Volume 4, Issue 5 October 2015

Editorial By Shipmate Norrie Millen Hi! Shipmates, The Rum Tub or Norrie’s Nocturnal and Nautical Once again, spare time seems to evade me Natter and I am sure you will not be too unhappy if I use a lot of material from my In this issue current RNA Torbay newsletter Editorial ...... 1 A dit about 1945 ...... 2 When I was just four years old, in 1945 What happened in ’45? ...... 3-5 local matelots and ex matelots decided to form a The Tamar Bridge ...... 5-6 Branch of the RNOCA in Torquay, the forerunner of Fun Page ...... 6 USS Recruit...... 7-9 the present day RNA Torbay. I at that time had never The real field gun story Part II 9-10 met my father as the Japanese in Singapore had captured him; my mother narrowly escaping, heavily impregnated with child (me). She managed to ‘hang on to me’ until we reached Mount Abu in Rajpatana, where I was duly ‘hatched’ at the BMH Hill Life is an opportunity, Sanatorium. benefit from it. Repatriated back to UK at the ripe age of six months, I Life is beauty, admire it. did 10,000 miles at seas on the troopship Life is a dream, realize it. RMS Britannic. I was baptised in India, again at sea on the Britannic Life is a challenge, meet it. and once again, in Capetown, my Life is a duty, complete it. mother making absolutely sure that if we were torpedoed, I would be well blessed. Crossing Life is a game, play it. the line at that early age I guess the sea was already in Life is a promise, fulfil it. my blood! Life is sorrow, overcome it. Sharing cramped messdecks, socialising together, talking the Life is a song, sing it. unique ‘navy talk’ and runs ashore on mass; it was only natural that the matelots of yesteryear would want to Life is a struggle, accept it. continue this camaraderie in civil life; hence organisations Life is a tragedy, confront it. like the Royal Naval Old Comrades Association becoming a place this social activity and friendship could continue on. Life is an adventure, dare it. You may well remember many of the times when Life is luck, make it. someone in the mess told a silly/dirty/humorous joke and that jogged the memories of many of us Life is life, fight for it." to recall other jokes, until sometimes we laughed Mother Teresa that much it hurt. They were good times, happy times, sometimes-sad times but the memories will always stay with us. Sadly, today’s modern matelot will never experience these times in the same way. That is Britain’s new Navy for you! The way I see it anyway! Volume 4 Issue 5 October 2015

A Submariner on the helm during a surface The Torbay RNA was initially formed as the passage through the Bay of Biscay in very heavy Royal Naval Old Comrades Association seas was being taken to task for the whole (RNOCA), on the 26th September 1945. duration of his watch by a very irate officer of However a much more very significant event the watch on the bridge. happened on that same day, General Douglas Nearing the end of the watch the officer MacArthur Head of the Allied occupation of screamed down the voice pipe “WHAT Japan met with Emperor Hirohito, and this BLOODY IDIOT IS AT THE END OF THE was the first meeting of the two since the VOICE PIPE?” official surrender of Japan in August. The rating in a very calm and collective voice replied Only two days earlier on the 24th, Emperor “WHICH END SIR!” Hirohito says he was opposed to war and blames General Tojo for the raid on Pearl Harbour. History records that when US troops arrived at General Tojo's house to arrest him, he locked himself in and attempted to shoot himself in the heart, he missed and the bullet entered his stomach. He was taken to a US hospital where his injuries were treated; following which he was fitted with new dentures. It is recorded the phrase "Remember Pearl Harbour" had been secretly drilled into his teeth in Morse code. That very same day, an Allied landing party headed into mainland China to facilitate surrender terms and the disarming of Japanese troops. It was unclear if there would be resistance so the US staged a full on invasion force to make sure things went smoothly which they did. Also on the same day Lt. Colonel Peter Dewey a US Army officer with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)was head of a seven-man team sent to Vietnam to search for missing US pilots and to gather information on the situation of the country after the Japanese surrender. He had already arranged the repatriation of over a thousand allied soldiers including 245 Americans when on the 26th he was mistakenly identified as a French soldier. Fatally wounded in an attack by local Vietnamese soldiers, who were rebelling against the return to French rule. Thereby becoming the very first US serviceman to be killed in Indo China, which later, during further wars, including the infamous Vietnam War claimed nearly 59,000 US deaths. A nephew of Dewey was subsequently killed during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade WWI Postcard Centre.

