks go out to all the people who have been on my „Help List‟ I have had this book in mind for a very long time, but I never really knew how to get started on it, and then one day I decided to „ Just Do It‟. That was after many hours of prayer, and thought, and so I made a start, from the very beginning, just the way it was. A great deal of this story is fact, and it is written just the way it happened, as I remember it. I have changed all the names of shipmates, however, anybody who was there at the time will soon find out whom I was talking about. I have written a little bit of fiction into the story, this concerns the rescue of the Portuguese trawler, all of it is fiction. I just thought I‟d put a little excitement into the trip to Marion Island. I have combined two trips, the eighth relief, and the tenth relief. I missed the ninth relief trip, because I happened to be on a course in the Base at Salisbury Island at that time. That was the trip on which a very dear friend, Johnny Bold died, after falling overboard into freezing water, normally they give you three minutes to survive, regrettably Johnny didn‟t make it . He was buried at sea there at Marion. I owe thanks to so many people, mainly to God, because I am not an I.T. boffin, so I had to call in certain people who are. The first one who came to my rescue was Hansie Swanepoel, he gave me lots of I.T. information and help, then Duane Reeve came into the picture in a very big way, without his expertise, devotion, and friendship this story would probably still be in my laptop but, he put his all into making it a great success, not only in the Internet, but also in the form of C.Ds to be offered to eager readers who don‟t have access to the Internet, but they are able to play a CD. My wife Rita lost me for many hours on end while I was writing, she only saw or even heard of me when I remembered to find something to eat, she realised that I could not be disturbed, mainly because I was reliving the whole story from the beginning, every step of the way I was back at sea, or in harbour. These few years were undoubtedly the best years of my whole life, and if it had not been for parental pressure I would never have left the Navy. 1 DEDICATION. To my wife, Rita, a virtuous woman, whose price is far above Gold, and Diamonds, she is a continuous blessing to me, and to the praise of God‟s glorious Grace. Navy Jargon A Aft Rear end B Bulk Heads Bubbly Bunting Tosser Bos‟n‟s Mate Bos‟n‟s Pipe Walls Rum Signal man Quarter Master‟s Assistant A whistle blown to draw attention to an announcement. C Clobber Char Colours Clothing, goods etc. Tea Ship‟s Flags hoisted astern D Dicky Duty Watch Square necked “T” shirt Men on duty F Floozy Fanny For‟d Girl Oval shaped bucket used in the scrubbing of the Mess deck floors as well as washing up the dishes after a meal. Forward, front end of the ship 2 G Gash Galley Rubbish Kitchen L Liberty Men Men going on short time leave. Ashore for the night M Mess Peggy Mess deck Matelot Duty man, fetches food from galley +++ etc. Living quarters for all Ratings. Pronounced: Matloe, French for Sailor. Q Q.M. Quarter Master R R.P. Ratings: Radar Plotter All men carrying the rank of: Boy seaman 2nd class, anyone under 17yrs of age. Boy Seaman 1st Class, anyone under the age of 18yrs. Ordinary Seaman (O.D.) 18yearts old, not yet promoted to Able Seaman (A.B.) After having passed qualifying exams an O.D. is promoted to A/B. After that rank it is up to him for any further qualifications. In other words, all Lower Deck Men. Therefore one finds a 3 Badger A/B. One who has served 18 years, and has never qualified in anything. This does not include special qualifications such as Signalman, Wireless Telegrapher, Radar Operator, Gunner, Cook etc. S Soogee To Wash Down Bulk Heads T Tiffy (Male Nurse) An Assistant in the sick bay, afloat or ashore W W.T. Wireless Telegraphers 3 DEPARTURE. My Dad‟s birthday was the 12th February, they, the „Old People‟ were going to celebrate his 43rd birthday at the „Veldskoen‟. This place was like an old time night club. They would dance through the night. All their friends would be there, and there was a happy mood in the house, that was until about 5pm. It was raining real heavy outside when I dropped the bombshell on all this joyous feeling, it started like this “Dad, I‟d like you to please sign these papers for me. “What‟s this all about?” I have decided to join the Navy and, I need you to sign the papers giving your permission seeing as I am only 18 years old. Nonsense, I‟ll not sign anything of the sort, my Dad retorted. Then I‟ll sign them myself, I said. I‟ll have you up for fraud, he said. Well, when I‟m sitting in jail, just remember that my name is also PROBERT. By this time my Mom was having a cadenza. How could you do such a thing to us, she said, what‟s the matter with you? I don‟t think I answered, however, in my mind I just wanted to get out of that house, away from it all, especially my Dad. 4 All my life, if anything went wrong at any time, I was always to blame. It didn‟t matter if any one of my three brothers or two sisters were the guilty ones, I was always told that I was the eldest, and that I should see that the others did not get up to mischief, well, I had had it, I just wanted out. It was enough that as a little boy I was bundled off to boarding school in the Northern Transvaal. They, my parents could not take me any more, now it was my turn, I wanted out and, out I would go!!! After a lot of hassle my Father decided that he would sign. Give me a pen he said. No Dad, it‟s got to be signed in front of a Commissioner of Oaths. So where must we find a Commissioner of Oaths at this time of a Saturday afternoon. At the Police Station. But it‟s raining cats and dogs out there. Do you want me to sign Dad? Oh, well come on then. Off we went to the Police Station where the papers were duly signed. I stuck them into my jacket‟s inside pocket, feeling very pleased with myself. When we got home my Mom wanted to see what had been signed, but, I did not trust her „cause I knew that she would tear them up. She asked me when I would be leaving, thinking that it would be at least another month or so. Well she nearly fainted when I told her that I already had my train ticket to Durban. 5 I‟d packed a few pieces of clothing which were not really necessary, because, the Navy supplied you with everything, even a toothbrush! Wednesday morning I must report to Salisbury Island to be sworn in to serve my King and Country, I told her. Well, I don‟t know how that night went at the „Veldskoen‟ but I was very happy, I was going to become a sailor man!!! NAVY, HERE I COME. Monday morning I was on the tram, off to the Railway Station in Johannesburg to catch my train to Durban. Sure there were good byes, and so on. My Father‟s grave advice to me, this was after my Mom reminded him that I was his son and, that it was his duty as a Father to talk to me before I enter the big wide world out there. After all, I had to know the facts of life, Hah, as if I didn‟t know already!! I shall never forget the wonderful advice he gave me. “Keep away from dirty women.” That was it, my Father. My Mom had something to say as well. “Now don‟t come home with Tattoos.” Well, what women, dirty or not was going to look at me, a pimply faced kid, and as for the tattoos, I ended up with only 5. I‟ve always said that I was a born rebel, and I‟ve 6 always been one. Up until 1999 anyway, but -, that‟s another story which will only come onto paper later. START OF A NEW LIFE. The very first guy I met there was Alex Banyon, he was only sixteen, I was his senior in age by two years, wow! I mean, I would be rated as an O.D., Ordinary Seaman, and he would only be a Boy Seaman. Nevertheless a great friendship started there that day, one that lasted for many years, I called him Boyo, and he called me Daddio, I mean, after all, I was two years older than he, at that time, two years counted, I mean one cannot buy wisdom, can one? I‟ll never forget, as our ferry boat was nearing Salisbury Island Alex leaned over to me, and very confidentially whispered in my ear,”I don‟t even feel sea sick, do you?” A long time after that we still laughed about his remark, especially when we were at sea, and some poor A C F was puking his guts out. My P.F. Number was P13655, and Alex was P.F. 13656, that‟s how close we were, always. I often wonder what ever happened to him. We were quite a few chaps from all walks of life who had mustered in front of the Admin Block to be Sworn in that day. After this ceremony we were shown to the Naval Training Base, 7 where we were to receive sixteen weeks of basic training. Here we would be taught the left foot from the right, how to stand to attention. Which was the right end of a rifle, how to quick march, and how to double march, this came when ever you were found guilty of a little misdemeanor like not saluting properly, or not having your cap on properly, or any such little abnormality. We soon leaned that this was where you got kicked into shape and, the sooner you learned the better for you. The Seamanship Manuel became your Bible. This book taught you how to do all kinds of things, things that you would need to know all through your Naval Career. Even after years of being a sailor you would still refer to your Manuel for all kinds of facts concerning seamanship like clearing up an argument about the name of a certain knot, or the proper way to make up your hammock so‟s it would keep you afloat if ever you should end up in the drink after a torpedo struck your ship, all kinds of things, it was all new, and very exciting. 8 FOOD, GALORIUS FOOD! The food, it was pretty good, it kept us alive anyway, no, it wasn‟t the same as home cooking but, we survived. One soon got to know the routine, that on a Monday supper would probably be left overs from the weekend, this dish was given a very fancy name, it is universally known as bubble, and squeak, the reason being that over a weekend there were never so many mouths to feed as there were on a Monday, because over week ends lots of guys wangled a weekend pass, sooooo there was a lot of food left over, which you got on Monday, see! Simple, isn‟t it? Breakfast was always the same, it never ever changed, whether you were based on board one of the ships or ashore. Navy breakfast, I don‟t think has ever changed since the days of Lord Nelson. Breakfast was Bangers, and eggs with bread and coffee, that was it. Now let me explain what a Banger is. There is a certain Super Market advertisement that riles me every time I hear it and, this is it,‟Buy your PORK BANGERS from so and so. PORK BANGERS. A banger IS a pork sausage. It is called a banger because when it is fried in a hot pan the fat in it tends to explode with a bit of a bang, so, now you‟ve got it, or have you? 9 Supper normally started with soup of the day which could be anything that had been left over from lunchtime; veggies, meat, chicken, who knows, there was always bread to fill you up though. What we, in the Training Base used to do was, we‟d make sure that we took an extra mug of coffee with us to our dormitory. After the evening rounds, which was normally conducted by the Duty Officer, we‟d sneak into the laundry building, take an electric iron, turn it upside down between two bricks, and……….Viola, you „ave ze „ot plate, n‟est pas? Now one can put at least two mugs of coffee on your hot plate, depending on the size of your iron, or your mug, to warm up, before going to bed. In fact there were some adventurous types who cooked all kinds of delicious dishes this way, all after „lights out‟ of course! There was one bright spark who did not turn the Electric Iron off after ironing his pants, next morning there was a very neat hole, the exact shape of the iron, burned through the table. Young chaps will always find some kind of bright idea with which to amuse themselves, normally at some body else‟s expense. One of the most exciting games was to put a little guy into a blanket, and then toss him high into the air, and then catch him again just before he hits the ground, Shorty Meadows was usually this guy, Shorty didn‟t weigh much, so he really flew up 10 high. Another game was the Pillow Fight. This little game normally ended when just about every pillow was featherless and, I for one was knocked unconscious. Fortunately there were no real casualties, maybe because it was all just great fun. One chap, who snored heavily was tied to his bed one night, and then him and his bed were dumped into the swimming pool, fortunately someone dived in to loosen him, otherwise he might have drowned, that sure put an end to his snoring, I wonder if he might have been too scared to sleep! Nobody ever used to bother with Alex, maybe because he was still a Boy Seaman 2nd Class, when he turned 17 on the 26th January he would become a Boy Seaman 1st Class and then an O/D, and after that, an A/B, it would be up to him if he ever got promotion past being an Able Seaman. There were guys who had been A/Beez all their lives, like Stripy MacCall, he was a three badger. Let me explain, after three years service, with a clean record you automatically got your first badge, that would be like what the Americans would call a good conduct award. This badge was very much like the Army uses for their Corporals, and Sergeants. Now after 12 years good service you‟d get your second stripe, that‟s what they were called, „stripes.