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"A LETTER TO MY SON"
DAVID
from his father LEONARD CHARLES IRVINE
4393843 Flt Sgt (Nav), Who was a Soldier of Saint George In the King's Royal Air Force in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Forty-five when this book was written.
FROM DADDY,
142 R. and S.TL,
R.A.F.
S.E.A.A.F.
13th October 1945
"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax, And cabbages and Kings."
My Dear David,
I thought in wishing you many happy returns of today that now you are growing into a big boy you would be interested to hear how Daddy sailed away to India, and what happened to him there. Before doing that though, I want you to enjoy your birthday, and have a nice game, and a fine tea and then perhaps Mummy will sit you on her knee and tell you this story.
After waving goodbye to you and Mummy at the station at Seaford, Daddy settled down in the train to think about all the nice things and people he was leaving behind him — perhaps for a long time — and by the time he was finished with that the train was at Victoria where Daddy had to get down and go on the Underground to Kings Cross and St.Pancras. He had a little time to wait there and filled it by having a cup of tea and one of the nice sandwiches which Mummy had made for him. Shortly afterwards the train puffed into the station and Daddy got a comfortable seat. He also met some more men who were going to Blackpool so there was plenty to talk about and the time passed quickly. In due course the train got to Blackpool and it was then about four o'clock in the morning. As it was a Sunday morning there were no restaurants open and also the billet or landlady who locked it up was not up, so Daddy and a friend of his spent the time wandering around the deserted streets in the rain — which of course always starts in a case like that! Eventually we went on parade at about nine o'clock and as the restaurants were still not open we had no breakfast. Of course all the people get up late on Sunday, especially in Blackpool, and as they go to bed full of fish and chips, meat pies and tripe, they don't need to get up very early!
We eventually got to our billet and on Tuesday night set off in another train for what was then an unknown destination. We had'nt been in the train long before we knew that the train was not going to Liverpool, which is a great port on the West coast of England. There could only be one other place and we knew then we were to sail from Glasgow. Eventually, and at seven in the morning, Daddy with a good many other men, got out of the train by the docks and stretched his legs. After a little while Daddy put his kitbag and gun on his shoulder and also his pack, and marched off to a great shed right by the side of a wharf at which was tied a big ship. There they gave him a piece of paper which told him which deck to go to and also which table to sit and eat at.
In the evening we set sail down the Clyde on which the Port of Glasgow stands, but first I must tell you about the ship. She was a Dutch ship called he "Boissevain" and fourteen thousand tons gross with powerful Diesel engines and three propellers. I mention the propellers because they are the things which drive ships through the sea like the sails with the aid of the wind did in the ships of long ago, such as your Great-Grandfather sailed in. I expect Granny and Nana can tell you all about that and Pop will be able to help you to understand motor ships and propellers. The reason I mentioned the number of propellors was because there are only five other ships in the world of this size with three propellors; and being a motor ship she did'nt need to have lots of funnels like the ships which burn coal in their engines, and only had one in which were two big pipes leading to the engines. These pipes only puffed out a little smoke compared with the coal fired ships’ funnels. I expect you will have seen both sorts of ships from the beach at Seatord. Before I go on with the story I am making a little picture in which you see "Boissevain" and Daddy in the stem waving Goodbye to Mummy, David, Gillian and England.

So there we were sailing down the Clyde on the fourth of July, very slowly at first — and we were able to see the great shipyards building all sorts of ships and passed John Brown's yard which built that great ship called the "Queen Mary". Just there the river is narrow and opposite is a little creek which had to be widened and deepened so that the Queen of all the ships could be launched.
In the morning we came to Greenock and here we passed the "Queen Mary" herself — taking aboard stores before her voyage to America with Yankee soldiers, and she looked a grand sight dwarfing all the ships about her; and they were many.
After anchoring for a time at Greenock we left, setting course for the Irish Sea and Saint George's channel which was named after the Patron Saint of England who killed the wicked dragon. He has also with all his men and ships beaten many other dragons — but that is another story which must wait till you are a bigger boy. How the weather was inclined to be foggy and as a result the ship had to go very slowly and all we could hear was the water slipping by the ship, the faint noise from the engines, and the deep note of the siren every now and again, blowing to warn other ships of our presence. Sometimes we also heard faintly in the distance the sirens of other ships. How it was time to go to bed and in the morning we woke up to more fog, but soon it began to clear and suddenly there we were out in the bright sunshine and no longer feeling our way in the darkness. Fogs are very bad things at sea and sailors don't like them at all.
Now we could make up for lost time so the Captain moved a little lever on the Bridge, and a bell tinkled down in the engine room, and the engineer knew what that meant so he turned on more oil, and soon the propellers were going very quickly, and we were eating up the miles in Saint George's channel, and before long had changed our course for the Bay of Biscay. Now we were in the Atlantic Ocean and it was very calm weather except for some rollers which had come all the way from America, and none was worried by the slight rocking in the ship.

