taggerty

“Dick’s Digest” [the reminiscences of Lieut Harold Luke Forster, DSC (1881-1966)]

[This is copied from notes pencilled in a notebook by Hilda Forster, youngest sister of Harold Forster (“Dick”) while visiting him during her last trip to England about 1954-55. It reads as though Hilda kept notes while her brother reminisced about his long seafaring career. Harold’s wife Maude was present as well, and part appears to be copied from a ship’s log. I’ve attempted to put the text into chronological order though most sections were undated and at least one anecdote ends abruptly. I have added some clarifying information in square brackets, but otherwise have altered it as little as possible]

Dick’s flying experience 1914 (pre-war)

Dick met up one day in the city with a friend who asked him if he would be interested in navigating a plane across the Atlantic. Always ready for adventure, Dick went off with him to meet [Gustav] Hamel, one of the foremost fliers of his day, who was planning to be the first to fly the Atlantic. It was being financed by McKay Edgar, a Canadian millionaire, and every aspect of the flight was to be planned with the most meticulous detail, leaving, as far as possible, nothing to chance. Dick, of course, had many years experience of navigating a ship across the Atlantic from London and New York which would be of the utmost value on the flight. Churchill, Marconi and all shipping people were to cooperate. Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty was to have destroyers here and there on the route; Marconi was to keep them posted with weather reports and shipping people were to give Dick the positions of all ships along the route, so that Dick had a plan, plotting the position of all ships at given times. He and Hamel made practise flights regularly in [blank] machine which he proposed to fly. Then shortly before the flight was to take place, Hamel went to Paris to take delivery of a single seater racing machine which he was to fly in England’s Aerial Derby. Unfortunately he struck very rough weather on the way back and was lost at sea. Hamel was the son of one of Queen Alexandra’s doctors, and she had told his father that she was going to watch the Derby to have the pleasure of seeing his son win the race. Dick thinks that this probably influenced Hamel in making what was a very hazardous flight in bad weather.

The planning of the flight was then taken up by [Harry Sheehy] Keating. Robin Duff , a friend of Hamel’s was interested too. They were very wealthy men, Guardsmen, and again Dick spent his time making trial flights and trying out every contingency, from Hendon [airfield]. A very pleasant social life too, for he was often a guest at one or other of their clubs, dining at Savoy or weekending with one or the other of them at their country homes. They were having a machine specially built for the flight but in the opinion of some flying men it was not suitable. Then they heard of a new German plane which seemed to be the ideal one and one was ordered to be built in Germany which they were to take delivery of in 3 weeks. Keating, ? and Dick were to go to Germany to collect it but at the last moment they had an accident with the car they were to take, and had to take a two-seater instead, so Dick stayed behind. No sooner had they got into Germany than war broke out, and the two men had a very unpleasant and difficult time getting back to England, without the plane of course, and minus their car. As both men were in the Guards they at once joined their regiments and both were killed in the first few weeks of the War. Dick said they were very fine men, very good looking and [with] magnificent physique, and how generous they were to him. During the time he was training with them he received a salary of £130 a month, a magnificent sum in those days. Before Keating joined his regiment he told Dick that he wanted to pay him a retaining salary for the duration of the War. Dick refused, saying he was ready to join up with them again as soon as the War was over.

[World War 1]

[Harold Luke Forster was commissioned in the Royal Naval Reserve as Temporary Lieutenant (The London Gazette 27 July 1915)]

