Harry Chandler
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Ship's Voyage Logs
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Statistics about the Ship
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These photographs were taken on board the Asturias in November 1948, by Pat Piggott. His wife Irene (Rene) and son Michael are pictured with other passengers. If you can identify them, please let us know.
Cliff Schwerin
1952
1952
These photographs were taken on board the Asturias in November 1948, by Pat Piggott. His wife Irene (Rene) and son Michael are pictured with other passengers. If you can identify them, please let us know.
It was September 1954. The 8 month radar course at Aborfield was coming to its end when the sergeant instructor came into the class room with a collection of paper in his hand. His message was: “You have all passed your trade test, now is the time for you to use your skills to pay back Her Majesty by going out to maintain her radars”.
To the surprise of the 11man National Service course members, we were told that we either chose where we to be posted, or the sergeant would decide where we were going to go. This was totally unexpected. Hitherto, we had never been given a choice; we had been informed where we were going. The members of the course were a disparate group. Some were straight from school, others were from university, others had had their National Service deferred and were then conscripted into the army. One man was married. He had his wedding shortly before the joined the army and had worked in an engineering firm. The course members agreed that he should be “posted” to the nearest location to his wife. The postings were: the UK, Germany, Gibraltar, Malta and Singapore.
We all compared our wishes before the sergeant returned and to my surprise, I was the only one who had selected Singapore. The others wanted to stay in the UK. At that point, we all went our separate ways.
Because there was an infrequent service to Singapore, I was transferred to a holding battalion to await shipment. Originally I had been told that I would be flown to Singapore and I had to get a passport and a Visa for Thailand. No explanation was provided about the reason for this arrangement. I was transferred to Aldershot – “The home of the British army” and was given a train warrant to get there. Aldershot was the location of the British army holding battalion for soldiers going abroad The passport turned up, I was allocated a draft identification (DLNDD), which was to go by ship to Singapore. I had to wait for the next move by the army.
Aldershot is not a dream location. After my expensive training, I was summoned to a “parade” for work. A bored sergeant, who looked after the soldiers waiting for their “draft, handed me a broom, and told to sweep out the battalion library. The task took about an hour. I then amused myself by looking at what was in the library until it was time to go to a “parade” to be dismissed. When I was asked what I had done, I told the sergeant that the library was swept and there was no index system for the library books and the library needed one. Immediately, I was promoted to librarian. At the parade the following morning, I was allocated a soldier to sweep the library while I put in place various library systems using the Dewey Decimal system. I had found a copy of the system in the library.
Additionally, I created a system to control the issue of books. (When in Malaya about 6 months later during the Malayan “emergency” I was in a truck going through the Cameron Highlands and sat next to a member of the Special Air Service (SAS). He complained bitterly about being fined for not returning a book to the Aldershot library. I offered him my sympathies. The book control system had worked).
To my surprise, my father had contacted the army. He asked if I could go home on leave as it would be a year before I would be home again. I was unaware of this. My sergeant informed me that I was to go to the colonel’s office. My father was a civil servant and had fought in the 1st world war and had been promoted from private to lieutenant. I presume that gave him some clout with the army.
The colonel’s concern was would I not return if I went home. My father apparently had assured him that all would be well so the interview was perfunctory and I was then given a travel warrant to go home and back. Shortly after I returned to Aldershot, I was taken to Southampton and met the Asturias for the first time.
The Asturias was better looking than I had expected. It seemed to be huge and it was rumoured to be faster than other troop ships as it was powered by turbines. As I had never been on a big ship previously, nor had I left the UK, this was the start of what I hoped would be an interesting adventure. It was!
Below decks was a different experience. It was 18 to a “bed”, or standee. See below copied from Google:
From Wrong Place, Right Time: Policing the End of Empire https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1860640192Michael J. Macoun - 1996 - ?Biography & Autobiography... the menfolk were banished to troopship 'standee' accommodation in the holds of the ship. Our 'dormitory' housed 169 men in tiered bunk stands. The smell ...
The standee comprised 3 layers 2 abreast and in units of 3, the noise was incredible as there were several enormous fans going all the time. Air conditioning was a distant dream.
