Page 21 - Chiron Spring 2020
P. 21

 recharged. This work was completed over 2 days. The sky that morning was a clear cobalt blue and the waters looked so inviting, the Chinese took advantage of the good weather and went swimming at every opportunity they got.
Day three and as the hatches were fastened down and anchors up we leave the port of Limasol to continue our journey to Port Said.
Barry would invite us up onto the bridge and would show us how they communicated to the passing ship with their Morse code lamp, ships from New Zealand, Australia and Japan all bound for destinations that we recognise so well from back home, London, Liverpool, Manchester and others bound for Europe. A home sick feeling passes over me and reality dawns that it will be 3 years before we return to our homeland again.
The dogs obey the 5 basic words of Command, Heal, Sit, Down, Stay and Come with no problem whatsoever. We would make sure they were kept on their leads at all times should they wish to jump ship.
We arrive very early into Port Said and are told to make sure that our portholes are closed, as it was not unusual to get thieves coming in and stealing your belongings. We were to anchor in the outer waters.
A small boat carrying police officers came alongside the ship. Dressed in heavy army coats and armed with 303 rifles they came on board and took their places on the gang plank which is where they remained all day and into the night. The heat of the day and the weight of the coats must have been most uncomfortable for them. The captain and crew were hoping to get all the cargo off in time to make the midnight convoy through the Suez Canal.
What a sight to see, so many ships weighing anchor all waiting for the stroke of midnight to arrive. If the midnight convoy was missed then you had to wait until midday the following day to get the next which is what we had to do. I was never ceased to be amazed by marvellous sights that were there before us. Small boats that formed floating shops carrying their wares, jewellery, silk, fresh fruit all displayed on their decks an abundance of colour, the sunlight catching sight of the gold and silver as it shimmers above in the cloudless skies. A young boy looks up to me with his sun tanned face, smiling as he throws a rope which he hopes I will catch. We then assist by hoisting his basket tray up on deck to view what he has for sale. Money was a little tight that day so after some bartering Pte Jones bought a watch for a shilling (5 pence). We stand and watch the ships as they vacate the Suez; the convoy seems endless, our police officers now leaving the ship still wearing their coats unfazed by the heat. They must have a good thermostatically controlled body system underneath those layers we felt. Gang planks up and anchors away. As we slowly make our way out of the Suez we were told that under no circumstances were we to use hose pipes for cooling down the dogs, the water contained oil
and other debris including excrement which stank to high heaven.
The waters have no lock gates and so it is free flowing waters from the Med to the Red Sea. This trip is proving to be quite an education. To our left and right (port and starboard) all we can see is sand. Armed police on camels can be seen in the distance. Darkness is fast approaching and the air is cooler just the array of lights that form part of the convoy are visible. The sudden noise of the ships anchor chains became apparent as we suddenly stopped in the Bitter Lakes (name given by the sailors) we let a ship pass us by and then continued once again to wind our way up the Gulf of the Suez and into the Red Sea.
Before long all the ships are passing us by, we appear to be making little progress compared to them. I cast my mind back to the World War 2 when the sailors had to cross the Atlantic from America on route to England in ships just like ours. Laden with supplies and surrounded by German U-bolts, in my mind they were heroes.
Barry drew our attention to a lot of splashing around appearing on the horizon, through his binoculars he caught site of what he assumed was a manta ray and sperm whale fighting, what a thrill to see the dolphins diving across the bow of the ship, flying fish of which we would just catch sight of the tail end or a fin, which type of fish we could never be sure.
There doesn’t seem to be any breeze today we continue to hose down the decks and dogs to keep them cool, by golly it was hot. The heat from the steel deck could be felt through our boots. The dogs were off their food, a bit disheartening for us after we had struggled to open 24 cans using an old army jack knife.
The dogs were restless that night and the Chinese crew informed us that they also had trouble sleeping due to the heat. Up with the lark and straight down to the kennels, we were not pre- pared for the sight that was to meet our eyes. All the kennels shutters were down, how they managed to survive in a confined space in this heat we didn’t know, the dogs were
so clearly showing signs of distress, the constant scratching to get out the kennels had left their paws so badly injured, the sheer panic they must have felt was too unbearable to think about at this stage.
One of the Alsatian dogs called Bandit did not survive his ordeal, Brutus the boxer was in a bad way, struggling to breathe we tried to assist by packing ice around him, Stuart the medical officer suggested he perform a tracheotomy ( cut into his windpipe, insert a tube to help him breathe), but sadly we were too late Brutus didn’t survive. On reflection we now feel that Brutus was the wrong choice of dog to be used as a guard dog in the Far East
Barry suggested moving all the kennels and dogs to the front end of the ship (bow) and that a large tarpaulin be erected, this would allow more shade for the dogs. Jones and I worked through the night to complete this task, the air was much cooler to work and we could keep an eye on the dogs in the process.
Columbo (Ceylon) or Sri Lanka as it now called is where we throw anchor today, I look on and marvel at the deck crew as they are running around, they remind me of little worker ants as they scurry around completing their tasks with such speed and efficiency. I’m afraid that the same could not have been said of me that day as I went about my work hosing the decks. I had forgotten that we had barges situated below the deck, they all had an early shower that day and I got a right roasting from Barry. We live and learn and that day, I did.
Although confined to deck we are enjoying all these new experiences. We were pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation to join the officers for our last evening ashore. We put on our glad rags and had such a grand time, all the sordid details would take up far too much written space, and some things must be left to the imagination. We were certainly on cloud nine that evening. 3 days before we reach Rangoon and the dogs are doing fine; Stuart does keep a close eye on them. Captain Thomas shows a great interest in our involvement with the animals
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