September 1970
I had left Farmstead Villa, no doubt much to the relief of all, except Pat.
Hi Ho Hi Ho - its off to work we go
I had been refused the opportunity to go to university. Pat had tried her best to get Surrey County Council to finance higher education for me but they wouldn’t take responsibility for my further education and were insisting that I should leave school and go to work. So I left school at 15 and joined a merchant navy training school, based in the Priory at Arundel Castle in Sussex. The school was specifically for youngsters like myself who had come from institutions and were looking for a step up the ladder of life. One thing was for sure, the local authorities were wiping their hands of us!
The idea of the school was that it should be land based for basic training and education in seamanship at Arundel and then we would transfer to TS (Training Ship) Bembridge which was to be based at Gosport Reach in Portsmouth Harbour. The Bembridge was a 500 tonne ex Trinity House (pilot) ship. She was an old lady, but to this 15 year old, it was a ship and a new adventure.
In addition to the seamanship we were also to specialise in one subject. I was going to specialise in catering, and did well in learning the trade and putting it into practice (Initially, on leaving the training course, I worked at a popular and well known restaurant in Ewell. I gave up after just a few hours though when I realised that the job involved opening packets and tins with some drunken Scot shouting at me!! I hadn’t undergone making 'real' food just to work with this drunk and opening tins or the freezer door!!
Whilst we were land-based the head of the trainings school was Eric St. John Foti. When we took delivery of the Bembridge and moved onboard Lt. Commander Preston RNR was appointed as Commander of the Bembridge. Preston was a member of the Royal Naval Reserves and obviously had a naval background. But as far as handling teenage boys with our sort of background was concerned he was green as cabbage!
Preston used to bark orders as if he was still in the Navy and we used to carry out the order.... eventually. I remember him as a nasty piece of work and have never forgotten one thing he said to me.
Cowes
We took the Bembridge from Portsmouth to Cowes Harbour on one occasion. I do not recall why, but I was on the wheel of the ship as we entered the harbour. Normally I would have been on galley duty being a catering student but I think I must have been on seamanship duty on this day. As we entered the harbour we were taking the correct line for a ship of our size, on the right hand side of the mouth to the harbour. Within a moment the ship had been 'thrown' over to the left hand side and was solidly aground just by the quay wall.
We were now obstructing the East - West Cowes Chain Ferry!
Preston shouted at me something like "what have you done you stupid boy?" I replied that I hadn’t actually done anything and had no idea what had happened. He continued ranting at me and being the stroppy lad I was I squared up to him and said "You were in charge of the ship - you got it wrong". He replied to me, "I make mistakes but I am never wrong boy!!" This has been my mantra of hatred towards authority ever since. I have never found myself able to forgive that comment. It seemed to cut right through me.
The press and TV along with the whole population of Cowes, it seemed, all came down to the quayside to ogle. It felt so embarrassing because everyone was blaming me and I felt the public all knew it was me at the helm when the ship ran aground.
The inquiry into the incident cleared me of all blame. Preston was ultimately held responsible but with the mitigation that when we entered the harbour there was a spring high tide. That spring high tide produced its own unique and dangerous undercurrents, resulting in what had happened to the Bembridge. Preston didn’t know the harbour and its tides, but he was the commanding officer.
He became even worse after this incident. He didn’t like being wrong and he took it out on us with increased discipline. As a result he became more hated by us all.