The Asturias left Southampton, next stop Aden. I now found that the stories about the Bay of Biscay were not just stories. The Asturias had no stabilisers and for the first day I was afraid I was going to die, the second day was not better and I was was horrified that I might not die after all. The ship pitched and rolled. Breakfast was in a large room and the food was better than anything we had in the UK. There was no finesse in the eating area. We queued to get food and went to long tables where you needed to keep guard over the tray to ensure the tray with its accompanying food was not pitched onto the deck. The crew seem to be unperturbed.
Increasing numbers of the soldiers began to decline their breakfasts and wags at the table talked about greasy bacon and eggs, that was too much to bear and soldiers shot out of the dining areas into the toilets. I joined the queue too. The first day many soldiers needed to lie down and miss breakfast. By the 3rd day, we were going south past the Portuguese coast in glorious sunshine and the traumas of the first two days evaporated. Fortunately, the storm in the Bay of Biscay had ended, not to be repeated.
Eventually, we reached the rock of Gibraltar and were in the Mediterranean. The voyage to the Suez canal had started in relatively calm conditions. I have no memory about how the army kept us amused, and the next part of the voyage was not burnt into my memory apart from passing another troop ship returning to the UK at about the location of Malta. When the captain announced there was another ship, all the troops rushed across the ship to see the other it. Looking at the other ship, the same seemed to happen and both ships listed significantly. I believe the other ship was the Empire Windrush which had hit the headlines in the UK as it carried people from the West Indies to the UK to help fill labour shortages. From the Mediterranean onwards the ship’s crew fed us lemon drinks. There was a shortage of vegetables on board. As far as I remember, no-one suffered from lack of vegetables.
The sun was strong for most of the Mediterranean. Many of the soldiers ignored the instruction not to get sunburned and some suffered appallingly with strips of burned skin hanging off them. The pain must have been considerable. Fortunately I was able to brown gently without getting seriously burned. Many of the soldiers tried to sit on the deck rails. The ship’s captain made repeated announcements to get down from the rails. As far as I remember that no one fell into the sea.
As I was in the REME, or Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers, I and several other REME personnel were invited to visit the engine room. We got into it by long almost vertical ladders to see these huge turbines. My principal memory was the heat which was colossal. Having a technical discussion or any other conversation was impossible because of the noise. I remember having been pleased to be invited; I was even more pleased to get back on deck again.
When we reached Port Said we were not allowed off the ship. The Asturias docked by some large cranes which lifted huge green watermelons on board in enormous knotted rope slings. Watermelons were new to me. From this time onwards, our diet included big pieces of watermelon. I remembered that they were remarkably tasteless.
The voyage continued into the Suez Canal. We went past many army camps when ribald remarks were exchanged between the groups of servicemen and the ship. Eventually we reached the Great Bitter Lakes and several large ships were anchored there. I imagined that they, and the Asturias were waiting for clearance to go further south. The view was not inspiring. There seemed to be sand everywhere. Finally we reached Port Said and entered the Red Sea. It was not red!
The temperatures below decks were rising rapidly and we were given permission to sleep on deck. Regrettably I have little memory of this part of the voyage except the coast of Saudi Arabia and that it got hotter and hotter.
Eventually we arrived at Aden. This was not the high point of the voyage. Aden announced its presence by the smell of oil. We could not see any land initially, the atmosphere was murky. When we arrived at Aden we were allowed ashore. On the pier the soldiers were besieged by groups of boys who were trying to sell us “feelthy” postcards, their sisters and then their brothers. From memory, the bit of Aden I saw was mainly selling cheap watches and cameras. The roads seem to be overrun with donkeys in poor condition. Not a memorable tourist experience.
Fortunately, 2 years ago, I met a fellow passenger on a north Iceland cruise. We talked about various things and somehow the issue of Aden came up. His son had worked there about the time I visited Aden. He offered to send me photos of Aden. I had not taken a camera with me during the beginning of my National Service, and was pleased to have photographic evidence of the place. Strangely, the pictures looked better than my memory of Aden.
The Asturias resumed the voyage, next stop Colombo. The ship took on provisions. We were not allowed ashore. Very rapidly a whole crowd of “bum Boats” surrounded the Asturias. The traders were shouting their wares to the soldiers. I do not remember how money was exchanged, but the traders became concerned about the amount of coinage they were collecting. Presumably, they would have difficulty in exchanging coinage into the local currency. I thought there was a commercial opportunity here. I shouted if I could change coinage into notes, would they give me fruit? They agreed. I then visited the purser (we had one even though it was a troop ship) and exchanged coins for notes. When he was becoming suspicious of what I was doing, I decided to call a halt to the operation.
