British India Steam Navigation Company Ltd.

Journal By Cadet Philip Dilworth.

Part Two

H.M.T. TALMA

Together with Pluto Inches, I was transferred to the Talma. The Talma was a 10,000 ton cargo/passenger liner about 20 years old. It was a single screw, coal fired ship, powered by a triple expansion steam engine. It had two rather thin funnels and was not a very handsome ship. In peacetime it had operated between Calcutta and the far East i.e. China and Japan. The Captain was called Carter - he was the senior Captain of the B.I. fleet, a bachelor, who had never been back home to the U.K. for the last 25 years or so. The Chief Officer was called Weatherseed, the 2nd Officer's name was Daly and the 3rd Officer, nicknamed Slim, was called ????. There was also a Radio Officer, whose name I forget. The Chief Engineer and 2nd Engineer were both Scots, named Burnside and Hill respectively. The Talma had a 3.7 inch gun mounted on the stern, and also had a Royal Marine reservist, to look after the gun, and to train the gun crew. He was a Glaswegian called Longdon. The ship's crew were Lascars, the Purser and Doctor were Indian, and the ship's Carpenter was Chinese.


Talma
©P & O Collection.

When the war started, the Talma was at Shanghai, where she was immediately converted into a troopship, with a capacity to carry approximately 1,000 troops. When Pluto and I boarded her, she was carrying a regular battalion of the Durham Light. Infantry who had been stationed in Shanghai. The ship was on its way to Port Said where the D.L.I, would disembark to be stationed in Egypt. In addition to the personnel mentioned above, the Talma also carried a 2nd Officer known as the Troop Officer, by the name of Gibson. His job was to liase with the troops and generally sort out any difficulties that might arise concerning their accommodation, meals, welfare etc. etc.. "Troops" was a big fellow, about 6'3", who drank like a fish, and ate a raw onion every day before breakfast to counteract, so he said, the effects of the gin he had consumed the night before.

For Pluto and I, life aboard the Talma was very different to the rather harsh routine we had been subjected to aboard the Waroonga. No longer were we regarded as the lowest of the low, and at the beck and call of the dreaded rook calls. We were regarded as young officers, and we each had our own cabin - it was a welcome change, and we responded to it. At sea, we went on watch on the bridge, and in our off-watch time we studied navigation, learned the Morse code, learned the international flag alphabet, how to sew canvas, how to splice ropes etc. etc.. We ate in the first class dining room with the ship's officers and with the Army officers.

The Gun Crew

Shortly after joining the Talma, Pluto and I were made members of the ship's gun crew. The Marine acted as the gun layer i.e. he set the range on a dial and operated a wheel which moved the gun barrel up or down - he also fired the gun when the horizontal cross-wire of his sight coincided with the target's water line; the third Officer was the gun trainer i.e. he set the deflection on a dial and operated a wheel which moved the gun barrel from side to side - it was his job to keep the vertical cross-wire of his sight on the centre of the target; I was the number three, and it was my job to load the shell into the breech and push it as far as I could up the barrel; Pluto was the number four who loaded the cordite case into the breech after priming it with a detonator; and the number five was a sixth engineer who closed the breech block after the gun was loaded - he also opened the breech block to eject the cordite case after the gun had been fired. Second Officer Daly was the Gun Captain who determined and shouted out the range and deflection to be set on their dials respectively by the gun layer and gun trainer; gave the orders to load and fire, and was in overall command. There was also a small team of Lascar seamen who kept the ammunition racks on the gun deck filled, by carrying shells and cordite cases from the ammunition locker on the deck below,, as required. When the gun was fired, the effect was quite spectacular - a sheet of flame shot out of the breech and for those wearing toiler suits, the bottom of the trouser legs jumped up to knee height before dropping down again. We subsequently learned to tuck the trouser legs into our socks to prevent this happening.

On one occasion, after arriving in Bombay, we went to a Naval establishment to be instructed in ranging. About 10 feet from where one sat was a large table, the top of which was painted to look like the sea, and on this was a model - about 5 inches long - of a ship. The person under instruction then gave an order e.g. "range 8000, deflection 2 right, fire". The instructor, sitting at a console, pressed a lever and a small cylinder, painted white shot up out of the table top and remained there for an instant before dropping down again -- this was supposed to represent the splash from the fall of shot. If the fall of shot was short of the target and to one side say, then the next order to be given would be say "Up 1000, deflection 1 left". Hopefully the next indication of the fall of shot would be beyond the target and on line. The idea was to bracket the target, and then hopefully make a hit with the third shot.

