Fred "Jolly Jack" Hodder recalls some of his experiences at sea after leaving Gravesend Sea School in 1955 . . . .

By ‘Jolly Jack’ Hodder

It was in the early fifties, money was short and jobs were few and far between. I was about to leave school, however, the big question was what am I going to do now? Bearing in mind I was not a scholar and even in the top class I was third from the bottom.

As I am writing this passage I have the dictionary beside me. Back to the biggest hurdles of my life. Where am I going to from here? Somehow I found the courage; moreover, armed with a story, I went to see my old headmaster. After briefly speaking to him he gave me a reference. Although I thought it was not very good, nevertheless it turned out to be the key that would unlock many doors in the future days and years to follow.

So here is what the report said. "T. Hodder. Was a pupil in this school from 07/09/49 until 31/o3/53. He was regular in attendance and amenable to school discipline. He was not of a scholarly type but was always willing to do any task asked of him.

I should think the Merchant Navy might be the best training he could possibly have. He was keen on swimming. Signed R.A Inkpen. Headmaster."

Now I was armed with my reference it was up to the local Job Center. After what seemed like days of form filling and questions from the center I was given a railway warrant to go to Gravesend, in Kent, to the National Sea Training School on the banks of the Thames, opposite Tilbury Docks. This was going to be my home for the next six weeks as I was entering in the Catering Corps. It would be ten weeks for the Deck and Engine Department.

We were put into uniforms of which we had to wear with pride. After six weeks of training in all aspects of the Merchant Navy I eventually passed with various certificates to my name, one for Catering and one for Safety at Sea etc, etc.

I neglected to say that you had to pay for your entry, uniform and other bits and bobs out of your own pocket. In all it was well over £100. In those days that sort of money was a great deal. Thank God for my parents, who paid it all for me. I may well have paid some of it back, however not all.

I went home on leave for a few weeks, and then it was time to join my new ship. I had to report to the Shipping Federation at Southampton. It was there that I was allocated to the Merchant Vessel ROSLIN CASTLE and given the job as a galley boy on the small Refrigerated Cargo/Passenger ship, which had only just docked in Port.

I reported on board the ship and was soon put to work, for the ship with her fresh fruit cargo was from South Africa, with several men unloading the fruit. I was soon to be eating black grapes by the bucket full. I even sent some home to my parents by post.

When it was unloaded a few days later we were off to New York. We set sail down the Solent and out into the channel. We must have been the slowest ship in the Merchant Navy. It took approximately three weeks to get to our destination,

What a time we had in New York while I was there. Not knowing that I would return many, many more times in the future.

From New York we sailed to Baltimore, Philadelphia, St Johns and then New Brunswick, then returning to New York. From New York we sailed then to Cape Town, South Africa, up the coast to Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, and Lorenzo Marks, returning back to Cape Town. We then sailed on to Las Palmas, and eventually docking back from where we started, at Southampton.

Three and a half months the trip had taken. I just couldn’t wait to get to my home town to let my friends know the first of my many adventures.

In total I was in the Merchant Navy for seventeen years, where, during that time I sailed around the world. I had seen many sights and done many things. During my time in the Merchant Navy I started as a galley boy and up to the rank of First Class

Steward. See you on the next sail. J.J

Chapter Two The Queen Elizabeth

Oh that Editor Rolly can be very persuasive! Yes he did persuade me to carry on with my sailing adventures. So here we go me hearties with Chapter 2.

Traveling the Four Corners of the world and getting paid for it must be a lot of people’s dreams. Although it was not all play, although on the other hand all work and no play. So we worked hard and okay we played hard. I can’t put my epic in any special order but if I had my discharge papers with me I would be able to jog the old brain box a little better.

In my seventeen years on the crest of the wave I have served on 36 ships, large small and indifferent. Of the smaller ones was the REDFIELD belonging to Huntings Line, and the ESSO CHELSEA. If my memory serves me right they were coasters. H.T being Home Trades, to pick up ant Tankers you had to go to the Royal Pier at Soton (short for Southampton) and get a ferry down to Fawley, half way down the Solent. It stank to high heavens and woe betides you if you smoked! You could smoke, but only in designated areas!

Both ships. The REDFIELD and the CHELSEA took me all the way round the English coast Up to Clyde in Scotland and from the Isle of Grain to Avonmouth, taking in Cork, Dublin and Belfast. Nowadays all the ports In England are very much empty, not like the ‘Hay’ days of the fifties when Southampton docks, old and new, were choc-a-bloc with shipping of all sizes and nationalities.

