I was always keen to go
to sea. I first attended T.S. Exmouth, a navy training school run by the London
County Council in 1945. I was there almost 2 years. It was not to the Royal Navy to which I aspired, I wanted to be an officer cadet in the merchant navy.
Cadet № 306 at T.S. Exmouth
1945
It was not to be
however and so one cold, dark evening on November 19th 1946, I found myself among a
group of other "Nozzers" on a picket boat crossing the harbour at Harwich
approaching the jetty of H.M.S Ganges.
H.M.S. Ganges circa 1901
Main Gate H.M.S. Ganges
Photographs -
courtesy of the H.M.S. Ganges Association Museum
There have been a
succession of ships bearing the name "Ganges" in the Royal Navy starting in 1799
when a ship, the ex-Bengal, was given to the Royal Navy by The East India Company and
renamed H.M.S. Ganges. Ganges, the "Stone Frigate" which I was about to enter,
was first opened as the Royal Naval Training Establishment (RNTE) Shotley at Shotley in
Suffolk in 1905. It became officially known as H.M.S. Ganges in 1927 and it remained so
until 1976. I knew very little about H.M.S. Ganges at the time I entered but I soon
discovered Ganges was still being run as if time had stood still for 100 years. The
training was intensive and discipline strict - some might say harsh.
Boy Seaman 1st Paybook photo
Early 1947 HMS Ganges
Summer 1947 HMS Bruce
Before going on leave for
Easter 1947, we were informed our class would be one of several moving to H.M.S. Bruce at
Crail, Fife, Scotland. Compared to Ganges, H.M.S Bruce was a holiday resort. The
discipline was still hard but not unbearable. The food was good and we ate our meals
from chinaware in a cafeteria and not from tin mugs and plates. Bruce was a former Naval
Air station, H.M.S. Jackdaw, during the Second World War.
So started my career in the
Royal Navy, which was to last thirteen years and nine months. Seen below are the crests of
the ships and establishments I served in and when.
H.M.S. Wrangler
H.M.S. Zest
H.M.S. Solebay
H.M.S. Swiftsure
H.M.S. Alert
H.M.S. Crane
H.M.S. Ganges
H.M.S. Bruce
H.M.S. Pembroke
H.M.S. Vernon
H.M.S. Osprey
H.M.C.S. Unicorn
Ship
Rating
Non-Sub Rating
From
To
Ganges
Boy 2nd Class
None
19.11.1946
4.05.1947
Bruce
Boy 2nd Class
None
5.05. 1947
28.11.1947
Wrangler
Boy 1st Class
None
28.11.1947
12.03.1948
Pembroke
Boy 1st Class
None
13.03.1948
14.03.1948
Zest
Boy 1st Class
None
15.03.1948
28.09.1948
Pembroke
Ord. Seaman
None
29.09.1948
5.11.1948
Vernon
Ord Seaman
T.D.3
6.11.1948
7.03.1949
Pembroke
Ord Seaman
T.D.3
8. 03.1949
6.03.1949
Solebay
Ord Seaman
ditto
7.04. 1949
16.08.1949
Pembroke
A.S.
TD 3
0n course for Diver
17.08.1949
29.11.1949
Swiftsure
A.B.
TD 3
30.11.1949
1.09.1950
Vernon
A.B.
TD 3 on course for
TD 2
22.09.1950
13.03.1951
Pembroke
AB
TD 2 Embarkation
leave
14.03.1951
30.04.1951
Alert
A.B. to Ldg. Seaman
UW 2
1.05.1951
28.12.1953
Pembroke
Ldg Seaman
UW 2
Dec 28 1953
22.03.1954
Vernon
Ldg Seaman to Acting
P.O.
UW 2 on course for
UW 1
Instructing Mines & Mine Warfare