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Volume 4 Issue 5 October 2015

What happened in 1945 and beyond? By Shipmate Norrie Millen and information from internet So what happened in 1945 apart from work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" the end of the war? Hundreds of was first published on December 8 of thousands of HO servicemen were that year in the London-based discharged. magazine Punch. Many shipmates have come and gone However back to my nautical version since, some through losing interest in of that famous poem, which is entitled their various associations; Ulster a “On all the Oceans” typical example. 80 shipmates on my There are a few different versions, to Ulster database, (50 1958-60) but I last few lines, however no one seems rarely hear from more than a handful of to know who first penned any of the them. Some resigning for a variety of words. reasons, but mostly our numbers have been reduced by those “Crossing the On all the oceans white caps flow, bar”. We try to remember all those They have no crosses row on row, who have passed before us in our For those who sleep beneath the sea, prayers and especially on They sleep in peace; our country’s Remembrance Day. In other parts of free. the United Kingdom and especially in No stone ever marks a sailor’s grave Canada all those shipmates that were When he’s taken by the sea, lost during and after the war are No name ever written on the wave No flower from you or me. remembered at “The Battle of Atlantic” He comes to lie, not in the soil, commemoration, which is celebrated But the sea that he adored, on the first Sunday in May, sadly, few And feared, and fought and toiled so seemed to have heard of the Battle of hard, Atlantic in southern climes. For those upon the shore. And the wind and tide and seabirds On Remembrance Day and indeed The cry Battle of Atlantic shipmates are As hard as you and me, remembered and we would say a For those we love who come to lie At rest, beneath the sea. nautical version of "In Flanders WE WILL REMEMBER THEM Fields”, which I am sure you all know is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, ]]]]]]] written during the First World War by How about the in 1945? Vastly Canadian physician Major John different from todays ‘lean’ fleet for sure. McCrae. He was inspired to write it on However, let’s dwell a pause of two marching May 3, 1915, after presiding over the paces and have a quick look back to 1939. funeral of friend and fellow soldier In 1939, the heart of the Royal Navy with its centuries old traditions and 200,000 officers and Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second men including the Royal Marines and Reserves. Battle of Ypres. According to legend, At the very top as professional head was the First fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound. McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his Royal Navy Warship Strength

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Volume 4 Issue 5 October 2015

15 .. Battleships & battlecruisers, of which However, there was a price to be paid: only two were post-World War 1. Five British Naval Casualties, not including RAF 'King George V' class battleships were and Army personnel killed in related building. circumstances, Coastal Command, 7 .... Aircraft carriers. One was new and five Defensively-Equipped Merchant Ships of the planned six fleet carriers were (DEMS) etc. under construction. There were no escort carriers. September 1939, included: 66 .. Cruisers, mainly post-World War 1 with Killed Missing Wounded some older ships converted for AA duties. Royal Navy 50,758 820 14,663 Including cruiser-minelayers, 23 new WRNS 102 22 Merchant Navy 30,248 lost to enemy action ones had been laid down. 184 of all types. Over half were ROYAL NAVY Strength Comm. to TOTAL IN TOTAL SERVICE LOSSES modern, with 15 of the old 'V' and 'W' Warship types 1939 Aug 1945 classes modified as escorts. Under Capital ships 15 5 20 5 construction or on order were 32 fleet Carriers 7 58 65 10 Cruisers 66 35 101 34 destroyers and 20 escort types of the Destroyers 184 277 461 153 'Hunt' class. Submarines 60 178 238 76 60 .. Submarines, mainly modern with nine TOTALS 332 553 885 278 building. Moving onto today’s fleet 45 .. Escort and patrol vessels with nine building, and the first 56 'Flower' class corvettes on order to add to the converted 'V' and 'W's' and 'Hunts'. However, there

were few fast, long-endurance convoy escorts. A vast and powerful navy for sure, but moving on to 1945 a vastly different picture.

As the war progressed, the Royal and Dominion Navies expanded rapidly with large construction programmes, particularly escort carriers, destroyers, corvettes, , submarines, landing ships and craft.