At Southampton in those days you could see the UNITED STATES, the FRANCE, Union-Castle Liners, and of course the QUEEN ELIZABETH and the QUEEN MARY.

Midnight in Southampton in those good old days was very noisy on a New Years Eve. I was one of the lucky ones that signed on for the QUEEN ELIZABETH but for the life of me I cannot remember how long for (That old brain box again) Ha! Ha!

We sailed on the latter via Southampton, Le Havre, New York and back again.

The above does not sound impressive; nevertheless being a steward on one of the best ships in the world I just cannot explain it. The ship was in fact a floating palace with all the gentry sailing to New York. That was the time I made it up to the Empire State Building. With all the famous people I was meeting I was at the top of my world.

Day in and day out the QUEEN ELIZABETH was one of the finest ships, she was also pretty damn fast I can tell you. Southampton to New York in five days that was a great sail. No wonder the ship was never hit during the war years.

I also served on troop ships; the EMPIRE KEN was on Middle East Run, Southampton, Gibraltar, Algiers through to the Med. Down to Port Said, Aden, and via the Suez Canal on to Singapore, Hong Kong and Curie in Japan.

It was in Japan that we almost got shot returning back in the early hours. We were a bit the worse for wear. WE had bought these little catapults and little bangers; if you stood on them they went off with a loud bang. So in the docks when we somehow managed to waddle there, we began firing these cracker balls at some large crates on the dockside, only to find we were firing at crates full of High Explosives. If they had gone up so would half of Curie, and that would have been a shame (especially for me) Ha! Ha!. And I liked Japan very much.

On the homeward voyage we took the troops shooting with the Bren and Sten gun from the after end. We threw balloons over the side as targets.

It was in the Red Sea that I learnt to swim properly and going back through Suez that was an experience in itself. We went down there at night and on the bow of the ship a large box was hung just over the side by the anchor. In this box was a man who stayed all night with a very large searchlight so that the pilot on the bridge could navigate the Canal. Once you have tasted Aden water you will never complain, ever again.

So now we were sailing up to Gibraltar through to the Bay of Biscay and home yet once again. So long again shipmates until the next time. JJ

Chapter Three (World Cruise) "Southern Cross"

So here we go again me hearties with chapter 3.

Apart from the Grand Cunard’ers, one of my other favorite ships and companies has to be the Shaw Saville Line. I was fortunate enough to do the Maiden Voyage on board the SOUTHERN CROSS with her distinctive Livery of Black, White and cream funnel As far aft as possible was painted Grey Hull and with a pale Green Superstructure. I did not realize it at he time but I would end up on this ship for over a year.

The big question is what is the destination of this brand new liner? Was I willing to sign on? As it happened I did sign on, moreover it turned out to be the crème de la crème of the ocean voyages. A round the world cruise for three months, in all I was to do four of them. She would sail two voyages from the West to East, then reverse East to West.

More or less when a liner leaves port there is a band on board. Blasting away their tunes and quite often on the quay as well, with streamers and poppers it’s all very electrifying. Well worth watching with all this going on I just hope I can summon those old brain cells and remember all the ports we sailed to and from.

So here we go; Southampton to Le Havre to pick up passengers mainly who are French. Do I speak French do I hear you say, or any other language? You must be joking. I can just about speak English (and according to my editor he thinks I’m still joking). I be from Dorset me old love and can manage only a few words of proper English, i.e. "Thank you for your large tip Sir/Madam, do hope you have enjoyed your trip and that we looked after you as well as you expected!" As you can see I get by. Ha! Ha! And with all nationalities or was it they could understand the Dorset Lingo?

We now set off yet again sailing into the sunset on another adventure. Bearing in mind we have on board 1,000 plus passengers, also the crew of 200-300, all of which have to be fed. The galleys on this size ship would be as large as a football pitch. (Down in Dorset perhaps, which is probably flooded at the moment. Ed) I wish my bleeding editor would stop writing these ditties in! Ha! Ha!

Back to the story before I was so rudely interrupted!

The galleys sometimes were even larger that stated before my interruptions, because there was the vegetable Preparation rooms, the butchers shops, fruit stores, baker and confectionary shops etc, etc to name but a few. Plus you had the crockery stores; the stillrooms, silver rooms, plate house, scullery and we haven’t even mentioned the very large stores.

