On board I rarely ate the dehydrated food and existed on Bread Roll (as made by me for the
Wardroom, so the cooks always made extras for themselves) and soup. Somehow it kept me
going until the next `Big Eats'. Once when ashore at Madras, the Shore Patrol found me and
said I'd to report back on board. The other Baker had collapsed with the heat and lots of
bread was at risk. I went slowly back to find the Chief Baker in a state too! God it was Hot!
There were no fans at all and thermometers were U.S. The temperature topped 150° plus at
the ovens. The flour was full of weevils, and must have resembled wholemeal bread nowadays!
Flour must have been really old to be in such a state and of course the yeast was poor as well,
so not a good loaf and difficult to make. Once when we called at Makassor in Celebes, word
filtered to me that a nearby warehouse was `full of Yankee Tinned Beer' (in khaki cans). So
that night I nipped ashore with others and acquired about thirty or forty tins of lager (Super!).
I kept mine hidden in the Bread Room (off Cafeteria). What with a porthole there and now
canned beer, things were looking up.
However, Sainfoin seemed to always be at sea, and what with news from the UK that some
high Demob No. in F.A.A. were being demobbed which made our low group men mad, and
added to the general discontent re. conditions. We went to Bangkok and its fighting there
with Nationalists and brought back a battalion of Dutch Paratroops, going on to retake Bali
from the Japs. This was some months after VJ day!! Near to Surabaya, some of our passengers
went sick and the Quack said "Smallpox". so we hoisted the Yellow Flag and anchored outside
for a day or so. However the Bali landings had to go ahead - Quack decided that Smallpox was
Chickenpox - meanwhile EVERYONE had been vaccinated again whether required or not and
the landings went ahead.
BALI! A Millionaires Paradise and I recall the lovely beach where our `Passengers' went ashore
and disappeared into the jungle. Soon afterwards (up for a smoke) a Topless Maiden walked
slowly along the beach, countless crew members ogling the view! So our little landing group
withdrew, along with one of Sainfoin's sister ships `Sefton' and two frigates and two LST's. I
have never been rich enough to return to Bali and so I keep my memories.
Another port we visited now and then was Batavia, another place where fighting occurred.
H.M.S. Sussex (6" cruiser) would fire from outside the harbour at the insurgents, sometimes
over Sainfoin as we loaded or unloaded troops. It was from Batavia that we brought the 13th
Batt. Parachute Regt. and took them to Singapore. Whether it was the effect of sampling the
food on board or ?!?!? Anyhow within two days of leaving us and going to Muar near Kuala
Lumpur, they mutineered over the conditions. The C.O. was demoted to Major in the
subsequent inquiry. The 13th. Batt. was disbanded (there has never been another) and
ringleaders jailed, some got ten years. Not a happy tale, but there was a lot of discontent
amongst our forces in the E. Indies then. The war had ended and the men felt that they had
been forgotten. Food poor, Demob Nos. scheme definitely not working, also the mail from the
UK was really poor and seemed to be worse than in the war. That's just a few of the reasons.
On Sainfoin we sailed for Rangoon next and a `Deputation' of six including Royal Marines
went up to the Bridge (MUTINY) and `ASKED' for a meeting with the Skipper, L/Cdr. Longmuir
who was told that things were at breaking point. There did seem to be an improvement after
that, even the mail seemed to be better. Previously, Sainfoin and Mail seemed to always miss
our Ports of Call.
The admiral in Singapore put his Chaplain aboard for a trip and I was surprised one night on
deck to be spoken to by this officer. Later, invited to his cabin (cool fan blowing) along with
ten or so shipmates, and on other occasions we enjoyed a cool glass of Limers and a smoke
and discussions, ending with a Prayer. I was told that he was aboard to assess the conditions
on board etc. Some three years later in 1949 I had need of a Vicar's signature for Emigration
Papers for Australia and so I went up to see the local Vicar. He went to a filing cabinet and
found a letter (from the Admiral's Chaplain). He told me that he had waited a long time to
show me this letter!! The letter said that would he please tell the Chef's Mum that her son was
fine and still smiling despite the hard times, and sticking to his Christian Faith whilst some
others were losing theirs and their heads! How I wish that I still had that letter now.