H.M.S.S.V. Dargle,
Immingham,
Nov 1st 1917

Report of action with enemy submarine on Oct 31st.
7am: Ship on port tack heading NNW, light westerly breeze, position 11 miles N33[degrees]E mag of Spurn Light Vessel. Submarine steaming W sighted on surface 1 point on starb. bow distant about 2 miles. Subm. fired 2 rounds both fell astern. Crew ordered to action stations. Subm. crossed bow and submerged.
7.20: Tacked ship heading SSW. During this manoeuvre periscope was sighted on port bow, distant about 100 yds making towards ship. Gun crews being still at stations, sailing crew only handling ship. Periscope passed within 50 yds of ship and disappeared when abreast of stern. After ship was about, sailing crew were engaged in clearing away boat when periscope passed close to.
7.50: Subm. appeared on surface about 2 miles astern of ship making towards ship.
7.55: Subm. opened fire swinging to starb. and stopping engines. 1st round went over ship, 2nd struck foretop gallant yardarm, 3rd round shrapnel burst at foremast wounding 3 of forward guns ammunition party, carrying away fore rigging and doing considerable damage on deck and aloft. Hoisted white ensign and ordered guns crews to open fire. 4th round from subm. struck water 30 ft from starb. quarter. Headed into wind to bring forward gun to bear. 1st round from 4 inch gun at 2,000 ft fell short, up 400 next round struck subm. on stern. Simultaneously the 3rd round from 12 pdr hit conning tower – 1st 2 rounds from 12 pdr went over. Then 2 more hits with 4 inch gun abaft conning tower and 2 with 12 pdr on conning tower. Subm. rolled over to starb. stern settling down, bow in air and disappeared.
Total rounds fired, 4 from 4 inch gun and 5 from 12 pdr. Started motors. Port motor broken down, so ship was making only 1 knot and practically helpless, and headed for Humber.
9.45: Sighted 2 MLs. Signalled to them. They came alongside. Put wounded aboard ML375 with instructions to make all speed for harbour. Instructed ML401 to find assistance as motors were behaving badly and fore rigging shot away.
11.30: Torpedo[?] gunboat hove alongside and asked if we required assistance. By this time port motor working. Gunboat ordered ML401 to stand by us.
12.30: Passed Spurn Light Vessel to starb. took aboard a pilot and proceeded up harbour.
The conduct of the crew throughout was beyond praise. Regret to have to report following casualties. 2 seriously wounded, 1 very seriously, since died.

HMSSV Dargle was a Q ship – a merchant sailing boat with auxiliary motor and fitted with camouflaged guns. The Germans had made known that no quarter would be shown to any prisoners taken on Q ships, they would be immediately shot. The crew of these ships were all volunteers, and every man knew what the conditions were and was asked whether he still wanted to put to sea on her and there was no stigma if he decided against sailing. Before a Q ship opened up her guns she must fly the white ensign signifying that she was going to shoot. Up till that time they pretended to be a helpless merchant ship, egging the submarine on to come nearer and to the position that was best for their guns. Often they would send a boat load of men to carry on the hoax, but Dargle’s boats had all been shot away. 

[“DARGLE (ex-JAMES J. BIBBY), decoy or Q-ship, brigantine conversion. Built 1902, 253grt. In service 23.2.17-9.3.20, armed with 1-4in, 2-12pdr, other names BIBBY, GRABBITT, J. J. BIBBY, PEGGY, Q.29.” from World War 1 at Sea – Ships of the Royal Navy]

[“Admiralty, 22nd February, 1918. HONOURS FOR SERVICES IN ACTION WITH ENEMY SUBMARINES. …To receive the Distinguished Service Cross: Lieut. Harold Luke Forster, R.N.R.” (from The London Gazette Tues 19 Feb 1918)]

[The following adventures occurred between the wars while Harold was a Master Mariner in the Merchant Marine]

Dick made about 9 trips in all to Japan, China and the Pacific islands, Manila and the Philippines, sometimes with old ships that were to be broken up, sometimes with new ones for trading or passengers. One ship he took to Darien in Manchuria near Port Arthur. It had been bought by a Chinese man (a very fine good-looking old man) and when Dick delivered it he sent his engineer down to examine the engine room. His report was that there were many spare parts missing, and the old man refused to take delivery of the ship. The conversation between them was difficult as it had to be translated from Chinese to Japanese to English and vice versa. Dick knew that everything in the engine room was in order and that no parts were missing, so he told the old man that he could get Lloyd’s engineer to come down to the ship, make an inspection of the engine room and give a report, and he himself would pay for anything that was missing – he signed a paper to that effect. The Lloyd’s engineer made the inspection and then told the old Chinese man that he really owed Captain Forster about £2,000 as the engine room was not only fully, but well overstocked. So everything ended happily and the old boy took delivery of his ship. Dick said that the Chinese engineer had not deliberately made a wrong report. He had based his report on the engine room of a deep sea vessel which has many more parts than a coastal trading ship.

