Og's Blog Pt. 04

Copyright oggbashan April 2020

Apart from the Author's name this is supposed to be non-fiction. All names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

A couple of people have asked me to make a permanent record of the real-life anecdotes I had posted in the Authors' Hangout and General Board so this is the fourth part, previously unposted.

1st Class by liner to Australia

Why?

Early in 1960, my father, then a senior Civil Servant in the UK's Admiralty was considering an offer of an 18 month posting to Nepal, unaccompanied. It would be advantageous financially and for his career but he couldn't understand why anyone from the Admiralty should go to Nepal. It was about as far from the sea as one could possibly get.

An event on the other side of the world changed things overnight. An Australian Admiralty officer of the same rank as my father had been in charge of a navy depot for a week, having taken over from an officer who had retired and was taking a three-month trip to Europe. The retired officer had been complaining for years that the fire precautions at the depot were inadequate and needed a substantial spend for upgrading. The first letter his new replacement sent on his first day was a repeat of his predecessor's plea for fire precautions.

A week later, in the Australian summer, the depot went up in flames at the weekend. The Australian Navy lost 40% of its uniforms and catering equipment. Questions were due to be asked in Parliament as soon as it resumed after the summer recess. The retired officer was in Europe but the evidence of his successor would be damaging to the Australian government. They decided that he should not be available and asked the UK's Admiralty to offer him an exchange post - now!

Within 24 hours he was on a plane to the UK. My father was asked if he would go to Australia for two years, taking his family. The Australian government would pay all expenses. If he agreed he had to be on a plane within 48 hours.

The family had two problems - their sons. My brother, having delayed for his National Service, was in his second year at university in London, living at home and commuting. I was in my O level year, the examinations one took at 16. We arranged for my brother to stay with a family friend and my eldest uncle would be available in case of any problems. (Aside: When my brother finished his degree my father was still in Australia. He married his fiancée and my uncle stood in as groom's father.) My mother and I would wait until I had finished my examinations and then go to Australia by ship. At the time long-haul flights were very expensive. My father's flight would cost eight hundred pounds. If the Australian government hadn't been so desperate he too could have travelled by ship at a cost of £600.

Once the son's future was decided, in about an hour, my father decided he would buy a new car. He had a freight allowance which was enough to ship a car. If he exported one he would not pay 33.3% Purchase Tax and if it was not returned to the UK until after two years he would not have to pay import duty. He rushed off to the local car dealer and bought a new car to be sent to Melbourne. It cost less than our fare. It would arrive in Melbourne about one month after he did.

My father packed a small suitcase and caught the plane, stopping at Dubai; at Colombo, Sri Lanka and a 24 hour break in Singapore where he bought tropical suits. He would spend three months in Melbourne, staying with an office colleague, then a month in Sydney, staying with some of my mother's Australian relations, that until now I had not known existed. We would arrive in Sydney, stay with the relations for a while and then my father would take leave so we could visit other relations in New South Wales and Queensland before going to Melbourne for the rest of his tour of duty, staying in a furnished rented bungalow.

I finished my examinations and a couple of days later my mother and I were on our way to catch a ship.

Willem Ruys

"I joined the Navy to see the world, and what did I see? I saw the sea."

There was only one ship sailing to Australia at the right time - the motor vessel Willem Ruys, the flagship of Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd.

The Willem Ruys had been laid down in 1939, and its hull had been protected during the war and all attempts by the Nazis to complete it had been foiled by the Dutch resistance. It had been completed in 1947 for voyages to the then Dutch East Indies now Indonesia. Its cabin crew had been Indonesian until their independence and for several years after then. It had been refitted 1959 for Round the World Cruises with Dutch staff. But on our trip there was only one round the world passenger, an eighty year old American widow from Florida who spent her entire year cruising.

