I intend to put my recollections of this 18th month period in my life over a period of time.  It was, without doubt, the most influential 18 months of my life.  Please bear with me but I really want to try to capture each moment with real detail which, in my current medical state, is not easy and does require a lot of thinking.

HMS Cavalier, Indian Ocean with HMS Ark Royal in background - 1962

As with the recommissioning of any Royal Naval vessel, the new crew was flown, in one flight, to Singapore to take over the ship.  "Cavalier" was commissioned in 1943 and actually served in the Arctic Convoys so this was no vessel of the 'new navy'.  It was smaller than I had expected but the thing that seemed to occur from the first day when we marched over the brow following a splendid welcome from our new Captain, Commander Black, was the instant acceptance of the ships motto "Of One Company".  This feeling seemed to take hold of all of the ships company and, as you will get to realise later in these chronicles, continued for the entire commission.

Enough for the first part please give me the indulgence I am asking for and it won't be long before I add the next chapter. I will also attach a picture of this grand old lady who you can still see in the Historic Naval Museum in Chatham as the last World War II Destroyer.  She ended up as Capt. D of the 8th Destroyer Squadron in 1963 purely by the elimination of all the others due to the intent at that time of scrapping.  But, you can't keep the good lady down; she came back and served the country well for many more years.

To set the scene as to why I was drafted to Cavalier is, in itself, a funny incident.

Following my passing out as a qualified Junior Radio Operator from HMS Mercury, the RN Signal School just outside Petersfield (no longer there I’m sad to say), I was drafted to my first seagoing vessel, HMS Tyne, a Destroyer Support Vessel, in Portsmouth Harbour.  When I say seagoing, I use the term loosely as this only meant a once a year trip to Rotterdam or some other port. Only once did we venture down to Gibraltar, and that was a good effort for such an old girl!  Mind you, my first trip to sea, a trip out to the outer spit boy, just outside Portsmouth Harbour, had me spewing my heart out. But, there again, The Lord Nelson also suffered from seasickness throughout his career, as I did, so I was in illustrious company.

Anyway, not to be side-tracked, I was having what could be called an intimate relationship with a young lady who lived in Gosport (don’t they all?). At the tender age of 17, I was convinced I was in love! (Or was it just lust?). Anyway, my mother, God bless her, in her wisdom, decided this young lady was not good enough for me and got on to my Divisional Officer with her fears of me falling into a fate worse than death, mind you, I was enjoying every minute of our relationship!

I was then advised by my Divisional Officer that I was being sent overseas and that I had a choice of two overseas drafts, either it was to be the West Indies or the Far East (Singapore).  I naturally chose the West Indies and, naturally the Drafting Authority drafted me to the Far East. I mean, why should they change a habit of a lifetime and actually send someone where they really wanted to go!. A Draft to HMS Cavalier, 8th Destroyer Squadron, based in Singapore. One could say this was the real beginning of my growing up and I can assure you that the 18 months I spent on the Cavalier did much to shape my future life. Whether that is for the good or the bad, who can tell!

As an aside, it has always amazed me that the Divisional Officer for Radio & Tactical Operators was rarely someone from our own trade – communicators. They were either Seaman Officers or Electrical, no good at communicating at all!  They didn’t know much about how the branch operated and, consequently, didn’t understand our delicate feelings! For example, on the Cavalier our Divisional Officer was the Navigating Officer, and on the return to Hong Kong from Japan, he missed Hong Kong by 60 sea miles. He was flown home after that so I will not divulge his name. But, I digress too much - back to our arrival in Singapore.

Although the advance party of the new ships company had gone ahead, in early December, the remainder of the crew flew out to Singapore but only after a delayed flight that left us all in hotels in Eastbourne overnight - for those of you who know Eastbourne, in December you could described it as being closed. Eastbourne is only open  for 6 months of the year, the summer months. Now, my mother lived in Eastbourne so I suggested that I could spend the night at home and save them money. Not a chance, they didn’t trust me not to do a runner so I was confined to a hotel on the seafront of my own home town. Oh well, at my tender age, I had to accept the Navy s attitude even if it did confuse me at the time.

To cut a long story a tad shorter, we arrived in Singapore to the welcome of the great humidity that I had never experienced before and were bussed to the Naval Dockyard at the north of Singapore Island, just near the causeway joining Singapore to Malaysia.

The new ships company was formed up on the jetty and given a welcome address by our new Commanding Officer, a Commander Black, who was actually a member of the Fleet Air Arm and had to have a command of a ship before he could get his 4th ring.

Surprisingly, this did not depress us, it was rather novel that this good man was going to be flying a seagoing vessel instead of an aircraft.  In fact, we looked upon it as an interesting concept!

Anyway, following his words of wisdom, we were marched onto the ship in the grand old naval way, carrying our hammocks over our shoulders, just like in the old war films. Here we were introduced to our new mess-decks where we were to spend the next 18 months, crammed together like sardines. But hey, isn’t this what we joined up for? Oh well, we were in the exotic Far East and most of the crew had not been this far away from home before so we were willing to give it a chance, not that we had much choice!

Now, having tried to cram our meager possessions in to the extremely inadequate lockers that were considered to be ample for our needs, we all decided to take the opportunity to accept the new Captains offer of buying the drinks at the club in HMS Terror, the Singapore Shore Establishment.  This was probably the 1st of many nights the ships company took advantage of this wonderful facility, whether it was just the odd drink or to support the ship in Rugby and Soccer matches.  Not that we won a lot but by heck, we enjoyed the after match celebrations!

