Gordon Tumber

Dennis wrote a letter to the Seaman's Friend DPM The Right Hon John Prescott. His letter appears in Stop Press. The predictable answer was more or less 'forget it'.

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Greetings Gordon, I have just been delving through old files and drafts hoping that somewhere I might have kept a record of the pomp and ceremony of my entry into the hallowed halls of Vindicatrix,but alas,nothing,nor of my weekly contributions to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police fund whilst travelling weekends between my worksite in Fort MacMurray,Alberta and my home in Grande Prairie,Alberta a 516 mile trek each way during my 6 years employment on the construction of the Syncrude Tar Sands. On the 8th May 1944 at the tender age of 16 years,I ventured by train from my home in Manchester to Sharpness Docks.If my memory is correct,the journey took approximately 8-9 hours,arriving in Sharpness at 5pm.Upon arrival,we were met by one of the staff of Vindicatrix and taken by bus to the camp,a set of newly built buildings which housed roughly 25 boys .There was probably 50 - 60 boys from various parts of the U.K. and after signing in,we were marched down the hill to TS Vindicatrix which was moored in a seperate dock.There,we were seated at long tables in the messroom and each given a plate of cold ham,cold potatoes and a hunk of bread,plus a large mug of tea.I remember that we were all completely surrounded by earlier intakes,all hungry to have anything which we did not wish to eat ! We were later lectured and informed that we were each alllowed a period of 3 days to either accept conditions,or failing to abide by such,one could simply pack ones bags and depart this noble establishment ! I became friendly with a young fellow who had until now been driving a cab in London.However,after 3 days,he decided that from what we had so far experienced,it was not for him,and so he departed.To be perfectly honest,I was not exactly overwhelmed with events either,but having caused so much unhappiness to my Parents to obtain my own wishes to enlist at such a tender age,that I really would have lost face to have returned home with my tail between my legs ! Everything now being so long ago,it is rather hard to bring back a great many memories of that time.I know that we studied long and hard,especially learning the contents of a Lifeboat and in theory the method of sailing same. Each morning before breakfast we were allotted a deck to scrub on our hands and knees.A vivid recollection of mine is of one morning when having just scrubbed an area,I stood up and reached into my watchcap,taking out a cigarette and placing it into my mouth,unlit.Suddenly,my head exploded ! stars and sparks filled my brain and I found myself lying full length on the wet deck ! Towering over me like a Giant Colosus was one of the Captains of the Vindicatrix,non other than our kindly old Fatherly Captain Angel. Needless to say,we never ever became firm Friends ! Another vivid recollection is of being wakened at 3:45am for my watch at 4am-8am.The fellow who woke me placed hurricane lamp on the deck by my bunk enabling me to dress.I happened to look down upon the deck to find millions of cockroaches swarming all over the deck,the whole place was alive with them. Three hours later,while at my watch station by the ships entry,an announcement was made over the radio by the BBC informing the world that the invasion of Europe had commenced ! Where the previous evening Sharpness Docks had been completely full of ships,now,it was deserted ! Not a vessel to be seen anywhere at all. Three weeks later,the day finally arrived when armed with my Deck Boy (degree) I tearfully bade a fond farewell to Vindiland and ventured out into the fray,a fully fledged "Merchie".