Huelva copper ore for Baltimore : 6 months trip : broke leg

Dick had several trips taking ships from London to Japan. These ships were old ones that on arrival were to be broken up for scrap metal. These ships of course, were what one might call borderline cases of seaworthiness. They had only gone 10 or 12 miles from Swansea when the engineer reported that the condenser was leaking so Dick returned to port to have it overhauled and was heartily slangwanged by the representative of London underwriters. Dick told him firmly that he was master of the ship, and as such responsible for its seaworthiness. The condenser having been fixed, they set off again for Huelva. On the trip they experienced the roughest weather Dick had ever known. They were battered about outside Huelva for some time, as it was too rough for pilot ships to take them in. Finally when the weather had abated somewhat they followed in the wake of a pilot ship taking another ship in. At Huelva they loaded copper ore for Baltimore, and here the chief mate first showed his idiosyncracies. When Dick came back on board after being ashore he found men loading ropes and paint, and on making enquiries found that the chief had ordered them. Dick at once countermanded the order, sent for the chief and told him that ordering stuff for the ship wasn’t his job. From Huelva they sailed to Baltimore near New York where they unloaded the copper ore. On the voyage to Baltimore they had very heavy storms again, and one day Dick saw 2 of the seamen working in a most perilous position where seas at any moment might break and wash them overboard. He whistled to them, but because of gales they couldn’t hear, and he was rushing to them when a wave broke over knocking him down. He got up and found his leg was numb, but hopped across to the men. One had been washed along the deck. The other, washed overboard, had managed to cling to the rail. Dick helped him up and on board and got them safely below where the steward attended to their injuries. [Dick] told him when he had finished with them to come along to his cabin. Dick felt pretty sure his leg was broken but knew that he would have to be on the bridge as the 1st officer was so unreliable. The steward splinted the leg firmly, and with the help of a stick Dick hobbled round. When they got to Baltimore he went to a doctor who told him his leg was broken and he would have to be in hospital for 6 to 8 weeks. Dick said that was impossible and asked him to splint it so that it would be completely immovable, so he left the doctor with his leg in plaster from thigh to toes. Dick tells an amusing story of dressing himself at his hotel the next morning and trying to put on his sock. He finally rang for help and to his amusement a large black mammy arrived in the doorway. One morning when he went down to the ship he discovered that the lounges had been completely refurbished with curtains, chair covers and carpets. He rang for the steward who said they had come on board the day before. He sent for the Chief who said he had ordered them because it was obvious the furnishings needed renewing. Dick immediately had them sent back to the shop, and for some time, at every port he called at there were threatening letters demanding payment. Things were always happening to the ship. At Baltimore whilst unloading, the foremast buckled and the steering gear went wrong. At another time one of the steel plates rusted through and leaked and had to be temporarily repaired. At New Norfolk they loaded 1,400 tons of bunkers. At Portland main a load of steel girders was being loaded on to the ship when Dick discovered it. Once again the Chief, in spite of Dick’s warnings had been ordering them because he said the ship was unseaworthy and needed strengthening. This caused some uneasiness amongst the crew and one day when they were in New York Dick came down to the ship to find that the crew refused to go to sea as they considered the pumps were in such a bad way that they would not cope with any flooding they might have in the bilges. Dick dealt with this situation in a very forthright way. He sent for Lloyds’ surveyor and 2 others and for the British Consul. He had the surveyors posted in different parts of the ship, had the bilges flooded and the pumps working, the surveyors taking observations all the time. The result was that the surveyors each gave an all clear report. The British Consul spoke to the men telling them that there were 3 unbiased reports from surveyors that the ship was seaworthy, and all the men except 2 old fellows decided to continue the voyage. From New York they sailed to Jamaica, thence to Colon [on the Panama Canal] and then an 8,000 [mile?] nonstop voyage to Japan. At New York, in spite of Dick having warned ship’s chandlers to supply nothing to the ship unless he himself ordered it, a load of timber came on board, and before he discovered it some of the timber had been loaded and heavily loaded on top with other stuff. The owner of the timber was most irate, but Dick told him he had no right to deliver stuff to the ship without the Captain’s signature to the order and they could not wait at the dock to unload the ship to get the timber out. Dick thinks the chief must have been a drug addict as he was really a very decent chap, quiet and cultured and never drank, though Dick did discover that his supply of brandy and whisky disappeared. Dick returned to England from Japan by Canadian Pacific, calling at Honolulu on the way, then right across Canada to Montreal and by ship from there to England. [Arrived England from Montreal 23 July 1937 – from UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960]