Packing

Because my father had left in such a hurry he hadn't used all of his packing allowance for transport by ship. Even his medium size new car had only taken about 70% of his allowance. He had sent requests to my mother for some items from home. What he wanted, and what my mother and I took, only used a quarter of one person's allowance for a 1st class passenger even though my mother took her piano and I took the new bicycle I had been given for my sixteenth birthday. The piano and bicycle went into the ship's hold labelled 'Not Wanted On Voyage'.

We each had a large cabin trunk which would go into the trunk room where it could be accessed for a couple of hours each day. In it went our formal clothes and my spare shirts etc. We both had a large suitcase which would go in our cabins. The Admiralty sent a group of sailors from Chatham to pack everything and transport it by lorry to Southampton to wait for the ship.

On the day of departure we packed our suitcases and waited.

Journey to the ship.

We were collected by a Royal Navy car and delivered to Waterloo station. The driver loaded our suitcases, labelled with our cabin numbers, to the luggage car of the special liner express of Pullman carriages. The train was pulled by a Southern Region steam locomotive of the Lord Nelson class. The locomotive had a headboard 'Willem Ruys' special and each Pullman carriage had side boards saying 'Willem Ruys'.

We had a three course lunch on the train as we travelled to Southampton. In the ocean terminal we had coffee and cakes (and champagne for those who wanted it) while our luggage was loaded. A steward then escorted us to our cabins where our suitcases had already been unpacked and everything put away. We then went to the 1st class lounge for more coffee and cakes and a welcome speech from the captain which he did first in Dutch and then in English, as would be the pattern for the whole voyage.

First night on board

My mother and I had adjoining cabins on the promenade deck, sharing a bathroom. Each cabin had a full size single bed, a wardrobe and a desk with a chair. They were air-conditioned (they hadn't been before the 1959 refit) but we had a window on to the promenade deck we could open if we wanted.

We had a booklet of instructions about all the facilities on board and how and when we could access them. We also had a list of possible excursions from each port we would call it, the details and the prices. Those had to be booked at least 48 hours before the appropriate port.

My mother and I agreed which excursions would be appropriate but not some because we had private arrangements at that port.

A few hours after setting sail we ran into a Force 9 storm in the Bay of Biscay. My mother and I went to the 1st class dining room and were surprised that it was so empty. As the wife and son of an Admiralty officer we had often been at sea in much smaller ships in similar conditions so we enjoyed our meal despite feeling alone on our six person table. The whole dining room had perhaps no more than 10% of the 1st class passengers.

Although the ship was rolling heavily and the storm was so violent that the stabilisers had to be withdrawn in case they might break - we slept soundly.

Southampton to Gibraltar

The first few days were getting used to the routine and learning a few words of Dutch. Announcements to the passengers all started in Dutch 'Attention Bezukeers!' before repeating in English. The first morning we were sitting on the promenade deck when the first announcement was made. The Dutch passengers all rushed off for 'free coffee and cakes'. They had disappeared before the English knew what was happening and joined the back of the queue. That wasn't so disastrous for the morning coffee and cakes but for the afternoon tea the chef prepared some extra special and very delicious cakes that the Dutch finished before the English got there and had to make do with ordinary cakes.

By the third day the English knew enough Dutch to be in the queue before the announcement in English started.

As First Class passengers who had paid substantial amounts for their passage (even if the Australian government was paying for us) we were treated very well. It was probably the last year for which that could be said. We were one quarter of the passengers but had two thirds of the passenger accommodation. We had one and a half stewards per cabin compared with one steward for every five cabins in tourist class, most of which had at least four people per cabin. Our fare of £600 equated to the cost of a mid-sized new car say £15,000 to £16,000 in today's values. My father's air fare would be about £20,000.

My mother and I had three stewards for the two of us. But there was a problem at first. Except for the senior stewards, every steward was a final year university student of hotel management. The round the world trip on the Willem Ruys was their final year practical on which they would be marked and their degree depended. They were young, intelligent and eager to learn. What was lacking was their understanding of English. They had joined at Rotterdam, two days before Southampton, and the majority of the first class passengers were English who had boarded at Southampton. Although they had studied English to a basic level, they weren't fluent and could struggle to answer a passenger's questions.