‟ Finally after 18 years of good conduct you would get a 11 third stripe, and that is when you would be named Stripy or, a three badger. That would be a person who had served 18 years, and had never gotten anywhere, maybe because he had no ambition or inclination to becoming a higher ranking seaman or, maybe even an Officer. The other past time was to see just how much beer one could consume during canteen hours, that would be from about 16:00 to 22:00. With beer costing one shilling a pint you could not afford to drink too much, not on an Ordinary Seaman‟s pay, six shillings a day didn‟t go very far. In today‟s money, six shillings would be 60¢ per day which equaled £9.0.0 per month, which today is R18.00, work it out for yourself! The ruling champion was a chap called Steve some body or other, he managed to down 27 pints of beer in one sitting, needless to say, he wasn‟t sober after that lot. You used to invite your pals to the canteen for a few beers, so for ten shillings you could buy a case of beer, and then there would be about six guys to share it, so that wasn‟t really a booze up now was it. Lots of chaps used to try their hand at fishing off the quay, and I might add, some of them came up with pretty good catches, only problem was if you took 12 your prize catch to the shore galley, and it landed up in the hands of Cook Sandelson, it would end up in a mess. Time went by, time for our final exams, which would mean that we were now ready to join one of the ships as bone fide seamen. Alex, and I had by now become closer than blood brothers, of which, incidentally, I had three ,and he had one. We were hoping to join the Frigate HMSAS Transvaal, time would tell where we would be going. We had both passed our final exams with flying colours, mainly because we both studied very hard for this step up. Now, came the news that we were all waiting for, which ship? WHERE TO NOW? Instead, twelve of us, were told, only the best, were chosen, I still think that, that statement was just a moral builder, but it worked ! We had been chosen to become the Governor General‟s Guard. At that time the Governor General was the Right Honourable Mr. J.J. Jansen. We would be doing our duty at “King‟s House” in Durban. This turn of duty would last only for one month, then the Air Force would take over, and finally the Army would fall in line for 13 duty. The Governor General at that time was going to be in Durban for three months, after which he would return to Cape Town. We had to undergo special training, so as to know exactly what the routine would be. Not that by now, we didn‟t know which was the business end of a .303 rifle. Wow! We were the chosen few, just think; we‟d be living at King‟s House, how privileged could one be? We hadn‟t all studied so hard for nothing, at least the higher ups had recognized our hard work. The day after this news was given us we all had to go to King‟s House for a trial run, just to see how things worked. Now this was really exciting, could it ever get any better? When we arrived at King‟s House, a truck was already there waiting for us, loaded up with equipment. What was it all about, the question on everybody‟s lips. Here it came, hold tight!!! „Pitch that tent here, as close to the guard room as possible, with the entrance facing the fence. Make sure that the rain water run-off trench is deep enough.‟ Still we thought that this was for us, just in case we got bad weather, at least we would have some sort of shelter, then came the beds, and mattresses, then came the realization. 14 This tent would be our home all the time while we were on duty at King‟s House. We would be staying at Salisbury Island Naval Base. Our food would be delivered from Salisbury Island by Motor Cycle, carrying all our food in hot boxes in the side-car. These hot boxes were supposed to be kept hot by filling the outer casing with hot water, it didn‟t really matter how much water spilled into the food which was dished up into the inner casing, now did it? This definitely was not Daddy‟s Yacht!!! Now the laugh was on us, not with us any more. DUTY CALLS. We were the first guys in the entire Navy to be issued with the brand new rifles, and the shorter length bayonets. The second World War rifles, and bayonets had all been scrapped, the new issue was much lighter too! What we also found out later was that the new short bayonet fitted very snugly under the armpit of an issue Great Coat. I think that these coats were made of calf leather, very strong, and very warm too. This assisted one very adequately while you were standing to attention, the point of the bayonet tucked into the material of your coat, which was so thick it could not penetrate unless one forced it. There you stood at attention, 15 rifle by your side, and you, fast asleep. Nobody was ever caught, in fact nobody even knew who else was doing this, maybe only us. We started by standing guard for two hours on, and four hours off. Alex, and I were partners. We then decided that we would change this by convincing our relief guardsmen that it would be better to stand four hours on, and eight hours off, well, we ended up by standing twelve hours on, and twelve hours off, this arrangement at least gave one enough time to rest, and sleep except when the G.G. went out in the evenings, and returned around midnight. When this happened everyone had to fall in on the verandah of the guardhouse, naturally, in full ceremonial dress, with rifles, and fixed bayonets. Denis Pitto was our bugler, he had to play, I can‟t remember what, maybe it was réveiller. I think it probably was, just to wake us all up. This drill was carried out every time the G.G. either departed, or returned after a night out. TIME-OFF. Our days off were glorious, yes, this was one of the perks that those who laughed at us, now considered it to be unfair. We had every second day off. The routine was: At 07:00 the relief team would fall in at King‟s House for the next 24 hours duty. 16 Then, the whole crew would have to march up the hill to the Parade Ground in front of the main entrance to the actual King‟s House. Here Denis would blow „Colours‟ on the bugle, everyone would present arms, and the National flag would be hoisted, as well as the Governor General‟s house flag. He would come out to take the salute, and to receive the daily report from the, now off duty, Guard Commander. Those who had been on duty for the past 24 hours were taken back to Salisbury Island. The time off was meant for you to clean up your uniform, your white belt, and gaiters, your boots, your cap etc. Remember, those days we still wore the Royal Navy Uniform. Everything had to pass muster, or else, you were in serious trouble, no place for scruffs!! Later, after all your cleaning up was completed, your time was your own. We could go ashore, or we could do whatever we wanted to, just as long as we were ready to leave for duty the next morning at 0600, to relieve the men who had been on duty since yesterday morning, and so it went. After about three weeks of this routine one starts getting crabby, ones nerves start wearing thin, you start counting the days left over before the Air Force comes to take over from the Navy. Two days before this great day, that we, the Navy would be relieved, the Air Force chaps came over, just to practice, and learn 17 the routine. Everything was going well, all according to plan when, out comes the G.G. ,and his Lady, remember, he was King George V1 of England‟s representative in the British Commonwealth State of South Africa, in the year of Our Lord 1951. He, the Governor General, beckons to Petty Officer Pieter Botma the Guard Commander. He wants to know what is happening. When P.O. Botma tells him that the Air Force is going to relieve the Navy, and that at the end of that month they will be taking over our duties, he, the G.G. shakes his head, and says, “NO!!!” the Navy stays. Now, we did not look upon that as a stroke of luck, no sir!!! Well, needless to say, after three months of this G.G. thing Alex, and I, together with a lot of other chaps were drafted to various ships. 18 NEW HOME AFLOAT. THE FRIGATE, HMSAS TRANSVAAL F602 Entering Durban Harbour 1951 The great day arrived, and Probert, and Banyon were duly given orders to report to the Frigate Transvaal, along with quite a few others as well. We soon fell in with the old hands, sorted ourselves out, packed out lockers, and fell in for our first upper deck duties. 19 Naturally all the menial jobs were always dished out to the new ones, Alex wasn‟t very chuffed to be made “Captain of the Heads”, in other words he had to clean, and maintain the toilets. A ship‟s head is where the toilet always used to be in the old days of sailing before the mast, probably because that was where the least space could be spared. We each also had a certain section of the upper deck to take care of. I became part of the Quarter Deck team, and Alex was up „for‟d on the Fo‟c‟s‟le, pronounced fohk-sŭl = forecastle, in other words, the sharp end of the ship! In the days of sailing ships they built what was known as the fore castle. This castle was where they also mounted guns with which to defend themselves against an enemy or to attack an enemy. There were castles on land, so, why not at sea as well, those old ships also had what was known as an after castle, this however, changed in later years to the quarter deck, that is the blunt end of a warship. Midships is self explanatory. „Tween decks is down below where the living quarters are situated, and, store rooms, ammunition magazines, for instance, shells for our 4” gun, bullets for the two Oerlikan anti- aircraft guns, mounted on the bridge, ammo for the two Bofor anti-aircraft guns, mounted aft, and ammo for the Pom-pom anti- aircraft gun, mounted on the Pom-Pom 20 deck.The large anti-submarine armaments were the Squids. They were on the top secret list since after the war until just before I went on discharge. From fore to aft the messes were set out as follows: Right up for‟d, Signalman‟s mess, Starb‟d side, Quartermaster‟s Mess, Port side. Next was the Engine Room Artificer Officer‟s Mess, Port Side. Chief Petty Officer‟s Mess, Starb‟d side, Petty Officer‟s Mess, Starb‟d side. Port Side Midships was the Coxswain‟s Office, Starb‟d side Midships was the Ward Room, that is the Officer‟s Mess, then the Steward‟s mess, and the Heads after that. Below all this, was the area that was set out for the crew. Now we are going to the lower deck. For‟d was the Engine Room Staff i.e. all the stokers, boiler men etc. they are the guys who work in the boiler room, and the engine room. Lower deck midships, much more comfortable, a lot less movement in heavy weather, was the Main Seaman‟ Mess Deck, which was divided up into four sections, namely #9 #10 #11 and #12, there were sometimes as many as 15 men to a mess. I didn‟t mention which was Port, and which Starb‟d. Aboard all ships, and even Aircraft, the even numbers are always on the Port side, which is the left hand side, of anything in the marine world. The Stard‟b side is always on the 21 right hand side, and this is always signified by the uneven numbers. Now we come to the different watches, in harbor, there was Port, and Starboard which was divided into: starting at Midnight, the Middle watch, Midnight to 04:00, Morning watch, from 04:00 to 08:00, Forenoon Watch from 08:00 to 12:00, Afternoon Watch 12:00 to 16:00, then would be the first dog watch, from 16:00 to 18:00, second dog watch from 18:00 to 20:00, and lastly the first watch from 20:00 to Midnight. That was the cycle, one day would be Port Watch who would be on duty through this cycle and the next day would be Starboard Watch again. The dog watches were put in so that the same people did not always have to do the same hours as yesterday, very good seamanship, no? At sea the hours remained the same, only there were three watches, not just two as in harbour, there we had Red White and Blue. This meant that at sea, if you were red you would be on duty 4 hours, and off 8 hours around the clock, the dog watches were also strictly adhered to, at sea. Starting to get the picture now? The duties could be anything that was happening out there, the Buffer, who was the upper deck Petty Officer would get his orders from the Duty Officer who would be up on the Bridge. 