Category: General

In the sailor’s induction course we were taught to handle a whaler, a thirty-foot, double-ended, clinker-built life-boat,. We rowed in unison with cries like ‘Give way together’. Our instructions were laced with colourful language by, the Coxswain, or ‘Chief’, and there was swearing in the body of the boat as the blisters began to build.… Continue reading Royal Navy, Fishcake McKay

The making of a ‘Prick’ of tobacco. The ration was supplied in leaf form, as the name implied, with stalks and all, and I intended to turn this mass of dried cabbage into a plug of tobacco, which could challenge any in a tobacconists shop. Just writing that has made me realise there are few… Continue reading Royal Navy, In praise of a lost art

A Chiefs’ & Petty Officers Rum This Mess treated Rum like the Romans treated Jupiter and the tradition also was unique in my experience. Daily at eleven o’clock a deep-sided dish was placed on the Mess table containing fresh water. Three average sized tumblers were place, upended, in the water for the men to take… Continue reading Naval Rum, Part 2 of 3

It All Started With A Fish Box One day, in calm weather, the Petty Officers Messman appeared on deck and sat down to scrape a fish box. No one took any notice, but as the day progressed so did the fish box. He shaped the sides, added supports to the bottom, made a hinged towing… Continue reading Naval Rum,Part 3 of 3

The Tradition and Importance of The Tot To the RN Lower-deck that I knew, the withdrawal of the daily Rum Ration, The Tot, must have been like the death of a lover. How, in 1970, a do-gooder managed to engineer the withdrawal without murder is astounding, as you will realise if you read The Chief’s… Continue reading Naval Rum, Part 1 of 3

I suspect my parents had always had made sure I was well fed. When working in Westminster lunch out was probably a useful supplement, but naval life was a different thing altogether. However, my hunger started immediately I joined, and as we were badly paid, ten shillings a fortnight to start with, I had to… Continue reading Tha Conmam

Travelling since early morning, provided with food vouchers, eating on the run was difficult. The trains were full, and one spent the journey uncomfortably seated on a suitcase, while guarding a small case and kit bag, with a hammock in the guard’s van, At big junctions there were barrows selling sandwiches and tea and there… Continue reading That first day afloat

What follows is a clear indication of the innocence of teenagers in the 40s, compared with the knowledge and experience of those to day, possibly fostered by TV. It must be understood that about 1940/41 the whole of Briton was going through an incredible time of change, at home and in the forces. There was… Continue reading The injustice of being billited in a brothel

We were in basic training for a month, at times it seemed endless, at others it passed quickly. How we felt was a barometer of what was happening, how interested we were or what Chalky White was putting us through in the rain.. A week to ten days before our departure we had a celebration… Continue reading Leaving Butlins for Newcastle

The New Boys We spent the first month at Butlins Holiday camp at Skegness which had been renamed HMS Royal Arthur and sounded in our ears like an aircraft carrier. Inevitably the result was that Smith and some others were able to give rein to their fantasies in the local pubs, not realising that the… Continue reading Royal Navy, 1941-46, Butlins