The fruit was lovely, and I remember sharing most of it with follow soldiers. I remember thinking it would be nice to return to Colombo sometime in the future. Fortunately, my wish was fulfilled a year later when the troopship, the Dunera, visited Colombo when I was going home. The Asturias left Colombo for the final part of the journey to Singapore. On the final leg of the journey, we had rifle practice from the stern of the ship. Each soldier was presented with a Lee Enfield rifle and 5 rounds of ammunition. The person organising the practice then released 5 coloured balloons from the stern of the ship and I was told to shoot the balloons. I got 3 out of 5. (On the way back from Singapore, there was a similar drill. My score was zero. Perhaps my experiences in Singapore affected my shooting!)
The last leg of the journey was uneventful. We seemed to have a leisurely journey down the Malacca Straits and suddenly we had arrived at the Singapore docks. I have no memory of the processes I went through to go ashore. Eventually I was taken by an army ferry to Blakang Mati, just across the harbour from the ship and Singapore island. That was not the last I saw of the Asturias as it appeared again before I went home.
I was then taken by Jeep to the Blakang Mati Barracks and to meet the officers. Compared with Aldershot, I was in heaven. We had comfortable barracks overlooking the South China Sea, there were no windows but doors with louvers to let in the breeze. There was a large block of showers which was never full. We usually had 3 showers a day. There were about 40 soldiers who were in the REME or the Royal Artillery. Most were regular soldiers, who had not been conscripted. We had our own cook, a person to look after our uniforms, a person to clean our boots, and even a swimming area protected by an anti shark fence and a small sailing dinghy. We had to pay a small amount to the people who looked after our uniforms and our boots.
My job was to maintain 4 antiaircraft radars. If I had problems, the nearest workshop was 8,000 miles away. I had to invent my own solutions when there was no back up. I managed to ensure that the radars all worked correctly for the duration of my stay, which was about a year. To my surprise, I was my own boss and the army paid me a reasonable sum to do the job which I liked. This enabled me to buy a camera which I could not have afforded otherwise. My working day started at 7am and ended at 2pm. After work I spent much of my time in Singapore city either using the army launch or by a paying for a ride in a “sampan” to get to the Singapore dockside. Unlike many National Service men, I enjoyed my time in Singapore.
HJC. 180417, Essex UK
To the surprise of the 11man National Service course members, we were told that we either chose where we to be posted, or the sergeant would decide where we were going to go. This was totally unexpected. Hitherto, we had never been given a choice; we had been informed where we were going. The members of the course were a disparate group. Some were straight from school, others were from university, others had had their National Service deferred and were then conscripted into the army. One man was married. He had his wedding shortly before the joined the army and had worked in an engineering firm. The course members agreed that he should be “posted” to the nearest location to his wife. The postings were: the UK, Germany, Gibraltar, Malta and Singapore.
We all compared our wishes before the sergeant returned and to my surprise, I was the only one who had selected Singapore. The others wanted to stay in the UK. At that point, we all went our separate ways.
Because there was an infrequent service to Singapore, I was transferred to a holding battalion to await shipment. Originally I had been told that I would be flown to Singapore and I had to get a passport and a Visa for Thailand. No explanation was provided about the reason for this arrangement. I was transferred to Aldershot – “The home of the British army” and was given a train warrant to get there. Aldershot was the location of the British army holding battalion for soldiers going abroad The passport turned up, I was allocated a draft identification (DLNDD), which was to go by ship to Singapore. I had to wait for the next move by the army.
Aldershot is not a dream location. After my expensive training, I was summoned to a “parade” for work. A bored sergeant, who looked after the soldiers waiting for their “draft, handed me a broom, and told to sweep out the battalion library. The task took about an hour. I then amused myself by looking at what was in the library until it was time to go to a “parade” to be dismissed. When I was asked what I had done, I told the sergeant that the library was swept and there was no index system for the library books and the library needed one. Immediately, I was promoted to librarian. At the parade the following morning, I was allocated a soldier to sweep the library while I put in place various library systems using the Dewey Decimal system. I had found a copy of the system in the library.