22 The Duty Officer may decide through the Asdics Officer to have a Depth Charge Drill, this would obviously be at sea. This would mean that all the Ratings, i.e. Upper Deck men, such as Boy Seamen, Ordinary Seamen, and Able Seamen would have to muster aft with their particular Leading Seaman in charge who would in turn report to his Petty Officer as to how many men he had available, this would then be reported to the Asdics Chief P.O. who would in turn report to the Asdics Officer. This sounds like a great deal of hullabaloo, however, this whole operation wouldn‟t take more than two minutes, so now everybody knew exactly what was happening. The order would be given, “Clear One, which would be the Depth Charge Rack on the Starboard side, how would anyone know that it had to be the Starb‟d side, because uneven numbers were always Starboard, and even numbers were always Port side, right? “One cleared, and ready, SIR!!! Now the Asdics Officer will talk to the Bridge, and report that #1 was ready. The Bridge would in turn call the Wheelhouse to change speed to full speed ahead, both engines, the Bosun‟s Mate would then move the telegraphs for both engines to full speed, in the Transvaal‟s case it would be ± 120Revs and, that would be something like 16 knots. 23 The Bridge would report to the quarterdeck that the ship was moving at full speed so, it would be safe to fire a depth charge. All this business takes maybe 1 minute, if that long. the Asdics Officer calls Bridge, permission to fire 1 Sir!!! Bridge answers, FIRE!!! All of these orders, and requests are written down on paper by one of the Scribes, with the time taken from a chronometer which is synchronized with GMT. Don‟t forget the count down, wow, that‟s very important, the charge sinks at about one foot per second, that would be in less than a minute you would not only hear but also see the explosion. The Captain‟s voice would boom over the Upper Deck Louspeakers, All the Kingklip to my Steward. By now the boats have been lowered, and are busy collecting all the fish that have been bombarded. What a life that was, always very exciting, never a dull moment. Now after all is said, and done, the decks cleared, all the gear stowed away, ready for another day it would be just time to have a quick wash, and clean-up to be ready for “Up Spirits” . 24 IMPORTANT NAVAL TRADITION. Up Spirits? O.K. Let us go back in history to about 1652, more or less when Jan van Riebeek was ready to set sail for the East Indies. It was a long time ago, O.K.! Jamaica, an Island in the Caribbean Sea had a spot of trouble, what it was all about I do not know. The Royal Navy was called in to settle the matter but, Jamaica had no money with which to pay their debt to England soooooo, all they had was Rum. An offer was made, Jamaica would supply the Royal Navy with rum for ever, in payment of their debt, this settled the matter, and so the Navy went onto good Rum from Jamaica. No it was not Captain Morgan! We, the South African Naval Forces, were affiliated to the Royal Navy so we also had to get onto this Rum Wagon, it didn‟t last long though because Jamaica didn‟t have ships with which to deliver the rum, the Royal Navy had to fetch it. By this time the South African Naval Forces was well into this rum thing, and having so many Ratings seconded to the SANF from the RN this rum story became quite a problem. Hooray for Huletts Sugar Mills in Durban. They got the recipe from Jamaica, and so Huletts made the rum for the SANF. It was so good that the 25 RN ships visiting here were absolutely delighted, they said that our rum was a lot better than Jamaica‟s. The navy got their rum for many years, every day just before lunch time, it was “Up Spirits”. Every mess Peggy had to go to the Coxswain‟s Office to collect his mess‟ rum. Chiefs and P.O.s got a tot of neat rum and Ratings, over the age of eighteen got their tot mixed with two equal measures of water, i.e. a Rating‟s drink amounted to about a beer glassful. Ratings under the age of eighteen were paid a ticky, (three pence per day, they were put on the temperance list.) While we are talking about Rum, let me tell you how Rum eventually got thrown out of the South African Navy. It happened like this. Some bright spark in Parliament got to hear about this tradition and, he, whoever he was, said, NO, why should the South African Navy get a daily issue of very expensive Rum from Jamaica. Here in South Africa we produce some of the best Brandies in the World, from now on they shall have Brandy. It is quite obvious that he did not do his homework, and nobody in Parliament objected to what had been declared. Probably because not one of them knew anything at all about Naval Tradition, and nobody bothered to find out. 26 The routine was that at around 10:00, just enough rum had to be pumped from the wooden cask in which it was supplied from Huletts. This would be enough for the daily requirements of the ship‟s company. The Coxswain was in charge of this operation and, me being the Galley Tanky had to assist him, we needed an extra hand because the casks were pretty heavy, so I summoned Alex to help. It was then, to our dismay that we learned that that would be the last cask of rum to be pumped in the South African Navy. Alex and I plus the Coxswain felt rather chuffed that in fact we were making history in the Navy, not that we were pleased about the whole affair. When that rum was finished there would be no more. I later learned that the Brandy only came on the scene long after I went on discharge, so I never tasted it, but some of the chaps who did, told me two years later, that that brandy was rotgut, maybe some body had a finger in the distiller‟s pie! Nobody wanted the stuff, so it was stopped, and the Navy went dry!!! 27 MESS DUTIES. Let me quickly explain what a Mess Peggy is, I know you are guessing now!!! A Mess Peggy is the chap who is on duty, remember, red white and blue at sea and Port and Starboard in harbor! Right, the only difference was for the Chief Petty Officers, and Petty Officers, they had a permanent Mess Peggy, he had to serve them by fetching their food from the galley, and do the washing up afterwards, and keep the place nice, and tidy, scrubbing the mess deck every morning after breakfast, this was a privileged job. Because it carried a lot of favor that the other crew members couldn‟t even dream of. Lunch was from 12:30 to 14:00 so one had plenty of time to have a nap before continuing the day‟s activities. We had another consignment of ACF guys on board ,Dick was the Mess Kellick, the one in charge of the mess, he details this chap off to go make a kettle of tea. It was a fourteen pint capacity kettle. He was supposed to be the duty Mess Peggy. This poor creature went up to the Main Seaman‟s Bathroom, fetched the kettle of warm water from the bathroom tap, came back, just to be caught in the act of putting a handful of tealeaves into the kettle. Yes, no tea bags at that time in history!! An hour later he was still 28 trying to drink the last of his tea. After that, he was appointed as the tea maker of mess eleven, every time it was tea time. By the time he got back home he would be a world champion tea maker, and he‟d win all the prizes for making the best tea ever! LIFE BOAT DRILLS. The Gunnery Officer might decide to have Life Boat Drill. Now bear in mind that you may be busy with something else when, all of a sudden the call goes out on the Upper Deck Loud Hailer, “Man overboard Port Side For‟d. Man the Lifeboat!!! Life boat crews are appointed when you join the ship, if a call goes out you know just what to do. The “Jimmy” (First Lieutenant) keeps an eye on the crew with his stop watch in hand. Timing is taken from the time the call first rings out, until the Lifeboat hits the water. So there were competitions between all the teams, sometimes the winning team would be given special recognition for a job well done, like going ashore for the whole day instead of only leaving the ship at 16:00, and returning the next morning instead of at 23:59. This kind of shore leave was always a big thing. It would give you a lot more time to spend with friends or relations, or girl friends, who knows what! 29 SEA TIME. The first trip at sea; this came about around the end of August 1951. We, that is “K” class of the training base had all been drafted to various ships. As I said earlier Alex, and I were very happy that we had been sent to the ship HMSAS Transvaal. No I‟m not getting things into a chronological knot, eh, eh, just go back to the beginning, I started off by saying, “What I still remember” right, and this is just how certain events come to mind. Back to that first trip at sea. We sailed from Durban en route to Saldanha Bay. It was all very scary, all kinds of thoughts seemed to invade one‟s mind. The greatest expanse of water lots of guys had ever seen, was perhaps Florida Lake or maybe Germiston Lake but, this big dam was something else. Even I felt queesey and, I‟d been to Durban quite often on holidays with my folks but, I‟d never been to sea, I‟d had this craving to go there but, I never ever thought it would be quite like this. The first twelve hours I thought I was going to die, because of the sea sickness, and the second twelve hours I darned well hoped I would die!!! By the way, did you know that Admiral Lord Nelson of HMS Victory fame suffered with chronic sea sickness, every time 30 he went to sea he was sick!! This, by the way, was no consolation to a lot of us! Our first port of call was East London, lots of us were very excited to be able to go ashore, and feel solid ground under our feet. The older hands called it land sick, like when you‟ve grown used to the deck coming up to meet your foot, only now it doesn‟t, so you almost stumble, it doesn‟t take too long before you are walking quite normal again though. After the first beer you feel O.K. We sailed again the next day, the only reason that we stopped over at East London was to take on fresh water because we could not get near the water jetty in Durban, the queue was too long, and we didn‟t have an emergency, simple as that!!! Our Captain, a two and a half ringer, was a well loved Officer, his friends called him Flam, Flam St.Johns, the Flam was because he had red hair. Everyone liked him because it was said that with him one knew exactly where you stood, he was a very fair man, and he had no favorites, either you were right or wrong and, beware, if you were wrong on any account, you had a major problem. Port Elizabeth was our next stop, the only reason for it was because we had to pick up about 40 A C F Ratings, (Active Citizen‟s Force). Here comes a story, hold on. 31 CLEAN UP IN PORT ELIZABETH. This was told to us, “New Ones” like all the trainees from “K” Class for instance. Long before our time, our ship, the Transvaal was lying in P.E. on a visit. A little while after „Liberty Men‟ had gone ashore to see the sights of P.E. a couple of chaps returned to the ship, it looked as if a locomotive had hit them. Flam St.Johns the Skipper happened to see them come on board, it turned out that they had been beaten up in the city by a bunch of P.E. pub thugs saying that nobody needed the Navy, especially the South African Navy, in Port Eliazabeth. The next thing that happened is what we learned from chaps who were there when this incident took place, and here is how the story turned out----- From the Captain: “Clear Lower Decks, all men to muster on the Quarter Deck! Coxswain, see that belts, gaiters and batons are issued to everyone, when they are dressed, call me in my cabin” This having been done the Captain was duly called. The next order that was given, and he, Flam St.Johns, also attired in Belt, Gaiters, and Baton led his men ashore with the order, “Let‟s clean up this town men!!!!!!!!!” So they did, they went into every pub, and cleaned them all up, whoever was there, irrespective of whether you had anything to say or not. 32 After every pub in the city had been cleaned up all men were ordered back to the ship, it is said that the S.A. Police didn‟t do