Around the Rowan Tree, Day 22

The Russians were there as well, waiting in their subs. Got in contact with them sometimes

Richard remained in the navy for four years, the time he had signed on for, no more. A year was spent at HMS Mercury learning his trade, the rest was spent at sea. He did see the world.

We got irregular letters from Richard, all of which were interesting and telling us of the wonders he had seen. He didn’t dwell on the hardships. Richard was of a hail-fellow-well-met disposition and got on well with the other sailors. He was also of a careful nature and didn’t blow all his money in every port he went into. He told me he became the banker to a few of the other sailors who never learned the art of not spending everything in one mad spree and having nothing until the next pay day.

“You wouldn’t believe it, Mum, what some of these lads get up to. Often they’re ripped off but they never seem to learn. They end up with nothing until next pay day when they have to pay me back half of what they get. They just don’t seem to be able to save anything.”

I was glad Richard wasn’t becoming like them. I had always impressed thrift on the children. Perhaps my words were paying off. As well as regular letters we got unexpected visits. Richard would just arrive. Sometimes it would be in the middle of the night. You never knew when. It was very seldom that he asked us to come and meet him anywhere.

Ronald had always taught them to find their own way, to look after themselves. Perhaps it was paying off. I would willingly have gone to meet them in Perth, Edinburgh, wherever, to make things easier for them. Ronald would not have encouraged me to do so.

Exploits

“They must become independent. It’ll be better for them in the long run. You’ll see.” But Richard never asked. The door on the old farm house was never locked so occasionally, if he arrived in the middle of the night, I would not hear him creep in. What pure delight to find him there in the morning. Once he arrived just as I was up and dressed, the footsteps outside, the opening of the farm house door, “Richard, how did you get here?”

“Walked from Perth,” he said.

“You should have phoned, that must be all of 12 miles.”

“Actually, I thoroughly enjoyed the walk. These early summer mornings in the Carse of Gowrie are great. The air is so fresh and everything so vividly green. And you should see the sun coming up over Dundee in the distance.”

I knew what he meant. On my early walks I had often seen the same spectacle.

“You don’t know what it is like after months and months of wave upon wave to be on dry land again with so much to see. You are inclined to notice every detail. And it’s so quiet at that time in the morning. Only one or two lorries passed. It was magic.”

Always on Richard’s return a crowd gathered to hear of his exploits. He never mentioned anything he thought might worry us in his letters, but when he came home he would tell us, the danger now over.

Fortunately, while Richard was in the navy, there were no major upheavals. The cod wars were the nearest thing to conflict. It was perhaps Richard’s most dangerous time at sea.

“Absolutely freezing cold up there, off Iceland. Fall in the sea and it would be curtains. I was radio operator for the most part but I had other duties to perform as well. The worst one was letting the helicopter off the decks. In freezing winds, in mountainous seas, loosening these planes – had the slightest thing gone wrong, we would have been overboard in a second and that would have been the last of us. I’m not the bravest of people and, I can tell you, I hand it to these lads that fly these things. Wouldn’t have done their job for all the tea in China. They must have nerves of steel.”

The Russians

“For the most part, though, it was routine. Mostly it seemed to be a time of waiting to see what would happen. The Russians were there as well, waiting in their subs. Got in contact with them sometimes. Unfortunately they couldn’t speak much English and we little or no Russian. However, in spite of that, we managed to get some games going through the radio. You always had to let them win, though. Otherwise, just the same sort of guys as us. It’s the politicians that start the wars, not the ordinary people.”

Richard was learning. During a trip round the world we didn’t see Richard for a full year. It seemed a long time but there were more stories than ever.

“You should see Sydney, what a great city, one of the biggest harbours I have ever seen. Beautiful. And the buildings! Seem to go with the landscape somehow, so tall and all different colours and the streets are like great narrow canyons. There was a thunderstorm while I was there. It was frightening in a way. Great streaks of lightning shooting everywhere and the noise of the thunder resounding in these tremendously deep canyons.”

Richard went on and on. “Could have been in a bit of bother there, actually,” he said a little hesitantly. “Had rather a riotous last night. Don’t quite know how I got back on board ship before she sailed.

“All I remember was being carried aboard by my mates. Got into a bit of trouble over that but nothing to what I would have been in had I missed the ship. That’s the greatest crime, not making it.”

“Whatever did you...” I asked a little hesitantly. I got no further.

“Sowing his wild oats, leave the laddie alone,”

The Potomac

Ronald said. “What about when you got to America?” “Got into a spot of bother there too,” said Richard ruefully. “Coming back one night, along the banks of the Potomac, to the ship some of my drunken shipmates pushed me into the river. I suppose I’d had a bit too much as well. It wasn’t done with any malice. It was just horseplay and they probably didn’t know I couldn’t swim. Two or three things saved me, I think. Having had a few, I didn’t panic and the waters of the Potomac are so dirty I don’t think you could sink if you tried. I was needing a hair cut. It was getting a bit long. I can’t remember quite what happened but seemingly they managed to get hold of my hair and pull me out.

“After that, on the voyage home, I was really ill. The trouble with the navy is that you can never get them to believe you’re not well. I ended up not being able to walk at all, my limbs all seized up. They wouldn’t believe me, thought I was putting it on. Eventually they did, of course, and I went right into hospital when I came back to this country. I was there quite a while but I wasn’t wanting to worry you.”

“Oh, Richard,” I said.

“Och well, don’t worry I’m getting a bit fed up with the navy, anyway. I’m thinking of leaving when my four years are up. I don’t see me getting very far. All I can do is communications. I’ve been offered training for another job, welfare officer for the sailors. I would get special training.

“They think I would do well at that. I get on well with the lads and can look after their interests. But I’ve declined. No fear! One of the lads in the next bunk to mine never reappeared after the last trip. I found out it was because he had just murdered his wife. I’m not getting mixed up with that lot!”

More tomorrow.