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Dennis continues. . . . After completing the EDH course in Liverpool,I returned home to Manchester and was immediately requested to make post haste to Immingham,near to Grimsby,one of Huntings of Newcastle tankers required crew. Shortly before midnight on 9th Feb 1946 found me struggling from the bus depot in the City with a kitbag upon my shoulder and a rather too heavy suitcase in my hand on my way to London Road Railway Station.The locomotive was duly on time and left on the stroke of midnight.The train was composed of the type of carriages which had a door on each side of the compartment but no connecting passage.Hence there was no opportunity to change compartment once the train was in motion.Shortly after departure,the lights in the compartment went out ! Feeling by this time rather tired,I lay down upon the seat,I was the only occupant in the compartment.Some time later a leak developed in one of the steam lines which I suppose was meant to heat the compartment.Eventually,the whole place was just a cloud of steam making for a damp and uncomfortable venue. Upon arrival at about 5:30am in Immingham,I huddled in a waiting room in the station until 7am and eventually discovered a small cafe which advertised breakfast.At 9am I made my way to the Shipping Office where later the Skipper appeared to sign myself and a Chippy to the ships articles. Anyone familiar with Tankers knows that as a rule,they are moored in places which are usually miles away from anywhere and true to form Pontfield required a bus journey to the end of the line and then a traipse across bush and fields which at the time seemed to be the end of the earth,especially lugging the damned kitbag and suitcase.Needless to say,my torturous journey came to an end and I was pleased to find Pontfield to be rather eye appealing.The Deck crew composed mostly of local yokels and a couple of Scousers.The accomodation was two guys to a cabin which was unusual to say the least. We sailed the same evening and after nearly 3 weeks finally arrived at Ras Tanura ,the Island of Bahrain.The pier where we were to load stretched as far as the eye could see and so any thought of going ashore was quite out of the question.I think that we languished there for 3 days loading taking on 4 Million gallons of Aviation fuel.Whilst there,one afternoon after the evening meal,the Second Cook threw a pailful of galley slops over the side,immediately it seemed that dozens of sharks were in a frenzy vying for a share.One of the crew decided to throw over a line baited with a little meat.Then the cook appeared with a heaving line and a meat hook baited with a larger piece of meat.The first guy called saying that he had a shark on his hook and so everyone was curious to see his catch.Then the Cook gave a shout,he too had a bite and required help in hauling up his catch.I went to give a hand,and as the fish was hauled level with the deck,saw that it was a shark,which seemed to me to be large enough to devour us both.I immediately let go of the rope informing the Cook that I had no longer any interest in his catch,allowing it to fall back into the water. After completing loading our cargo.We set sail for Melbourne, Australia.This was a journey of probably 3 weeks.One evening before going on watch (8pm - 12 pm ) several of the crew were sitting in the messroom playing cards and telling tales. One fellow was describing being crew on another tanker in the Persian Gulf when one of the Sailors had gone somewhat crazy due to the excessive heat.He had been running around the ship brandishing a fire axe threatening to kill someone ! Later,after me doing my two hour stint at the wheel (steering) I had to relieve the "Lookout" on the Forecastle,(bow) for the last hour of our watch.When I arrived for'ard,there was no sign of the one who I was to relieve.Thinking that perhaps during the watch we had shipped water and the Mate had called him to do his watch upon the bridge,I ventured to the bridge.Again no sign of the fellow.Not wishing to maybe cause any problems for the guy,I returned to the forecastle to finish my one hour lookout.After perhaps 10 minutes or so.There was an uncanny crackling sound from behind the anchor windlass and this black form in an oilskin coat appeared.I immediately thought back to earlier in the evening and the story of the madman with the axe ! However,all was well,it was the missing lookout man. He had decided to have a sleep and simply kipped down wrapped in his oilskin coat ,under the windlass.To say that he scared the bejesus out of me would be an understatement ! After the passage of probably two weeks or so.Each afternoon during the 12-4pm watch.The vessel would stop engines and drift for 2-3 hours .The reason we were informed was that one of the cylinders caught fire and it became necessary to stop for the Engineers to remedy the cause.Imagine the surprise when on our arrival at our destination in Australia,they printed an item in the local newspaper that there had been great consternation amongst the crew during the voyage due to this fire and the realization that there was a great possiblility that the vessel could so easily explode !

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To the conclusion of the voyage of m/v Pontfield. Upon our arrival in Melbourne,we berthed in a small place several miles outside of the city,named Jamestown to off- load our cargo of Aviation Spirit. During this time,about 5-6 days.The Mate decided that this was a good opportunity to paint the ships hull,we were of course low down in the water and therefore it was convenient to work from the quay to paint the port side. Not too far away,the main gate to the docks was situated and conveniently nearby was a saloon ! At noon each day, upon breaking for lunch,most of the Deck crowd would wander off to the saloon for a beer.However,after quaffing two or three beers,or more.They failed to return to the job in hand.I was only 18 yrs at the time and did not especially obtain a great deal of pleasure from spending too much time sitting in a pub.Hence,after lunch break,the only ones who returned to our task of painting the ships side,was a young Scot EDH and myself.This occured each day at noon for perhaps 4 days and no action was taken against anyone.On the 5th day,the young Scot and myself decided that we too would go for a beer at lunchtime,and likewise,did not return to the job in hand. After breakfast the next morning the Skipper ordered us all to assemble in the saloon where he made known his displeasure and fined the Scot and myself one days pay,and the rest of the sailors 5 days pay ! After discharging our cargo,we sailed to Abadan in the Persian Gulf,a rather warmish spot at that time of the year, eventually arriving and discharging part of our cargo in Belfast and finally to Falmouth,where we "paid off". On the "pay off" day upon collecting out Discharge Books we each found that instead of the usual VG-VG for ability and conduct,ours were stamped VG-Good.Which in the case of the Scot and myself I considered was a little too much for our minor infraction.