Colombo - Marseilles - Bombay

We left Colombo sometime in January 1940. At that time the war seemed to be in a stalemate in France, and so we sailed alone, but nevertheless the ship was blacked out. We arrived at Suez about 10 days later, where we picked up a pilot and then proceeded through the canal to Port Said. Unlike the Panama Canal there are no locks in the Suez Canal, and we went non-stop through the canal in about 12 hours. Half way through, the canal enters a large lake at Ismalia, before proceeding on to Port Said.

The D.L.I, was a highly disciplined and first class battalion. They had been very sorry to leave Shanghai which they considered to be a good posting. I was told that a Sergeant's pay would enable him to keep a mistress in a flat, if he wanted to -and some did. At Port Said, the D.L.I, disembarked and set up camp in tents which had been erected for them. The camp was adjacent to our jetty, and I can remember watching three defaulters being drilled one afternoon, by the Sergeant Major, on the parade ground. They carried a full pack and rifle, were wearing a tin hat, and in the heat of the afternoon were marched up and down the parade ground at light infantry pace, with a halt and stand easy about every 10 minutes, to get their breath back. Their drill and marching was immaculate, and I felt sorry for them, and full of admiration at the same time. We remained at Port Said for about 5 days, where we provisioned the ship, and also loaded on coal for the ship's boilers. Loading the coal took the best part of 24 hours, with an archaic method of loading. We moved to a "coaling wharf", where there were massive dumps of coal - the coal was very fine, with very few large lumps, and looked to me to be of the consistency of open cast coal. A vast number of Egyptian peasants were employed to carry the coal manually into the ship. Each man carried the coal in a straw basket slung over his shoulders and every time he entered the ship, was given a tally. There were two gang planks, one for those carrying the coal on to the ship, and the other for those leaving, after depositing the coal in the coal bunker. There was a continuous stream of men, both entering and leaving the ship, chanting away with a monotonous dirge, and this went on all through the night, until the coal bunkers were full. On completion, the ship was in a filthy condition with coal dust everywhere.

We left Port Said for Marseilles, calling at Malta on the way, to offload a detachment (about 20 men) of the Cameron Highlanders. They had been stationed in India, for the best part of 5 years and were on their way home when a signal came through that they had to disembark at Malta. As can be imagined they were desperately disappointed, and we were all extremely sorry for them.

We remained in Marseilles for about a week, awaiting the arrival of troops from the U.K. who were travelling by train through France from the Channel ports. I remember going ashore one evening with Pluto to have a look at Marseilles. Unfortunately we couldn't see much because of the blackout. We had been told to make for the British American Bar, where we would meet up with some of the Talmas' ships officers later. The British American Bar was a well-known place, whose customers were mainly French and British servicemen. It was a large hall, with a stage at. one end, and with round tables dotted all over the floor. We saw the Talma's officers and joined them at their table for a glass of beer. Every hour' or so there was a show on the stage - the main attraction being about 7 or 8 scantily clad girls doing various dance routines. In one routine they appeared as young Red Indian girls, with a feathered headdress, beads and bangles, and with feathers around the waist and ankles. They performed a mock war dance, punctuated with war cries, and after the show mingled with the customers sitting round the tables. I was delighted when one of these topless beauties sat on my knee and gave me a kiss - I had never been so close to a topless girl before!

On an adjacent table I noticed a French soldier sketching away on a large drawing pad. In conversation he told me he had been an art student before being called up, and now, whenever he could find the time, he would sketch portraits, which were his particular interest. Eventually the troops arrived. The "troops" turned out to be about 1,000 sailors -most of them having been called up, and known as H.O.'s (Hostilities Only) in Navy parlance. We were to take them to Bombay, whence they would transfer to another ship for the final part of their journey to Hong Kong. They were being sent out to replace experienced regular Naval personnel in the China Fleet, who were being sent back to man the Home Fleet, where all the action was. The trip across the Channel on their way to join the Talma, was the only time most of the H.O's had ever been to sea. When we sailed from Marseilles and the ship started to move up and down as we met the sea swell, about half of the sailors could be seen leaning over the side of the ship being seasick. On the way out of the harbour we passed the Chateau d'lf of The Count of Monte Christie fame, which is on a small island in the estuary.