So conditions did improve. Mail began to come regular and some crew went off home for
Demob. Two Royal Marines (we carried about seventy to man the LCA's) wrote up to the Daily
Mirror appealing for Pen Pals and one day when we reached a port, Sainfoin was swamped
with mail. Sacks of it! Whether the female writers were feeling sorry for us lads or were looking
for a husband I'll never know, but there were too many to reply to. The Royal Marines used
to dump a bagful onto our mess table and say "Dig in boys". There were so many letters that
many would never get a reply - Pity. I wrote to a couple of girls, but got cold feet eventually
when I got home. So I never met Betty from Mill Hill or Rose from Stroud.
My skin problems remained and somehow got used to the Salt Water drink, and Quack also
ordered that I should spend at least three or four hours every afternoon up on deck in the sun,
instead of laying on my bunk below decks! So a Royal Marine was detailed to see that I
obeyed this order. We used to lay under a Whaler slung inboard on the Boat Deck, a `cool'
breeze blowing and a book to read, and it did help me. A rumour was going around that
Sainfoin could be going home, and this was fuelled by the order to Paint ship on a visit to
Batavia. Anyhow, I was laying there under the Whaler one afternoon when I was aware of
something digging into my rear and a voice saying "OUT". On complying with his instructions ,
I found the Jaunty in a fine old temper, asking why I should be privileged to relax when all
my shipmates were Painting Ship. I tried to explain, but soon found I was being ordered over
the side, at the sharp end, on a plank with another hapless recruit at the other end and both
with a pot of Battleship Grey and a three inch, or maybe a four inch paintbrush. A rope went
around the bow to keep the cradle in position and all went well for a while. However one of
the Seaman's knots came undone and there was a bit of shouting and swearing and eventually,
to cut a long story short, I regained my feet on the upper deck a bit worse for wear and with
lots of Battleship Grey paint on me, and also in my skin sores. I was taken to Sick Bay to be
cleaned up. The Quack happened to come and spot me in my predicament. Paint in my hair
and paint in my sores, and he went POTTY! The MAA was next door and he got a dressing
down by the Quack whilst I quaked and wondered if I would get retribution. However, the
Jaunty couldn't have been nicer. In fact my dealings with him after that were OK.
Sainfoin was going home, and so we sailed to Singapore and embarked a Batt. of R.M.
Engineers round near the Causeway, and set sail for Trimcomalee and later Colombo. Trinco
was almost deserted by the Royal Navy, what a change from the times I spent there on Flare
and Rapid. We topped up on Oil, Water and Food at Colombo and my old problem came
back. I should have `gone off' with other Young Crew Members, however it seems that a
Relief Chef, or Chefs couldn't be found so I was `spared'. Too young to go home and a high
Dmob No! Sadly we left some of our crew. I know how they must have felt as I had
experienced it all before on Rapid.
There was always something happening to remind me of previous happenings on board e.g. A
little explosion in the Galley (Fuse Box) brought back memories of when entering Malacca
Straights once. The Commander came on Tannoy and said, "We are now entering a Heavily
Mined Area which has not been swept properly. If by any chance we should hit a mine (feel a
slight bump in the night), get up top IMMEDIATELY! (We'd have gone down like a stone if we
had hit a mine). It was a problem area as our Gun Crews were often piped to `Close Up' when
floating mines were spotted, fired upon and sunk or blown up. On one memorable near the
Galley Gash Chute I spotted a rusty mine quite near to the ship. Guns fired and suddenly it
blew up. The blast hit the ships side and the shrapnel left a peppering effect. The blast came in
the porthole like a rocket and somehow blew me backwards. Unfortunately there was a forty
gallon tub with dehydrated spuds in soak and this caused me to sit down, nowhere else to go
and so I had a wet starchy rear! I got up quickly and never told the Chief Cook! "Hawkeyes at
it again up on the Oerlikon" I thought. After Columbo the Chief Cook and Jaunty teamed u to
run a little `NAFFI' each night. Tea and Rockcakes etc., guess who had to bake the Rockcakes!