Getting rid of undesirables

Dick told of the difficulty of getting rid of undesirables once they are on board your ship. One time he discovered that one of his crew, a Montenegran, had a false passport. The photo didn’t tally with the man. He sent for him, and he admitted that he had stolen it from a man in a doss house. He confessed that he was wanted by the Italian police. He was suspected of having taken part in the Assassination of King Alexander [9 Oct 1934] and the French Foreign Minister at Marseilles. When they got to Kobi [Kobe, Japan?] where the crew was [disbanded and?] sent on their way, Dick knew this man would be left on his hands if he couldn’t do something about his passport. [While] he was in the British Consul’s office waiting to see him he saw a man come in and ask for the Consul to witness his signature on a document, which the Consul did and then stamped. This gave Dick an idea. having fixed up his business with the Consul, he went to the shipping office, drew up a document giving the man the right to leave, had it typed, went back to the Consul and asked him to witness his signature and had it stamped. Then [he went] back to his ship and got the Montenegran shipped off that night to Hong Kong where he was subsequently picked up by the French police – but that wasn’t Dick’s responsibility.

Another time, pre-war, he took on 2 Germans. One of Jewish family who had been persecuted by the Nazis, his shop broken into and completely destroyed. He was determined to get out of Germany before he was put in a concentration camp. The other was a Nazi who Dick suspected would do his best to queer the Jew. When they arrived at Kobi where the crew were to be disbanded the Jew was immediately in trouble with the German Consul who refused to stamp his passport, which would mean he couldn’t get away on any ship. Dick suddenly thought of a possible way of getting him out of his difficulty. They took a taxi to the next big town some miles away, arrived there at lunch time but managed to knock up the German Consul, and without any demur he stamped the passport. They drove back to Kobi, and Dick got him on board a ship straight away. Wouldn’t the other Consul be mad when he found he had lost his man.

Another time he discovered 2 French stowaways on his ship who had slipped on at Marseilles. At his first port he tried to get rid of them and have them shipped back to Marseilles, but the Consul laughed at him and said likely as not the French police had slipped them on board in order to get rid of them. So on they went with their voyage. They were unloading at Sabang, a tiny and very beautiful Dutch island near Sumatra. Dick thought it a good place to drop them. He sent them ashore with a fierce looking Montenegran, told him to take them up into the jungle, give them some food and £2 each and warn them fiercely what would happen to them should they return to the ship. That was the last they saw of them, but after they had been at sea a short time he got a wireless message from Sabang to say 2 of his crew had been left behind. Dick wirelessed back “Have mustered my crew. None missing”. Some months later Dick called at Sabang again and was able to do the Harbour Master a good turn by taking a Chinese man on board who wanted to return home.

[World War II]

At the beginning of the War Dick volunteered with the navy but was turned down because of his age [58], so he joined the ARP where he worked for 3 months. Then one day he got a telegram from a friend asking him how he would like to take on ship rescue work. He packed his bag forthwith and set out, and for 3 years he worked in the North Sea and along the English coast rescuing every sort of ship and crews.

Dick towed an enormous floating dock to Iceland in frightful weather, meeting icebergs and the like. During the 8 days voyage he was rarely off the bridge night and day. On the return trip he was asked to tow a cargo ship which had a hole in her, back to England. She, of course, was shipping water, and was manned with a crew to work the pumps continuously. Dick was warned that should the pumps break down, the crew should leave immediately. When they were almost home the worst happened. The pumps broke down. The crew got aboard the tug, and they only just managed to cut the hawser of the ship before she sank. If they hadn’t got it cut she would just about have dragged the tug under with her.

Barrage balloons were tethered to the earth, their wires forming a barrage protection against dive bombers. Maude describes often seeing dozens of them floating over London, then suddenly they would all disappear. They would perhaps have been taken to Dover or some other part of the coast where an attack was expected, or perhaps taking place. Dick said they were sometimes tethered to ships as a means of protection for a convoy.

Degaussing wires around ships for protecting against magnetic mines

Maude tells of staying in Glasgow with cousins while Dick’s ship was there, and going on board one afternoon just to look around her. Unexpectedly they got orders to do degaussing tests. Ships had at that time been fitted up with degaussing wires placed around the the outside of them to protect them against magnetic mines. There was no time to get Maude ashore, so she was hustled down to the wheelroom to stay put. She was rather perturbed when telephones and bells started ringing and wondered whether she should do anything about it. Two sailors came in for something, quite disregarding her, evidently Maude was supposed to be invisible. Later when they returned to their berth the cousin and husband came aboard for tea. When they were going ashore again by means of stepping across a boat or two, Maude completely split her skirt right up the front and was hard pressed to cover her indecency.