By mid-1944, 800,000 officers and men and Class Ship Pen. Comm. Displment Type Base 73,000 WRNS were in uniform. Ocean Ocean L12 1998 21,500 LPD D Albion Albion L14 2003 19,560 ATD D Vastly improved radars and anti-submarine Class Bulwark L15 2004 19,560 ATD D weapons had been introduced, and the tactics Commi Class Ship Pen. Displacement Type Base to use them effectively, honed to a fine pitch. ssioned Ship-borne and land-based aircraft became Daring D32 2009 8,500 tonnes GMD P Dauntless D33 2010 8,500 tonnes GMD P vital in the life and death struggle against the Diamond D34 2011 8,500 tonnes GMD P U-boat, the only concern Prime Minister Dragon D35 2012 8,500 tonnes GMD P Winston Churchill retained throughout six Defender D36 2013 8,500 tonnes GMD P years of war. Daring or Type 45 Duncan D37 2013 8,500 tonnes GMD P Argyll F231 1991 4,900 tonnes D Huge combined operations landings took place Lancaster F229 1992 4,900 tonnes Frigate P

with air superiority usually assured. Iron Duke F234 1993 4,900 tonnes Frigate P Monmouth F235 1993 4,900 tonnes Frigate D class Although not defeated, magnetic, then acoustic - Montrose F236 1994 4,900 tonnes Frigate D and finally pressure mines were kept under Westminster F237 1994 4,900 tonnes Frigate P control. Northumberland F238 1994 4,900 tonnes Frigate D Richmond F239 1995 4,900 tonnes Frigate P Perhaps of greatest single significance, the Somerset F82 1996 4,900 tonnes Frigate D Sutherland F81 1997 4,900 tonnes Frigate D Type 23 or Duke 'Ultra' operation against the German Enigma Kent F78 2000 4,900 tonnes Frigate P codes allowed the allowed the Allies to Portland F79 2001 4,900 tonnes Frigate D penetrate to the very heart of German and Axis St Albans F83 2002 4,900 tonnes Frigate P planning and operations. The Type 23 frigates will be replaced by the Global Combat The Royal Navy, still the largest in the world in Ship starting 2022 Rum Tub Page - 4

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Survey Preparatory and design work has begun on the Class Ship Pen. Comm. Displacement Type Base Type 26 frigate, which will replace the UK's Type Scott Scott H131 1997 13,500 tonnes Ocean survey D 23 frigates, with the first ship due in service by Echo- Echo H87 2003 3,740 tonnes Multi-purpose survey D class Enterprise H88 2003 3,740 tonnes Multi-purpose survey D 2022. Gleaner Gleaner H86 1983 22 tonnes Coastal survey D Protector Protector A173 2011 5,000 tonnes Icebreaker & survey P A preliminary look into replacing the mine

Class Ship Pen. Comm. Displacement Type Base countermeasures vessels with a single versatile Ledbury M30 1981 750 tonnes MH P class including both mine countermeasures and Cattistock M31 1982 750 tonnes MH P hydrography/survey roles is also being Brocklesby M33 1983 750 tonnes MH P Middleton M34 1984 750 tonnes MH P undertaken Chiddingfold M37 1984 750 tonnes MH P

Hunt Class Atherstone M38 1987 750 tonnes MH P Class Ship Pen No. Displacement Comm. Hurworth M39 1985 750 tonnes MH P Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth R08 65,000 tonnes 2017 Quorn M41 1989 750 tonnes MH P Class Prince of Wales R09 65,000 tonnes 2019

Penzance M106 1998 600 tonnes MH CL River-class Forth 2000 tonnes 2017 Pembroke M107 1998 600 tonnes MH CL batch II Medway 2000 tonnes 2017/8 Grimsby M108 1999 600 tonnes MH CL Trent 2000 tonnes 2018 Bangor M109 2000 600 tonnes MH CL Astute Class Artful S121 7400 tonnes 2015 Ramsey M110 2000 600 tonnes MH CL Audacious 7400 tonnes 2018 Blyth M111 2001 600 tonnes MH CL S122 Sandown Class Shoreham M112 2001 600 tonnes MH CL Anson SI23 7400 tonnes 2020 Agamemnon S124 7400 tonnes 2023 In addition to the above vessels, the now decommissioned Ajax SI25 7400 tonnes 2024 HMS Brecon (Hunt-class) and HMS Cromer (Sandown- class) act as training ships, located at the shore establishment HMS Raleigh and the Britannia Royal Naval College, respectively. The Tamar Bridge Patrol I once looked out from the Tamar Bridge at the Cl Ship Pen. Com.. Displacement Type Base Warships down below,

Mersey P283 2003 1,700 tonnes OPV P Severn P282 2003 1,700 tonnes OPV P Ships of the modern Navy with names I do not Tyne P281 2003 1,700 tonnes OPV P know.