Chateau d'lf

Gunnery Practise

The journey to Bombay via the Suez Canal, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean, must have taken the best part of 3 weeks. Whilst we were passing down the Red Sea it was decided to hold a gunnery practice and fire live ammunition at a target. This was quite an event for Pluto and I, because although we had had plenty of practise drill, we had never actually fired the gun. Although we were not aware of the actual time, we had been informed that the practise would take place sometime during the afternoon, and would be initiated by six blasts on the ship's siren, which was the normal signal for the gun's crew to close up. At about 3.15 in the afternoon, the siren went, off, and we all dashed aft, to the poop, where the gun was situated. The Naval personnel we were transporting, particularly the RN Officer's, were very interested to see how we would perform. I think most of the Officers were expecting us to make a hash of it, because generally the Navy's opinion of the Merchant Navy was not very high. By the time we got to the gun, the target had been dropped overboard and was a few thousand yards astern. The target had been made earlier by the ship's carpenter, out of a large number of wooden crates, which had been lashed together. We uncovered the gun and loaded it as fast as we could, and the Second Officer yelled out the range and deflection, and gave the order to fire. Marine Longden who was the gunlayer, waited until the crosswire of his sight came down on to the waterline of the target and then pressed the firing trigger. The gun fired with a tremendous thud, flame came out of the breech block as the gun recoiled, our trousers jumped up to our knees and fell down again, the breech was opened and the spent cordite case was ejected, and we proceeded to load the gun again as quickly as we could. We then waited for the Second Officer to shout out the corrections for the range and deflection - we waited and waited - and then we heard him say - "Well, I'll be blowed - unload, unload, unload!." We unloaded the gun, and then he told us we had hit and destroyed the target with our first shot. This was remarkable. Considering the target was about 4 to 5,000 thousand yards away, it must have been a complete fluke.

Needless to say, our- Naval passengers who had taken a keen interest in the proceedings were completely dumbfounded - whereas we affected to give the impression that nothing unusual had occurred.

Return to the Mediterranean

We disembarked the Naval contingent at Bombay - they embarked on another ship for their passage to the Far East - took more coal on board, and cleaned up the ship ready for our next trooping run to the Middle East. After a stay of about 10 days in Bombay we embarked a battalion of Mahrattas from the state of Hyderabad, and on the morning of our departure for Suez, where the troops were to be disembarked, we were visited by the Nizam of Hyderabad, who came aboard to wish Godspeed to his battalion. This was quite an occasion.

The voyage to Suez was uneventful, and we remained there for about 3 days after the troops had disembarked. On one of these days a large American stretched limousine was hired to take a party of us to Cairo, for the day. The party consisted of Pluto and I, the Second and Third Officers, the Radio Officer, and the 4th Engineer. I think the others must have paid for Pluto and I, because a Cadet's pay was not very much. As far as I can remember, the journey to Cairo took about 3 hours, across what was mostly desert. At Cairo we went and had a drink on the balcony of the famous Shepherds Hotel and then proceeded to a posh restaurant for lunch. I remember Pluto impressing everybody when he asked the waiter for a special cutter, to cut the end off his cigar. After our meal, we visited and went inside one of the mosques before going on to Gaza to see the Sphinx and the pyramids. At Gaza, we all had a ride on a camel, and had our photographs taken thereon - there is a photograph of this somewhere - before going on to see the great pyramid. I remember being surprised at the size of the stone blocks which made up the pyramids - being about 4 ft high, they were much larger than I had imagined.

At Suez, the Talma received orders to proceed to Cyprus, where we were to embark a Cypriot Pioneer battalion and take them on to Alexandria, to work with the British army in Egypt. We tied up to a jetty in the harbour of Famagusta at the beginning of June 1940 and a few days after arriving there, the Italians declared war on 10th June. This held us up at Famagusta, as we had to wait for a destroyer to come and escort us to Alex.

It was at Famagusta that our captain - Captain Carter, got the wind up about sabotage, and decided that a Cadet must be on gangway duty at all times, to ensure that every person boarding the ship was checked. Pluto and I decided to work 12 hours on and 12 hours off. This was a terrible bind, very boring standing there for most of the time with nothing to do, and after a while it became very tiring. It also meant we had not much opportunity to go ashore together. All the officers and engineers were quite incenced about us having to do this, but Captain Carter was quite adamant and refused to change his mind. Thereafter, at every port we came to. Pluto and I had to share manning the gangway. In Famagusta was a battalion of the Sherwood Forester regiment, who were tremendously smart in their tropical uniform - which in those days, for the army, was short trousers and pith helmets. There were also some French troops who had arrived from Syria - in comparison to the Sherwood Forresters they were a dowdy lot.