But just having high quality kitchens and top of the range provisions for the cooking that was enough. For you see all the crew were hand picked (how the hell did this author get then? Ed.) Leave me alone Rolly. I was a damn good steward.

As I was saying, all the crew was hand picked. For each and every one are professionals in their own field. From the butcher who not only carves out a swan in every detail from a block of ice, to the humble steward such as myself who serves from the right and takes away from the left and lays the table with a myriad of silverware and cutlery, some of which would baffle even the educated punter (slang for passenger-well they can’t have come from Dorset then. Ha! Ha! Ed) You leave the Dorset people alone Ed.

I did not realize with all the talking we have arrived at Maderia. Out come the bum boats (not meaning to be rude – it’s the souvenirs and divers boats). No sooner are we anchoring, the they all start to trade their wares with the passengers by means of baskets on the end of ropes.

Apart from the usual souvenirs there are big bunches of grapes and of course Madeira wine. Meanwhile the divers dive for coins thrown over the side by the passengers. This of course comes to an end all too soon and we are sailing to our next port of call, Lisbon, and then down to Cape Town. Not forgetting we had a visit by ‘King Neptune’ when we crossed over the Equator, fun and frolics for all the unenlightened.

Cape Town to Australia, calling at Freemantle, Melbourne and Sydney. It was at Sydney I visited the Pylon lookout on Sydney Harbor Bridge. Not to be missed if you go there.

We then sailed from Sydney to New Zealand calling in at Wellington and Aukland. I thought it was a wonderful country until our next ports of call, the South Sea Islands of Fiji, Suva and Tahiti. I can still smell the flower garlands that the placed around your neck when you went ashore, even now after all these years. Oh! To win on the Lottery!

After leaving the Island of Dreams it’s up to Panama and through the Panama Canal stopping at Balboa and Panama City. From Panama we went to Trinidad, plus Tobago with the steel bands which I have still a soft spot for.

Our next port of call after leaving the Caribbean was Las Palmas of which no visit would be complete without a visit to the Green Doors. So from the Green Doors of Las Palmas to the green fields of England. Another voyage bits the dust.

See you on the next tide me hearties, or on the crystal waves.

Chapter Four Kingston Jamaica

I have never written anything before in my life other than a letter, or had anything published other than a recipe. So I’ve only got Rolly to thank for his persuasive manner in getting me to relive my days and years at sea. I only hope that you enjoy reading about them as much as I have enjoyed writing them. Perhaps he could do the same for you. My memory has to be bad, but at sixty-three what can you expect.

After picking up and perusing a good atlas of the world to help me remember, you can pick out places one has been. Suddenly I feel a song coming on! Dayooooh De Dayooooh- - Dalight Comes- - And I Wanna Go Home!!!. Do you remember that song? Well by now you have guessed my next port of call? Yes, it’s Kingston, Jamaica on the banana boat so to speak!!

I was on two banana ships, The CHICKANOA and I can’t remember the name of the other (anyone with a pea brain would have a job to remember. Ha! Ha! ) Ah, it didn’t take long for you to interrupt Ed. Now let me carry on with my tale. So it was Southampton to Kingston Town, Steel Bands, calypso dancing and bananas by the shipload. The other banana boat that I cannot remember the name of, now that’s another story.

Southampton to Tiko, South West Africa in the Cameroons. Tiko lies up the river many miles inland and it took the boat best part of the day to get up the river, which was an experience in itself with the muddy banks of the mangrove, crocodiles and monkeys in their natural habitat, The huts were on stilts just like a scene out of a Tarzan movie.

We were about half way up the river and this lone native in a dugout canoe grabbed an over-hanging trunk of a tree as the wash of our vessel washed the dugout from underneath him. Nevertheless it left the native hanging in the tree – probably to be eaten later by a lucky crocodile.

Some time later in the afternoon we arrived at what looked like a large millpond. This was the end of the line. We turned around and tied up to a very small pontoon come small jetty and not a banana in sight until just before dusk. Then this narrow gauge train came out of the jungle attached to its wagons loaded with bananas.

Late in the evening I was to find out where the railway ran to when a group of us went ashore. We climbed into the now empty wagons and took a train ride to the banana plantation come shanty town!

The local pub was a galvanized hut. This was the only luxury as all the rest of the huts were made of mud and grass. It was a village of mud huts.

