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cope. British naval ships and French warships were very untidy. One destroyer even had a

pig on the aft deck. Indian naval vessels were the smartest I saw at that time.

There were also Dutch submarines and every single workman who worked on those

submarines would be accompanied by an armed sailor who met him on the gangway and
said goodbye to him when he left (very tight security). A particular ship called HMS

Hecla, which was literally a floating dockyard, had run into a mine and was docked for
major repairs. This was a 24-hour a day operation and on completion, after several weeks,

she was rushed up to join the flotilla that was on its way to stage the landings of the Allied

forces on the coast of North Africa (Operation Torch, 8 - 12 November, 1942). Before she
reached her destination she was torpedoed and sank almost immediately.

I can remember that between sixteen and eighteen Kalk Bay fishermen joined the SA
Navy, were trained in Durban and were engaged in mine-sweeping operations. One mine-

sweeper had almost an entire crew of Kalk Bay fishermen, and they soon became the
leading mine-sweeper because the crew were genuine seamen. One of the crew received a

medal for bravery after diving and releasing a mine under water, left by the Germans in the
mouth of Tripoli harbour. The married Kalk Bay seamen were very happy as they were

paid more than the single men, because in those days they all had quite large families.

After their discharge they were all given a lifelong pension which was eventually much
more than the old-age pension.

I started work in the dockyard at the age of 15 and could hardly wait to turn 18 so that I

could join the Navy, as some of my friends who were a few years older were telling me
how much they enjoyed serving in the Navy. On turning 18 I was granted an interview

with the captain in charge who was the head of the dockyard. This gentleman was an old

retired Royal Navy captain and I thought that if I explained that my reason for release was
to join the Navy he would agree. He just looked at me and smiled and invited me to his

large office window which overlooked the dry dock. On the dock bottom were dozens and

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