Albert Spavins T.S. Indefatigable The most important thing that was happening in 1942 was that there was a war going on.

I lived in Lulworth Cove, in Dorset. At that time we enjoyed double British Summer Time and the sun was still shining at 10 o'clock in the evening. Most of us children were still down at the cove swimming at this time. Most children were the sons or daughters of fishermen and when they were old enough joined the Royal Navy or Merchant Marine. Growing up as I did by the ocean I too wanted to go to sea.

I checked all of the Training Ships in Britain at that time and noticed that there were a number of training ships. Among them were the Arethusa, the Mercury and the Indefatigable.

I spoke to my father quite frequently on the subject and eventually he decided to let me go. Later he told me that he did not expect me to last a week before I would be asking to come home. We arrived in Liverpool at five o'clock in the morning. Since it was too early to go to the Sailors Home (the headquarters of the ship) my father thought that it might be interesting to visit the cathedral which was still under construction, and had never stopped all through the war. Walking around the outside of the building we could hear the sound of someone chipping stone or marble. To our amazement it was a young woman stonemason. Her father, a master mason had taught her the trade since he had no sons. At that time it was very unusual to meet a woman stonemason.

The Sailors Home was the most unusual building I have ever encountered. The centre of the building, as I remember was hollow. There were many floors and rooms were built around the inside walls of the building. A large fence like rail seperated people from falling through the centre of the building. We met the secretary who did the necessary paper work and I was on my way (not to a ship, but to a camp in North Wales). It was only at this time that I discovered that the bombing was considered too dangerous for the boys to remain at Rock Ferry. I got to Ruthin somehow and then caught a bus to Clawdd Newydd, in Denbighshire.

When I arrived at the camp I noticed that I was not the only new boy. Indeed there were about eight others. The first officer Mr Unwin gave us our instructions. We were all given numbers (mine was 167) and told where and when to collect our kit, mattresses, plates, mugs, etc and off we went to our divisional huts where all of the old boys were waiting for us. A boy lead hand showed me where my bunk was and I stowed my kit. My division was the fourth. It was known as the Cock Division because it had won the Sports Competition the previous year. As a result when on parade a person carried a staff with a metal cockbird pirched on it ahead of the parade.

The boy chief petty officer of the fourth division was a character by the name of Twist. He was a bully. However, unlike most bullies he was also tough and could fight and beat anyone among the ship's company. He had a long piece of rubber hose tightly bound with string. When he hit you with it you experienced considerable pain but it left no mark. He wanted to know if I could fight. The truth was that I had never fought anyone in my life but I knew that I was going to have to fight whether I liked it or not. I said that I could and he singled out a red haired fellow by the name of Adams to fight me.

The details of the fight escape me but I was left alone afterwards. Adams and I became friends eventually. The hut was very hot in the summer and by October was extremely cold. During the evening a large bucket was kept in the middle of the hut for anyone to relieve themselves rather than go to the head which was some distance from the hut and would be extremely cold for anyone wearing only a nightshirt to go to. The bugle woke us up in the morning and it was a rush to wash and get ready for breakfast.

Breakfast consisted of a substance which was know as 'burgoo'. It was supposed to be porridge but it was the strangest looking or tasting porridge I had ever experienced. Potatoes were always cooked in t heir jackets whether fried, mashed or baked. All of the food was awful but it was astonishing how quickly one got used to it and soon could ask for more, if there was any. The Captain was William Bambra. (There was a time when I thought that he made Captain Bligh seem like a rank amateur.}

On one occasion when a party of boys had raided the local orchards and we had all feasted on their booty, a party of the local farmers had visited the Captain and complained. The next morning on the first works parade, I remember it as though it had happened yesterday, the Captain said, " A number of the local farmers have approached me and suggested that a number of boys from this ship have stolen fruit from their orchards. I have assured these gentlemen that no boy from this ship's company would do such a thing. However, if any one of you had anything to do with this, let that person take one pace forward." The whole ships company took one pace forward. He looked at us with a wooden expression and said, "I suppose you think that I cannot punish you all. Well, you are mistaken. I can, and I WILL."