I lost all my mates that I came ashore with that night and awoke in daylight in one of those mud huts still a bit the worse for wear. Before I could return to my ship by the train I had to repay for my night’s board. It was a nice morning so I gave them my shirt and off we went – only to be greeted at the end of the journey at the side of the ship to thunderous applause of all the crew who were leaning over the side of the ship. It was very embarrassing to say the least.

All through the day the ship was loading her cargo which was loaded mostly by the women who, as they handed over the bunches of bananas the pulled a string which released them a tally. Hence the song " Oh Mr Tally Man, Tally my bananas. Daylight comes and I want to go home." Moreover after loading the ship for a day and night I expect they wanted to go home, as they were tired out loading the bananas onto the ship.

So, fully loaded, the ship sailed with its load of bananas leaving behind Tiko and the Cameroons on course to Avon mouth: another cruise over and my employment ended with that particular shipping line. The company was Elder and Fifes Shipping. So-long shipmates until my next sail.

Chapter Five "Castles " to the Cape

Joining the Royal Mail vessel "ANDIES" we are going to sail where I have never been before. I joined the ship which was sailing to South America from Southampton. We set sail and I think by this time I am beginning to know every bump and every corner of the English Channel. However, we head west in the direction of the St Lawrence Seaway and on to Quebec and Montreal in Canada.

It was at the port of Quebec and Montreal that my cabin mate who went ashore came back and put me on a shake. He then asked me if I wanted to buy a battleship. My turn came at Montreal when I went ashore and he did not. When I returned to the ship in the early hours I put him on a shake and said " I’ll buy that battleship". We both had a good laugh at that!

A quick turn around and it’s down to Bridgetown, Barbados. At Barbados we took to drinking Rum – however not from glasses. The method was to make a hole in a fresh coconut and pour in a bottle of rum, then drink it from the fresh coconut. Do not go out into the fresh air afterwards.

We then returned via Bridgetown to El Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. Rio must be one of the most picturesque harbors ion the world to sail into, with the statue of Christ dominant on top of the mountain.

Also there is Sugarloaf Mountain in all her glory. It’s a millionaire’s paradise with its beautiful beaches, not forgetting the world famous Rio Carnival with its great sounds.

However, it has its grim side of gangsters etc. Do you know that taxi cabs very seldom stop at traffic lights for if they do the cons jump in and rob the driver plus the passengers, then make a quick getaway.

We sailed then to Montevideo, and finally Buenos Aires. Our trip back home took in Dakar, West Africa, Lisbon in Portugal and returning to Southampton Docks with a more than large pay packet.

There were certain times of the year when one would rather be home, i.e Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays etc. So you tried your damn hardest to work your ticket. One such dodge was the gunnery and fire fighting courses at Pompey, Portsmouth.

This was a couple of weeks with videos and various aspects of fire fighting and arms in case there was a war again. If there was, our ships would be fitted with guns. In the training we went down to Whale Island, Portsmouth and fired off the Boofers gun and the four-inch, also small arms. Then after we had been firing at the target for twenty minutes or so, the plane would drop the target on the beach. We did not have one hit on it.

After that then you would pour a bucket of water on a tray of boiling fat at approximately 1oo yards. It would go up like an atom bomb with flame and smoke coming from it.

There was one shipping company that you could set your clock by, and that was the Union-Castle Line-a six-week trip in total. Two weeks sailing to Cape Town with two weeks on the coast and two weeks home. Very nice indeed.

The Company’s livery was with a red and black funnel, lilac hull and white superstructure. Every Thursday without fail a Castle Ship left 105 Dock, the new docks at Southampton, at four o’clock on the dot. I have lost count of the times I have sailed to South Africa. I can only name four of the ships I sailed on but there were others.

The four I can remember are the STERLING CASTLE, ATHLONE CASTLE, CAPE TOWN CASTLE and the WINCHESTER CASTLE. Castles to the Cape, as they were known.

They left Southampton to Las Palmas, the on to Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London and Durban. However. I once went Mombassa on one but it was a one-off.

We would turn around at Durban and come back on the same route we sailed up.

What comes to mind on my many trips to the Cape that I can remember once we had docked at one of the ports and I had a tray full of silver which I was too lazy to take back to the silver room. So out through the porthole with it. As it was sliding off the tray in walked the 2^{nd Steward. Did I pay for that or that or what !!}

Another time we were about five days out of Southampton when I thought I recognized a passenger only three tables away from mine. What a surprise that was. It was my old school teacher from my home town. I later went to visit him at his brother’s house in Port Elizabeth.