At another time Dick’s tug was trailing targets for gun practise off the coast of Scotland. The targets would trail about ? fathoms from the tug. A message would be flashed from the ship and firing would begin. There was a photographic unit on the tug who recorded every hit. On 2 occasions the firing went amiss and his ship was straddled – a highly dangerous and exciting time while it lasted. Dick sent violent messages to the ship by every means at his disposal, the firing was soon rectified, and he received a most apologetic message from the Captain.

Dunkirk [May 1940]

Dick was in charge of a tug going from Dover to Dunkirk picking up survivors. He described the scene at Dunkirk as terrific. Guns blazing, planes bombing, oil tanks that had been set on fire blazing and filling the air with a pall of black smoke, at night like an inferno. Every available craft making for the beaches to bring off the troops. Dick described the bargees with their Thames River barges, in their billycock hats, running their barges quite unconcernedly on to the beaches with food and water for troops, knowing that with their cumbersome boats there was little chance of their getting away again under the incessant firing. He aid that the organisation at Dover was magnificent. No congestion, no panic, everything and everyone was dealt with in order. He made many trips. The last one, he was sent out at night to locate and rescue a ship that had been hit and disabled. However after sailing around for some time he could not find it and sent back a message to Dover suggesting that he should stand by all night to give help to any other ships that might need it. He received a message back to return to Dover forthwith. There were so few tugs and they were so valuable for the work that had to be done, that they could not take any unnecessary risks [with] them. Dick was very upset when he heard next morning that a hospital ship had been sunk, and had he stayed, he could probably have rescued some of the wounded and nurses.

Downfall of France [June 1940]

Dick was at Falmouth and he sailed around the ships as they arrived from France distributing food, water and blankets to the ships for the refugees. The first night he boarded a Dutch ship distributing biscuits, water, chocolate for the children. As he was preparing to leave ship a woman came up to him and demanded to be taken with him ashore. He refused, saying that no-one was to go ashore that night. She told him that she was Lady — and became quite abusive. He told her that her rank meant nothing on a refugee ship – she would be treated as the others. When he came on board again the next morning the Dutch captain thanked him for the deflation of lady –. She had been a public nuisance demanding … that he should give up his cabin for her. He told her his cabin was only for the use of women with children. Later in the day Dick was in the bank when a milling crowd of refugees were changing francs into English money. Suddenly the Manager spoke, demanding silence, and told them that he had just had word from London that no more French francs were to be changed – high hysterics. All these refugees had to be screened by authorities in case of German spies.

[Shooting down of Messerschmitt 11 Nov 1940]

It was [about] this period that he shot down a Messerschmitt and damaged another. He was travelling with a convoy of ships, he on his way to Harwich [?] His position was right in the middle of the convoy, and the mass of German bombers fanned out in the middle of the convoy to re-form for the attack. The guns of Dick’s little tug [St Mellons] let them have it. They brought down one and the crew were, of course, elated, cheering and leaping about with excitement. Dick, seeing there was still a chance of shooting at the bombers bellowed the crews back to the guns, with the result that a second one was damaged, one wing being broken off. A Spitfire flying overhead spiralled round Dick’s ship – what was called the “victory roll”. Maude [Harold’s wife] was at this time working at GPO and some of her fellow workers asked her if Lieutenant H.L. Forster who had brought down a Messerschmitt was her husband! It had come over the morning news and Maude hadn’t heard it. It was mentioned in the House of Commons that day.

Prior to the shooting down of the Messerschmitt Dick had been given [the job of towing] 2 dummy destroyers which were to act as a decoy to German bombers. They were built entirely of wood and were exact models of a destroyer. The idea was that being a helpless looking target, the Germans would bomb them, [then] Dick would bring his hidden guns into action. On their way to pick up the destroyers he ordered his crew to the guns for practice and found they knew nothing whatever about guns. They were a crew freshly recruited from civil life. Dick sent a message to his C.O. asking that a gunnery officer should be sent on board. When he arrived he realised at once that the crew needed intensive training from the beginning before they could be of any use as a gun crew and the tug was sent to ? for 3 weeks training. It was the port where the crew in the ship in “The Cruel Sea” did their training. After the 3 weeks training they joined a convoy going their way and won their gunnery spurs by bagging the Messerschmitt. Dick and the crew received congratulatory messages from the gunnery officer who trained them. Dick returned the congratulations to him. The manoeuvre of towing the dummy destroyers was abandoned although the destroyers cost 1,000s to build.