or say a thing, in fact it is rumored that they rather enjoyed the cleanup, it saved them a lot of trouble later in the night with drunks looking for trouble. Needless to say, the Frigate H M S A S Transvaal was banned from ever entering harbor again in Port Elizabeth again in the future. Right, let‟s pick up our story where we had to stop at P.E. to pick up A C Fs. Flam St.Johns, our Captain, hey man, he was quite a guy, decided to lay to, outside the harbor, he sent a signal to the Authorities telling them to send their A C Fs out to the ship, they had one-half-hour, then we would sail with or without them. This exercise brought the Mayor out, down to the “A” berth quay side, armed with a loud hailer asking our Captain to please come alongside to pick up the A C Fs. Flam let him know that he, the Mayor, had about twenty minutes left to get his men on board, we would not enter harbor. They saw that we would sail, and then the Mayor would have to answer to the Military Authorities. The weather was starting to pick up by this time, and the sun was on it‟s way down, being late afternoon, and all, you know! In double quick time the Harbor Master organized a tug 33 boat to take these poor chaps, who were sitting in the midst of all this lot, out to sea, in choppy weather by now, to the ship. They all managed to come aboard in a good condition, some of them a bit wee zee but they would have to sort themselves out during the night. Of course our ship‟s company sort of let them know that on THIS SHIP nobody takes nonsense from anybody, and believe me, they believed it too! I‟ll never forget there was one chap who, a few years later, joined our ship again, he had a very morose attitude about all the goings on of that day in his life. When I asked him just what he did for a living, he said he was an Undertaker, well, that sort of explained his attitude, didn‟t it? 34 CAPE TOWN, THE MOTHER CITY. 358 years ago when Jan van Riebeek landed here, there was nothing. By this time Captain Flam St.Johns had been promoted, and had moved on to other shore duties. Alex, and I were very happy because our old Training Base Captain had taken over the Transvaal, Lt. Com. Dick Nephews. Straight as a die!! The next stop was in Cape Town, Wow, what a site, that mountain. Remember I grew up in Johannesburg, and there are no mountains anywhere near there, so this was something for me to enjoy. It was early morning, I remember my Mom gave me a 35 Kodak Box Brownie Camera, to take a few “Snaps”, as they were referred to in those days. Today people don‟t take “Snaps” anymore, they are photographs, begging your pardon, Sir!!! We were lying so close inshore that I could not fit the whole scene into the view finder so I had to turn the camera diagonally to get my picture, but I got it!! Cape Town 1951. If one looks carefully you will see the chimney stacks of the old Fore Shore Power Station. It is ± in the centre of Table Mountain. This, my Box Brownie “Snap”. 36 We didn‟t stay long in the “Mother City” as she is affectionately called. Yes, the Mother City, do you know why the Mother? I‟ll tell you what I was told by a Tourist Guide, he had been in the business for about fifty years, his story was, in Cape Town one can experience all four seasons in one day, so the weather changes, just like a woman can change her mind in a flash so, there you have it. Of course Cape Town is the “Mother City” because all the rest of South Africa has grown out of her, despite the fact that Jan van Riebeek first dropped anchor at Saldanha Bay, could not find water so he carried on to what became Cape Town. It must have been a very clear day, no smog, „cause on a very clear day one can see Table Mountain from Saldanha if you climb to the top point at the entrance of the bay. The distance as the crow flies is under 100kms, so it wasn‟t even one days‟ sailing from there not with all the wind in Cape Town anyway!! Only one night ashore in Cape Town was not nearly enough time to see all there was to see. We sailed the next morning, right after „Colours‟,that is the ceremony of hoisting the flag every morning at 08:00. That evening we dropped anchor in Saldanha 37 Bay, granted it doesn‟t take an entire day to sail from Cape Town to Saldanha, but, bear in mind that lots of other things also happen at sea on board a warship. I can remember clearly, we dropped a depth charge or two so‟s we could have fresh fish for supper. That was an old trick, whenever a school of fish was sighted, and there wasn‟t anything else happening the Captain would decide to have a depth charge dropped. Just to keep us all in training of course! One can see the white foam rise to the surface, soon after the charge explodes. The call from the bridge was always the same, ”All the King Klip is mine!” The caller being the Captain, he loved King 38 Klip, a deep sea delicacy. Once we even came up with a Sting Ray, now that was really something. CPO Cook Roberts knew just how to prepare it, yes, I also got a smallie piece, but that was a long time after this episode. Hey, lets get back to Saldanha. SOUTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON EXCERSIZES. This was the big event of the year for the South Atlantic Squadron of which we were an integral part. This maneuver included all the Navies based in the South Atlantic. HMS Bermuda fires a Salute. 39 HMS Bermuda was the flag ship, a Light/Heavy Cruiser, she carried a crew of around two thousand officers and men, including a detachment of Royal Marines on board. Her largest guns were twin turret 6” guns. What a sight to see her fire a full broadside, we all saw that on the last day we spent in Saldanha. The Royal Navy was well represented. In addition to Bermuda there was the Acteon, and the Neiride, they were sister ships, HMS Nereide , Sloop, note twin 4 inch gun turrets. Depth charges, Squid and, Torpedo Tubes on after deck. 40 sloops, carrying ± four to five hundred officers, and men. The old HMs/m Sturdy, was a very old Sub-Marine on her last voyage, when she got back to Malta she would be taken to the scrap yard. The French Navy was also included in a small sloop, the Gazelle Gazelle, small French Sloop. The South African Naval Forces were there in force as well, we had our flag ship the Jan van Riebeek, a destroyer, the picture shows the JvR in heavy seas. Destroyers are very fast vessels known as the Greyhounds of the Sea! 41 HMSAS Jan van Riebeek, her sister ship, the Simon v/d Stel had not yet arrived from U.K. The Minesweeper HMSAS Bloemfontein. 42 Bloemfontein a Mine sweeper, and our ship the Transvaal a Frigate. A total of eight war ships. The Air Force was there as well, the Langebaan Air Force Base is situated just about on the doorstep of Saldanha Bay. The South African Naval Gymnasium is also based in Saldanha, so it was quite a big to-do especially for youngsters like Alex and I, let alone the other chaps with whom we‟d been in training in “K” class. The whole idea of these maneuvers was to keep everybody in top condition in case of any emergency, one never knows what might happen in the wide world out there. Quite a variety of activities were set up, for instance, boat sailing competitions between all the ships, the boats that were used were lifeboats called „Whalers‟. The same as used by Captain Bligh when Mr. Christian set him, and a few crew members adrift from the “Bounty”, in the story of the Mutiny on the same ship, remember? Nobody ever thought that Captain Bligh would ever get to England from Australia in a Whaler, never, but he did!! 43 Taken after a Depth Charge explosion. Note the Coxswain of the Whaler stretching his arm to pick up a fish. Granted, he didn‟t have to row to England, he did have sails, and Oars. Diesel motors were not yet invented! Another competition was boat pulling, some people might call it rowing, but believe you me, when you pull that oar, you 44 really have to pull with every once of strength in your whole body to get anywhere. There were competitions about who can man their heavy guns in the least time, and also who can man the Depth Charge gear in the least time. Which ship‟s crew could pin point the position of the Sub-Marine „ HMs/m Sturdy‟ the most accurately, and in the least time. The fishing competition was very popular. This bay was noted for it‟s abundance of Sand Sharks, they are bottom feeders, and proper scavengers, they would take any kind of bait, we even caught them using bits of cotton waste on the hook, sounds incredible, but it is true! The older hands on our ship knew the drill for the end of the games. It was this: The winning ship would have to kidnap, as it were, the bell of the ship which came in second. In order to rescue the bell, the First Lieutenant had to be the ransom, and spend a night on board the winning ship. The next day he would be displayed in the winning ship‟s motor boat, which would cruise all around the fleet, while the crew of the boat would hold the cup high, and wave the flag, so that everybody could see that they were the “Cock of the Fleet”. Now comes the time to grab the ship‟s bell, and it has to be defended at all costs because, if the attackers do not succeed in 45 capturing the bell, and are beaten, the runners up automatically become the Cock of the Fleet. These are the rules, so let the games begin. The Transvaal was running neck a neck with the Acteon who were leading so far, now came the fishing, for Sand Sharks, and could our guys catch fish? Or could they? Man we caught baskets full, the baskets being empty bread baskets which were pretty large, we had plenty of ammo to ward off any attackers who would come in the night, and they did too, shortly after dusk the first wave of them arrived. Never have you seen so many sailors scatter, being beaten with a wet fish. The only deck that they could attack from was the quarter deck because it was low in the water, so it was quite easy to defend. Have you ever been hit across the back of your head with a wet sand shark? Those fins are very sharp too, after a gallant fight the whole attack was called off maybe because the Acteon‟s crew saw that it was a hopeless battle or perhaps because one fellow caught a shark fin across his cheek which split it open, and it became a bloody mess. Doc. Clelland had to put in a few stitches. That was it, we the HMSAS Transvaal were the undefeated “Cock of the Fleet”. for that year anyway. 46 In the morning everybody was very busy making preparations to weigh anchor, and be off to their bases across the AtlanticOcean. Our Captain had received a signal from HMS Bermuda telling the whole fleet just how good it had been there in Saldanha, where Seamanship of the Highest Order had been manifested. As a fond farewell, they were going to give us a full broadside salute. All I can say is “WOW” Now that was really something. Can you imagine what it was like, with four twin 6” (150mm) gun turrets blasting off, first four barrels to Port side for‟d followed by the Starboard sides four barrels aft. The two British sloops were off to the far east, the frogs were going back to Madagascar, their base being Diego Suarez. Sturdy was off to the scrap yard in Malta. Bermuda was going to the Clyde in U.K. for a refit. After that she would be drafted to other duties, who knows where. Her relief was going to be, this time a heavy Cruiser, HMS Euryalus. 