Whilst on the Cape run I did get up to the top of Table Mountain. It is one of the done things when you are there. I was on the South African coast when there was a very large fire at the Smithfield meat market in London. Some of the Yarpies that we knew took the Mick and said ‘ lovely roast pork’. It was not many weeks after that when all the fruit freezers went up in smoke. It was so large it lit up all of Table Bay. The next day I saw the same Yarpies that were on about the roast pork. So I said to them ‘Now you have the apple sauce to go with it.’

The East Coast of South Africa is a trip I would recommend anyone to take. The ports of call and beautiful beaches of East London, the Snake Park at Port Elizabeth, and no trip to Durban is complete without a ride on one of the many rickshaws pulled by the Zulus in their native dress.

By now you must think what a life, it must have been wonderful. Let me assure you it was not all plain sailing. I was on the Cape Town Castle homeward bound and we were just coming into Las Palmas early in the morning. Suddenly there was an almighty bang and shudder from stem to stern. We later found out that there was a serious explosion in the engine room.

Emergency Stations were called and I was on my way up from the alleyway to the galley when the Chief Engineer emerged from the engine room. His boiler suit had been blown off his body, his fingers were hanging by their tendons. He went down on his knees to pray for his men, and that’s where he died.

I was in one of the first lifeboats that left the ship to get to the shore with the injured and the dead. I think that all told, ten of the crew died on that fateful day. The ship was out in the bay listing badly and the crew that were on the shore had to stay there until it was safe to go back.

It took two weeks in Las Palmas to clean the disastrous mess up on the ship. We made the best of it during the day and spent the nights ashore. We never had a chance before to stay on shore as normally we would only stop at Las Palmas for the unloading and reloading, which only took a few hours.

During the clean up operation we had to sort out the Bonded Store, so one can imagine in our cabin we had the finest private bar in the whole of the Merchant Navy.

Unfortunately for us though, we had to fly home at short notice leaving behind a well stocked private bar for some lucky souls.

As Las Palmas was very hot some of the lads sold a lot of their clothes to spend on other goodies. You ought to have seen them when they eventually got off the plane at London in the middle of good old English weather pouring with rain. All they had on was their thin shirts and shorts.

Well my old shipmates, that wraps up this cruise, So for now, see you on the next wave. J.J

By now I must have been at sea for eight years or more. I have only been giving you a whistle stop version of my life in the Merchant Navy, Trying to let you know in brief, the type and size of the ships, also the companies that I was fortunate to sail around the world for.

Some of the incidents that I can call to mind, all of which are truthful in their description, nevertheless not necessarily in order, how and when the events were happening.

Most of you must have seen that brilliant film "The Titanic" and enjoyed it. However, when I saw it, being an ex mariner I could not help but feel for the passengers and crew in peril more so perhaps than someone who had never been to sea. I’ve seen icebergs off Newfoundland and this gives me a vivid imagination of what happened for real all those years ago. Mind you I’ve seen whales also but I did not think of Moby Dick. Ha! Ha!.

Apart from that I’ve seen enormous sharks, porpoises, dolphins and flying fish (hope they weren’t in Stukas. Ed) Ha! Ha! Get out of my story Ed! Plus the mighty Albatross, all of which are part of the marine life.

I was to sail out of Portland, Dorset where you see the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels who are manned both by Royal Navy and Merchant Navy personnel. I signed on with the R.F.A ‘ENGADINE’ which as a supply ship with a couple of helicopters on board. So as you might gather was rather a noisy ship with the helicopters coming and going all the time.

Life was something different than on the merchant vessels as we are under Royal Navy command, who were strict at all times. Sometimes we went on a ‘RAZ. This was when we met up with other ships and refueled at sea. We once raz’d three ships at the same time, and all the crew were called upon to run up the length of the ship with a rope, for we had to transfer one person from ship to ship. For doing this we received extra payment.

Life on the ENGADINE was a very much Monday to Friday job with the weekend in port and out again on Monday morning. The trip would only be to sail up and down the English Channel. Only once did we go abroad-to Wales.

Now, as we were on Home Trade and within so many miles of land we were not entitled to Duty Free. But Rolly isn’t the only one who can be persuasive. I was to leave the ship on the coming Friday, so I got round the Chief Steward for a ‘docking bottle’! I even got pulled at the gangway and asked why I had a bottle! This was to be the end of my career in the RFA service. However, not living far from Portland it suited me down to the ground.