[“Whisky Galore” 1941]

Dick was stationed on islands in the North of Scotland doing ship rescue work. He was on the island of [Eriskay?] when [the SS Politician sank and] the shipload of whisky (of “Whisky Galore” fame) was stranded. His tug worked for some time to get her off, but had to leave her as there was more important rescue work than whisky.

Raid on Dieppe [aka Operation Jubilee 1942]

Dick trained for 3 months with commando troops at Calshot which was a sealed town, nobody going in or out and no communication whatever with outside world, in preparation for the raid on Dieppe, which was planned to break through fortifications of harbour and release Allied shipping. Dick was in charge of ? tugs. During 3 months training they landed at different parts along S. coast of England in landing barges rushing ashore with [assault?] equipment, all timed to a second as it would be in the real thing.

During this time they were billeted in a large stately home. The walls were covered with brocade. They did their own chores, but detailed some marines to do the cooking. One of their attacks was on Portsmouth Harbour which they stormed and took all ships. Prior to the raids there would be a terrific dummy bombardment and smoke screen. The whole operation was under the command of Lord Mountbatten and Sir [Robert] Ryder VC was in charge of their commando group. The day before the raid was to take place the naval raid was called off as it was considered to be too suicidal. The harbour had much better defences than had been known. The job for Dick’s crowd was during the raid to blow up the harbour gates and take any ships that were in harbour.

Operation Mulberry [and D-Day 1944]

Dick in charge at Tilbury and later at Leigh on Solent, of tug discharging concrete blocks in readiness for D-Day. These were enormous hollow blocks of concrete which were towed to different places along the English coast and sunk there in readiness for the time when they were to be towed to Aramanche on the French coast and sunk there to form a harbour for the ships bringing troops to land. These blocks were made all over England along the coast, wherever they could be made. Dick said when German fliers saw these blocks being sunk round the English coast they thought it was some new form of defence we were putting up. When the time came for the blocks to be towed to the French coast, the water was pumped out of them and they were raised and once again towed by the tugs. This was all done on the night before the invasion – tides, moon etc. had all been arranged for. These blocks were enormous, weighing up to 5,000 tons. Dick was in charge at Southsea, of the tugs setting off from there. It turned out to be a very stormy night, and some of the blocks broke loose from tugs. Those of the Americans[?] who were sinking theirs at another part of the coast were so badly knocked about that their job was destroyed when the blocks were sunk. Railways were laid, goods trains landed and stores etc. taken ashore. The troops were run ashore on landing barges and all of this overnight. Dick said the organisation was superb. Every detail had been thought out. He said the sight of the invasion ships setting out was magnificent. He went himself 2 nights after the invasion on one of the tugs which had towed the blocks. He received the first lot of wounded from the landing on his ship which had been fitted up with about 50 beds and 4 doctors. This ship was the Aorangi, a New Zealand ship. Dick said the idea of building harbours at unlikely places on the French coast had been Churchill’s.

Boffin group 1945

Dick was detailed to move all the equipment of the boffin group who had been secretly installed in a village in the north of Scotland, a most interesting group of mostly university men who had been doing research work on radar. Dick put 2 things to them that they had not known before: A luminous watch is not luminous in total darkness. He had discovered it during the war when going through Bristol tunnel in a train when he looked at his watch to see the time. Also that in darkness loaf sugar thrown into a cup sends out a spark. He discovered this when tea was brought to him on the bridge at night.

[Post World War II]

Trip from London to Singapore in 90 ft long boat, 18,000 miles

Dick had to take a ship from London to Singapore, and as it would be the monsoon season round India, he had to take it the roundabout way from London via Panama – from Quito across to Tahiti where they arrived in time to see the arrival of the Kontiki men, and the grand welcome they got [Late 1947] Dick’s boat had followed the same course as the Kontiki and were always on the lookout for her. From Tahiti they sailed up through the Torres Strait, the nearest Dick had been to Australia in 40 years, thence to Fiji, and so to Singapore, a journey of 18,000 miles taking over 6 months.

