Queen Mary as troop ship (Part 4)

Part 4

Fri 8/1/43 Duty again 3.45am — 6.0am same place where I lie down & finish reading a book lent me by Martin; as a result the time seems to pass very quickly. Back to bed again for a little while 6.25am to 8.15am then shave & breakfast. A very brief spell on deck before reporting for duty again. After being in my usual position for 25 mins I was moved to guard a fresh water post on main deck, this again is farcical as these posts are only open from 5.30am — 9.0am & are locked for the remainder of the 24 hours. I am feeling very tired. We are still travelling ESE & its still chilly & the sea is choppy but I’m okay. Dinner 12.15pm lousy — a miserable stew hardly any potatoes followed by figs. Sleep again until 3.30pm then on duty, this is getting monotonous. By teatime I am hungry as hell & tuck into salmon & beetroot, bread, butter & jam. After tea, join Lionel & Bob for a chat upstairs. Lionel & I are both wearing our full blue uniform which shews what we think of the weather conditions. Bob finds it chilly & retires early so Lionel & I go for a constitutional up & down the boat deck. Even so I feel tired & ready for bed. I appreciate though that Renee would have enjoyed it on deck tonight.
Sat 9/1/43 Breakfast not good this morning up on deck until 11.30am & play Battleships with Cyril. It’s a trifle breezy so go below. Cripps has lent me “Kippo”, I remember I saw the film. Dinner today was terrible, salt beef, potatoes, carrots, no vitamins in any of it & catseyes (tapioca) to follow. At 2.30pm we have out first pay parade since being on board & the first pay I’ve received since Compton Bassett. For the past week I’ve been broke, started Sunday with 9¼d & for the past three or four days I have had only the farthing. I owe Lionel 5/- [5 shillings] — 2/6 for EMF telegram & 2/6 for sunspecs so that we leave [sic] me 5/-. I buy some cigarettes & chocolate & I’m left again with 1/10¼d [one shilling and 10 pence farthing]. After pay parade I decide to dress in home scale blue as its quite chilly. We’ve been going E.S.E. since leaving Capetown and its been gradually getting cooler. The tea today was worse than ever, some sort of polony, how the Americans put up with such stuff as spam and Frankfurter sausages beats me, unless the stuff we get is for export only. Up on boat deck again after tea, blackout is at 7.20pm & some piecans are smoking after blackout time so the order is given to clear decks. That’s the trouble if one person misbehaves everyone must suffer. I play two more games, this time with Keith Greenshields & turn in for a read & an early night.
Sun 10/1/43 Awoke to find portholes already open, blackout ceased about 5.30pm [sic], the sunrise like the sunset is quite a speedy process & as I awake at 6.0am the sun is already shining & furthermore I observe that as it is shining into our cabin which is on the starboard side we must be travelling north which means warmer weather ahead & what interests me more is that every mile to the north must be nearer home. For breakfast good porridge, two rashers, 1½ eggs, bread, butter, marmalade. After the miserable meals of yesterday I tuck in and leave the table satisfied for the first time for days. A brief spell on the open boat deck & I then go to the officers mess for the service. Then back on deck again until dinner time. Dinner was not too bad. A little sleep in the afternoon as I’m on duty tonight. My golly its turning warm already, we’ll soon be in the tropics again by the feel of it. A good tea today. Blackout 7.20pm but blackout tomorrow lifts at 5.30am when it will be 2.30am in England. On duty tonight at 9.30pm. Its very hot tonight, the sea has been a bit rough today but its quietened down tonight & we seem to be increasing speed & I’ve seen a few flying fish again today, another sign we’re approaching the tropics. On duty I keep working out the disparity in clock times & wondering if Malcolm is in bed yet & what Renee is doing.
Mon 11/1/43 Very little sleep between Midt & 3.30am when I get up again for duty, its far too hot. It seems to me that to endure the heat of the tropics one must be able to relax completely & I’m beginning to acquire the art, you just let the sweat run & on no account worry about it. 4.0am — 6.0am duty, read a good part of Kippo. 6.0am shave, have an early breakfast & go up to boat deck where at 6.30am I find it warm wearing only shorts, just getting comfortable when they start swabbing down the decks so there is no alternative but to go down below. At 6.0am we passed within sight of Mauritius, so we’re yet about 20° S. of the equator still about 2000 miles before we get to Aden & about 3000 miles more to what is I think our destination. Only about another week & with luck we’ll be putting our feet on dry land again. We all seem to think we’re going to Cairo & that when we get there we’ll be given 7 days leave. Out of bed 9.15am into bath, then duty. Stew for dinner, & rice. Then up to prom deck forward to finish “Kippo”, afterwards another rest in bunk before duty 3.45pm. Tea at 6.0pm then I heard that Peter Flux had been looking for me & that morse practice was going on on Prom Deck aft so I dashed up there & found three oscillators in use. I managed to get a turn & was complimented by the officer i/c for some good sending. There is another class on Wed, I must go along. A walk on the deck with Lionel & Cyril & then below to get this story of my adventures up-to-date. Its terribly hot below & half the chaps in the cabins are preparing to sleep on the open boat deck. I decide that I will sleep below as usual, the air should be fresher with half the chaps away. I cannot settle to anything this evening its so hot. I think probably we have caught up with the sun again & we won’t get it much hotter than this although of course the advantage at the moment is that we are on a ship at sea and therefore there is a continual circulation of air. What it must be like on land say in Madagascar at the moment I cannot conceive. I decide to have another bath and then go to bed. I’m jumpy tonight & sleep is not easy.