One can get fed up with too much of anything . . .. It’s true after ten years I was fed up going all around the world inasmuch as this is to be my last chapter in ‘The Call of the Sea’. Nevertheless I did enjoy remembering the happy good old days, and maybe the not so happy ones as well. My heartfelt thanks to Rolly for putting up with this Old Salt. I haven’t told you all because after all some of it was very secret and sacred. As is the unwritten love I have of the sea.

I wanted to be home most nights, however, I still wanted the taste of the sea. What was it to be? Then I remembers many years ago I had worked out of Weymouth on the Railway Steamers St Patrick and Samba for a short spell. So off I go down to Weymouth with my bucket and spade (sorry, I meant Discharge Books!) Guess what? I signed up with Sea Link this time, which was to be my home for the next seven years.

So what can I tell you about Weymouth, Sea Link and the Channel Islands? Well most of the time you were home every other day. Likewise you were in Jersey overnight. So hence every other night I got to know Jersey and Guernsey like I knew my home town. Even today I have some Channel Islanders as friends from both Islands.

In those days the Channel Islands were a Duty Free haven, but not so much today as it has grown into a very commercialized place. Even when one goes for a holiday it’s a rip-off. However, they are lovely Islands to live on and for visits on holidays.

As each winter came and went I promised that this would be the last one. Nevertheless I stayed on. There is no fun leaving Weymouth in a Force Seven gale, no fun at all. By the time you got of the Bill it was Eight to Nine, increasing to Force Ten.

Even on the Ferries you met the rich and famous stars and I was lucky in meeting Diana Dors as she knew someone in Portland nick! I also met Del Boy and Rodney and the old man. Oh! I nearly forgot Jimmy Saville! You might say I ‘fixed it’ for him for I looked after him on one of his trips. When I had his gold bracelet in my hands it was heavy, and worth a small fortune. The stars that traveled of course worked on the Islands during the summer season.

Sometimes I had a long trip like the time we went into dry dock at Barry Island, Belfast, and Dumbarton in Glasgow. We even had a rip to the North Sea, the Baltic, Stockholm and Malmo.

During the war years the Channel Islands were occupied by the Nazis. Just think of it! I could have had breakfast with Hitler and been home for tea. (That’s too bloody close for comfort. Ha! Ha!)

On board the ferry the cars are on the car deck and had to be left open in them days. No passengers were allowed on the car deck while sailing to an from ports On one occasion we had the car deck filled with rally cars and we used to sneak down and sit behind the steering wheels on some of them. The smell of the upholstery you would never forget. I must have sat in some of the finest cars in the world.

Whilst at Weymouth I worked my way to a higher grade and I was now a Leading Catering Assistant, By the way, my wages when I started at sea was £10 a moth. When I left the sea seventeen years later I was earning sums of up to £300 a week.

But all good things come to an end they say. It certainly did for me because Sealink and the ferries finished and I was made redundant and I was never to sail the seas again. For it was time to walk the gangplank for the last time.

It was after the Cape disaster that I was on the South American run that I bought a Marmoset (a small monkey). I took it home with me and it used to go shopping with me. It would run down my arm taking a coin and paying the shopkeeper. Sadly I only had it for a while before it died. I also bought an African Parrot and by the end of the trip I had been given a second one by one of the crew. I sold them at a tidy profit.

Another star I have remembered looking after on one of the Castle runs was Tommy Steel and his band. He performed two performances, one for the crew and one for the passengers. When he finished one night he came to the galley. We got talking and I found out he used to be in the Merchant Navy. So we had a good ol’ fry up together that night.

The last funny thing that I must tell you before we finish is when on the ferry to the Channel Islands. It was my job to wake the Captain to wake the Captain at 5 am, sometimes earlier as he had to get the ferry out by 6 am from Jersey.

Well one such trip I had a damn good binge the night before and I did not wake up until 5.5o a.m. I said "Oh f… I’m going to get a damn big rollicking for this if I can’t think of something quick. So I went to the galley and poured a cup of cold tea into the Captain’s mug, crept into his room, placed it beside him and shouted to him "Captain! Captain! You have overslept. Look, your tea’s gone cold. A damn good job he had a skin full the night before as well and could not remember if I came into the room earlier. Ha! Ha!