Phoenix of Hamble
Well-Known Member
Have had a fascinating evening....
My eldest daughter is a keen attendee at the Sea Cadets, and this evening was a ceremonial one, with various activities to entertain the parents....
However, the other pleasure of the evening was one of the older officers, to whom we chat regularly, as he's a keen East Coast sailor, came armed with a pile of fascinating letters and other bits and pieces....
He'd come to be in touch with an elderly lady who's father had been in the Royal Navy.... her family were not overly interested in this subject for one reason or another, and so, with her being rather ill, she had donated her fathers letter and personal momentoes of his Navy experience....so I found myself reading a pile of letters sent home from a 15 yr old boy, just joined up to Her Majesties Royal Navy, in the year 1891..... truly fascinating..... and in many ways eye opening.... tales of his mast climbing to retrieve lost halyards, hard labourr, and less than perfect food and accomodation.... but a real sense of belonging and pride.... truly remarkable stuff... there were also other bits worth seeing, in particular his Bosun's Call, with a lanyard spliced and knotted in the most beautiful fashion.... a skill sadly rare these days....
What an honour to be able to dive back into the past in such a wonderful way.....
I'll ask him if I can get some copies, and transcribe some of the content on here if anyone is interested....
My eldest daughter is a keen attendee at the Sea Cadets, and this evening was a ceremonial one, with various activities to entertain the parents....
However, the other pleasure of the evening was one of the older officers, to whom we chat regularly, as he's a keen East Coast sailor, came armed with a pile of fascinating letters and other bits and pieces....
He'd come to be in touch with an elderly lady who's father had been in the Royal Navy.... her family were not overly interested in this subject for one reason or another, and so, with her being rather ill, she had donated her fathers letter and personal momentoes of his Navy experience....so I found myself reading a pile of letters sent home from a 15 yr old boy, just joined up to Her Majesties Royal Navy, in the year 1891..... truly fascinating..... and in many ways eye opening.... tales of his mast climbing to retrieve lost halyards, hard labourr, and less than perfect food and accomodation.... but a real sense of belonging and pride.... truly remarkable stuff... there were also other bits worth seeing, in particular his Bosun's Call, with a lanyard spliced and knotted in the most beautiful fashion.... a skill sadly rare these days....
What an honour to be able to dive back into the past in such a wonderful way.....
I'll ask him if I can get some copies, and transcribe some of the content on here if anyone is interested....