Tues 12/1/43. Up this morning at 6.30am there’s plenty of activity already as the chaps who slept on open deck are all about. Bentley came down at midnight as it was raining but the others stayed even though it rained again at about 3.0am. I take my turn for a bath & then go aloft in gym outfit for some fresh air before breakfast, its grand, the sea is the blue-black inky colour of the tropics & fairly calm. There is a nice breeze blowing, not hot nor cold. I dread to think of what it will be like later on presuming we shan’t be able to take regular daily baths as at present. Its 40 days today since I saw Renee, the second longest spell since our married life began. It seems absolutely ages. I am still full of optimism concerning returning this year; some of the chaps seem already to be reconciled to the prospect of a stay abroad of at least three years. I shall never be reconciled to that, I can only look forward about six months at a time, & I always see my return as being to Woodlands Road. Oh, happy day. How happy we will all be. I shall value freedom after life in the service, the restraints, restrictions, having ones life always arranged, all will be gone & we’ll do what we like, go where we please, dress & eat how and what we fancy. I’m writing this whilst on boat drill. I’ve just worked out that we should be at Aden at 2pm on Thursday. I’ll see how near I am. My last letter to Renee was written last Sunday week so I’m afraid there’s quite a gap in our correspondence but I’m hoping the gap may be partially filled by sending an EFM [sic?] telegram again at the first opportunity. I’m hoping that very soon now, when we get to Cairo, as we feel sure now that that is our destination & our date of arrival about next Wednesday that there will be mail awaiting us. This afternoon I sat chatting on boat deck with Jock, Oswald & Martin until Ossy & I went down to prom deck for a haircut by an RAF chap. Not a special trim by any means but I feel a bit cooler as a result. Spent most of the evening with Martin.
Wed 13/1/43. Up at 6.30am, its glorious to feel the cooling breeze through the portholes after the stifling atmosphere of the night. After shaving, I go up to the Boat Deck with Bob at 7.50am & remain there until breakfast time 8.45am, chatting with Bob & Parkinson. Its absolutely glorious on deck just now. After breakfast, boiled egg, I join Cyril & Lionel & we spend our time on Boat Deck until we are turned below for 45 mins whilst the crew indulge in boat drill. Dinner inappropriately enough — again stew. The afternoon I spend in the company of Bob & ginger Fred, & also do a bit of sunbathing but as soon as I take my shirt off the sun disappears behind cloud & the breeze turns chilly. Today we are drawing our Kitbags from the hold in preparation for disembarkation. Everybody says how glad they will be to get off this ship, but I expect before long they will be wishing they were on it again. One thing I think is sure & that it is so …s [torn] we’re in Cairo we should get appropriate meals. At 5pm our morse class is in operation & I thoroughly enjoy it [torn], it packs up though at 6.10pm so I go below for tea — pilchards. Blackout 6.40pm. I spent a pleasant evening with Bob strolling about boat deck talking about civvy jobs. We get paid again tomorrow, thank goodness, I owe 40 cigarettes, 1 orange & I’ve 4d. I feel certain though that once ashore & I can catch up with my pay I shall manage alright. The relations between Cyril & Bob are at the moment very cool, it would appear that Cyril is rather a “line-shooter”. On duty again tonight, I don’t mind really it relieves the monotony & in any case its so damned stifling that one might as well be up in search of what fresh air can be found. By the way, I forgot to mention that I shaved my moustache off this morning just for a change. I’ll keep it off for a little while at any rate. If we get into some remote spot later on I may even have my head shaved to stimulate the growth of hair, I don’t really want to be bald when I go back home. Goodnight Renee darling, I’ve thought about you quite a lot today, Goodnight xxxx. We draw our deep sea kit bags in preparation for disembarkation.
Thurs 14/1/43 After duty 4.0am — 6.0am I climb straight into bed tired & hot & stay there until breakfast time. Duty 10-11.30am follows & then very good dinner, cold pork, potatoes peas, mixed fruit salad (dried) & custard, lashings of it this time. After my early dinner 12.5pm up to boat deck to read, write & sunbathe. As I had forecast that we should reach Aden at 2pm today, I go forward to have a look at 1.45pm & there in the distance can see mountains. It is a long time before we get near them, the nearest we approached was about 20 miles & it turns out to be the volcanic (extinct) island of Socoltra [?], a British possession of which I had never heard, lying at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden, so we still have about 24 hours to go before reaching Aden. I went below but instead of resting I watched through the porthole until we were almost past the island. Then 3.25pm into a cold bath to cool off a bit before reporting for duty at 3.45pm. I wore my boots to give my feet a rest but nevertheless my feet ache like hell & I’m very glad to be relieved at 6pm. After tea up on deck again & spend the time with Martin, Cree & Bob. Pay parade is a messup at 8.15pm & I finally draw a much needed 10/- at 9.20pm. I shall have about 3/1 to change for 15 piastres so I won’t be completely broke when I land. Another bath before bed but I’m soon sticky again. We put the clocks back an hour tonight. Blackout was at 6.45pm.

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