Their lack of English caused a problem with the first evening meals. The breakfast and lunchtime menus were extensive. In theory a First Class passenger could have a fourteen course breakfast but most dishes were obvious. The lunchtime menus were more complex. Both were written in Dutch on one side, and Restaurant French on the other. But the Dutch version of Restaurant French rarely agreed with an English version of Restaurant French. If the dining room stewards had been familiar with the menu, perhaps they could have enlightened the passengers, but the ever-changing evening menu was new to them as well.

The English-speaking passengers (and some few of the Dutch) had no idea whether a dish was complete or just a piece of meat with a sauce. What did steak diane mean? Was that a bare steak or steak with vegetables? Vegetables were listed separately but some dishes came with vegetables and some didn't and very few knew which was which. The passengers didn't. The stewards didn't.

After being presented with a bare piece of meat on a plate and having to order and wait for vegetables, most of us decided to play safe and order vegetables anyway and ended up with a double supply. On our table of six people I often ended up finishing the surplus vegetables and declining a dessert course.

The six of us? There was my mother; myself; an Australian Science professor, his wife and twelve year old daughter (she was the only First Class passenger near me in age. All the others were either toddlers in the crèche or over 40.). The sixth passenger was a Dutch rubber planter returning to his plantation in Indonesia. We only saw him for the evening meals. His late breakfast and lunch were taken in the bar and every evening meal was washed down with schnaaps.

The rubber planter was an interesting conversationalist. He sometimes saved us from mistakes on the menu, but not always. Although he had been on the Willem Ruys several times his last voyage had been before the 1959 refit and the menus were changed.

I spent a lot to time with the Australian girl. Often she and I were the only ones in the swimming pool before breakfast. She taught me a lot about young Australian culture and I was able to help her with her homework, set because she was away from school during the school year.

But my usual companions were some of the stewards and stewardesses. They wanted to practise their English and I was willing and available to talk for hours. I was the nearest First Class passenger in age to them who were mainly in their early twenties.

Gibraltar

My mother and I startled the other passengers. Not only were we escorted past the customs and immigration staff but we were met at the quayside by an official Royal Navy car that took us for a lunch followed by a cocktail party at the official residence we had occupied when my father was based on Gibraltar.

I made my excuses at the cocktail party and went to see an old Gibraltarian school friend and his family before finding where the local maids serving the official residences were having their siesta coffee break. They were surprised that I had grown to over six feet since leaving as an 11-year-old but pleased that I could still speak Llanito. Our former maid, Maria, had retired and because my father had been able to obtain her Gibraltarian citizenship instead of the stateless status she had had, she was now living in Spain with her son and his family. Technically she was a wanted person in Spain since her husband had been on the wrong side in the Spanish Civil War but she and my father had given her a different surname on her papers.

My father had found, because of his standing in the Gibraltar garrison, that if he worked with my school friend's father, a local magistrate and member of the Gibraltar Legislative Council, that if he sponsored a maid, getting official paperwork was longwinded but fairly simple. All the maids I met were now Gibraltarian citizens because of them. They would have liked to thank my father in person but couldn't because he was in Australia. I was given several written messages of thanks (which eventually I had to translate for him since they were all in Llanito.)

Gibraltar to Naples

One of the daily events was the sweepstake on the distance the ship travelled between non one day and noon the next. The ship's navigating officer would give his estimate and people bought tickets for a Dutch coin equivalent to a British sixpence (2.5 pence since 1971). The tickets had to be bought before 11 am before the noon of the estimate for the following day. The actual distance travelled was announced at 1 o'clock and all those holding a ticket with the correct distance received a portion of the money collected. Most winnings were about four times the stake as most guesses were made within a mile of two of the estimate which was usually accurate.

But as we were leaving Gibraltar in the evening the estimated distance until tomorrow noon was much shorter than normal and the accuracy would probably be more in line with the reality. Most people placed their bets within a mile or so of the estimate.

