On the voyage back to Trincomalee we called briefly at one of the Maldive Islands where natives paddled out in canoes with fresh fish. In return they were given newly baked bread from the ship's bakery. At that time few British people could have pointed to the Maldives on a map but it is now a tourist destination. Nancy's great nephew went there for his honeymoon; when his mother told me this on the telephone I said "I've been there - three hours on a Sunday morning". She thought I was joking.
Soon after getting back to Trincomalee I had two weeks leave at Diyatalawa in inland Ceylon. The journey by bus took all day; we had a stop in Kandy which was the capital when Sinhalese kings ruled Ceylon. I saw the Temple of the Tooth - the tooth being reputed to have been Buddha's - but did not go inside. The journey took us over the Ramboda pass which I think was 6,000 feet above sea level, and at one stage we were held up by a ceremonial procession of elephants; it may have been the Buddhist equivalent of the Harvest Festivals I attended and enjoyed as a choir boy.
For the first time I saw hillsides terraced into small flat areas for growing rice and saw tea plantations. Due to its elevation Diyatalawa was much cooler than Trincomalee and we wore our blue suits in the evenings rather than tropical whites. It was possible to hire a bike so I got into the surrounding country and one day I came across a school where there were some boys in saffron robes. An elderly man explained they were learning Pali, a "dead" language in which many of the sacred texts of Buddhism are written. Every evening, flocks of huge bats flew overhead and I was told they lived on fruit. I came across a dead one; it had a wing span of about 30 centimetres.
Later I had another trip to Diyatalawa, this time in charge of a prisoner going to the military prison there. Wee Jock, a little Scotch seaman, had been caught asleep when he was guarding a prisoner in the ship's cell. His offence was deemed to be more serious than that of the man he was guarding so he was sentenced to a few days in the military prison at Diyatalawa.. I had two sailors to help me and as we left the ship the Master at Arms asked me if I wanted Wee Jock handcuffed. Since Wee Jock weighed about eight stone I said we would not subject him to that indignity.
After an all day journey we delivered our prisoner. I think we all enjoyed the journey and enjoyed a meal at a government rest house with the voucher I had been given; it was more like four pals having a day out than a serious business. This changed in an instant as we entered the prison and Wee Jock was spoken to as if he was a bad dog. I was disgusted that, for what I thought was a minor misdemeanour, four men and a Ceylonese driver spent two whole days travelling. The escort and I had a night at the leave camp and returned to the ship on the next day
Recalling this somewhat unusual job reminds me of another function totally unrelated to my normal work. I occasionally was Petty Officer of the Day and had to be present at the rum issue. Every day at 11:00a.m., the words "up spirits" came over the loud-speakers; the P.O. of the Day joined an officer of the watch and a man from the Stores branch in the spirit room deep down in the after end of the ship. I cannot recall how the exact amount of rum to be issued on any particular day was determined, or how the rum was stored in the spirit room, but enough rum was taken to give every eligible man one eighth of a pint and the P.O. of the Day had to be sure that no more and no less was taken. We must have had at least 400 men eligible which meant that 50 pints, or more than six gallons were taken onto the deck amidships.
The mess-men for each of the Chief and Petty Officers messes then collected enough neat rum for their messes and the remainder of the rum was watered down in a large wooden tub bound with brass rings and carrying, in large brass letters, "The King God Bless Him". Then a rating for each of the other messes came for their "two and one", so called because their rum was diluted by two parts water to one part rum.
It was about the time of my trip as an escort to the prison that we went to Colombo to go into dry dock, mainly for a bottom scrape. Unlike merchant ships we spent a very small proportion of our time at sea and in the warm tropical waters in harbour weeds grew quickly on the ship's bottom. This was enough to cause a reduction in the maximum speed the ship could attain and also caused an increase in fuel oil consumption when we did go to sea. Colombo was a much more pleasant place than Calcutta or Madras and we were able to go swimming at Mount Lavinia on the outskirts.
During my time in Trincomalee I had gained a bit of a reputation as a quiz kid and as a result I was invited to join a team of the Birmingham’s officers on the quarter deck in a quiz against officers of the County class cruiser Norfolk which was anchored near us in the harbour.
The quiz was conducted via radio telephone and I cannot now recall who won or any of the questions asked.
What I do recall was being given a bottle of beer which was definitely against regulations.
PICTURED: The Birmingham had nine 6 inch guns mounted in three turrets, two forward and one aft, Cliff says.
Further interesting memories from Cliff to come on Brigg Blog.
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