River class Clyde P257 2007 2,000 tonnes OPV P And as I stood and gazed at them on the water far Archer P264 1985 54 tonnes PBoat URNU below, Biter P270 1986 54 tonnes PBoat URNU I saw a fleet of phantom ships and men of long Smiter P272 1988 54 tonnes PBoat URNU ago. Pursuer P273 1988 54 tonnes PBoat URNU Blazer P279 1988 54 tonnes PBoat URNU The Rodney and the Nelson, ‘the Valiant,

class Dasher P280 1988 54 tonnes PBoat URNU Ramillies, Repulse, Renown and Malaya’, coming - Puncher P291 1988 54 tonnes PBoat URNU home from foreign seas. Charger P292 1988 54 tonnes PBoat URNU

Archer Ranger P293 1988 54 tonnes PBoat URNU I saw Revenge and Warspite, ill-fated Royal Oak, Trumpeter P294 1988 54 tonnes PBoat URNU So many ships, their names made faint by shell Express P163 1988 54 tonnes PBoat URNU and fire and smoke"

P2000 or Example P165 1985 54 tonnes PBoat URNU Explorer P164 1986 54 tonnes PBoat URNU ddddddddd Exploit P167 1988 54 tonnes PBoat URNU Tracker P274 1998 54 tonnes PBoat CL And some I see to harbour. Come as though thro' Raider P275 1998 54 tonnes PBoat CL glasses dark, Scimitar P284 2003 24 tonnes PBoat Gib. The Barham and the Glorious, the Eagle and the class - r

Scimita Sabre P285 2003 24 tonnes PBoat Gib. Sabre P285 2003 24 tonnes PBoat Gi Ark, And then there comes the greatest, the mighty Classic ships warship Hood, Class Ship Pen.No. Comm. Displacement Type Base Dark and grey and wraithlike from the spot on Type 82 Bristol D23 1973 7,100 tonnes GMD P Victory Victory 1778 3,556 tonnes 1st rate P which I stood. From the cruel North Atlantic, from the Med and Java Sea, Ships under construction The big ships and the little ships returned for me The following vessels (in red table) are at various to see; stages of construction in or have been confirmed There's the Glow-worm and the Harding, the with shipyards around the UK, and will join the Devonshire and Kent, The Cossack and Courageous, the Suffolk and Royal Navy in the near future. Ardent. Further off, there is the Successor submarine ddddddddd which will replace the UK's Vanguard-class, But mercifully hidden are the men and stilled nuclear deterrent submarines, with the first due in their cries, service by 2028. Now I can't see very clearly-must be smoke that's in my eyes; Rum Tub Page - 5

Volume 4 Issue 5 October 2015

You don't know Shorty Hasset, he won the DSM, He still fought on when Exeter was burning stern to stem. ODOURS Where now, Dodger Long and Lofty, where now A while ago a new supermarket opened in the Boys and Men? Topeka, KS. They are, lost and gone forever- will we see the like again? It has an automatic water mister to keep the I thought I saw them mustering on deck for daily salad fresh. Just before it goes on, you hear prayer and heard "For those in Peril" rise on the evening air. the sound of distant thunder and the smell of ddddddddd fresh rain. Then darker grew the picture as the lowering When you pass the milk cases, you hear cows night came on, mooing and you experience the scent of I looked down from the lefty bridge but all those freshly mown hay. ships had gone, Those mighty ships had vanished; gone those In the meat department there is the aroma of simple men, charcoal grilled steaks with onions. We'll surely never ever see the like of them again. When you approach the egg case, you hear ddddddddd hens cluck and cackle, and the air is filled with the pleasing aroma of bacon and eggs frying. The bread department features the tantalizing smell of fresh baked bread and cookies. (I don't buy toilet paper there anymore.)

A minister was completing a temperance sermon. With great emphasis he said, 'If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river.' With even greater emphasis, he said, 'And if I had All the wine in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river.' And then finally, shaking his fist in the air, he said, 'And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river.' Sermon complete, he sat down...

The song leader stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, nearly laughing, 'For our closing song, Let us sing Hymn #365, 'Shall We Gather at the River.'

