Diary George Loughlin Blore - May - October 1940 - Part 2

18

There is a very old

dutch home here

taken over by the 

government as a curio

of the old slave days

with the slaves quarters

at the back, thick massive 

walls with no possibility

of getting out.

The original deed of 

transfer is there with

the date 1761 on it so

you see it is older even 

than that date.

So we regretfully left

Table Mountain & all

its lure for travellers

& beauty for those who

see it in trees & skies

birds & and all that

19

& color. It was indeed a 

day well spent & one to 

thank God for.

So back to our ship thru

Capetown & to duties once

more with quite a few souvenirs.

One of the sad things

about the majority of

our boys is the fact

that the nearest hotel

or woman constitutes

the whole of their sightseeing

bounded by the wall of a 

common pub, reeking

with tobacco & stale drink

& cursings.

Surely men must, nay, indeed,

cannot fail to see the good & best

side of life, yet they prefer the

darkness to light

20

WED

29.5.40

Expected to have more shore

leave today, but was disappointed

early, later on in the afternoon one

of the hospital cases had to be

taken ashore in an ambulance to

have his foot X-RAYED. after having

had it crushed under a roller

gangway while coming on board ship

I was lucky enough to go ashore

in the ambulance to give a 

hand & so l had about 10 minutes

to myself when we arrived at our

destination.

What a coincidence, the same soldier

lives in Mont Albert not far from

my address, works in the 

Electricity building & knows

Bunty Rogers quite well.

Finished 11 days hospital duties

hooray!

21 

THURS

30.5.40

No more leave has been granted

although this is now the 6^th

day we have been here.

Probably on account of some of the

men who have gone over the 

fence altogether as it were.

An interesting custom is observed

here, at 12 o'clock the discharge 

a cannon every day, where this

originated I did not find out.

Our chinese crew left us today & about

100 naval rating, supplemented by

about 300 army lads on board, have

taken their place to work the

ship. What the food will be like

I hesitate to say, lets hope it

will be allright anyway.

Tried my hand at fishing today, but

did not manage to obtain any

fish.

22

FRI

31.5.40

Pulled out of Capetown today

at 9 o'clock, took up position

in convoy, & proceeded to our way.

The last 2 days have been a 

holiday for me, as I have had 

no duties, so was enabled

to do many odd jobs which 

required attention.

I look forward eagerly to

Bible reading in the morning.

It becomes for more real to

me now that I am here, away

from home & among those

who continually take the Lords

name in vain.

23 

SAT

1.6.40

Have been travelling up the

west coast of Africa now

for sometime, Colonel White,

who is in charge of the boat,

addressed us in the morning on our

forebearance in foregoing ^more leave & not

being A.W.L. Good boys!! & don't we know it.

Forgot to mention a visit to the

engine room which I paid last

week. a "mighty mess of mechanism 

with propellor shafts 300 ft long

also a system whereby salt water

is converted to fresh.

Boilers are never raked out as even

the carbon deposit is made to

burn. I wouldn't fancy working

down there though, as it is

30 ft below sea level.

24

SUN

2.6.40

Looks as if we are going

to the old country after all

from the route taken so far.

I think the sooner we get

settled down in our jobs on 

shore the better for all as

we will then know who

our N.C.O.S are to be.

Saw as school of porpoises tonight

just at dusk. diving in

& out with clockwork

regularity they looked like

greyhounds jumping hurdles.

Went to morning Church parade.

25 

MON

3.6.40

Have missed the chinese crew

& their delightful ways.

They do try hard to understand

English, which is more than we

can say for theirs.

Do a good action for a chinese &

he is your friend for life & will 

do anything for you. VISE VERSA —

Changed our quarters today, the idea

being that we are now on the

same deck as the hospital for the

sake of emergency.

Had quite a good yarn to

Captain Whipple on photography 

He certainly goes in for it in a

big way what with color photography

& an expensive Bell & Howells camera.

 

26 

TUES

4.6.40

Some of the boys tried to teach me

poker today, I suppose I'll soon 

get the idea of it. Good idea though

to learn as it enables one to

mix in more with the boys.

The colonel is organising a 

card competition for the

unit &  so we are all 

split up into groups to play.

One of the boys in hospital here lives

on the same suburb. Bob Miller &

works at the S.E.C. William St

& also knows Bunty. What a coincidence.

27

WED

5.6.40

Duties are becoming more definite

in relation to the defence of the 

boat, more looks are kept, gun crews

handy etc. Very hot all day, except

out of deck where it is quite 

nice with a lovely breeze blowing.

Went to pictures this afternoon, saw

travelogue of Central Aust, makes one

long to be back in Aussie-land again.

A thought from thoughts, so to speak

as I was thinking back on past

hike, camp fires etc. the thought 

came how true the following is

"I call you no longer servants,

but friends, for the servant knoweth

not what his Lord doeth."

