Chapter 1
In the Beginning
So what motivated "YOU" to enter the Royal Navy as a "Tiff"
From an early age I knew I wanted to enter the Royal Navy, especially after a neighbour, who lived three houses away, gave me a 1920's copy of "The Wonder Book of the Navy" sometime during the second world war.
I was also well supplied with such fictional works of Literature, intended to titillate young minds to seek adventure, such as the "Life of Nelson" , "Masterman Ready", "Mishipman Raxworthy", Round the Horn before the Mast, and a host of other sea stories.
It did not help in deterring my interest, when in 1948 at the age of 10+ my parents decided to emigrate to Canada. and it was in the July of that year when we set sail from Southampton aboard R.M.S. Aquatania - last of the four-funnelled liners from a bygone era.
It was to take five eventful days to cross the North Atlantic to Halifax, Nova Scotia. During the crossing I witnessed my first burial at sea and and my first rescue at sea, plus, as it was an emigres transport, scenes on the lower decks that were not brought home to me until my initiation to
"THE WAR" in H.M.S. Fisgard on the months induction course at the age of 16 in January 1954.
On arrival it was an onward journey, by train, of two and a half days to Toronto in Ontario, hauled by a wood fired Steam locomotive of monsterous proportions
Even there the call of the sea was not wanting. The gardener /handyman to the old lady with whom we eventually took up lodgings was an old salt called Walter Carter. He had been a Bo'sun in the American Merchant Marine and worked on "DOWN EASTERS" most of his life. I was treated to much "Lamp Swinging" and instruction on how to carve ships hulls by eye from pictures of sailing ships. As we chatted on the steps of the shack in which we were living it must have appeared like a re-enactment of the picture " The Boyhood of Raleigh" to any outside observer
This state of "Nirvana" however was not to last and due to the impetuousness of my father and dogged rigidness of the British Labour Government who would not advance us £250 of our own money two weeks early so that we might purchase a property, it was all gear back in the trunk and head back to Blighty.
It was at the begining of January 1949 that we took the train to St Johns in New Brunswick for the return trip as ships could not navigate to Montreal in the winter due to the St Lawrence river being ice bound.
A change of train was required in Montreal and then on a very well presented one for the final leg, to the port, which comprised for us a completely self-contained family suite.
On arrival in St Johns we boarded the "EMPRESS of FRANCE" for the crossing to Liverpool.
The crossing was horrendous,
although I did manage to fit in a number of viewings of Glynis Johns starring in the film
Miranda
and we finally berthed in Liverpool on a cold damp day in January 1949,