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Volume 4 Issue 5 October 2015

USS Recruit

expect in the fleet. The Recruit had TDE-1 USS Recruit was a cleats, chocks and landlocked dummy mooring lines and US Navy training operated as any ship. Built to scale, standard Navy ship she was roughly – this was for most ⅔ the size of a recruits their first WWII era Dealey “request permission Class to come aboard”. On Escort she was based board, sailors learned upon (thus the “TDE” – marlin spike seamanship, Training Destroyer Escort) and when ground tackle operation, cargo booms, completed, she was 225 long with a deck fittings, lift boat handling and 24 foot 4 inch beam, and sported a signal equipment. 41-foot mast. Recruits were put through traditional USS Recruit was shipboard drills and they commissioned on 27 learned to use all the July 1949. standard ship deck and USS Recruit was bridge gear like that purpose-built as a found on all naval training facility vessels, including and considered a lifelines, commissioned accommodation vessel - and ladders, signal traditional Navy halyards, searchlights, shipboard procedures the engine order were observed just like telegraph and the helm all other Navy vessels. She (the exception being for was also known (affectionately and engine-related practices, as there otherwise) as USS Neversail*. was no engine, boilers or screws). In addition to the regular classrooms, a During her construction, NTC's company of recruits would stay on seamanship division sailors supervised board from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. each the rigging with standard Navy night to stand watch as if fittings obtained from aboard an operational salvaged and ship. mothballed ships. USS Recruit was Training recruits is built of a wooden hard work, and USS frame covered with Recruit started sheet metal, with showing her “miles”, four "decks" used for so in 1954, USS training. Recruit went into a 3- month "dry-dock" for USS Recruit served as a an overhaul and minor school for all recruits going repairs. through basic seamanship indoctrination. The ship's deck was an Time goes by, and technology exact replica of what a Sailor could progresses. Which can cause some issues – after many years of service, Rum Tub Page - 7

Volume 4 Issue 5 October 2015

USS Recruit ran up against then becoming TFFG-1. At this computer technology. In time, USS Recruit was re- 1967, Navy civilian commissioned (though I employees were making have no notes on how the a card-index inventory computer issue was of vessels in the San resolved). Diego area and found More time passed, and themselves baffled and Naval Training Center bewildered by one San Diego and Recruit particular card, which, Training Center, San when placed through the Diego was closed in 1997 by computer for the Base Closure and classification, was continually Realignment Commission (BRAC). rejected. Consequently, USS Recruit was also The computer’s program had a decommissioned. problem in that Recruit is included in the ship was the Naval Training neither afloat nor Centre’s listing on tied up ashore. It the National was not in dry Register of Historic dock, nor Places and has undergoing gained both National repairs or Historic and State overhauling. It Historic designation. was not in The former Naval “mothball' and it Training Center is now Liberty Station, had no crew! Add to that the fact that and the Recruit sits adjacent to the the ship had no boilers, engines or retail area. screws and these hard-working folks discovered that the programming WW1 version could not classify USS Recruit as a Recruit still stands (though currently commissioned vessel. Rather than get unused), with hopes that she will the computer program modified, USS someday become a maritime Recruit was decommissioned on 7 museum. Recently (2014), Corky March 1967. However, the McMillin Cos. - which facility was still used for developed Liberty training of recruits. Station after the base Fast-forward a closed in 1997 - decade or so – in joined forces with the early the USS Midway 1980’s, it was Museum and active decided that duty and retired USS Recruit Navy personnel to again needed get the Recruit renovation and shipshape again. upgrading, in order to Recruit seems to be the only reflect a more current look. Therefore, surviving example of the Navy’s in 1982, she underwent a “yard various landlocked ships – at one period”, upgrading her to closely time, the Navy also operated two resemble the Oliver Hazard Perry other similar training "vessels": class Guided Missile Fast Frigate –

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Volume 4 Issue 5 October 2015

