BRIGG MAN RECALLS SAILING TO THE FAR EAST & GETTING ENGAGED

 

Raised and educated in Brigg, Cliff Turner, now 91 and living in New Zealand, recalls times in the Merchant Navy and in the early 1950s and tells us how he sought permission to marry Nancy...

I spent my leave in Brigg and re-joined the ship at Birkenhead soon after Christmas. The company gave a Christmas bonus of a month's pay and I think it was on 9 January 1951 that with two shipmates I went over to head Office in Liverpool to collect it. We then went to a pub which had the rather incongruous name of The Temple.
Later that evening I briefly met a beautiful young woman and arranged to meet her the following evening. We spent it at the Stella Maris club for seafarers and told each other our life stories. I learned that her name was Nancy Jones and that she came from Bangor in Caernarvonshire. She was 21 years old and teaching in Liverpool and living with a cousin in the Anfield area. The next evening we went to the theatre and next day I sailed away, after we agreed to write to each other during my absence
My second voyage in the Peleus was very much like the first one. Top up with cargo in Rotterdam; call in briefly at Plymouth; Port Said; Suez Canal; Aden and on to Singapore. Hong Kong and Japan followed and we were back in Liverpool on 14 April. 
As soon as I was able I telephoned Nancy and we met up that evening, although I cannot recall where we went or what we did. I went home to Brigg and Nancy came for a brief weekend, arriving in Brigg by train at about mid-day on a Saturday. 
Since we passed the family shop on the way from the station to Redcombe Lane we called in so that Nana and Grandad could meet Nancy. 
After a meal at home we went for a walk along the river bank to Castlethorpe Bridge and in the evening Dad and stepmother took us for a ride in the country to Brocklesby Park where we had a look at the mausoleum where Earls of Yarborough and their families are buried. 
On Sunday I asked Nancy to marry me and she said yes and that evening returned to Liverpool. It was not a protracted courtship!
During my leave we met up in London; I arrived there from Brigg in time to meet Nancy's train from Liverpool at Euston Station. We went to the hotel in Russell Square where Nancy was to stay and I went to the Victory Ex-Services Club where I was still a member. Next morning, Saturday, we met up and went to Lyons' Corner House in the Strand for breakfast but I do not have much recall of how we spent the morning except that a street photographer took our picture with Admiralty Arch, at the Trafalgar Square end of The Mall, as a background.
In the afternoon I introduced Nancy to the thrill of horse racing at Hurst Park, a few miles from central London. Nancy picked more winners than I did; my sole successful pick was Eastern Emperor, owned by Lord Rosebery. 
That evening we saw a play at the Criterion Theatre in Trafalgar Square; a totally forgettable piece called Who Is Sylvia. The next day we met up with my brother Ken and his wife Janet; they had been married only a short time and were living in Hampstead. 
All too soon it was time for Nancy to catch the train for Liverpool while I caught the mail train that arrived in Brigg at about 6:00am.
I had expected to do another voyage in the Peleus but while still on leave I was told I was to be first electrician in the motor vessel Dymas which was in Le Havre; I went directly there from Brigg via ferry from Southampton. 
The Dymas was an old motor ship which had discharged a cargo of copra at Le Havre and she was crawling with insects that I was told were copra beetles. My discharge book shows that I signed on on 2 May 1951. I think I only went ashore once in Le Havre before we sailed for Rotterdam to load cargo for Indonesia and Australia, but fate intervened. 
The ship was due for a survey and it was found that the main engine crankshaft was cracked. To remove it for repairs was a huge job involving the removal of much of the ship's superstructure in the area above the engine room. We went to a repair yard at Schiedam, close to Rotterdam.
While there I burned my hand badly between forefinger and thumb when a fuse I was replacing on the main switchboard blew. I had to go ashore for medical attention and made several visits to the same doctor to have the burn looked at and new dressings applied. I began to realise that I did not want to spend all my working life at sea, and that the sooner I tried to make a career ashore the greater would be the chance of some success.  I told the captain that I would not sign on for the next voyage; the company's chief engineer was in Rotterdam on company business and came to see me to try to get me to stay on but I stuck to my guns and I was paid off on 17 May. I travelled to Harwich by ferry from the Hook of Holland and caught a train for Sheffield.
Nancy and I had written lots of letters during my time in the Dymas and she was able to meet me in Sheffield and go on to Brigg.
Father and stepmother were away so Nancy stayed at the Angel Hotel.  The following day Nancy returned to Liverpool and I had to start thinking about finding a job, but first I went to Bangor to meet Nancy's parents and younger brother Bill, going to Liverpool by train one Friday and meeting up with Nancy at her cousin's house and then on to Bangor by bus.
It was obvious that Nancy's family was not well off but equally obvious that they were a very happy family and I was made very welcome and felt very much at home.
Much of the older part of Bangor lies on a narrow strip of land with the Menai Straits on one side and a very steep ridge, which with a degree of exaggeration was called the mountain, on the other. A road ran up the mountain to St Mary's College where Nancy had obtained her teachers certificate and on the Saturday morning we went to see the College. Somewhere along the way we had bought a bag of cherries and we leaned against a farm gate eating cherries and spitting out the stones. I was blissfully happy.
We only had two full days in Bangor and on one of them we went to Caernarvon and visited the castle. It was here, legend says, that in 1284 King Edward I, who had built the castle, told the Welsh he had conquered that "He would give them a prince, born in Wales, who speaks not a word of English". He then showed his newly born son, later Edward II. That is how the title Prince of Wales was instituted.
Another visit was by bus to Penmon on Anglesey which involved crossing the Menai suspension bridge built by Thomas Telford between 1818 and 1826. It is described in Brittanica as "the first important modern suspension bridge". The road from the bridge was lovely, running along the Anglesey side of the Menai Straits and having trees on each side forming a canopy. A road sign "Narrow road and winding" amused me; it was probably devised by someone who had Welsh as his first language. Some years later the road was widened and straightened which was probably a desirable move but nevertheless was a bit saddening.
At Penmon we saw an ancient ruined priory and a huge circular dovecote. Close by was the primitive shelter in which an early Celtic saint, St Seriol, is reputed to have lived. A short walk brought us to the shore and a light house and a view, across a narrow channel, of Puffin Island. There was once a coast guard station at Penmon and two substantial houses remain but some much smaller cottages which we saw that day have since been demolished. 
One of the cottages offered teas and we enjoyed a snack and had a look at a huge Welsh bible that was on display. For me it was an enchanted day and we have rarely been back to Bangor without paying a return visit to Penmon..
All too soon Sunday evening arrived and it was time to catch the bus to Liverpool. At the last minute I asked Nancy's Mum and Dad if they would allow me to marry their daughter and they both said "Yes" in spite of the fact that at the time I was unemployed.
After delivering Nancy to her cousin's house I was able to get to Brigg by train on the same evening. 
Nancy and Cliff are pictured above in 2015.

More memories from Cliff to come on Brigg Blog.