By Troopship to the Far East - Part 2
Return Journey — November/December 1958
Almost two years later to the day, on the 12th of November 1958 to be exact, I departed from my final FEAF posting (RAF Gan in the Maldive Islands) having earlier during my Far East tour been stationed at Negombo, China Bay, Seletar and finally Gan, I flew from Gan to RAF Katunayake near Colombo in Sri Lanka to join the Nevasa (again!) for my return to the UK.
Tour Ex - The best part of any posting - departing Gan.
On the way to Katunayake we passed over Colombo harbour. The Nevasa, the large white vessel can be seen at anchor in the harbour.
The next day on the 13th of November 1958 I embarked on the Nevasa for the return voyage to the UK. Here Waiting in Colombo harbour for the ferry to the Nevasa that can be seen in the background.
Here's the Nevasa in all her glory.
Departing Colombo Harbour en-route to our next stop - Aden.
We called at Aden and had a day ashore for duty-free shopping (I bought one of the newly introduced transistor radios very cheaply).
This view of Steamer Point shows the RN shore base at Aden (HMS Sheba) low building extreme left alongside the waterfront with the Crescent Hotel immdiately behind it.
Our passage to Port Suez was easy and calm.
We sailed though the Suez Canal viewing the wrecks of ships sunk during the crisis two years earlier and we dropped anchor at Port Suez for a very short stop. We weren’t allowed ashore here but the bum-boats that swarmed around the ship did a brisk business in Egyptian trinkets and souvenirs. Following this short stop we were on our way again to our next stop in Gibraltar, our final stop on the way home, where we were allowed ashore again.
Some Memories
I have some memories of the trip home; the comfort level of the ship was improved in that the bunks were in tiers of three rather than the four that we endured on the way out. But the rest of the voyage was very similar to the journey out, PT on deck, team games and rifle shooting at balloons, more films in the evenings, most of which we’d all seen months earlier. The dining arrangements were similar to the journey out, but this time only with two sittings for meals rather than three. Thankfully we didn’t run out of beer on the way home, which was a relief.
Noteworthy was the sudden overnight change from the warmth of the Red Sea to the chill of the desert as we travelled north up the Red Sea. With the arrival of the cooler weather we were told to change from our tropical KD uniforms into standard UK uniforms. This caused a few problems as most of us hadn’t worn these for two years or so. Like many, my uniform had been sealed up in a waterproof bag shortly after my arrival in the Far East supposedly to stop it being affected by the high humidity, but in my case something had gone seriously wrong because when opened the uniform had gone mouldy – thankfully there was an Indian tailor among the ship’s crew who knew exactly how to deal with this problem (from experience perhaps?) and he passed it back to me, minus the mould, but stinking to high heaven — this musty odour remained with me for the rest of the voyage!
With my newly acquired transistor radio to play with as we travelled north up the Red Sea we searched the wave-bands for English broadcast stations and sure enough we started to receive the BBC relay station in the Middle East relaying the BBC World Service. Memorably the current hit, the Italian song ‘Volare’ which had featured in that year’s Eurovision Song contest was being played regularly. Whenever I hear it played today the catchy tune brings back memories of the Nevasa plying its way along the balmy Red Sea towards ‘Blighty’.
Leaving Port Suez we entered the Mediterranean. The passage to our final stop at Gibraltar was notably rough. I was under the impression that the Mediterranean was a calm and blue sea, but in late November 1958 my assumptions were proved very wide of the mark — it was really rough!
Approaching Gibraltar
Having docked at Gibraltar and been allowed ashore for more shopping, we departed for the UK.
The Nevasa docked at Southampton on the morning of the 1st of December 1958, and following the usual inspection by HM Customs in the customs shed at Southampton we joined the special steam-drawn boat train to London Waterloo only to find that there was no heating in the carriages; we had arrived in the middle of an early and particularly cold, cold spell and the steam heating of the carriages had frozen, leaving us with a two hour journey to Waterloo in a freezing cold train.
The Customs Shed at Southampton
"Anything to declare sir?"
Finally around mid-day I was met at Waterloo by my family and had a short spell of leave before my next posting to RAF Abingdon near Oxford — but that’s another story.
Last edited by Warmtoast; 22nd Jun 2011 at 20:02.