AWAY TO SEA. Peter Glass

It is 1950, five years since the end of World War 2 and three years since India gained its independence from the Raj. What does a young man of sixteen years of age intend to do with his life (my parents words – not mine as I really had no idea.) My father had been Indian Army and it was the only way of life we knew but as a career option it was no longer available to me. British Army –no thanks. University – probably not bright enough. Office job – not for me.
 
How about going to sea? Nobody in the family ever had and mother blanched visibly. We knew all about travelling to and from India on P. & O. My observations were that there was always lots of fun on board and a good table to go with it compared with post war rationed Britain. Officers in fancy uniforms who always seemed to pull the prettiest girls appealed to me as up until then I had no experience of the fairer sex.
 
Being good at history, geography,(some mathematics – algebra and trigonometry but not geometry),poetry, Hindustani but not much else enquiries were made and the decision taken to attend Nautical College for one year(his enthusiasm will wane by then) and see what happens. To everybody’s surprise, including my own, it worked out and the decision was made to actually go to sea. There were only two companies in my book, namely the P. & O. and the British India Steam Navigation Company Ltd. (B.I.) which had amalgamated with P. & O. in 1914 although the B.I. maintained its own identity. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century the B.I. owned the largest fleet both measured by tonnage or number of ships under the British flag and among the largest in the world. Yet the Company remained generally unknown to the public at large as it conducted most of its business in Eastern waters with the ships being built in Britain and then sailing for India, mostly never to be seen again.
 
It was now choice time and did one opt for the P. & O. or B.I.? With the B.I. offering the opportunity of returning to a land well known and loved plus the call of the exotic East in general there  was really no contest. And so it was that I joined the B.I. as an Indentured Cadet on a princely salary of £6 and 5 shillings per month equating to 83 rupees and 5 annas on Eastern Service.
 
Before actually going to sea certain formalities were necessary. Firstly to complete one’s uniform requirements courtesy of Messrs. Gieves complete with solar topee. Gieves were expensive and all items were priced in guineas. Secondly it was necessary to hand over to the B.I. a further 50 guineas as premium before signing my Indentures. My father reminded me of these large sums of money which he handed over for many years to come. Both parents must have heaved a great sigh of relief when I finally departed England’s shores.
 
My Indentures were signed at 122 Leadenhall Street, Head office of P.&O. and B.I. on 4th April 1951 whereby I voluntarily bound myself to serve in the capacity of a Cadet on any ship belonging to the said Company to which their Managing Agents in Calcutta or their Agents elsewhere may from time to time appoint me etc. etc. In consideration whereof the said Company shall teach him or cause him to be taught the duties of a Navigating Officer in the Company’s steamers etc. etc. Amongst a host of other requirements concerning conduct it was forbidden to frequent taverns, alehouses, houses of ill repute, nor play at unlawful games.
 
Having signed my Indentures one final step before going to sea was to obtain a Seaman’s Identity Card and Discharge Book from the Ministry of Transport Office located in Dock Street, London, E1.
Mother was not impressed by me being the holder of a Seaman’s Identity Card as she thought I was to become an Officer and a Gentleman.
 
The great day finally arrived and I was appointed to the m.v. Ordia berthed in the Royal Albert Docks for passage to India which sailed from London in the first half of April 1951. The ship called at all the usual ports en-route to Bombay, namely, Genoa, Port Said, Suez, Aden, Karachi and Bombay.
 
Upon arrival in Bombay I was transferred to the m.v. KAMPALA, one of the Company’s passenger vessels operating a scheduled service between India, the Seychelles, East and South Africa carrying cargo,60 first class passengers, 180 second class passengers and 2,441 unberthed passengers(on deck). The ship was to operate on this schedule for the whole of her working life between 1947 and 1971 but I spent just under a year on her. Thereafter, for the next two and a half years I served on a variety of the company’s vessels and spent the most interesting and enjoyable period of my life. Sailing on ships, all based in India, to a vast number of Eastern ports from East and South Africa, the Sub-continent of India, the Persian Gulf, Burma and the Straits Settlements, Singapore, China, Japan, Australia and a whole host of other places in between.
 
These were the days before mass cheap package travel and some places called at had remained unchanged for centuries and were generally unknown to the public at large. To name a few, Zanzibar, Mikindani, Quelimane, Chinde and Lourenco Marques in East Africa. The islands of Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles, long before they became the tourist haunts of today. Marmagoa, Alleppey, Quilon on the West Coast of India. Bimlipatam, Cuddalore, Tuticorin on the East coast of India. Malingdaw, Akyab, Bassein, Palaw, Mergui, Malacca in Burma and the Straits Settlements. Eastward to China and Japan with ports such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe, Osaka, Yokohama, Moji, Nagasaki, Muroran and many more. With plenty of time in port all these places were our happy hunting ground and in many cases were destinations that only a privileged few had ever visited.
 
It is difficult to relate details of all those wonderful places in such a short space but just let me select one at random with a brief description in order that you may be able to visualise what it was like to visit so many remote ports with the B.I. sixty years ago. I will choose Akyab on the Arakan coast of Burma on the Bay of Bengal, one of the many places visited that was so different to what you may find on your package holiday or cruise ship of today.
 
Akyab was known as the home of the white-bellied Drongo and a brief description of this fun place follows:
Akyab (Rangoon 527 miles, Chittagong 190 miles)
Population    35,000 mainly porcupines, several iguanas and five Europeans
Hotels (one, two, three, four and five star)  - nil
Public houses    - nil
Garages   -nil
Places if interest - nil
Early closing - most days
Market days   - whenever onions arrive from Rangoon.
 
Communications within the town are excellent, a broad metalled highway stretching for over two miles, on which two cars can travel abreast if nothing is coming in the other direction.
Unfortunately this road was severely bombed during the war but many of the craters have been filled in. Unmade tracks run off the main highway and vehicles with four wheel drive can occasionally proceed along them in dry weather. Food, which is in ample supply, consists entirely of goat gristle and curry powder, in addition to rice, a commodity which is exported in fairly large quantities.(Hence us being there !). During the busy season, from the end of March to the beginning of April, B.I. ships call frequently, and including outside vessels there are sometimes as many as two ships in port at once, though this causes labour difficulties. The labour, brought in from outside, has a philosophic turn of mind and is given too much sitting and thinking. If two ships are in port at once, the difficulty of deciding which ship to sit and think on is almost insurmountable and this leads to long delays. Visits from B.I. ships are rare at other times and the Agent is left alone and palely loitering on Scandal Point in pouring rain, staring out to sea like Madam Butterfly awaiting Pinkerton’s return.
 
The Arakan Flotilla Co.Ltd. maintain launch services throughout the Arakan (also B.I. owned). A B.I. Superintendent Engineer is stationed at Akyab and he is probably one of the most highly skilled technical trades in the Far East, as he is required to repair sock suspenders, automatic record changers, golf clubs, mincing machines and many other household appliances. In addition he also looks after the AFC launches.
 
The Arakanese people are amongst the most charming, friendly and kind hearted people in the world. Whether it is the sun rising over the harbour or the purple dusk in the evening holding the hills and the rivers motionless in time, whether one longs to escape the pressure and shouting of the outside world – Akyab is fun.
 
Just in case you are wondering about the white bellied drongo – it is a species of wild crane common to this part of the world.