What a friendship the disciples 

must have enjoyed with Christ.

as they walked along together.

28

THUR

6.6.40

29 

FRI

7.6.40

Pulled into Freetown, Sierra Leone,

the god coast, of ancient & romantic 

tales.

Incidently, we are now 11 hours

behind Greenwich time.

Very hot & muggy place here, with

a tempering wind about 6 o'clock P.M.

onwards. The aircraft carrier Hermes

is here, some cruisers, seaplanes, 

& about 30 other steamers, mostly

small. country looks denset

very green, doubtless the heavy 

night dew brings on growth

The natives here are a much better

class than what we saw in Capetown.

They trade fruit, mangoes, pineapples etc

to us in return for clothing or South African

coins, also dive for money too. Traded

an article of clothing for 1 pine & 2 mangoes.

30

SAT

8.6.40

The natives here are intensely interesting

I noticed two natives in one of

their quaint canoes, one had a 

much darker skin the other,

yet both looked to be pure negro

stock, doubtless there are many

tribes round here though.

One of them sang a hymn, I think

it was "Onward christian soldiers"

and reminded me of that picture

Stanley & Livingstone, what a 

great soul Livingstone was we

will never fully realise, 

when you feel the heat here

& know that fever & pestilence

are just around the corner,

besides savages, thirst & other 

dangers one glimpse what

Livingstone went thru.

31

SAT

8.6.40

At night it is wonderful to 

see the boats in our convoy

signalling each other, one has

an earnest desire to know

what it is that they say.

An oil tanker pulled alongside

today, we filled up with oil

& are now proceeding on our way

once more. One wonders how

this last week will go, as we are

so near our destination,

sandbags have been placed around

machine guns on deck, & gun crews

& lookouts are there to man them

all day, I expect all night too, soon.

The pineapple wasn't so hot, not as

good as Aussie ones, but the mangoes

were delicious; about time we

had a little fresh fruit too.

32

SUN.

9.6.40

Allotted new stations for emergencies

sake, really I suppose one could call it

casualty clearing too, as it is near

the ammunition carriers etc.

Lifebelts carried everywhere one goes

now, & planes out constantly from

the aircraft carrier with us.

Pictures in afternoon.

Must get Davs Tassy address.

33

[*ITALY DECLARES WAR*] 

MON

10.6.40

One a hour ago Mussolini dragged Italy

into the war, as we are not far away

going up the African coast, I wonder if

 he will risk a few planes in an attack

anyway, we are ready for them & will

give them a hot reception.

This complicates matters I should think

as I suppose we may be sent elsewhere

now in all probability although being

so far towards England we

may continue.

34

TUES

11.6.40

Allotted new first aid posts,

I am, with others of our unit,

posted under the bridge in

the crews hospital.

We had an air raid alarm

today for practice & each took up

our posts allotted.

Pictures in afternoon.

Going flat out for our destination,

I hope our unit stays as it

though here seems some doubt as to

what we'll do when we reach port as

all our previous plans made for 

Palestine have gone astray.

35

Copy of a prayer found in Chester

Cathedral.

WED 

12.6.40

1 Give me a good digestion, Lord,

And also something to digest,

Give me a healthy body, Lord,

With sense to keep it at its best.

Give me a healthy mind, good Lord,

To keep the good & pure in sight;

Which seeing sin is not appalled

But find a way to put it right,

            ---------------

2 Give me a mind that is not bored,

That does not whimper,

whine or sigh;

Don't let me worry overmuch,

About the fussy thing called "I".

Give me a sense of humor, Lord,

Give me the grace to see a joke;

To get some happiness from life,

And pass it on to other folk.

38

SAT

14 15.6.40

The reality of things is coming home

to us now, about a dozen destroyers

& besides cruisers, aircraft carriers

& battleships are escorting us in.

This morning early a ship was 

torpedoed about 300 miles

ahead of our the line we were on

so evidently submarines have 

been & still are waiting

for us. Passed a burning

oil ship today not far away.

Today we also had our first

alarm, went to our stations

& discovered it to be a 

British flying boat.

Phew! what a relief.

Learned today, that our boat narrowly missed

a torpedo, which went between us &

the 'Mauretania.'

39

FIRST CONVOY FROM AUST

TO ARRIVE IN ENGLAND

SUN

16.6.40

After passing dangers of which we were

not aware till safe at anchorage,

such as a near escape from a submarine

which popped up in the middle of the

 convoy, we passed the mouth of the 

Clyde, Scotland & anchored at 3.30 P.M.

off Grennoch, a small town about 20 miles

downstream from Glasgow itself.

Divine service in the morning was

one of thanksgiving that we had

arrived safely. It is a delightful

spot here, my ideas of Scotland

have been changed since 

seeing this beautiful little bay here, 

with all the lovely, almost 

unbelievable green of the hills,

& the rugged hills, with that

air of mystery as the sun 

declines & leaves a slight haze