Eventually, about a week after the Italians came into the war, our destroyer escort arrived. We were intrigued to see her cruising about, going backwards and forwards about a mile outside the harbour, for quite a while, before entering the harbour. Eventually we were informed that she had detected what she thought was a submarine, on her asdic gear, but which was in fact a shoal of fish. Two days later the Cypriot troops embarked and we set off with our escort for Alexandria.

Alexandria - June /July 1940

We arrived at Alexandria about 2 days later, and tied up to a jetty astern of HMS ????????. HMS ????????? was a fast minelayer of about 5,000 tons; one of only two ships of this class, and reputed to be able to do about 35 to 40 knots. Alex. had already been bombed by the Italians before we arrived, and shrapnel from a bomb dropped on the jetty close to HMS ?????? had killed two of her sailors and done minor damage to the ship.

The main British Mediterranean Fleet was based at Alexandria, under Admiral Cunningham. In addition. France's Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, consisting of a battleship, several cruisers, destroyers and submarines, was also based there. After the German/French armistice on 17th June, the British were very worried about the intentions of the French Fleet in the Mediterranean - on no account could it be allowed to return to France, with the possibility of subsequently coming under German control. Consequently, on 9th July or thereabouts, Admiral Cunningham delivered to the French Naval Commander an ultimatum - on no account could the French ships return to France; they would remain at anchor in Alex. for the duration of the war. The French sailors could either return to France; remain on the ships for maintenance purposes; or join the Free French forces. The British Fleet steamed out and lay off the harbour about 6 miles out, having told the French that if they attempted to sail back to France, they would be shelled as they left the harbour. In the meantime boats from all the French ships converged on their battleship for a conference to discuss the British ultimatum. The Talma was quite close to the French battleship, and we could hear the tannoy system in operation, in the discussions which went on for most of the day. Eventually the French decided to accept the terms offered to them, and our fleet returned to harbour. We understood the breech blocks of the ships' main guns were subsequently removed, except for the anti-aircraft guns which were left intact, and sufficient fuel oil was pumped out so that they could not attempt to sail back to France.

It was an anxious time for us on the Talma. If the French had attempted to leave harbour, we would have been in the middle of it. Several days later, a large passenger liner arrived and carried back to France those sailors who had decided to go back home. When we left, a week or two later, we carried some of the French sailors, who had decided to join the Free French.

Alexandria was bombed on a number of occasions, whilst we were there. The bombing usually took place after dark, and more often than not, when there was a full moon. There were no anti-aircraft guns to speak of, apart from those on the naval ships, and at full moon the searchlights were less effective. Consequently, and because the aircraft bombed from a great height, there was little effective opposition to the bombers. During an air raid, we usually went up on to the bridge to see what was happening. Because we were high up, and because there was no high ground around the harbour, we could usually tell where the bombs were dropping from the flashes of the bomb bursts. Occasionally the Italians dropped screamer bombs - bombs which made a very loud, high pitched, blood curdling noise as they fell. On one occasion, one of these bombs sounded as though it was going to land directly on us, and as one the half dozen of us on the bridge hit the deck - I remember praying fervently at that moment. The following day we heard that the bomb had fallen about a mile away, and was probably the one which hit the royal palace. It was noticeable that the French ships were usually the first to open up with their anti-aircraft guns.

Whilst we were at Alexandria, the Talma entered the floating dry dock, to have the ship's underwater hull cleaned and painted. This was a tense time, because we knew the dry dock was a prime target for the Italian bombers, and we were all relieved when the job had been completed. I suppose we must have been 2 or 3 days in the dry dock.


Bartolomio Colleoni

On July 19th a naval force of ours sank the Italian cruiser Bartolomio Colleoni in a battle north of Crete. Shortly after this, our ships, including the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney, arrived back in Alex. The Sydney had a hole through one funnel, where a shell had gone through, and her decks and the decks of several of the accompanying destroyers were filled with Italian sailors who had been picked up from the water. Most of these sailors were naked or semi naked, and were landed on a jetty not far from where we were.


H.M.A.S. Sydney

I had little chance of going ashore in Alex. because most of the time I was on the 12 hour on, 12 hour off, gangway duty, with Pluto. I can vaguely recall visiting the Union Jack Club one evening. This was a club for the forces, and was largely frequented by sailors from both the British and French naval ships.

