Description
Object description
British cabin boy served with Merchant Navy aboard Uffington Court and Kensington Court in Atlantic, 1939; boy seaman on shore duties in Singapore, 2/1942 and aboard HMS Wu Chang during voyage from Singapore, Malaya to Colombo, Ceylon, 2/1942- 3/1942; served aboard HMS Lucia in Ceylon, 1942-1944; served with Leading Patrolman Branch in GB and Malta, 1944-1960; served as Master at Arms aboard HMS Belfast in Far East, 1960-1962
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Bognor, 1923-1939: family; education; period at Gravesend Sea School, 1938-1939; reasons for wanting to join Merchant Navy. Aspects of period as cabin boy aboard Uffington Court, 1939: joining ship at Cardiff; work and conditions on board; jumping ship at Port Alberic and loss of friend. Aspects of period as cabin boy aboard Kensington Court, 1939 including sinking, 18/9/1939: story of sinking of ship by German U-boat off Eire, 18/9/1939; aid given to survivors from Seaman's Mission. Enlistment and training as boy seaman in GB, 1940-1941: background to enlistment, 5/1940; character and opinion of basic training on Isle of Man; drafting to Pollux. Aspects of voyage from GB to Singapore, 1941-1942: embarking on board Athlone Castle; German Air Force attack on ship; reception in South Africa; mutiny of army and RAF conscripts over conditions on board City of Canterbury; Japanese Air Force attack on convoy off Singapore, early 1942; bomb damage to ship's stern on entering Keppel Harbour.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as boy seaman aboard HMS Wu Chang on voyage from Singapore to Columbo, 2/1942-3/1942: background to drafting to ship after shore duties in Singapore, 2/1942; job scrounging supplies prior to sailing; personnel serving on board; taking on board Australian troops; encounter with Japanese invasion force off Palembang; character of voyage from Java to Colombo; discovery that he had been reported dead at St Joseph Barracks. Aspects of period as signalman aboard submarine depot ship, HMS Lucia in Ceylon, 1942- 1944: Japanese bombing of ship, Easter 1942; attitude towards two trips with submarines; return to GB, 1944. Story of mining of landing craft off Ostend, 10/1944.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of career with Regulating Branch of Royal Navy, 1944-1960: background to becoming a member of Leading Patrolman Branch, 1944; drafting to HMS Nelson and duties on board; role as acting Master of Arms on board HMS Theseus; qualifying as Master at Arms, 1950; what a Master at Arms does in the Royal Navy; duties at Sant Angelo, Malta, 1950- 1955; move to Portsmouth; story of Peaches Page's trial at hands of midshipmen from HMS Bulwark in Portsmouth Colisseum; story of stoker's gallantry on behalf of contralto attempting to edify audience at Portsmouth Colisseum; story of murder of Canadian seaman; his job at boy's training establishment, HMS St Vincent from 1957. Recollections of period as Master at Arms aboard HMS Belfast, 1960-1962: his accommodation on board.
REEL 4 Continues: how Australian naval personnel painted kangaroo in bitumastic on side of ship during Exercise Jet 61; retaliation against Australian ships; memories of visit to Tanzania; story of dealing with drug smuggling by Chinese ratings on board ship, 1962; showing flag in US and Canada. Aspects of period as Master at Arms at detention quarters in Portsmouth, 1964-1982: character of regime; character of recidivists in 53 Class; character of food available; effect of television programme made about detention centre. Aspects of period as petty officer with Families Information Centre during Falklands War, 1982: work of centre; problems caused by delay in announcing sinking of HMS Sheffield.
REEL 5 Continues: report he wrote on lessons to learnt for his experience; presents he received on leaving job; leaving Royal Navy, 9/1982. Attitude to having served with Royal Navy, 1940-1982. Why HMS Belfast was his happiest ship. Story of 'counselling' he received after City of Canterbury was bombed, 1942. Memories of time with HMS Wu Chang in Singapore, 2/1942.