47 HMS EURYALUS She was quite close in here, loud hailer distance, note lots of crew members standing on the Foc‟sle. Huge 6” guns too! HMS EURYALUS the new Flagship of the South Atlantic Squadron 48 As for us local yokels, we would all go back to Salisbury Island in Durban, except the JvR, she was going to Snookie (Simonstown) for a refit as well. HOMEWARD BOUND. That left the „Vaal, and the Bloem, we sailed in convoy back to Durbs. This was a good ending to an exciting few weeks. We as young sailors had seen so much, and learned so much that by now we sort of felt that we were a notch up on anyone who wasn‟t in Saldanha with us. We probably were too, except for the old salts who had been there, seen it all, and tried to get out of going again; one always finds those types doesn‟t one? This tidbit has probably been entered into the annuls of Naval History. The Bloemfontein was a nice little Mine Sweeper, and had done great work in the North Sea during the war, that is the Second World War. She was a bit slow, a mine sweeper isn‟t supposed to be a fast vessel, how could she sweep mines if she was? Her Skipper had seen all these other ships perform in Saldanha, some of them very fast vessels, like the JvR, our Destroyer for instance, she could top 35knots(i.e. ± 65Kms per hour or ± 40mph) whereas the Bloem could not get near that, the 49 most she could muster was about 10 knots, ± 18km ph. Get the picture? HMSAS Bloemfontein, a Mine Sweeper. Ignore the date on the picture. It is the date on which it was copied to the story board. The exercise was to check the speed in which the Bloem‟s crew could run out a depth charge. Just to the ready, that is, O.K.! However some bright spark wasn‟t listening. Charges are normally set to go off at 50ft (±15m), and the ship should be moving fast enough so‟s she is out of the way before the charge goes off, otherwise she is likely to have her tailend blown off. That is exactly what happened to her. 50 We only found out afterwards what had happened. Just as well this happened just outside of Durban otherwise it might have been tragic. Fortunately help got there in time, and she managed to keep afloat. Naturally there was a big enquiry, one doesn‟t allow your ship to blow her own tail off, and nothing is said or done about it, now does one? Oh, well, another day of life on the briny, wot? The middle of September had arrived. The routine didn‟t change much, there was always talk about some or other ship going somewhere exotic, we in fact heard that we were bound to take a good will trip to Rio De Janeiro. All talk it turned out to be, there were many such rumors. It was then that one learned never to believe any such stories. The only time one should believe such a story was when you were actually there, where they said you would be going, nothing else. One could become quite skeptical about many things under such circumstances. 51 CAN YOU MAKE TEA? Now that all the activity had settled down, and we could all get back into normal living in harbor, special duties were handed out. Alex, oh Alex, he was still the Captain of the Heads. I don‟t think that he really minded his job so much because, nobody seemed to bother him, and once he‟d got everything ship shape it was easy to keep it that way. I was still the Galley Tanky. Now, behind every story or name there hangs a tail!! In the old, old days, when men were made of iron, and ships of wood, there were tanks on board into which water was either pumped or caught up in a rain storm or carried on board while the ship was in harbor. These tanks had to be kept in order, and so the fellow who got that job was called “The Tanky”. When ships grew larger, and the galley grew more sophisticated the Cook needed more help than what he used to have. Please note that in an hotel they talk about a Chef, in France they too have Chefs, but in the navy a chef is a COOK as in Captain, O.K. Sure, you‟ve heard about Captain Cook? No, where have you been? Now, when the galley grew the Tanky had to fit into this scenario, so I was made the Galley Tanky. It was my job to see that there was enough bread put out each day. I had to fetch the 52 meat out of the deep freeze compartments below the deck of the Main seaman‟s mess deck. Eggs, and milk were kept in the Cool Room which was adjacent to the Deep Freezer. I was also put in charge of the grocery store rooms. That, made me very popular, young sailors are always hungry. Nobody really kept tabs on what went into the store, and what came out so it was easy to lay claim to a tin of Pilchards or Condensed milk or what ever. I was originally put in mess eleven in the Main Seaman‟s mess deck, the popular mess, why so popular? Well we had all the goodies, you see, Dick Henson, and I were great friends. Tea time was around 09:30 to 10:00. Dick would approach me. Hey Tanks, how‟s about some Bully. O.K., and off I‟d go to the store, only to come back with a tin of Bully Beef. Yes, here comes another story, the Bully Beef of course is Corned Beef. From Bully, it became Bull Dog, and eventually the Bull Dog became just plain DOG. This would be opened with a sailor‟s knife. Dick would see to the onions and tomatoes. This whole lot would be mixed up together in a bowl, and that on fresh bread, and butter out the galley, man, oh, man, who could ask for anything more? Sometimes it would be a tin of Pilchards in tomato sauce plus the 53 onions and tomatoes. These feasts would always be with tea of course. Talking about tea, we had another consignment of ACF guys on board. Dick details this chap off to go make a kettle of tea. A large kettle, 14 pints capacity. This poor creature went up to the Main Seaman‟s Bathroom, filled the kettle with warm water from the bathroom tap, came back, just to be caught in the act of putting a handful of tealeaves into the kettle. Yes, no tea bags at that time in history!! An hour later he was still trying to drink the last of his tea. After that he was appointed as the tea maker of mess eleven, every time it was tea time. By the time he got back home he would be a world champion tea maker, and he‟d win all the prizes for making the best tea ever! 54 MARION ISLAND, DINKUM! Yes, as the Aussies would say, it was dinkum. The day the news broke, the Vaal was going to Marion Island, things started to happen. This would be the Eighth Relief trip in October/November. Where on Earth is Marion Island, and what‟s there, lets see. It‟s a little speck of Volcanic rock lying about four days‟ sail from Cape Town due south of Port Elizabeth. Hold on as this story unfolds, fasten your seat belt, and hold tight!! 40° South, here we come. The Jimmy had just received the signal that every body had been waiting for. Our ETD was 25th October. That gave us exactly sixteen days to make ready for sea. Sure, the ship was ready at all times, but this was something special, one doesn‟t sail to Marion Island every day. Certain preparations had to be made, like making space on the Upper Deck for carrying provisions for instance. A year supply for ten men to survive on a desolate island in the South Atlantic. Dick Jewel, the wireless operator wasn‟t very impressed with this development. He knew that it was inevitable but, he didn‟t expect it to happen so soon. He wanted to put in for his leave, his wife having recently presented him with his only son 55 and heir, not that little Joe would inherit much. Mary, like so many other young wives, seemed to have a mania for wanting to buy everything she laid her eyes on. Dick always complained about not having enough beer money. Navy pay wasn‟t the best a man could earn, but then not every man got to enjoy all the excitement that the Navy had to offer, and a wireless operator could get quite a cushy job back in civvy street, if he wanted to. The airlines were crying out for men with his experience, and they were offering good money, but it just wasn‟t the same, in fact it could never be! The first lieutenant wasn‟t the easiest of men to get along with, nothing was ever to his satisfaction. He would have to make sure that Sub-lieutenant Dunks, the victualing officer, and CPO Cook Robby had everything under control, bearing in mind that we would have quite a few civilians on board for the trip, plus the ever present possibility that we might strike bad weather in those latitudes, we would be sailing right to the perimeter of the Antarctic circle, thank goodness it wasn‟t winter time, that would have been something else. Chippy Lewin, the ship‟s carpenter just waited for the 4” gun to be lifted ashore to make space on the For‟d deck so‟s he could transform the deck into a sheep‟s pen. The guys on Marion needed fresh meat for as long as possible. 56 The Big Gun is lifted off to be put into storage. We had another contingent of “Week-end” sailors on board, these were the ACF chaps. Every few weeks we got a new batch for training, among them there were all kinds, one of them claimed to be a Barrister, personally, I thought that he might have been too young for a job like that, but anyway, who was I to argue? Another one was a well known musician, he had made quite a few records in his time, his name was Charles Seagull, as in Nelson! Thought he was just the boy, so he was made the new „Captain of the Heads‟, now that sorted him out, Alex was so chuffed, he was needed for some other special duties. 57 I was detailed off to do an accurate stock take of all the dry goods in the after stores. Each rack had to be numbered, and everything in every rack had to be listed. This wasn‟t such a big job for me because this is the way that I had set up the stores from my first day as Tanky, it was just a matter of routine. It had been arranged that a truck would arrive two hours before we were scheduled to cast off, that would be the last load to come on board, all the fresh produce like bread, milk, and fresh meat etc. So the ship was made ready for sea, every man knew what his duty was, which watch he would be working, where he would have to fall in, in the event of a life boat being needed. What he had to do in the event of a call to action stations was made. Which X and Y doors he would be responsible for when once we were piped to close them. Can you imagine all the excitement involved in such a venture? By the way, let me explain; X and Y doors are water tight doors situated in strategic positions in the ship. Nobody ever touches them or opens or closes them without prior instructions, and even then that is done, under supervision of a Petty Officer, and double checked by the ship‟s carpenter, (Chippy Lewin). These doors are so constructed that they can take a huge amount of pressure without collapsing, they are used in 58 compartments in the ship so that in the event of a gun shell from an attacking ship should strike, the door being closed will prevent any water from entering an adjoining compartment, and thus it will form a barrier, so doing; no more water will be taken, and thus there is a better chance that the ship will not sink. Very important doors these!!! Once the ship is at sea, having cleared the breakwater these doors are normally re-opened to give people free movement in the ship, however, if in the event of very bad weather certain of these doors are closed or, during emergencies like an attack from a hostile ship the doors would straight way be closed, got the idea? Good!! SEA LEGS. At sea a light swell was running, this is normally welcomed because it puts life into the ship, one feels that wonderful movement underfoot, and you know that things are happening. Unfortunately a lot of those poor “Week-end” sailors do not like that sort of movement. Not long before some of them were hanging their heads over the hand rails feeding the fish, some of them daren‟t go below decks because the smell of diesel, and crude oil, would flatten them right away. Much better to stay 59 topsides with face in the wind. I‟ve mentioned Dick Henson before, he could be quite callous at times, and he had no time for men that couldn‟t take it, no matter what, he himself was quite a toughie. There was this poor wretch hanging around one of the Engine Room Skylights, trying to keep warm, sick as a dog, not daring to even think of food. Dick goes over to this guy, and offers him a nice juicy pork chop, dripping with fat. Dick stuck it right under this guy‟s nose. Well that was it, we thought he was going to die. I remember how I felt on my first trip, it goes to make a man out of you though. We didn‟t see this guy for two days after that, where he had got to nobody knows. When we did see him he was all smiles, fighting fit and ready for a good meal, he had found his sea legs. 60 AN S.O.S. CALL FOR HELP. SOS, yes everybody knows that sos means, save our souls, or didn‟t you? Never mind! A report, Bridge, Sea guard, contact bearing 336º , 12,000 yards. (11Kms), in relation to the ship, geographically he was probably about 16° East of Greenwich. It seems to be a small vessel, Sir. Keeps disappearing below the swell, and also appears to be stationary.‟ Sea guard is the Radar operator on watch. „Very good sea guard, report range, and bearing every minute.‟ „Bridge, Sea guard, contact bearing 300º, 12,200 yards.‟ (13Kms) Then came the faint crackle of the SOS call on the radio. A vessel in distress. „He says he can see us Sir, and would we please assist him, seems to be a foreigner. It was Dick Jewel reporting to the Officer of the Watch, who happened to be Lieutenant Hutch. „How bad is he, Jewel?‟ „Can‟t make out Sir. Between his bad English, and failing batteries, it‟s hard to tell.‟ Very well Jewel, thanks.‟ Just then the phone on the bridge buzzed, it was the Captain. „Guns, what‟s happening, why have we slowed down?‟ „With your permission, Sir, I‟d like to investigate an SOS call, just received. „I‟m on my way up Guns, what‟s it like topside?