Anyway, I digress, this particular evening the CO took it upon himself to go round all those members of the ships company who had turned up, mostly they were there for the free drinks, and introduced himself personally to each of us. He and I instantly had a rapport, so from then on he would call me Mager and I was allowed to call him Sir!  Anyway, one of our RO2(S) (Radio Operator 2nd Class Special (spook)), had a special message for Cmdr Black. Now, this chap’s name was Nixon and he confidently told the CO that if/when we got to Australia; he was leaving the ship and staying there. Everyone laughed at the time, even the CO, but history will show that is exactly what he did when we arrived in Fremantle and he hasn’t been heard of since 1962.  Good luck to him, he was a man of his word and the way he did it, and the sheer cheek of it, will be revealed later in this tome!

Now we get down to the nitty gritty of any new commission. We had the usual period of Working Up, where the ship’s company, officers included, get used to working together to ensure the ship is able to function in an efficient manner in any circumstances. After our period of working up we underwent examination by the Capt. D (the Senior Officer of the 8th Destroyer Squadron). We passed with one or two adverse comments.

At this point, I should divulge that our CO was the lowest rank of any other of the 8th Destroyer Squadron Captains. Those on HMS’s Caesar, Carysfort, Caprice, Cassandra etc were all more senior to our Commander Black. Hence we became what is affectionately known in the RN as the Bum Boat. In other words, we got all the crap jobs such as acting as plane guard for Aircraft Carriers transiting the Indian Ocean, Singapore to Aden and return. 

Now, many things that linger in the memory of the 18 months onboard HMS Cavalier are those which had an effect on me personally and as I recall them they may not be in chronological order, so any other Cavalier should not hold me to account for keeping these memories in order.

Bearing in mind that I was young, inexperienced and had been what could have been called a  Mummy’s Boy, I was having to come to terms with my new life in the real world on board a small ship in the Far East. Culture shock? Just a tad!

These next few lines of wisdom will give an indication of what drove me to my 1st action to assert my presence on the Cavalier. As a child I was member of the Air Cadets. I would have been in the Naval Cadets but I couldn’t get into the band there, so I went to the Air Cadets where I could.  Even so, I wanted to be a drummer but was never allowed, so I had to settle for a bugler.  Didn’t do my lips any good though!

So, when one day, an item on Daily Orders, a tome that comes up each day to tell the ships company the important items of duty for the day, was calling for volunteers, for a drummer as part of a Shadows style group, being put together by Leading Seaman John Goodall, I jumped at the opportunity and put my name forward to him and we had a chat about things. To say I lied to him about my abilities probably goes too far but I did indicate, somewhat exaggerated, that I had experience!

Anyway, John had 3 volunteers come forward, a stoker named Alf (Jock) Hendry for rhythm guitar, myself as the drummer and a TO (tactical operator) whose name escapes me, as the bass player. Anyway, the deal was those wishing to participate would provide their own instruments at their own cost. We all agreed, well, all except the TO who wanted us to pay for his bass guitar, so we formed a group with lead, rhythm guitars and drums. By this stage I had turned 18 so was no longer a Junior Radio Operator but a Radio Operator 3rd class. Oh how the mighty rise in rank - lol.

Now, obtaining a set of drums proved to be a bit of a problem with the ship transiting this way and that, having been given all the dirty jobs by Capt. D. So, I ordered them through the NAAFI.  I only had to wait three months before a set of drums was available in Aden and, luckily enough, we were on our way to Aden, chasing the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, acting as her plane guard when she flew off aircraft. A photo of the Cavalier with the Ark Royal in the distance was taken on that trip – see the attached picture.

Now comes the crunch. I have the drums at last, but the question is: can I do what is required of me?  Well, playing drums in the old military form doesn’t do a great deal for Shadows music, so I had to adapt quickly and I’m proud enough that I managed to do that. Not brilliantly, but enough to pass as a reasonable drummer. Nothing like what a drummer is required to do today though; after all, I only had one snare drum, one tom-tom, one base drum and one cymbal. What more could you expect?

We called ourselves The Caravels and actually made a very good reputation for ourselves throughout Singapore, playing at many hotels, bars and, especially, at the youth club at RAAF Seletar. Those kids were our number one supporters and I cannot describe the feeling and love that grew up between us and the kids’ families. One has to experience that to understand.

Now, to keep up the reputation required of our performances, we decided to get identical suits, shirts, shoes etc so we look the part. This was not easy even in places like Hong Kong. Three suits, all to be identical? There was always one that turned out different despite many pleas to get it right.

The expense of this had us sharing toothpaste for a period of time whilst we invested all our money into getting our act into some form of respectability. Was it worth it? We thought it was and we enjoyed every minute of it all.

Incase any of you ex-service personnel are wondering where one would keep a drum kit on a small CA class Destroyer? I can tell you it is difficult but not impossible. With the agreement of the PO (Tel) (or Radio Supervisor as they are known now), he allowed me to keep the drum kit in the emergency generator space. As I was responsible for the occasional running of the generator to check its working ability, I could put the drums out on the deck and return them to their space after the check. One good and interesting part was when we had a Commander in Chiefs (Far East) inspection. He toured the entire ship which had all 3 of us carrying the drums around the upper deck following him until it was safe to put them back in their storage. Lots of laughs from the remainder of the ship’s company.

Location - Far East (Singapore/Hong Kong)

Submitted by - Woosha