TROOPSHIP ACTION

I was interested in a comment made by Jim Spriggs in his letter in August on tracing a troopship. His suggestion that an article on the awful conditions on troopships may be of interest to readers inspired me to write, for my voyage, aged 18, on a troopship to Burma was far from awful.

Having trained as an RAF photographer, I was posted to Rangoon, Burma, via Singapore. The ship was the 26,000-ton Empress of Scotland. We sailed from Southampton on 9 December, 1946. We had no idea for how long, or where exactly we would be, so close to the end of the war in the Far East.

Problem one – how and where to sleep. As a six-footer I didn’t fit in a swinging hammock, so I slept on our deck two floors down until the weather was warm enough to sleep on the open deck, looking up at the stars.

Problem two – three days of severe sea sickness as the ship rolled through the Bay of Biscay in 85-mph winds! I was supposed to be on cookhouse duty! I can’t recall complaining. It was all part of the big adventure. We stopped at Port Said, surrounded by bumboats selling souvenirs and trinkets – then a magical sail through the Suez Canal.

Christmas dinner on board was served by the officers and we all shed a tear when Bing Crosby sang White Christmas.

Time to relax. Blue sky, deep blue sea and watching shoals of flying fish keeping up with the ship. Magic!

We had a day in

Colombo. Next stop Singapore, then I transferred to the SS Rajula with a platoon of Ghurkas bound for Rangoon. That’s another story!

Any blips on the voyage? Once, when we nearly had kippers for breakfast. A chap from our mess table went up the two flights of stairs, along the open deck and down to the cookhouse. He was given 20 kippers in a shallow metal tray. When he reached the open deck, a gust of wind saw all 20 kippers head for the open sea. We had bread and marmalade for breakfast.

A second incident was when we entered warmer climes. Our deck was very warm, and at the end of our mess table was a round porthole with the message: “This porthole only to be opened when not at sea.” But what harm could a little fresh air do? So we opened it.

Sheer bliss – until the ship rolled and a solid jet of sea water cleared our meal table of everything, plus drenching us all! Thereafter it stayed shut and we sweated.

Awful conditions? We didn’t on our ship. We had a great experience, never to be forgotten.

Tony Wilkins, West

Wickham, Kent