‟ Guns of course was our Gunnery Officer, a very 61 compassionate man with a red head, and a red beard to go with it, a fantastic officer though, he‟d come up through the ranks from an Able Seaman to now, a Lieutenant. „Wind‟s coming up to Westward, temperature a steady 50ºF (10ºC), Sir.‟ „Very good!‟ „Bridge, Sea guard, contact bearing, 280º, range 1000 yards. The whistle of the Engine Room‟s voice pipe was loud in the ears of Chief Engineer Mac Pherson. He was always moaning, and couldn‟t understand why he could not be left in peace to drink his umteenth mug of char. Scotsmen inevitably made the very best Chief Engineers afloat. „Engine Room‟. „Chief, we‟re going to do a bit of maneuvering, and I want you chaps to look alive!‟ Aye,aye, Capt‟n. Mac moaned again that nobody ever told him what was happening. Just then the engine room telegraph rang out. „Both engines slow ahead, Sir. It was the quartermaster repeating the instruction from the bridge. „Stop Port engine‟ Stop Port engine, Sir. „Port engine stopped, Sir.‟ You will come to realize that the Bridge gives the order, say, to the wheelhouse which, the quartermaster repeats. Once it is carried out the quartermaster(QM) reports back to the bridge, and the same goes for the engine room, These commands are spoken into what is called a voice pipe, which in fact is, a 2” (50mm) copper pipe, 62 (steel would rust), which has a funnel attached to both ends, fitted with a lid like one would find on a teapot. The reason for repeating everything that is said is so that hopefully there would be no mistakes, a command which is misunderstood could turn into a disaster. This method has proved to be the best so far. Modern technology, and automatic pilots, had not yet arrived, remember!! „Slow astern port.‟ „Port engine slow astern, Sir‟ „Steer 150º „Wheel 150º, Sir.‟ She was bringing her head slowly around to Port now. „Stop Port‟ Stop Port, Sir‟. „Port engine stopped, Sir‟ „Slow ahead both‟ Slow ahead both, Sir.‟ Both engines slow ahead. Sir‟ „Steer 320º.‟ Steer 320º. Sir‟ After about two minutes the Vaal was on her new course which would bring her to within hailing distance of the stricken vessel. „Bridge, wheelhouse, new course 320º. Steady as she goes, Sir‟ Thank you wheelhouse, both engines half ahead. „Both engines half ahead, Sir.‟ There was a steady swell running across the Starboard bow, it might not be so easy to hold her on course, but Able Seaman Alex Banyon handled the wheel very well. He was proud in that he never ever chased the compass. Always said that one day he would be rich, and then he would buy himself the latest model Cadillac. I need to explain the engine room commands. When the Captain originally called the Engine room it was through the voice 63 pipe, however, subsequent commands, such as „stop both engines‟ for instance are given to the QM in the wheelhouse, he then rings the engine movements on what it called the Engine Room Telegraph, it has two handles, and is cranked back, and forth in order to ring bells in the engine room to draw the Chief‟s attention. Once the handles have been moved back, and forth they are then set on the desired speed, ahead or astern, whichever the Captain, or the Officer of the watch desires, as soon as the chief has reset the engines he in turn rings the telegraph, which then rings a bell in the wheelhouse, then and, then only may the QM reports „Port engine stopped, Sir‟ or „Both engines full ahead, Sir‟ etc. Got it? „Trawler, ahoy!‟ came the call from the bridge. It was Coxswain Jimmy Scott using the loud hailer, radio communication was not possible, her batteries must have been stone dead by then. She‟s Portuguese Sir. Their flag I.D. has just been confirmed by the Chief Yeoman, Sir‟. It was Jeff Story reporting, he was the duty signalman. His girlfriend called him “Jeffrey with the lovely body”. The number painted on her Bow confirms that she is registered in Lorenço Marques, Sir. (Today it‟s called Maputo). „Thank you Story‟. 64 „Guns, I‟d be obliged if you would take us in close, to windward. Keep both engines on stand-by, if you please. The Captain‟s voice was steady as he spoke. Lt. Hutch was still on duty as the Officer of the watch. Now everybody who could be there lined the upper deck, to pick up the story. „Bom dia, senhor Capitáo. O senhor fala Portuquese?‟ „Cox do we have anybody on board who speaks Portuguese?‟ Captain Nephews was hoping that the answer would be in the affirmative‟ „No Sir, I‟ve already checked, recognized their flag soon‟s I saw it, Sir.‟ „Pity, thank you Coxswain, tell them that we don‟t speak Portuguese, and that we shall be sending a boat over to bring their Captain on board. I‟m sure he could do with a bit of our South African hospitality, probably been terrified long enough by now.‟ Within one minute, and twenty two seconds the Captain‟s Launch was away, but of course Lt. Rob King wasn‟t satisfied, said it could have been off in less time. The best crew was in the launch, PO Tubby Keys at the helm with Dick Henson as his 2 IC, plus the rest of the chaps, they made up a champion crew. The companionway was already being lowered over the Starboard side, quarterdeck. 65 Captain‟s Launch away, to the rescue. It took almost a full half hour for Captain Manuel da Costa to dress for the occasion, he had never been aboard a warship before, to him this was a great honor, “Navio de Mar-e-guerra” ,a Warship, wow, he just had to look his very best, dressed in his going ashore clobber, and all. Two big baskets filled with L.M. prawns were loaded into the launch. He clutched another parcel to himself, refusing to let anybody touch it. After giving final instructions to his crew, who were all on deck he turned to Tubby Keys, „O.K. senhor, we go, si? Obrigado‟ „Aye,aye, Sir‟ Tubby showing the normal respect he would to any other sea captain. The Vaal‟s first Lt. ,and the Gunnery Officer 66 were standing by for Captain Manuel da Costa to be piped on board by the duty Quartermaster. Instructions were given back, and forth ,and then he was escorted to Captain Nephews‟ day Cabin. Senhor Capitáo Nefews, me thanks for you verr maash, me say mutissimo obrigado, because á you make á de troubles to „elp me, my barco, and my peoples. If á you do not á stop, my Maria, and my chiléren, they no see á the Papa after. I bring á for á you the camaróes, the beegá one from Lourenço Marques, and special for á Senhor Capitáo, um litro „Carlos Tercero Coñac‟ from España. It was Carlos the Third Brandy, very good and very expensive. So that‟s what he had been hiding inside his jacket all the time! The Chief Yeoman came to report that the “John Collins”, a deep sea rescue tug would be with them within the hour. It was later learned that a radio ham had picked up the SOS from the Santa Anna some 27 hours earlier, had contacted the Port Captain‟s office in Cape Town who, in turn contacted the John Collins, however, John Collins had also picked up the SOS, and her Captain, knowing what the conditions in that part of the world could be like, had not wasted any time to make ready, and sail to 67 the rescue. She had already been at sea since the previous day, that is why she could be there so soon. Captain Dick Nephews could not understand what a Lorenço Marques trawler was doing in these waters, until the story came out. It turned out that Captain da Costa had come south for the Snoek season, and to visit family living in Cape Town. Their No.1 Generator had lost it‟s crankshaft, and the spare they had didn‟t fit. No. 2 wouldn‟t start because there was water in the fuel, or so it seemed, meantime they were adrift, the weather was deteriorating, his, the Captain‟s cousin was the Engineer. He had tried everything, and eventually he, after almost three days, gave up in despair, and fled to a demi-john of red wine. This tale of woe just had no end, some people call it life!!! „ Sea guard, Bridge contact, range 20,000 yards, ± 18Kms. closing rapidly. Bridge, Sea guard, very good, that must be the tug “John Collins”. Report her position every two minutes.‟ „Aye, aye, Sir‟. It would not take her long to get there, with those powerful engines, and large props she could plough through the water with much more ease than any conventional vessel. Within an hour we were back on course, heading for our ultimate destination: Marion Island. 68 The wind had freshened a point or two since we left the Santa Anna in the capable hands of the „John Collins‟. There had been much cheering, and obrigadoes from both sides, from them to us for rescuing them, and from us to them for another two baskets of L.M. Prawns. CPO Cook Robby was going to have his hands full preparing them. A pity we didn‟t have any fresh lemons on board. Robby would make a plan though, he usually did. Albatross had been sighted, the Porpoises had left the day before. The weather was holding well but, the temperature had dropped considerably. Lieutenant Colburn, the ship‟s navigator gave the news that the temperature had decreased steadily during the past 24 hours. The wind had freshened too from the South East, it had reached 15knots, clouds were scudding across the sky. Murphy‟s voice came over the intercom „Bridge, Sea guard, contact 090º, range 10,000 yards, suspect Iceberg, Sir‟ „Thank you Murphy, it‟s just been spotted from the bridge, well done.‟ That was Captain Nephews speaking, always, please, and thank you. No wonder the men would do almost anything for him!! The temperature had now dropped to around 40ºF (±4/5ºC) Lets say it was cold!! 69 MARION ISLAND ALMOST IN SIGHT. By noon the next day the Transvaal should reach her destination, all being well. Spirits were high among the crew. A list of boat‟s coxswains, and crews was put up on the main notice board. The shore side crews‟ names as well, mainly chaps who had been there before and who knew the drill. They had to be ashore early to set up the derricks at „Gunner‟s Point‟ if the islanders hadn‟t already done so. It would be to their advantage if they had. The sooner this job got done the better, one didn‟t stay in these waters any longer that what you had to. The weather could become very nasty here, no not in a couple of hours, in about 15 minutes it could be a totally different scene. Let me explain how this operation would work. There would be ten men stationed on Marion Island, which is the South African, South Atlantic Weather Station. These men needed all the home comforts they could get for a year. That would include food, fresh meat, in the form of live sheep, as far as possible, liquor, like whiskey, brandy, beer etc. Warm clothes, cameras, film and, just about anything you can think of that you would like to have on a desolate island, on the border of the Antarctic. The weather one finds there can become quite viscous, gales that last for days on 70 end, snow storms, patches of ice on the walkways. Yes, walkways, built with treated blue gum poles sunk into the ground, as anchor supports for the treated timber planking used for the actual walkway. It was extremely dangerous to venture off the walkways for fear of disappearing into a mud hole, if you were careless. Remember, anyone who was new to this territory, had to learn from experience. Better to be careful than dead! 71 Fanie, has already taken his shirt off. This was the walkway leading up to the ladder which took one to the top of Gunner‟s Point. 72 The store room at the top of the cliff where all the dry goods were kept. Part of the derrick‟s anchorage can be seen on the left hand side. The wooden walkway was most essential for your safety. 73 The bottom of the cliff, on the landing platform where the cargo nets were filled, and hoisted to the top of Gunner‟s Point. 74 The top of Gunner‟s Point. The horizontal beams support the landing platforms. The derrick was used to hoist the cargo to the top, for storage, until required. The ship is lying at anchor, about half a mile off shore, say ± 800 metres. 