Anyhow it was an additional service for our `passengers'. We went up the Red Sea to Port
Said, a call for Water and Fuel etc. I remember getting involved in an `Onion Battle' with a
load of natives on the Quayside there. Whose Onions they were I never did find out, but many
were used. After a stop at Gibraltar the weather broke and we sailed through a foggy mist all
the way up to Greenock. It was a bit rough in the Bay of Biscay. Maybe it was just as well we
had Radar.
At Greenock our LCA's were lowered and all our Royal Marines and Passengers departed, I
never saw any again. So Sainfoin moved to the Tail of the Bank when we saw the super new
Battleship H.M.S. Vanguard (a beauty). Princess Elizabeth was due the next day to dedicate the
Chapel on board. Meantime I managed to get leave and have a pint in a pub called The Hole
in the Wall. Next morning as Sainfoin was all rusty after her long voyage, we were moved out
of sight of H.R.R. and moved up to Meadowside, up past John Browns famous slipway, where
we were given twenty four hours leave. As I lived fairly near at Galashiels, I had my application
granted only to find that my mum had heard of Sainfoin's arrival home on the radio,
whereupon she took off on a train for Glasgow. She arrived at the ship as I arrived home.
However, she was made welcome by the other Chef's aboard, so all was not lost.
Soon after I returned we somehow lost all power from the Generators and spent many hours
feeling about our ship in the pitch darkness. Three of us also spotted the body of a young Red-
headed Woman floating in the Clyde, so not a nice sight and we informed the Police,
Within a day or so Sainfoin Paid Off leaving an S.P.O., Nobby Clarke, Walt Mitchell and four
other stokers. These were the last men to leave the old ship, being sent on to Chatham some
two weeks later, and so they all disappeared from view forever. Some really super mates, and
until I met Stan Yates SBA in Swindon RNA in the late seventies, I never met one crew member
from Sainfoin. All RNA men I met had never heard of her, nor of Flare or Rapid. I wondered
sometimes if `My War' had been all dreams. However in 1987 I spotted `Hawkeyes' Self's
name in a Shipmate Search Book at an RNA reunion and I was absolutely delighted! It is great
that we have now found even more old Shipmates. So many memories, many not set down in
this wee tale. I always think, looking back, how fortunate I was to have done what I did, where
I went, in the company and sharing the good and bad times with some wonderful guys. The
youth of today would or should envy us, and all done before I was twenty years old. Within a
few months of leaving Sainfoin I was Demobbed, Class B for urgent reconstructions work and
soon `Erecting Prefabs', so soon I joined the Army of Ex Servicemen, almost all trying hard to
forget recent years, and so get on with their lives.
However one will never ever forget our Royal Naval Service, nor H.M.S. Sainfoin. When I
served on her she almost always sailed alone on her voyages, so when we did team up with
other ships, such as at the Bali landings, or when we were in a bigger port with many ships, it
was always interesting to watch the other ships. I can't ever recall hearing any Radio Broadcasts
over the Tannoy.. Perhaps this was not allowed, or we may have been too far away from a
B.B.C. Transmitter. On Rapid, sometimes we would here `The News Headlines' preceded by
the call sign of All Indian Radio (Polonaise from Toky's Eugene Onegin). Then it would be
switched off, but then we were `At war'! How the modern Peacetime Royal Navy would have
coped with `Our Lot' God only knows, but the old saying - Hardships, You Don't Know What
Hardships Are! - is a most definite true saying ---- Ah Well!!!
Re Broadcaster:- As Sainfoin neared the UK, say near Lands End, the radio would come on for
an hour or so in the evening. At around 6.30 we heard for the first time about Dick Barton -
Special Agent and it's magic theme! Something new for our ears.
Dick Imrie (Cook)
Explanations:-
Jaunty - Master at Arms
Jankers - Punishment Charge
Number elevens - Punishment - Usually Extra Duties
Limers - Lime Juice
S.P.O. - Stoker Petty Officer
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