Additionally, I created a system to control the issue of books. (When in Malaya about 6 months later during the Malayan “emergency” I was in a truck going through the Cameron Highlands and sat next to a member of the Special Air Service (SAS). He complained bitterly about being fined for not returning a book to the Aldershot library. I offered him my sympathies. The book control system had worked).
To my surprise, my father had contacted the army. He asked if I could go home on leave as it would be a year before I would be home again. I was unaware of this. My sergeant informed me that I was to go to the colonel’s office. My father was a civil servant and had fought in the 1st world war and had been promoted from private to lieutenant. I presume that gave him some clout with the army.
The colonel’s concern was would I not return if I went home. My father apparently had assured him that all would be well so the interview was perfunctory and I was then given a travel warrant to go home and back. Shortly after I returned to Aldershot, I was taken to Southampton and met the Asturias for the first time.
The Asturias was better looking than I had expected. It seemed to be huge and it was rumoured to be faster than other troop ships as it was powered by turbines. As I had never been on a big ship previously, nor had I left the UK, this was the start of what I hoped would be an interesting adventure. It was!
Below decks was a different experience. It was 18 to a “bed”, or standee. See below copied from Google:
From Wrong Place, Right Time: Policing the End of Empire https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1860640192Michael J. Macoun - 1996 - ?Biography & Autobiography... the menfolk were banished to troopship 'standee' accommodation in the holds of the ship. Our 'dormitory' housed 169 men in tiered bunk stands. The smell ...
The standee comprised 3 layers 2 abreast and in units of 3, the noise was incredible as there were several enormous fans going all the time. Air conditioning was a distant dream.
The Asturias left Southampton, next stop Aden. I now found that the stories about the Bay of Biscay were not just stories. The Asturias had no stabilisers and for the first day I was afraid I was going to die, the second day was not better and I was was horrified that I might not die after all. The ship pitched and rolled. Breakfast was in a large room and the food was better than anything we had in the UK. There was no finesse in the eating area. We queued to get food and went to long tables where you needed to keep guard over the tray to ensure the tray with its accompanying food was not pitched onto the deck. The crew seem to be unperturbed.
Increasing numbers of the soldiers began to decline their breakfasts and wags at the table talked about greasy bacon and eggs, that was too much to bear and soldiers shot out of the dining areas into the toilets. I joined the queue too. The first day many soldiers needed to lie down and miss breakfast. By the 3rd day, we were going south past the Portuguese coast in glorious sunshine and the traumas of the first two days evaporated. Fortunately, the storm in the Bay of Biscay had ended, not to be repeated.
Eventually, we reached the rock of Gibraltar and were in the Mediterranean. The voyage to the Suez canal had started in relatively calm conditions. I have no memory about how the army kept us amused, and the next part of the voyage was not burnt into my memory apart from passing another troop ship returning to the UK at about the location of Malta. When the captain announced there was another ship, all the troops rushed across the ship to see the other it. Looking at the other ship, the same seemed to happen and both ships listed significantly. I believe the other ship was the Empire Windrush which had hit the headlines in the UK as it carried people from the West Indies to the UK to help fill labour shortages. From the Mediterranean onwards the ship’s crew fed us lemon drinks. There was a shortage of vegetables on board. As far as I remember, no-one suffered from lack of vegetables.
The sun was strong for most of the Mediterranean. Many of the soldiers ignored the instruction not to get sunburned and some suffered appallingly with strips of burned skin hanging off them. The pain must have been considerable. Fortunately I was able to brown gently without getting seriously burned. Many of the soldiers tried to sit on the deck rails. The ship’s captain made repeated announcements to get down from the rails. As far as I remember that no one fell into the sea.
As I was in the REME, or Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers, I and several other REME personnel were invited to visit the engine room. We got into it by long almost vertical ladders to see these huge turbines. My principal memory was the heat which was colossal. Having a technical discussion or any other conversation was impossible because of the noise. I remember having been pleased to be invited; I was even more pleased to get back on deck again.
When we reached Port Said we were not allowed off the ship. The Asturias docked by some large cranes which lifted huge green watermelons on board in enormous knotted rope slings. Watermelons were new to me. From this time onwards, our diet included big pieces of watermelon. I remembered that they were remarkably tasteless.