We lined up by division and one by one went into the captains office. All of the officers were there to take turns to punish us. There were two posts attached to the floor and between them a brass rail. The miscreant had to bend over and grasp the rail with both hands. Some officers would tap your backside lightly to make sure that no newspapers or other means of avoiding punishment were present. Then with a long birch stick they would deliver the first blow. At the instant of the first stroke your backside went numb but as the pain shot through the body down came the next stroke. When you had received six an officer would yell out, "Next". It was absolutely essential not to let a sound escape you while punishment was being meted out or you would be teased about it afterwards.

Once a month a doctor would visit us and everyone mustered on the mess deck for inspection. This consisted of everyone stripping naked and walking around until you arrived in front of the doctor. You then presented your hands, back and front, raised your hands in the air and turned slowly around so that he could see your whole body. What made this occasion so interesting was the fact that you could see all of the bruises on everybody's backside. Some blue and purple, quite recent and others brown and yellow. I don't know when corporal punishment was banned in Britain but I was never punished unless I deserved it.

Certainly I never looked forward to it. (I am now 73 and I see quite a few young fellows who could do with a good thrashing now and then.) Almost everyone on the ship smoked. Some people who had little source of income sold cigarettes. They were a penny each. In those days you good buy five Woodbines or Players Weights for twopence.

We were a motley crew. Some came from the Church of England Waifs and Strays Society, some from Borstal institutions and some like myself because my father paid. I was surprised to find that when I first arrived that the morning would be spent on academic subjects. Mathematics included trigonometry because for those of us that would go on to navigate it would be needed. English, history, geography, geometry. I thought that I had escaped school and had gone from the frying pan into the fire. Once a week we marched to a lake for boat practice. I was small for my age and the long heavy oars were very difficult for me to manage but like everything else I got used to it. It was not something that anyone looked forward to because we went in all weathers and it was a long march. We stopped at the village store (those of us with any money) but there was never much to buy except Scottish oatmeal biscuits.

On Sunday, we went to church in the village. I do not know the denomination. Not that it would have mattered. No one was excused unless they worked in the galley. When it got very cold we moved down from the huts to the back of the school room. It was warm and comfortable. No doubt to save money, our working uniform included clogs. We wore boots or shoes when on parade or when going into town. Occasionally, some of us went into Ruthin to go to the local cinema. After, fish and chips was a great treat before catching the bus back. In spring or summer, each week, we had to scrub the floors of the huts with large scrubbing brushes and large cobs of lifebouy soap together with all kinds of disinfectants in the water. I had chilblains and the effects on my already swollen fingers have lasted to this day.

My best friend Archie Holdcroft knowing how short soap was at home, purloined a few bars and sent them home to his mother . A boy names Shearer informed on him and Archie got six of the best. From that moment on Shearer was know as the Snitcher. Came the time I had to sit the examination for Dartmouth. At the medical it was discovered that I was short sighted in my right eye and that I could never go on the bridge. I asked the Captain to get me a berth aboard a merchant ship. This he did and along with Shearer the Snitcher left for the Sailors Home in Liverpool.

Upon arrival the secretary said that I could not go to sea without my father's permission because I was not sixteen. I had to return home. The ship that I would have sailed on was on the Murmansk run. Later, I joined the army. The Royal Corps of Signals to be exact. I became a radio mechanic. (Today I beleive they call themselves technicians) At different times I was stationed in Egypt, Cyprus and British Somaliland. Life for me was never difficult after leaving the Indefatigable. The army was something like going to Butlins Holiday Camp. I spent six and a half years in the army and upon demob I left for Canada. Life in Canada has been good for me. Eventually, I went to the University of Toronto and upon graduation became a teacher. My life has been good and most satisfying and I know with great certainty that I owe a debt of gratitude to the officers and boys of the Training Ship Indefatigable.