Before they left London it had become known that this little ship was to sail around the world and all sorts of adventurous men, writers etc. came to see the ship and beg to do the trip with her.

Chittagong

Dick had the job of taking a ship from England to Chittagong in India where it was to be delivered to a wealthy man who had bought it through an advertisement. She was a small ship of 200 tons, 100 ft long and in poor condition. they got as far as Massawa in Eritrea when they struck engine trouble and spent 6 weeks there having repairs done and Dick had the ship painted and looking smart and yacht-like. From there they went through the Red Sea towards Aden with the engines giving trouble all the time. At Aden Dick had [the engines] thoroughly overhauled and the report was that the old engines were useless and they would have to send to England for new ones. Dick shipped the crew back to England as it would take anything up to 6 months for engines to arrive and he lived on the ship for that period. Then, fitted up with new engines and a scratch crew they set out for Colombo. Before long they were in trouble again. One engine conked out and the engineer wanted to turn back again to Aden. However Dick refused and they limped along on one engine. As there was no petrol on board they tried to start up the engine with Dick’s whisky with no result. Then about 240 miles from Colombo the second engine conked out. Again they tried the whisky with no result so they just drifted. By this time they were very overdue in Colombo and ships were wirelessed to look out for her. Dick heard their plight being wirelessed over A.B.C. “Captain uses his last bottle of whisky in vain attempt to start up engines”. They were also down to their last supplies of food and water. Finally they were picked up by HMS Ocean [commissioned 1945]. Dick told the Captain that all the help he needed was petrol to start up the engines, and with that he could make his own way to Colombo. However as there were heavy seas and bad weather predicted the captain of Ocean insisted on giving them a tow and sent them supplies of food and water. A few days after their arrival in Colombo Dick was asked by naval authorities to sign the claim by the navy for [unspecified amount of £] for towing his ship to Colombo. Dick refused to sign saying that he had not asked for a tow, just petrol to start his engines. Dick pointed out to them that the captain of Ocean, before taking him in tow, had sent him no paper to sign, which according to regulations was compulsory unless conditions were such that it was impossible. Dick told them that the Captain had sent them the bills for foodstuff and petrol which he had supplied, so there was no reason why he should have sent the salvage paper for him to sign. There was a lawsuit over it between the owner and the Navy which lasted for over a year but Dick said he never heard the outcome of it. They eventually arrived at Chittagong at the head of the Bay of Bengal 14 months after they left England, a journey which should have taken not more than 2 months. The owner of the ship was horrified at the look of his purchase, the paint had been baked off her in the hot sun of Aden and she was covered in rust from wallowing in the sea. Altogether he was thoroughly disgusted. he had bought her as a surprise for his daughter and had named it after her the Robaba. Dick told him that he had certainly bought a pig in a poke buying a ship through an advertisement and he would have done much better to have bought through a reliable London firm. However he was a millionaire and could easily stand the financial loss, if not the blow to his pride. The richest man in Pakistan, he is now Ambassador in London.

Two trips down Danube : tugboat Forster sails through the Iron Curtain

Dick’s first trip down the Danube was early 1951. He had been asked to take over a tug that was to be towed down the Danube to the Black Sea and from there to Rotterdam. It had been a German boat used for traffic on the Rhine and had been bought by a British? shipping company. In order to get it from the Rhine to the Danube it was cut in halves and trucked by train. Dick took delivery of it at Munich. he spent some weeks there negotiating for a Russian permit to sail down the Danube and eventually got one to take him as far as ? [sic] He managed to wrangle this permit to take him through the rest of the countries bordering on the Danube and he was the first to take a British boat through the iron Curtain since the War. He sailed through Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania to the Black Sea, down the Black Sea to Constantinople, through the Sea of Marmara to Gallipoli, through the Greek Archipelago into the Mediterranean. [They] stopped in Bizerte in Tunisia for repairs, on to Gibraltar and thence to Rotterdam. The whole trip took ? [sic] and he was towed the whole way.

His second trip down the Danube was to be a repetition of the first, and he hoped to get through in the same way with one permit, but the Russians were evidently a little bit suspicious and he only got a little bit beyond Belgrade and was settling down for the night on his tug at [blank] (he always tied up for the night) when the tug was boarded by 2 officials who told him that they had been sent to take him back to Vienna and would give no explanation. They would not allow him to take clothes, money or anything and he was taken off in a car for some distance [end]