The voyage continued into the Suez Canal. We went past many army camps when ribald remarks were exchanged between the groups of servicemen and the ship. Eventually we reached the Great Bitter Lakes and several large ships were anchored there. I imagined that they, and the Asturias were waiting for clearance to go further south. The view was not inspiring. There seemed to be sand everywhere. Finally we reached Port Said and entered the Red Sea. It was not red!
The temperatures below decks were rising rapidly and we were given permission to sleep on deck. Regrettably I have little memory of this part of the voyage except the coast of Saudi Arabia and that it got hotter and hotter.
Eventually we arrived at Aden. This was not the high point of the voyage. Aden announced its presence by the smell of oil. We could not see any land initially, the atmosphere was murky. When we arrived at Aden we were allowed ashore. On the pier the soldiers were besieged by groups of boys who were trying to sell us “feelthy” postcards, their sisters and then their brothers. From memory, the bit of Aden I saw was mainly selling cheap watches and cameras. The roads seem to be overrun with donkeys in poor condition. Not a memorable tourist experience.
Fortunately, 2 years ago, I met a fellow passenger on a north Iceland cruise. We talked about various things and somehow the issue of Aden came up. His son had worked there about the time I visited Aden. He offered to send me photos of Aden. I had not taken a camera with me during the beginning of my National Service, and was pleased to have photographic evidence of the place. Strangely, the pictures looked better than my memory of Aden.
The Asturias resumed the voyage, next stop Colombo. The ship took on provisions. We were not allowed ashore. Very rapidly a whole crowd of “bum Boats” surrounded the Asturias. The traders were shouting their wares to the soldiers. I do not remember how money was exchanged, but the traders became concerned about the amount of coinage they were collecting. Presumably, they would have difficulty in exchanging coinage into the local currency. I thought there was a commercial opportunity here. I shouted if I could change coinage into notes, would they give me fruit? They agreed. I then visited the purser (we had one even though it was a troop ship) and exchanged coins for notes. When he was becoming suspicious of what I was doing, I decided to call a halt to the operation.
The fruit was lovely, and I remember sharing most of it with follow soldiers. I remember thinking it would be nice to return to Colombo sometime in the future. Fortunately, my wish was fulfilled a year later when the troopship, the Dunera, visited Colombo when I was going home. The Asturias left Colombo for the final part of the journey to Singapore. On the final leg of the journey, we had rifle practice from the stern of the ship. Each soldier was presented with a Lee Enfield rifle and 5 rounds of ammunition. The person organising the practice then released 5 coloured balloons from the stern of the ship and I was told to shoot the balloons. I got 3 out of 5. (On the way back from Singapore, there was a similar drill. My score was zero. Perhaps my experiences in Singapore affected my shooting!)
The last leg of the journey was uneventful. We seemed to have a leisurely journey down the Malacca Straits and suddenly we had arrived at the Singapore docks. I have no memory of the processes I went through to go ashore. Eventually I was taken by an army ferry to Blakang Mati, just across the harbour from the ship and Singapore island. That was not the last I saw of the Asturias as it appeared again before I went home.
I was then taken by Jeep to the Blakang Mati Barracks and to meet the officers. Compared with Aldershot, I was in heaven. We had comfortable barracks overlooking the South China Sea, there were no windows but doors with louvers to let in the breeze. There was a large block of showers which was never full. We usually had 3 showers a day. There were about 40 soldiers who were in the REME or the Royal Artillery. Most were regular soldiers, who had not been conscripted. We had our own cook, a person to look after our uniforms, a person to clean our boots, and even a swimming area protected by an anti shark fence and a small sailing dinghy. We had to pay a small amount to the people who looked after our uniforms and our boots.
My job was to maintain 4 antiaircraft radars. If I had problems, the nearest workshop was 8,000 miles away. I had to invent my own solutions when there was no back up. I managed to ensure that the radars all worked correctly for the duration of my stay, which was about a year. To my surprise, I was my own boss and the army paid me a reasonable sum to do the job which I liked. This enabled me to buy a camera which I could not have afforded otherwise. My working day started at 7am and ended at 2pm. After work I spent much of my time in Singapore city either using the army launch or by a paying for a ride in a “sampan” to get to the Singapore dockside. Unlike many National Service men, I enjoyed my time in Singapore.
HJC. 180417, Essex UK