75 The sounds of the animals is never ending. Sea Elephants make very loud noises, seagulls screech all day long, not to mention the Albatross, and millions of penguins, the small African Species as well as the large King Penguins, that is just a few of all the other kinds of bird life there is. Talking about Penguins, they are the most inquisitive creatures. After we had dropped our anchor, we watched them through binoculars. First one would swim out to the ship, right around the ship, then he would be off, next, two or three would come over to inspect this unknown monster, then they would go back ashore. With a bit of imagination one could hear them discussing what they had seen, in the meantime we had thrown a few loaves of stale bread over the side, the Baker‟s bread was now off, so Robby had to bake fresh bread, daily for us, wow, can that man bake bread? The penguins on the other hand told us that we were friends for life, they loved stale bread! I happened to notice that the water there was so clear, one could see almost right to the bottom of the ocean, later I learned that that is so because the water is so cold. One day we stood on the upper deck watching a whole school of Killer Wales, they too were just checking us out I suppose! Very dangerous creatures we were told, they would attack anything, in fact they were rubbing themselves against the ship‟s hull. Somebody said it 76 was because they were trying to get rid of „sea lice‟, I don‟t know, do you? Right, back to what is happening; all this stuff has to be taken ashore for storage on the island. To do this we used boats, hence the boat‟s crews, and coxswains, and all mentioned earlier. All of these boxes or crates have to be first of all loaded off the ship by derrick into the life boats. i.e. the Cutter, the Whaler, and the Motor Launch. The boats are then put in tow astern of the Launch which heads for a landing platform which is lowered by winches from the top of the cliff called „Gunner‟s Point‟. The boats then come alongside the landing platform where the goods are taken out of the boats, put onto the landing platform, into large cargo nets which are in turn hooked up to a steel wire rope on a derrick, the winch which is mounted at the top of the cliff, hoists the loaded net to the top. Here the derrick is slewed around where the goods are then put into a storage room, which has been built there, so this operation carries on 24hours a day until the ship has offloaded all the cargo, weather permitting, never forget that. 77 A young Sea Elephant Cow. 78 Cargo being taken off the ship, and loaded into a boat which will be towed by the Motor Launch to the Landing Platform. 79 Mama Albatross with her chicken on the nest. Papa is out hunting for food, and he takes the night watch. They are not afraid of human contact at all. We caught one, and then proceeded to measure his wingspan. Now this you have got to believe! It was twelve feet from tip to tip. They hardly ever flap their wings, they just glide on the air currents. It is wonderful to see how graceful they are. This one stands about 1metre (39”) high on the nest. 80 Now tell me again, who was it said that,…… can you describe him? At that time we were told that one King Penguin would fetch £100.00 in the London Zoo. Problem was, how do you get him there alive and well? 81 You will never believe me if I tell you that these three Sea Elephant Bulls were singing, “On a Saturday Night, Glascow belongs to me” You don‟t have to believe me if you don‟t want to! 82 Don‟t let them bight you, Sea Elephants are dangerous. 83 This was the fresh meat supply. I‟ll never forget the ACF chap that carried one of these sheep to the top of the cliff, up the ladder way. He carried it over his neck, holding onto the legs. To his disgust, the poor sheep must have had a weak bladder. There wasn‟t even a hot sun to dry his neck and shoulders, oh well! 84 Attention: Do not take any notice of the date you see on some of the pictures. That is the date on which I copied them from my photo album, thanks! The ship‟s crew is divided up into three watches: Red, White and Blue, so nobody has to work longer than four hours at a time. The only people who do get a break are the boat‟s crews, and that is while your boat is being laden alongside the ship again. Cook Robby welcomes you with a large mug of very strong coffee laced with plenty of Rum. Very necessary, because by now you are wet through with icy cold water, you‟re tired, and sweaty, and probably hungry, but once that Rum hits your stomach, even your ears are on fire, and you‟re ready for the next trip across to the island. So this routine carries on for about thirty six hours. One gets drenched from the sea spray coming over the open boat‟s bow. You get just enough time to have a mug of coffee, run to the heads, and by that time your boat is ready to leave. Working four hours on and eight hours off didn‟t make life too unbearable. It was during one of these breaks that I got special permission to go ashore to take photographs. 85 Now I‟m ready to go ashore for the photographs I want to take. 86 MY HOBBY. Before I go any further, let me just explain, that most of the photos in this story were the scraps that were left over, which I managed to salvage for my album. The best were all sold, perhaps you will come across a few in your Grand Fathers album. At that time, I was using an ARGUS C3, 35mm camera, one of the best available at that time, in my affordable price range, the main thing is that it took pretty good pictures. In my darkroom I had an Omega Enlarger, a Zeis easle, a Pattersen Developing tank for 35mm only. I used Kodak D20 developer, and Kodak fixer. I washed all film, and prints in the Urinal, which worked with sea water. Yes, the Urinal, this was the ablution cabin, remember! One learned to use what one had available. This whole darkroom of mine worked out very well. I bought 35mm HP3 film, it was packed in a tin which held 100 metres. I used to fill my own cassettes, which took enough film for ± 36 pictures. On this occasion I only took two cassettes of film which would give me 72 pictures, which to my thinking would be more than enough, which it was in fact, one did not go around taking pictures of everything that moved, you used discretion, not like today with digital cameras, where one can take hundreds of 87 pictures, and then delete what is rubbish afterwards, no, those days every picture had to count. After all the processing of my Marion Island Pictures, I sorted out 24 of the best, with them one could tell the whole story of the trip. What I did then was to shuffle these pictures, like a pack of cards, then I made up set “A” and set “B”. So, if you wanted to tell your folks back home the whole story, you had to have both sets, which were sold for 7/6 i.e. 75¢ for 12, naturally they were all post card size. The other little enterprise which we entered into was to take a portrait picture of every ACF chap that joined our ship. I would then superimpose his face using a picture of our ship as the back ground. These too, were sold at 7/6 each, so we were not really robbing any body, we were just making good money, but working very hard for it in our own time, while other guys were running around ashore having a good time. You will notice that a few of the photographs have got colour in them. At one time I was experimenting with the art of colouring photos with oil paints. Some of them came up pretty good. It will also be noticed that the quality of some pictures is not up to standard, because when they were taken I was still using an old camera. 88 A picture like this would surely warm the cockles of a Mother‟s heart, now wouldn‟t it? DETERIORATION IN THE WEATHER. The temperature had dropped to minus -4ºC this was about the coldest it had been since our arrival at the island. One could see sheets of ice forming on top of the water. I believe that it is a scientific fact, that at -4°C the sea starts to freeze up, and it is at this point that water starts to increase in size. This is what causes glass bottles to break, and steel pipes to burst, just to mention a few things that could give one many hassles in life, don‟t forget 89 about your car‟s radiator in the winter time on the High Veld in South Africa, I know!! By the way, did you know that water is the only element on Earth that comes in three forms: Ice, i.e. Solid, Liquid which flows, and Gas, in the form of steam, which is invisible. Ref. Oxford Dictionary. Fortunately, I managed to get aboard the motor launch just in time to get back to the ship. The wind was already screaming, and the sky was turning black, even the penguins who were normally very inquisitive had fled to shelter. It took forever to reach the ship, the launch was having a hard time battling against the heavy seas. At last we were alongside, everyone clambered aboard except the boat‟s crew, they would go for‟d to make ready for hoisting the boat on board, and settled into the chocks, made fast, ready for sea. The other two boats were also hoisted up, and made fast into their chocks. Everybody was accounted for. The civilians who had to go back to South Africa would just have to stay on the island until such time as the storm abated, they would be picked up later. Well, that‟s what the weather was like at Marion, within a half hour you could be from a flat sea to a raging gale, and that was what we were in for, 5pm, and already it was dark. The Vaal was 90 in for a hectic night, she rode the storm well, straining at her anchor cable, like a frisky dog on a leash. Able Seaman Jimmy Grey was on anchor watch, dressed in oil skins he had to stand by on the foc‟sle to give warning to the bridge if he should see anything that needed to be reported. Jimmy was an old salt, this was his eighth year at sea, so he knew the drill. By now he had tied himself to the lifeline with his safety belt, just in case he should perhaps be washed overboard when a wave broke over the bow. Then it happened, her bow went down into the trough of a wave, then when the next one lifted her head the anchor cable could take the hammering no longer. With one mighty bang she broke loose. The bridge had been waiting for it because two hours earlier there had been an abortive attempt to weigh anchor but, it was impossible to break loose from the rocky seabed. „Wheelhouse, Bridge, slow ahead both engines, course 210º‟ „Bridge, Wheelhouse, course 210º, both engines slow ahead, Sir.‟ The ship wasn‟t making any headway, this move had merely been made to keep steerage on the wheel. All X and Y doors had been secured, and the upper deck had been put “Out of Bounds” as a safety precaution during the hours of darkness. „Tween decks it was very uncomfortable, very few chaps could sleep. 91 The ACF sailors were taking turns to puke in the heads, there were twelve toilets, so they did not have to wait their turn, how lucky can one be? They could not go outside for fear of being washed overboard, and besides it was out of bounds. Others who were not seasick spread their hammocks open on the deck in the main seaman‟s mess deck. They would not have it that one could not fall out of your hammock if it was properly slung, and you lay still. Calmer weather came, at dawn, we had been circling the island throughout the night. A grand opportunity for our Navigation Officer to do some map checking, he was up on the Bridge at first light, of which there wasn‟t very much. It was the first time that any of us had seen the other side of the island. Now we could appreciate why the landing stage had been built at Gunner‟s Point. All along the shoreline there were high cliffs, against which the waves crashed mercilessly. Gunner‟s Point was the only place which afforded any kind of shelter at all. There was one inactive Volcano, however, still hot enough to melt any snow that might fall on it. 92 We dropped anchor at 14:00 that afternoon, and sent the motor launch over to pick up the civilians who were soon to be with their loved ones back in civilization. In an hour we were ready for sea again. A signal had just been received that there was a bit of a blow due to hit us in about an hour‟s time, however, it shouldn‟t last for more than 24 hours, by which time it should have blown itself out. „Wheelhouse, Bridge, steer 30º,both engines half speed ahead.‟ ‟Bridge, Wheelhouse, steer 30º, both engines half speed ahead, Sir.‟ „Both engines, half speed ahead, Sir.‟ New course 30º, steady as she goes, Sir‟. „Very Good wheelhouse.