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Arriving home DBS on the Troopship "Scythia" loaded with returning XIV Army types from Burma,we had sailed from Bombay & arrived in Liverpool on the 19th Dec 1945. I had joined my first ship,s/s Samlorian,a brand new Liberty vessel in Manchester in the middle of July 1944 and after wandering in convoys to and from the US to various ports in India had been taken ill whilst in Madras.I was paid off and eventually travelled by train for three days across India to Bombay.Upon my arrival home in Manchester on the 19th December 1945,I had been away for a period of 17 months ! Quite a first trip ! The Samlorian after I left her,sailed around the world and eventually arrived back in U.K.in March 1946,having been away for 20 months. On the 2nd January 1946 I joined one of Andrew Weir's vessels.S/S Hazelbank in Salford Docks,Manchester.She was bound for New York and then onward to New Zealand.We sailed down the Manchester Ship Canal and during this time,we were involved with the collision of another vessel.Luckily no damage was sustained and late in the afternoon we tied up at Partington,a small place along the canal,to stay overnight before completing our transit of the canal. A short walk across the fields from the ship,there conveniently stood a Pub ! As would be expected,immediately after the evening meal,quite a number of the crew headed for liquid refreshments.This being the last night on shore for perhaps two weeks or more,quite a number of the crew,over imbibed.The next morning,it was discovered that the 3rd Engineer was amiss ! When last seen,he apparently was not exactly in very good shape and in spite of several persons searching for him,he was not found.To this day I never discovered if he fell into the canal and drowned or just simply returned to his home ! We sailed onward to Liverpool and anchored off the Liver Building to await the arrival of a new 3rd Engineer.It now being Sunday,we were required to wait until the following day.In the meantime,watches had been set and I ,a J.O.S. at that time,was together with two A.B's the 12 to 4 watch.Being at anchor we just kept the watch upon deck,smoking,and getting to know each other.After some time,one of the other A.B.'s a fellow named Michael Finn ( Mickey Finn ) came on deck and began talking to us all. What he was saying caused us to begin thinking that he was somewhat strange to say the least.He was telling us that the other A.B.with whom he was sharing a cabin,was waiting until he slept,and then intended to smash his head in with a hammer ! His story being,that the other fellow had discovered that Finn had been involved with an affair with his Wife.As Finn was telling us this story,he made an attempt to climb over the taff rail intending to jump into the river below,saying that he was not afraid to die !This is in the first week in January and of course not exactly tropical ! The two A.B.'s immediately grabbed Finn and managed to calm him down a little. They also decided to report the incident to the Skipper.When told about the attempt to jump.His comment was...Why did you stop him ? However,nothing further was done about the incident. Later,after the evening meal.I was cleaning up the Sailors Mess and washing the dishes,being the youngest I was the "Peggy" and this was one of my duties. Just as I was about finished,Finn walked into the mess and asked me if I had a sheet of notepaper & an envelope.I went to the cabin which I shared with three other guys and found the items for Finn.Thinking that he wanted to write a letter and perhaps hand it to the Pilot to take ashore when we sailed.I left him to it. Perhaps 10 minutes later while we were sitting in the accomodation yarning about prior voyages,an ear piercing scream echoed through the air and also the sound of a large splash.Someone shouted..He's done it ! and everyone rushed topside to the stern taffrail.Looking over the side of the ship one could see Finn splashing in the water,a lifebelt was thrown to him,however,he ignored it.By this time it was begining to snow and one could just see the top of his head and hair floating in the water and then he disappeared completely.In the meantime,one of the Sailors had dashed to the Captains cabin to inform him of the occurence and request that he lower a boat to search for Flinn.The request was refused.A message was radioed ashore and later a Coast Guard vessel searched for some time,but failed to find any trace. During the night watches,an eerieatmosphere became apparent.We were keeping an Anchor watch,this required one man from the watch to make periodic rounds on the foredeck and afterdeck.The only illumination being from the anchor light swinging from the forestay and as the ship rolled from the movement of the sea so also did the shadows causing mysterious and weird shapes,certainly not helped by the fresh memories so recently impressed into ones mind.To make matters worse,one of the West African Firemen who was on watch in the stokehold feeding the fires and dressed only in a pair of pyjama trousers,came scream onto the deck with his pants ablaze.Shrieking that