At some date in June 1957 the entire regiment was put into trains and taken to Southampton where we all boarded the H.M.T. Nevasa (British India Line - 20,527 tons). This was a relatively new troop ship having been put into service the previous year and had space for 1,500 officers, N.C.O.s and men.
Since the Suez Canal was still blocked following the British-French invasion the year before our route was to take us around South Africa, calling in at Dakar, Durban and Singapore before arriving in Hong Kong after five weeks at sea.
Accommodation for us low-life was on open decks near or below the water line in bunks stacked three high. ("The passenger accommodation was sparse and functional" to quote the website of the National Maritime Museum.) I had a top bunk which turned out to be fortunate for me later on in the journey. The ship boasted the innovation of having stabilizers but you could have fooled me as we crossed the Bay of Biscay. The ship pitched and rolled and just about all the 1500 troops on board filled the decks with vomit. Some men just locked themselves into toilets and refused to emerge despite dire threats of hell on earth from N.C.O.s.
Eventually we sailed into calmer waters and our first port of call was Dakar, French West Africa (now Senegal). We were allowed to go ashore and wander around for a while but apart from trying out my schoolboy French on some local girls the visit was uneventful. I think many of us were taken aback at the sight of a totally different undeveloped-world culture; most of us had never seen black people in the flesh before.
Life on board was quite boring. Of course the officers and N.C.O.s tried to keep us occupied with fatigues, physical training, rifle shooting practice off the stern, and lectures about our new home. There were also slide shows with lurid photos of sexual diseases we were likely to contract there if we weren't careful. The rest of the time was spent at film shows, reading books, playing cards, masturbating, and sleeping. I don't recall there was any ceremony when we crossed the equator; if there was I have forgotten it. The only thing I can recall about the food on board was that rabbit meat stew was served what seems to me now like every other day. I have never eaten rabbit again. The weather now was tropical and all of us were acquiring a decent tan. We would lay on the deck and watch the dolphins swimming along with the ship and count the flying fish leaping out of the water.
Our next port was Durban, South Africa. The sight as we arrived was astonishing; red, white and blue flags and bunting were everywhere, with hundreds of white people lining the dock waving a huge welcome. I think this was the first British troopship that had arrived there since World War II. The hospitality was enormous; some troops were taken off in family cars to be wined and dined. Other like me were put in buses and taken on a city tour of Durban then out to the Valley of a Thousand Hills where we saw Zulu tribal homes and were treated to bare-breasted girls and warriors in full regalia doing tribal dancing.
As the ship sailed after our full day there we were treated to songs from The Lady in White who had sung to over 1000 troop ships and 350 hospital ships departing from Durban since 1940.
We were now heading out into the Indian Ocean and re-crossing the Equator again. The weather by now was really hot and the ventilation in the troop decks was nowhere near adequate. In order to improve the ventilation, devices in the shape of coal scuttles were stuck out of the port holes to scoop in some fresh air. My troop deck was just above the water line and one night when the ship encountered a bit of a swell and started to roll those coal scuttles dipped below the water line. Suddenly huge volumes of sea water were pouring in and the deck was awash. That was when I was pleased that I had an upper bunk. Drying out kept us busy for the next few days.
So on to Singapore and the sight of another totally different and strange culture. We were taken to a club with a swimming pool where we spent the day drinking Tiger beer in between dips in the pool.
From there a few more days of boredom before we finally arrived in Hong Kong and so on to the next chapter in this story.
In this photo members of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment disembark dressed in their unfaded green tropical kit. I am not in this photo.