‟ Now everybody was happy, by that course, we were heading for home!!! It was very quiet throughout the ship, everybody just wanted to be left alone, they were all dog tired, longing for home and plenty of sunshine. The crew had been worked to breaking point for days on end, they had weathered a gale, and now another storm was out there wanting to test them. Everything always seemed to happen during the middle watch, it was Dick Henson, moaning to himself as he was being pitched about in his hammock. He‟d awoken everyone around him except me, I was bushed, quite surprising actually, because I slung my hammock right next to Dick‟s but, I didn‟t stay asleep for very 93 long, now the ship was really rolling, and pitching like never before, it was impossible to sleep. She was hitting “Milestones” every so often. NEAR TRAGEDY. Let me explain, a Milestone is when the sea is very rough, and you happen to be sailing with your head into the wind, the ship‟s bow lifts up under the water, in the meantime, the wave moves on under the ship, now there is no water under the bow, it comes crashing down, perhaps twenty feet or more, while tons of water rush along the upper deck, (just in passing, a ton of water is one cubic metre in size.) next thing the bow plunges into the next wave, she goes down, down until she cannot go any further, the propellers are now almost out of the water, the ship starts to shake, trying to lift the load of water off her bow. The propellers are now free of all water, and they are whirring in the air, suddenly the bow breaks free, and shoots up into the air, by this time the next wave has passed under the ship, and the bow comes crashing down again, hitting another milestone, and so the whole process is repeated. 94 This action has broken many a ship‟s back, in fact the Transvaal‟s sister ship, Natal, had her back broken right there in these same waters, also on a trip to Marion Island. Fortunately she got back home, but she could never go to sea again, she was subsequently used as a training ship alongside the quay at Salisbury Island. Every time we hit a milestone, lights went out, sailors shouted, some even cried, lots of them were still very young, their first time at sea, and now this! It seemed as if the ship was going to break up, fortunately she was built on the Clyde in U.K. Give the British their due, they had been building ships for a very long time, and they knew how to build a good one, and the HMSAS Transvaal was one of those. With a captain like Lt. Comm. Dick Nephews, what could go wrong, especially when you knew that God was out there, and you believed that He was in control, and knew exactly what was going on, and that you would be safe. Sub-lieutenant Dunks, our victualing officer had me summoned to the bridge. „Tanky, I want you to take stock of all the food supplies on board, bring me a list as soon……..DUCK!!!‟ he shouted. He had seen the wave coming because he had been standing on the compass binnacle‟s platform. Water came gushing over the bridge, hundreds of gallons rushing along the full length 95 of the upper deck. A quick look at the foc‟s‟le showed that three of the four rope reels had already been torn from their holding down bolts. The fourth one was hanging on with what seemed like only one bolt. Just then I saw the most unbelievable sight, our Navigation Officer Lt. Colburn, clawing his way along the upper deck towards the loosened rope reel. The next wave was coming very fast, and if he didn‟t get under cover we would never see him again. Next thing a pair of powerful arms grabbed him from behind, one couldn‟t see who it was because of the Balaclava he was wearing. Colburn was literally lifted off his feet, and then the pair of them were out of sight from the bridge, where I was witnessing the whole horror of it. The mass of water crashed once again over the bows as she hit yet another milestone, this time bringing the remaining rope reel with it and, dumping it over the Starboard side. By now the meat locker, used to hang frozen meat in to thaw, had been ripped off the deck further aft, and the fresh vegetable locker was also ripped from where it had been welded to the deck, and lost over the side. Subbie Dunks wanted to know what all the commotion on the upper deck has been about. 96 He sent me below to try, and find out just what had happened. It turned out that the Navigation Officer had been downing more Gin than he could manage, the storm had un-nerved him totally. Somehow he had become aware of the rope reel that was just hanging on by one bolt, ready to come adrift. He decided in his drunken stupor to go, and tie the reel down, or to do something with it with his bare hands, never mind the fact that the reel was about twice his weight, and that the sea was raging at the height of a Hurricane. That is wind force 12, ± 75 mph or 120Km/h or 65 Knots. The waves were estimated to be around 30m (100ft) high. By shear chance it was, that Duggie Batson was on his way below from the wheelhouse to see why that door was banging when he spotted Lt. Colburn, just in time to drag him to safety. Apparently, Lt. Colburn had also heard the banging of the rope reel, still held to the deck by only one bolt. He had opened the water tight door in order to go outside to see what he could do. It was thus the water tight door that had been banging to and fro with the movement of the ship. That is what Duggie had heard. Naturally Captain Nephews was not very pleased about the whole episode, he confined the Navigation Officer to his cabin for the rest of the trip, and put a stop to him being served any more 97 liquor, and if he had any stashed away somewhere in his cabin he would be in very serious trouble if he was caught drunk again. Everybody on board knew by now what had happened, now all kinds of stories were going to circulate, well, that‟s just the way it is on board any ship, one cannot keep a secret!!! BY THE GRACE OF GOD, ALMOST HOME. All we could do was just ride out the storm. We were steering in a Westerly direction, just to keep the bow into the wind, which was still blowing at about 65 Knots. It was said that if we kept this up we‟d end up in South America, but I can assure you, nobody was interested in any America at that time, all we were interested in was for us to stay afloat, dry, and have food in our bellies. One could not sleep anywhere except on the deck, no, not the upper deck, below, in the mess deck, because you could not fall off the floor!!! This heavy weather continued for 3 days and 4 nights. The ship wasn‟t making much headway, however, we could just about keep steerage on the wheel. The greatest fear was that if we were not able to keep our head into the wind, no matter how 98 uncomfortable that might be, there would definitely be the very serious situation Shipping “Green Seas” across the Quarterdeck, in a storm. of the ship being rolled over in the trough of a wave, and that would be the end of it all, nobody would ever find us because we‟d be on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. That was the bottom line of our situation, and then came the morning of the fourth day, the storm had abated somewhat, the wind had eased off, and when a very small patch of blue sky broke through, I saw grown men fall down upon their knees, me 99 included, and thank God Almighty that at last we had new hope of getting back home, and so it was. God is good! We pulled into Simonstown Dockyard, straight into the Drydock. The date was 6th November. When we first went ashore it was rather difficult trying to walk, we had been so used to falling around, waiting for the deck to come up to meet your feet, it did take a little time to find one‟s „landlegs‟ again. What an experience for a young kid of 18 years like me, the excitement just never seemed to end!! ASSESS DAMAGE, AND REFURBISH. The damage sustained was immense, for starters, the Quarterdeck had a split in it about 3.5m long, and at the greatest width it must have been all of 50mm. The Depth Charge racks were gone. Mid-ships, the Beef locker was torn off the deck and was gone, on the Starboard side the Vegetable locker was gone, the life boats were stove in. Hand rails along the upper deck were missing, and the hull had taken on a green colour, this was surprising until somebody remembered that she was originally part of the escourt flotilla in the North Sea during the war. The sea colour in the 100 North Sea is green, here in the South Atlantic it is more of a light blue / grey colour. In order to fit in with the environment all Royal Navy ships are painted to match the colour of the sea in which they operate, this as a matter of camouflage. Thus, when HMSAS Transvaal became part of the South Atlantic Squadron she was painted over the green to match the colour of the Indian/Atlantic oceans. All the blue/grey paint had been stripped off the hull by the very force of the sea. Up for‟d the four rope reels were gone, each was held in place with eight 20mm bolts, welded to the deck, each foot piece had two holding down bolts. They were all gone. The Asdic well was stove in, and the plates were split open in her bottom , thanks to X and Y doors, and properly fitting hatch covers, properly bolted down. If it weren‟t for them we would have shipped enough water to drag her nose down, and then??? The Chernakeef Log was bent, almost broken off, the only thing that prevented it from breaking was because it was made of Phosphor Bronze. The Asdic dome was gone. At midships there were also some buckled plates, however they were not too bad, a bit of leakage might have occurred, but once the ship was up on the chocks in the drydock it was difficult to see where there had been leakage, except for waterline marks. 101 So we stayed in Simonstown Drydock for six weeks, repair teams working from 0700 to 2100 on a daily basis. We, the crew busied ourselves with cleaning up the interior of the ship, painting, chipping, scraping, steel wire brushing, soojeeing all the upper deck paintwork, and then painting everything again, all of this, naturally, in a proper seamanlike manner!!! Let me explain the word „soojee‟, I‟m not sure where this word originated, I think it might have an Indian origin, in the Navy, however, it means to wash down the bulkheads, using a scrubbing brush, with a bucket of soapy water, and a clean cloth for drying, before painting. No, one doesn‟t soojee the deck, you scrub the deck, but before you do that you soojee the bulkhead, because if you don‟t follow that rule, you will have all the dirty water from soojeeing on top of your clean deck!!! Got it? LET’S HAVE A LAUGH. After that trip I think we could all do with a laugh, don‟t you? On board a warship all personnel must wear their caps while they are on the upper deck, otherwise they could be charged with being „out of the rig of the day‟. This is the scene, there must have been about six of us standing on the quarterdeck, it was early 102 morning, of course the ship is now lying in dry dock, right? None of us are wearing our caps, including Chippy Lewin. The next thing the First Lieutenant appears up on the Pom-Pom Deck, he shouts down at us, “Where are your Caps?” Chippy wispers, leave this to me. “Cats, Sir, no we ain‟t seen no cats” “I said caps, Chippy. “No Sir, like I said, we ain‟t seen no cats here!” “Oh! Just get below the lot of you!” No more was said, the Jimmy knew when he was beaten, however, this little incident remained a laugh for quite while. This Marion Island trip was really something else, there were so many happenings. One of them was quite phenomenal, in that there were five members of the crew who suddenly went down with appendicitis after we got back to base. Four of them were operated on in Cape Town. They were: Donkey deVries they called him donkey because when he‟d had enough to drink he neighed like a donkey, Stanley, the electrician, he collapsed outside the station pub in Adderley Street, he nearly didn‟t make it to the hospital. Jannie Galjoen, André Lombardy ,and myself, mine wasn‟t so acute so I could wait until we got back to Durban, it was a lot closer to hitch hike home from Durban in any case, more adventure. In those days, if one was in uniform, it was quite easy to pick up a lift as a hitchhicker. 103 HOME BEFORE CHRISTMAS. André Lombardy and I decided, there on Durban Railway Station, on the spur of the moment, that we‟d sell our train tickets for £7, that is R14.00, and then hitchhike to Johannesburg. Naturally we only sold half of the ticket, we had to keep the return part to get back to Durban after our leave. There I was, my eight stitches had been removed just that morning, it was now about 14:00. I had my suitcase to carry with me too. Who cares, we were going to be home for Christmas, that was important. Next thing were on a bus going towards the main Johannesburg road, we hoped to find a lift there. No sooner had we got off the bus when someone stopped for us. This chap had a Panel Van, it turned out that he had been touring all over Natal for a month, showing films to the local people, wherever he went. There were plenty of blankets in the van, so we didn‟t get cold. The blankets were used for blocking out light from the windows in school halls where he showed his films, so we were in luck! Early the next morning he stopped at Standerton, to buy us each a steaming cup of coffee. It turned out that he took me home...
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