quite attached and were very happy with the arrangement
during the rest of the time we were in the hotel.
The final part of the navy's effort to turn me into an officer
and a gentleman was a course in theRoyal Naval College at
Greenwich. Eighteen of us went there, from the original draft
of forty or so that had started in St Vincent some months
before, so I must have made the grade in a few things. The
college is a magnificent building, with a majestic sweep of
colonnades facing the Thames, and even more remarkable is
the fact that it was originally built as a seamen's hospital. The
painted hall is stunning and would not be out of place in a
palace. Some of the buildings were quite badly damaged in the
Blitz, but this was after we arrived. We were being trained to
do a man's job, to become leaders in charge of ratings who
might well have many more years' seniority than us. At heart,
however, we were young men of between eighteen and twenty,
irrepressible, full of fun and, however grave the situation,
always on the lookout for the next drink or attractive female.
It was our boast that we would never allow a deserving case
to go unattended.
As a precaution against damage from air raids, some parts
of Greenwich had been boarded up. The statue of King
William on its plinth in the main quadrangle had been completely
surrounded by a brick wall and roofed over. One night
before leaving we decided that we would leave our mark on
the college. There were some small naval cannon lined up
along one side of the colonnades, and we got some ropes and
pulleys and purloined a couple of ladders. A group of us dismantled
one of the cannon, then hefted the barrel and gun
carriage on to the top of the brick tower that surrounded the
statue, which was about 30 feet high. We then reassembled
the cannon and removed all traces of the lifting tackle. Next
morning there was a constant stream of people wandering
through the quad to look at this cannon perched high in the
air.
Of course we were quickly identified as the guilty men.
Commander D'Oyly, the captain, called us into his office. We
expected the chop, but he was quite calm. He questioned us
closely about how we had managed to dismantle the cannon, lift
it above the statue and then assemble it again in the dark. 'Well,'
he said, 'I am very pleased that you have learned something from
your seamanship lessons!' He was right. None of us would have
had the foggiest idea how to do it before we had joined the navy.
He then said, 'You will take it down before you leave.' We knew
that this was not a request and we quickly chorused our desire
to restore the cannon to its proper place. Nothing more was said
about the incident, but I still have the photograph that one of us
took before the cannon was removed.
I had one unpleasant incident at Greenwich, which made
me extremely angry.Lord Gort, a senior army general, and a
female companion were invited to a dinner, and there was
a lottery to find out who was going to have the honour of
joining them at the top table. I drew the short straw and sat
next to her throughout the proceedings. After two abrupt
questions, about my rank and my family, she utterly ignored
me. My nervous attempts to start a conversation were cut
dead, so I sat there feeling humiliated, sinking lower and
lower in my chair as the evening progressed. I have never forgotten
her rudeness, and I was pleased to be present when she
later received some of her own medicine.
So we becamesub-lieutenants in the Royal Navy Volunteer
Reserve, the lowest form of officer life, but officers none the
less. We were given a few days' leave. In one final daring coup
one of my South African colleagues, Buster May, sweet-talked
the Wren who was issuing the travel warrants and secured us
warrants to travel home via Belfast. So it was a few days with
Ruby, whom I hadn't seen for several months, then home to
Kelso.
4
The Shooting Starts
In the final weeks of my training at Greenwich Naval College
the world
during the rest of the time we were in the hotel.
The final part of the navy's effort to turn me into an officer
and a gentleman was a course in theRoyal Naval College at
Greenwich. Eighteen of us went there, from the original draft
of forty or so that had started in St Vincent some months
before, so I must have made the grade in a few things. The
college is a magnificent building, with a majestic sweep of
colonnades facing the Thames, and even more remarkable is
the fact that it was originally built as a seamen's hospital. The
painted hall is stunning and would not be out of place in a
palace. Some of the buildings were quite badly damaged in the
Blitz, but this was after we arrived. We were being trained to
do a man's job, to become leaders in charge of ratings who
might well have many more years' seniority than us. At heart,
however, we were young men of between eighteen and twenty,
irrepressible, full of fun and, however grave the situation,
always on the lookout for the next drink or attractive female.
It was our boast that we would never allow a deserving case
to go unattended.
As a precaution against damage from air raids, some parts
of Greenwich had been boarded up. The statue of King
William on its plinth in the main quadrangle had been completely
surrounded by a brick wall and roofed over. One night
before leaving we decided that we would leave our mark on
the college. There were some small naval cannon lined up
along one side of the colonnades, and we got some ropes and
pulleys and purloined a couple of ladders. A group of us dismantled
one of the cannon, then hefted the barrel and gun
carriage on to the top of the brick tower that surrounded the
statue, which was about 30 feet high. We then reassembled
the cannon and removed all traces of the lifting tackle. Next
morning there was a constant stream of people wandering
through the quad to look at this cannon perched high in the
air.
Of course we were quickly identified as the guilty men.
Commander D'Oyly, the captain, called us into his office. We
expected the chop, but he was quite calm. He questioned us
closely about how we had managed to dismantle the cannon, lift
it above the statue and then assemble it again in the dark. 'Well,'
he said, 'I am very pleased that you have learned something from
your seamanship lessons!' He was right. None of us would have
had the foggiest idea how to do it before we had joined the navy.
He then said, 'You will take it down before you leave.' We knew
that this was not a request and we quickly chorused our desire
to restore the cannon to its proper place. Nothing more was said
about the incident, but I still have the photograph that one of us
took before the cannon was removed.
I had one unpleasant incident at Greenwich, which made
me extremely angry.Lord Gort, a senior army general, and a
female companion were invited to a dinner, and there was
a lottery to find out who was going to have the honour of
joining them at the top table. I drew the short straw and sat
next to her throughout the proceedings. After two abrupt
questions, about my rank and my family, she utterly ignored
me. My nervous attempts to start a conversation were cut
dead, so I sat there feeling humiliated, sinking lower and
lower in my chair as the evening progressed. I have never forgotten
her rudeness, and I was pleased to be present when she
later received some of her own medicine.
So we becamesub-lieutenants in the Royal Navy Volunteer
Reserve, the lowest form of officer life, but officers none the
less. We were given a few days' leave. In one final daring coup
one of my South African colleagues, Buster May, sweet-talked
the Wren who was issuing the travel warrants and secured us
warrants to travel home via Belfast. So it was a few days with
Ruby, whom I hadn't seen for several months, then home to
Kelso.
4
The Shooting Starts
In the final weeks of my training at Greenwich Naval College
the world
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