maritime

  In the fifth form at Acklam Hall Grammar School, I was faced with a dilemma. GCE examinations were to take place, the result of which were crucial in deciding whether to continue to sixth form for two years and another set of exams. The A levels are precursors to applying for a university place. Therefore, results in both GCSE and A level exams were important. By only creeping past 11 plus exams by interview after failure in the exam itself, coupled with my poor academic performance at grammar school, did not bode well for further study. On the other hand, it would mean two more years of rugby! The results of my GCE examinations would be crucial here. I got five passes out of eight subjects. It seemed OK. However, my brother got 7 out of eight sitting a year earlier as a fourth former! On reflection, the thought of five more years of study at school and university if I were successful in A levels which are much more specialised and harder was not appealing and I decided to ...

  Last port of call Half full of jute from Chalna we were now approaching Trincomalee on the east coast of Ceylon to fill up with tea. This could be exciting. Outward bound we had been in Colombo for a few weeks, both at anchor waiting a berth and then in port. It had been one of the most enjoyable port visits on the voyage, not least because of the opportunity to meet people ashore especially good-looking girls in the swimming club. [1]                                                                                   ...

  An event in the Indian Ocean We were heading SE from Aden to the southern tip of Ceylon, right in the middle of the Indian Ocean. There was a gentle NE’ly swell from the NE monsoon, and we rolled easily in a blue Indian ocean with hardly a cloud in the sky, the sort of day a seafarer dreams of. The flying fish were jumping and there was no traffic and a clear ocean horizon. I was now a third officer proudly displaying my single gold bar on my epaulets having successfully passed my Second Officers certificate. So I was the watchkeeping officer on the 8-12 morning watch on the bridge. I had risen at 07:30, had a quick shower and a breakfast of fish kedgeree with that aromatic flavour of curry with hard boiled eggs and rice. Then, up to the bridge for 07:55 to relieve the chief officer of the watch. Handover was easy, no traffic and the C/O had fixed our position with the stars at dawn, so everything was in order. Started checking bridge instruments and chart position be...

 We dropped the pilot at Suez and set off down the Gulf of Suez before entering the Red Sea. On each side the coast was of sandy coloured hills and mountains and a blue, blue sky over an azure sea. We finally had left Europe and were now entering the Middle East with the Arabian Peninsula to port and Africa to starboard and India sort of round the corner.   Colin called us into our messroom. Boyo’s, he said, we are now in the tropics and EVERTHING changes. With day and night-time temperatures around 30 degrees centigrade you need to take care of yourselves. First you need to take one of these as he held up a large white pill, salt tablets to replace the salt you lose through sweating. Do not forget to take them. Then he held up a glass of an evil looking liquid. Lime juice to be taken every day to prevent scurvy! Why all these precautions? It is only with hindsight that the precautions Colin was describing were put into context. We were embarking on a 1300 nautical l...

  First Really foreign port – Port Said Now, said Colin, watch out after the gangway was lowered in Port Said! The first thing that happened was that we were surrounded by people in colourful clothes trying to sell us stuff. The problem was we did not know what they were saying as they spoke a sort of pidgin English with words that had no meaning like “gulli gulli man” and those that were more explicit “feelthy pictures”! They crowded around us, so it was difficult to get away. One guy cornered me with his gulli gulli shout. He squatted on the deck and produced 3 coloured balls. Rapidly hiding and showing the balls as he moved them around, he covered them all and asked us where the red ball was. Piece of cake, I thought, but no it was not and then began the betting. £5 if you can guess where the red ball is. £5 lost and I realised that I was been duped and on a salary of £10 per month I had just lost 2 weeks’ pay! Enough. I told you so said Colin with a big grin. But it w...

  I puzzled over what Colin had told us last night. Whites tomorrow! Well, as we neared the eastern end of the Mediterranean and Port Said, it was certainly warmer. Grandpa had helped me with my uniform shopping as Dad was at sea, so I had some white clothes. Time to dig them out and get ready for tomorrow. First there was the short sleeve shirt with holes for epaulets on both shoulders. Attaching the epaulets was relatively simple, the laces go through the holes and are tied on the inside of the shirt. Quite grand with a single gold bar along the length of the epaulet much better than the lapel flashes of the blue winter jacket. Then there were the shorts. Seemed to be a little long as they came to my knees but apparently that was the style.   Fastened with two buckles at the front, “Empire builders” Colin said. Especially important that they were not too short but also that they were not too wide. He told us that once as the ship came into port, the Captain with his wide...