We left Alexandria about the end of July 1940, in a small convoy, with destroyer escort for Port Said. Aboard, we had a large number of French sailors who had volunteered to join the Free French navy, and who were bound for the U.K. After passing once more through the Suez Canal, we joined a convoy of about 8 ships at Suez, and set off down the Red Sea, bound for Bombay, with 2 destroyers as escorts. This was one of the first convoys to pass down the Red Sea, after the Italians had declared war - and we were interested and somewhat apprehensive as to what would happen when we passed Massawa, the Italian naval base in Eritrea. At the nearest point, Massawa would be about 80 miles away on our Starboard beam. Fortunately, the journey passed without incident, and we eventually reached Bombay where we disembarked our French sailors, who were transferred to another ship bound for the U.K. via the Cape of Good Hope.

We remained at Bombay for about a fortnight, during which time we took on more coal, and also the ship was degaussed. Most merchant ships at this time had degaussing equipment fitted, as a protection against magnetic mines. The main part of the equipment consisted of an electric cable which was positioned to run all round the ship. An electric current passing through this cable counteracted the ship's magnetic field, enabling the ship to pass over a magnetic mine without triggering it off. After the equipment had been fitted, which took 3 or 4 days, the ship's compass had to be adjusted to counteract the effect of the degaussing current. This was done, one day, by steaming round in circles off the harbour of Bombay, and making corrections to the compass readings as necessary.

To combat the danger of magnetic mines in the Suez Canal, Blenheim bombers with a large diameter electric coil attached to the underside of the fuselage and wings, flew daily along the length of the Canal. Any magnetic mines in the Canal would be activated and blown up by the magnetic field generated by an electric current flowing through the coil.

A Trip to Singapore

Our next trip was to be to Singapore. This time we embarked a mixed bag of about. 800 army personnel, who had arrived from the U.K. via the Cape - since May (1940), when the Italians had started to look threatening, shipping to India and the East had been diverted from the Med. to around the Cape of Good Hope. This trip was uneventful except for an incident which occurred as we were passing through the Malacca Straits.

Man Overboard

I remember this incident quite well, because I was on watch on the bridge, at the time. It was on the afternoon watch - good weather, little wind, a glassy sea - when a cry went up, "Man overboard!". I happened to be on the Port side of the bridge and I immediately ran to release a lifebelt which was attached to the wing of the bridge by a steel pin. Fastened to the lifebelt by a 3 ft length of rope was a small canister containing a substance which gave rise to a thick white smoke when it was immersed in seawater. I watched the lifebelt hit the water, and then looked aft to see if I could see anybody in the water - I couldn't!. In the meantime the 2nd Officer operated the engine room telegraph to "Stop", and ordered the Quartermaster on the wheel - "Hard a port!". The Captain appeared next - he had been taking his afternoon nap, along with most other people. We couldn’t see the man in the water, but we could see the smoke from the lifebelt, and knew he must be somewhere near. (It is very difficult to see the head of anyone in the vast expanse of the sea - it is rather like looking for a pinhead on a billiard table). By the time the way had come off the ship, and we had turned round, we must have gone about a mile past the spot where the man had fallen overboard. We eventually spotted the man when we got near the smoke from the lifebelt, and lowered the ship's lifeboat which was skippered by the 3rd Officer, and crewed by some of the Lascar seamen. When the ship's boat neared the soldier in the water, the 3rd Officer was amazed to hear him shouting - "Bugger off - I don't want saving!". It appeared the soldier had jumped over the side in order to commit suicide. However, he was hauled aboard the boat, and had to be restrained on the way back to the ship to prevent him jumping over- the side once more. It has occurred to me since, that maybe he was one of the lucky ones - he would probably have been sent back home, and missed the trauma of capture at Singapore, a year later. We stayed in Singapore for about a week, after disembarking the Army personnel. During this time the ship was provisioned and we replenished our coal bunkers. The coal was loaded by Chinese coolies who worked in pairs, one in front of the other, with the coal carried in a basket slung from a bamboo pole, one end of which rested on-each man's shoulder. The two men jogged in unison from the coal dump, a short distance away, along a gangway into the ship, and out via another gangway. As in Egypt, there was a steady stream of loaders and a tally was given to the men every time they carried a basket of coal aboard. Loading was carried out from 6 in the morning until 6 o'clock at night, and took about two days to complete. Although the coolies finished at night with their clothes absolutely black with coal dust, when they returned to start work again next morning their clothes were beautifully clean.

Whilst at Singapore, I remember going with Pluto to the famous Raffles Hotel, and having a John Collins on the balcony of the hotel. We returned once more to Bombay, where we stayed for a week before sailing for Karachi, where we were to take on a Punjabi battalion for transportation once more to the Middle East.

Part Three