USS Commodore(401B) [also known the Navy had with the name Recruit – as R.T.S. Commodore] at Naval the second one was an actual sailing Training Center Bainbridge, Maryland, vessel – AM-285 USS Recruit, an which was dismantled in the 1970's Admiral-class minesweeper built when the base was closed.*(The during World War II. Commissioned 8 nickname, "USS Neversail, was used November 1944, she saw action in the to refer to USS Commodore as well) Pacific and was awarded three battle stars. She was decommissioned and USS Blue Jacket at Naval Training placed in reserve in 1946, which Center Orlando, Florida, which was allowed the name “Recruit” to be used removed in 1990’s. for another commissioned Navy Note of interest TDE-1 / TFFG-1 was vessel. AM-285 was sold to the actually the third commissioned vessel Mexican Navy in 1963. The Real Field Gun Story Part II Submitted by Ken Jones –HMS Tenby Association – HMS Ulster 1961-63 In the last episode, I described men of seven 'commando's, the background and supported by a regular build-up to the 2nd artillery formation Boer war, and consisting of 96 the Navy's Krupp guns and 2 arrival at the Creusot 6" (long Cape and the preparations toms). leading up to the Amazingly, they landing of the advanced 70 first Naval miles into Natal in Brigade. just a few days In this issue, Jack goes into without meeting any action, not to relieve Ladysmith initially, that resistance. It seemed that the would not happen for a further 4 months, but to British army had been caught completely by end up actually providing the counter siege surprise and they advanced through a landscape artillery inside the town. deserted by the scattered settlers who had got wind of their advance .Three days later they The war started on the 11th of October 1899, entered the town of Newcastle, their only when the Transvaal government opposition being the telegraphed to all Boer constant, driving rain. positions the single Newcastle is only 60 Dutch word for war - miles north of Oorlog. At this the Ladysmith, which is in waiting Boers rode out turn about 189 miles in three columns across northwest of Durban (see the border into Natal province map above), the capital of from the Orange Free State Natal province. through passes in the mountain range at Botha's Meanwhile, Powerful pass, Mol's Neck and Wool's arrived at Durban on the Drift in what was probably the 28th of October and largest body of armed by 1700 on the next mounted men that Africa day the embarked had ever seen. This force consisted of 12,000 naval brigade had disembarked and

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Volume 4 Issue 5 October 2015 boarded two trains which were awaiting them, One army colonel was present at a battery on taking their guns and as much stores, one such occasion and when he asked how a ammunition and tentage that could be crammed gun, which had just opened fire, was located, on. The train journey to Ladysmith took an the young midshipman who was doing the uncomfortable 24 hours. spotting replied. 'See that line of trees on Whilst the navy were the crest of that hill, well preparing at the Cape, there were six yesterday the army, under and now there is only five General White, and a gun on the lee side made contact with of the hill is using it as the advancing his gun target line'. The Boers on the 20th of seamen manned the guns October just outside whilst the stokers brought Dundee and tried to halt their the ammo from a remote progress. However, the Boer columns protected dump some distance away. surrounded the force and using their Of course, this applied to the enemy as well manoeuvrability and the ground to advantage, and for a while, it seemed that the Boers also cut this force to pieces. The outcome of the possessed the art of spotting the brigades battle of Dundee was that the British had 161 batteries. On the 22nd of December, the killed or wounded including their CO, 331 Reverend in charge of the Hanoverian mission surrendered and a separate column of 4,000 in Ladysmith was caught crossing the lines and was forced sixty miles back to the safety of under questioning he confessed to giving away Ladysmith. There was even worse to come! On the batteries whereabouts to the Boers. the 29th of October, as the Boers drew nearer Having a Fleet Paymaster in the brigade may to the town General White sent another force seem strange but he was a veteran of many out to engage them. As the forced advanced in land campaigns in the Nile, Burma and darkness up a steep hill some of the supply Abyssinia and had become used to making the train pack mules slipped and fell and best of things. He managed to the rest bolted, this caused the obtain books packs of cards loss of their artillery and and even a football for the ammunition and when lads but his greatest feat day broke the force was to purchase the found themselves in the towns remaining beer stocks for £30. open in a valley surrounded by Boer. On Christmas eve the Boer guns fell silent as The gunners’ daily task they attended church was to spot the position of, and services but, on Christmas silence any Boer gun that opened up on morning 2 shells landed within the perimeter but did not explode, they had the town and, always remembering to conserve 'compliments of the season’ written on them and were their ammunition as no one could be sure how filled with Xmas pudding! long the siege would last. They became quite As February neared, food became more of a problem. adept at this as time went on. As the Boers At the start, it was estimated that there were supplies used smokeless ammo, it was usually a puff of for 50 days, and they were now nearing the 100-day dust from recoil in dry weather, or differences mark. The relief column, with another naval brigade in the colour of cut greenery disguising the gun in support was near but making agonisingly slow progress. as it dried out. Alternatively, even just a shimmer in the air from the heat of a discharge. To be continued next issue. Rum Tub Page - 10