evil spirits had set fire to his trousers ! At breakfast after a great deal of discussion,the Deck Crew of 12 men decided that this ship was far from being a "lucky ship".First the collission,then the disappearance of the Engineer,the suicide of Finn,the refusal of the Skipper to even report his behaviour or launch a lifeboat and much munjo-jumbo from the African Firemen. A delegation made contact with the Skipper informing him that 19 of the crew were not prepared to continue with the voyage.He immediately radioed ashore requesting that a Shipping Master be sent to the vessel from the Shipping Office,plus a Representative from the Seaman's Union.These officials were on board within the hour,also the arrival of a new 3rd Engineer,who,as he climbed aboard from a Jacobs Ladder,slipped,fell upon the Deck breaking the spectacles he was wearing and rendering blind without them ! This of course doubly convinced everyone that this ship was certainly cursed Upon the arrival of the Officials from ashore,also arrived a newspaper reporter who began taking copious notes of the remarks and statements being made.During this time it was stated that one could feel the presence of the dead man Finn which gave forth the headlines later in the newspapers "Ghost Walks Ships Deck,crew refuses to sail".After much discussion and threats to place us all into jail,we were informed that a tug would come alongside at 9am the following morning and take us ashore to be Payed Off at the Shipping Office. This duly took place and upon signing off at the Shipping Office,we were each presented with a summons to appear immediately in Court .Standing in line before the Magistrate,we were each asked how did we plead. Each man pled Guilty ! The Magistrate then suggested that we reconsider our plea, informing us that if found Guilty we could be sentenced to a One Hundred Pound Fine,or,three months imprisonment,or BOTH ! He then once again asked for our plea to which we all naturally pled,NOT GUILTY ! He then bound us all over for a week to allow us to engage a Lawyer,which we duly did.The following week we all appeared once more before him and were judged Guilty,however he decided to discharge us all as first time offenders.Needless to say,we each recived a DR in our Discharge Book for Bad Conduct.Not exactly good for my second ship entry. At this time,I was rated as a J.O.S. but having 18 months sea service I applied and was accepted into a course of three weeks instruction in Liverpool and after passing an examination was issued with an Efficient Deckhand Certificate,which raised ones monthly wage to be equal with an Able Seaman

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At one time,you suggested that I write the piece about my weekly clashes with the "Mounties" and my remedy for eliminating them from my frustrations. Here goes...In Sept 1970,I moved with my Wife & Family from Bulawayo,Southern Rhodesia ( now Zimbabwe) in Africa where we had lived in various areas since emigrating from U.K. in 1951.We decided to give Canada a try.We settled in a small place named Grande Prairie,Alberta.At this time,they were constructing a Pulp Mill on the outskirts of town & the Ironworkers Union were unable to supply sufficient Ironworkers.I applied for a job and was informed that they would give me a 3 day trial.On the third day,the Union Representative called me down off the iron and told me that they were completely satisfied with my efforts and I could work on permit.However,later as the work progressed the first to be "Laid Off"were of course,those working upon permit.I then applied to take the Provincial Examination and after passing,was issued with a Government Ironworkers Certificate.I then was taken before a board of Officials at the Unionhall who were not really overwhelming in their. attitude in accepting me into the Union.Informing me that I really was too old ( I was at that time 45 yrs)that the Unionhall was in Edmonton and me living in Grande Prairie 285 miles North would be a disadvantage for me.After considering all their arguments I decided that I was determined to force them to accept me.Which they eventually did. In 1975 I was dispatched to Fort MacMurray where outside of the town,a very large project named the Athabasca Tar Sand Project was commencing.This was to take 5 years to complete and even thereafter would require regular maintenance indefinately.At the peak of the project the camp contained 5,000 workers,it was like living in a small town.Each Friday more than 3500 workers would pour out of the camp at quitting time 3:30pm all feverishly pulling like dogs on a leash,bound for all points of the Province,mostly however,for Edmonton.At the time,I would ride together with several other tradesmen who were like myself,domicile in Grande Prairie.Eventually though I was the only one still employed on the project and therefore driving the journey alone.A distance of 516 miles each way,on the Friday and again the same on the Sunday afternoon.The journey took 9 1/2 hrs each way without any stops other than for fuel.Unfortunately,there was a stretch of highway,roughly 100 miles,which carried