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Enrollment
"During the early part of the 1939-45 War, I went
scurrying, along with two other friends, to enroll at Leith Nautical College, at
the Citadel Dock Gates in Commercial Street.
We went through the large glazed oak portals into a
busy tiled entrance halls, adorned with beautiful ship models, some of them cut
away to show the method of construction which we were to learn a lot about
later.
There were problems in obtaining the nautical books
due to the acute wartime shortages. Then we had to pay five shillings
(25p) for the obligatory, all-important Board of Trade 'Eye-sight' test."
Studies
"Within a very short time it became obvious that this
type of work was so vastly different from day school, so recently and eagerly
left behind.
Instead of being treated as school pupils, we were
now expected to be and behave as adults. This was brought to the fore at
10 o'clock coffee break (or in college/merchant navy parlance 'smoke oh').
A quick dash outside for those who wished to and
could afford it."
Life Boat Drill
"Friday afternoon became a form of compulsory PE
games, except the sports were confined to 'Lifeboat' drill.
The college lifeboat was situated at the edge of the
dockside wall at West Old Dock."
Air Raid Fire Watching
"We were always on the look-out to
enhance our limited expendable income, even a bit of roof top
Air Raid fire watching
Most firms were obliged to have
employees carry out these duties, for which the government paid an
allowance to the individual of 2/6 (12.5p) per night plus camp bed.
We were usually selected to be used as
stand-in watchers for those having a night-off."
Live Ammunition Training
"We learnt how to strip a Lewis gun down
to the last nut and bolt, then put it all together again.
In the second part of the course we were
assigned to 'live ammunition' gunnery practise, which was conducted
at a quiet seaside sand dune range some fifteen miles from our base.
Lunch there was a small bottle of beer
and a spam sandwich."
SMT Buses
"We travelled there by SMT bus, complete
with trailer! This transpired to be a gas generator to
run the engine. The gas storage bag, rather like a
mini-barrage balloon was fitted on top where normally external
luggage would have been stowed.
The trailer, very similar to a small
fire pump had a mini-boiler, the furnace being stoked with
anthracite coal to make the propellant gas. The solid fuel was
stowed in the rear boot of the bus."
Walter Lyle Hume, Cowes, Isle of Wight, England.
May 25, 2006 |