I knew that things could go wrong when leaving a port. A passenger could be late returning to the ship or authority to proceed could be delayed. Some others thought the same way and there was a cluster of bets between five and ten miles short. But I decided to be different. The board marked possibilities between twenty miles further and twenty miles less than the estimate. Above that was 'High Field' - very unlikely as the ship would have to exceed its maximum service speed, and below was 'Low Field'. I went for Low Field, the only passenger to do that.

About a quarter of an hour after leaving Gibraltar, a crewman fell overboard. He had been larking about near the stern and was drunk on Gibraltar's duty free booze. The ship had to stop and lower a lifeboat to collect him. That delayed the ship by an hour and I was the winner of the whole sweepstake at twenty five pounds - the largest winner of the whole voyage.

A large part of the whole voyage was just sea - miles and miles of sea with nothing to see but sea. There were shipboard activities every morning, afternoon and particularly in the evenings. My mother enjoyed playing bridge and whist. I had books to read. When I returned to the UK I intended to take my A levels but I would have to be familiar with the set books, particularly for English and French Literature. I would also be studying English and French at my Australian school.

I had the list of set books for the English and Australian examinations. Both were much longer that the schools would teach. They would choose a subset to concentrate on but I had no idea what the subsets would be. The Australian authorities had provided a generous allowance for me to buy text books. I had been able to buy EVERY book on all the set book lists but I now had a mountain to read but a month's enforced leisure in which to do it. Most of my suitcase and cabin trunk had been stuffed with books.

Unfortunately for me the English and Australian set book lists didn't overlap at all. Even the Shakespeare plays were different. The English list for French went much further back than the Australian that included much more modern authors. So I read the lot - which I had done long before we reached Australia. When eventually I started studying in Australia and later in England I had a much wider basis in English and French Literature than any of my fellow students.

In the evenings there were organised activities - Bingo, Dancing with instruction if needed, so called Horse Races like giant Totopoly, Cabaret by crew members, sometimes good but often awful, fancy dress competitions etc.

The ship's cinema showed films with a preponderance of Doris Day and similar light movies. There was a ships library - half the books were in Dutch - a gymnasium, a shop, a hairdressers etc.

Naples, Pompeii, Amalfi

My mother and I had decided that despite the very early start we would go on the First Class passengers' excursion to Pompeii. It sounded special. We didn't realise how special. We left the ship at seven in the morning, taking a packed breakfast on the coach. We arrived at Pompeii a couple of hours before it was open to the general public. The thirty of us had the whole of Pompeii to ourselves, split into groups of about six, each with an English speaking guide. We were taken into buildings not normally open to the public and shown everything, including the erotic art. (I shouldn't have been allowed to see that as being under 18 but since I was the tallest man present, no one queried my age.) As the general public who had been queuing outside began to arrive we were taken into the conservation laboratories to see items not yet on show.

It was an amazing event that is still vivid in my memory. We had access that would normally be reserved for visiting academics. Being alone in Pompeii was an experience that would be impossible to repeat.

After that we re-joined the coach to go for lunch on a hotel's terrace in Amalfi. I was the only one who ordered any Italian food from the extensive menu. Most others had a variant of steak. My mother had an omelette. My food was delicious and I really enjoyed the local dishes the waiter recommended.

We re-joined the ship for the evening meal.

Naples to Port Said

On this section of the voyage we saw very little except sea, although the ship sailed very close to the main Island of Malta.

I swam, read more books, chatted to more stewards but it was uneventful.

Port Said to Aden

We could have gone an excursion to the Pyramids but it was very hot and we thought that might be better on the return from Australia when my father would be with us. Instead we went ashore in Port Said. We were warned not to drink anything except bottled Coca-Cola, and then only after wiping the neck of the bottle first. The waterfront still showed the scars of the Suez War but half a mile inland the town seemed untouched. Almost before the ship had dropped anchor it was surrounded by bumboats selling cheap Egyptian souvenirs.