very little traffic and too often I would be stopped by an RCMP (Mountie) informing me that I was just a tad over the speed limit ! Sorry,but I have to invite you to become a donor and pay a $75 fine.After having made 3 donations,I was then invited to "Take a Rest" from driving for 30 days.This occured to me twice and of course caused much frustration and inconvenience forcing me to take the bus from Fort MacMurray to Edmonton and thereafter the midnight bus from Edmonton to Grande Prairie,arriving home at 8am on the Saturday.Rather exhausting as one can imagine.During my years of living in Luanshya,N.Rhodesia I had learned to fly,becoming the Treasurer of the local flying club.I had obtained eventually,a Zambian Pilots Licence,a British Pilots Licence,a U.S. Pilots Licence and a Canadian Pilots Licence,together with a Night Flying endorsement. One day while renting an aircraft for pleasure,the owner of the local Flying School offered to sell me a two year old Cessna 150 M two seater for a very reasonable price. Needless to say,after very much thought,I borrowed some money from the Bank and took to the air.I owned the aircraft until 1984.Needless to say,RCMP speeding tickets became a thing of the past.Oh sure,I scared the wits out of myself on several occasions,and took at times some chances in foul weather which looking back upon,shows to me that I really did have a guardian angel sitting beside me at times.But it was a wonderful experience and now in my dotage,I so very often sit quietly with my eyes closed and relive flying a Glider several times,dropping Parachutists at our local Flying Club in Africa,towing Gliders on the occasional Saturday for a club outside of Edmonton,all wonderful experiences.I surely was blessed !

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In 1956 my Wife,Daughter and myself,moved from Port Elizabeth,South Africa,2000 miles North to live in Ndola,Northern Rhodesia.This area was known as the Copperbelt,consisting of several small towns each of which operated a Coppermine.Upon my arrival in Ndola, I immediately accepted a job as a Steel Erector with an Engineering Company who were constructing a Copper Refinery on the outskirts of the town.After a couple of years,and nearing completion,the company began to lay- off some of the construction workers.I was offered a position working in the main company offices as a Cost Clerk,which I accepted.The company employed rather a large number of Africans and I found them to be quite a pleasant and happy people to work amongst.They mostly enjoyed teaching me to speak many of their swear words and used to roar with laughter,I too used to joke a lot with them.Often I would ask them if they ever came across any lion cubs whilst in the bush.They would tell me,oh no,the Daddy lion was a skellum and would eat them if they attempted to take one of the cubs.I would tease them saying that after all a lion was just an over-sized Pussycat.I would tell them that if they ever heard of anyone with a small cub,I would be quite willing to buy it from them. One of the Africans was employed as the company van driver and each morning would drive into Ndola to collect the mail and do any shopping which lady of the house required,returning shortly before lunchtime. One morning,this driver came to me and asked if I was still interested in buying a baby lion.I told him yes. He informed me that one of the Africans living nearby to him,had found one in the bush over the weekend and was attempting to sell it.I asked how much he was asking. Two pounds ten shillings,he told me,and so I handed this amount to him telling him to collect it on his way back from the mail run to town. I then phoned my Wife at her workplace and told her that I was buying a baby lion cub.Of course she would not believe that I was serious,however,I insisted that I really was and would bring it to show to her at quitting time at 4pm.I told her to buy some meat from the butcher shop at lunchtime. Eventually it became near to the time when the van usually returned from town and I began to feel quite excited and full of anticipation.When the van drew up outside our office I immediately opened the vehicle door and what did I find ? There sitting upon the passenger seat,scared and bewildered with a large rusty chain around its neck,was the ugliest monkey I have ever seen ! Being so scared,it had defecated all over the seat and was trying to get loose from the chain.I felt like a deflated balloon. I asked the driver,what the hell is this? To which he replied,Unkalamo Bwana.I told him,you are so stupid,you do not even know your own language.Unkalamo is a lion. This is not a lion,it is a Makak,a monkey ! He hung his head sheepishly while I told him,I certainly do not want this creature so you can just take him back to your village and collect my money.Which of course he did.As one can easily imagine,I was teased for many months afterwards by all of my workmates,they would refer to me as The Lion King.My Wife nearly died laughing afterwards when I phoned her to inform her to forget to buy the meat !

Click for full appreciation of Dennis in battle gear.