We sailed all the next day and night and still another day and saw nothing but the great waters rolling by and sometimes a sea bird or two — and then we were come to the Bay of Biscay. Most of the year great waves beat about here but now they were only small, and still some were seasick, but most had by now found their sea-legs. This means they were quite happy — but happy in a different way — for who could be pleased to sail away from all those he loved — perhaps for a long time. Bye and bye we saw some land birds flying and we knew where these were, land could'nt be far away, and sure enough before long, Cape Finisterre showed like a shadow away in the distance. We were not a long way then from what we thought would be our first stopping place, and the next evening we came off the straits and saw some other ships. It was a very beautiful evening and all the very few clouds were white and then gold in the sunset, and slowly the sun sank down below the horizon, and the gold turned to violet and mauve, and soon it was dark all the stars shone very brightly, and all around the ship the water was alive with phosphoresence, and it glowed.
Now of course all this I've been telling you about was very secret and none except the officers could be trusted to know where we were. However, we had'nt been long in the Atlantic before two other, men and Daddy discovered a sextant which was used to instruct airmen, but which was supposed to be locked away. We managed to "borrow" this. If you have a sextant, a watch and a chart-which is a sea map, and also pencil, paper and an almanac, then, with the help of the sun, moon, stars or planets, it is possible to find out exactly where you are, even when you are not supposed to know. After all it would'nt be right if everyone were an officer and knew all about everything. Well there we were with all these things except a chart, and this we made by drawing it on a big sheet of paper from a school atlas which someone had in his kitbag. This took a long time because the maps in the atlas were'nt very big. At last all was ready, and after making sure the watches were right from the "pips" on the wireless, we took two sights of the sun at mid-day, separated by ten minutes. These we managed to get through a porthole. Now was the time for the pencil and paper and the almanac — which is a book all about the heavenly bodies; it was also a time to remember all about the arithmetic we had learned at school. At last the sights were worked out and we were able to mark two little dots on our chart — and we knew where we were. There was one other thing we did'nt know though, and that was how fast the ship was going, but we remembered some more of our arithmetic and our two dots were ten minutes apart; and Pop will tell you the rest is easy, and we found the ship was travelling at eighteen knots.
Well now we knew our position, and that was at mid-day of the day I described the sunset. We estimated that if the ship did'nt go any faster, or any slower, we should be at Gibraltar on the morning of the next day at six o'clock. You can be sure we were all very excited to learn this and your Daddy was especially excited. This was because when he was a little boy like you he lived there with Nana and Pop, and next time you go to Chyngton Lane you must ask them all about it and they will tell you and show you some pictures.
Daddy hardly slept at all that night and be got up very early the next morning — long before anyone else, except the sailors — and stood on the deck to wait for the sun to light up the water — and the land — if there was any. Just as it was getting light the ship began to go quite slowly and not far away it was possible to see a faint smudge, which in the increasing light took on the shape of a great lion; and then Daddv knew he had come again to Gibraltar and the time was a quarter to six; so the arithmetic was'nt very far wrong after all.
The ship sailed along still more slowly until she just made headway, and everything was very still, and the sea had a small oily looking swell, and almost alongside some porpoises were playing in the water. We were then about half a mile from Europa Point which is at the very end of the rock, and could see the mole and town, many ships, and far away on top the signal station. Of course the catchments were also very clearly visible. These are like very big playgrounds built of concrete and fixed on the sloping sides of the rock. They catch the rain so that the people who live there can have some water with which to make their tea.
We had'nt stayed there more than ten minutes when a pinnace came alongside and took off two men who were very sick, and had to go to a hospital. Daddy was hoping that the sbip would have stopped some while and also send ashore a letter which was addressed to Mummy, but he was disappointed because we were off again almost at once. Here is the great rock which guards the door of the Mediterranean Sea for Saint George and England and it you look closely you will see Daddy's ship sailing by.
The Mediterranean Sea is a very important piece of water which England has taken care of for a long time so that her ships, and the ships of other nations, and all the peoples of the world can pass through on their way to India, Australia, Hew Zealand and the Par East where the yellow men live. Sometimes bad men have tried to stop all these and then the lion with the help of Saint George — who you will remember killed the wicked dragon — and all the King's men and ships and sailors and lots more people who always help England because they are afraid for themselves — have made a big noise with many fireworks which the bad men don't like, so thev have all run away, and for a long time — we must hope forever — will have to be good, and let all the ships and peoples pass freely through the sea, and then everyone will be laughing and happy.

So we sailed on past Tangier which is on the other side of the Straits; the white houses shone in the morning sun and once Daddy spent a holiday there with Nana and Pop. Past Spain and part of the home of the Frenchmen — which we could'nt see but knew were there from our school books; we knew we only had to sail North to see these places, but on we went, always Eastward. Just here we began to see flying fishes which darted out of the water and flew a little way till they were tired, and then went swimming again. It must be nice to fly in the air skimming the wave tops and then swim - just when you want to.
By now the sun was getting quite hot and we took off our thick clothes which keep out the cold in England, and dressed just like you do when you go for a swim with Mummy. The ship was going very quickly now and the sea was calm, so we slipped by the coast of Africa which we could see faintly not very far away — and some of us remembered that here it was that Saint George's soldiers put to flight a very black dragon until, at last, be was caught in a trap from which there was no escape. But this took many weary months and is another story altogether which I will tell you about when you are bigger.
It is in Africa that the Arabs live in tents and ride camels and it is very hot indeed. Quite a lot of this country is nothing but mile after mile of burning sand with little or no water to drink, and it was in places like these that the men of England chased the black dragon. Far away to the South live many black men, and in their land it is also very hot and the lion roars. But you will leam all about this when you read of a wonderful man called Livingstone who was one of the first white men to go there.
We still sailed on, going very fast indeed — at night time when it was coolest — faster still. During these times the ship averaged twenty knots, so you can see that in a day we sailed five hundred miles very nearly. That's nearly twice as far as from Berwick to London, a journey which took us all night, and which you made with Mummy, Daddy and Gillian. I expect you will remember that, and Daddy remembers also that you did'nt go to sleep until we were nearly in London! Of course a train can travel much faster than a ship because it does'nt have to push the water out of its way, and can go about five hundred miles in half a day.

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