Dead cats at meetings

Further research into Smuts and 1914 revealed that at the start of WW1 the Germans in Namibia, German South West Africa as it was then called, had erected an enormous radio mast at Windhoek, which, on a good day could transmit directly to Berlin. The Royal Navy were concerned that they would send details of the shipping around the Cape and the submarines would close in on the ships in that congested area. Churchill was at the Admiralty and had become friendly with Smuts and suggested approaching the South Africans for help. Smuts and the then President Louis Botha, who had become friendly with Kitchener, agreed. It split the government,some wanting to fight for the Kaiser, and acrimonious meetings were held all over the country at which dead cats were thrown at the platform. Don't ask a South African about this, it is well buried.

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Old Canon

Old Canon - I started this talking about how I started as a journalist and got as far as the model boats when Vernon and the Bismark intervened. I was taking pictures at a Navy day at Simonstown when it was announced there would be a canon firing at noon. Having been a Hornblower fan I went to watch and things took off at a tangent. I was given a lecture on preserving old canon. If you take one from the sea and let it dry out it will just crumble into dust. The salt must first be leached from the molecular structure of the cast iron. I tried to get a picture of one shooting out flames but all I got was a picture of a cloud of smoke.

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After spending seven months, from April to November in Addington Hospital, Vernon was released. The Navy contacted him.
'I'm disabled!' he told them, but the Navy in typical fashion had an answer.
'Not in the head, you're not. Report for duty at Simonstown.'
Vernon became a Naval Liaison Officer in the signals room at Simonstown. To get to wok he had to go through three locked doors. At the third, he had to knock three times before he would be admitted. Once inside he was in for his eight hour shift. It wasn't without interest, however, because the room was the first to hear of news of the war and he followed its progress with interest.
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After all the excitement of meeting the King and the Princesses, the Dorsetshire had several other adventures chasing German raiders and U-Boat supply ships and was sent to the Indian Ocean to calm things down there. Having searched for a reported Japanese attempt to infiltrate the Indian Ocean Dorsetshire and her companion HMS Cornwall were despatched to Colombo to refuel.On Easter Sunday the two ships were about 300 miles from Colombo when, according to the tattered pages of an old Illustrated magazine, the crew knew 'stood to' at dawn but knew there was 'something up' when the bugle which announced the opening of the NAAFI didn't sound at 7am. In mid morning a Japanese scout plane appeared and shdowed the ships but stayed well out of range of their guns. About 2pm Vernon saw the planes come and start to dive and bomb the ship. There were so many and they came so fast the guns had no chance, Vernon commented. Vernon was at his gun position when there was an explosion. He came to on the deck below, looking up at a gaping hole where the gun had been. His legs had no feeling and the ship started to list. He saw the steps of a companionway ladder and managed to claw his way up to the main deck. The deck was sloping and he began to slide down.A marine with one arm badly wounded and his face damaged told him he'd better get off the upslope side as the 'abandon ship' siren had gone. When Vernon pointed out he couldn't move his legs, the marine dragged him up and over the side. Vernon slid down the side bumped against the bilge keel and scraped his bum on the barnacles before slipping into the water.
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Guns Report on Bismark

While they were on London leave after the Bismark incident, Vernon was walking down the street when someone came out of an office and called to him. It turned out to be one of the officers. 'I think I have something that might interest you, Brilly,' the officer said and gave him a few sheets of paper. To Vernon's surprise it was the report Guns had made out about the Bismark engagement. It speaks for itself, so I am attaching the image I took of the brown old paper Vernon showed me in Cape Town.
While the Bismark incident is well known and the rest of Vernon's story doesn't have the same historical significance, it is a very human story and worth telling.www.sullatoberdalton.com/books

I've found the notes I made about the chap who became involved in the Bismark, so let me start at the beginning. The dorsetshire heavy cruiser was on her way from her station in China to a refit in Devonport, when she called in at Cape Town. She was short of 15 gunnery ratings and Vernon Brill transferred from the South African Navy to the Royal Navy as a rating. His first 'adventure' was climbing the mast to the lookout position in a kind of barrel half way up the mast. To get up there, he had to climb up the mast on metal rungs till he reached the crosstrees - a wooden boom held horizontal by wire stays. Once up he had to grab a stay and hang on while the chap he was relieving told him anything of interest, then climbed out of the barrel and allowed Vernon to climb in. It wasn't much better when you got in, Vernon told me.
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This is a photograph of the chap I mentioned who was on the ship that torpedoed the Bismark. His first experience of the navy was being ill in West Africa and being flown off his ship to be looked at by a doctor on shore. They sent him off on the plane in the second picture. He said he was sure he was going to drown. He was sitting in the bit at the front when the engine started, then there was a lot of hissing from steam pipes and the thing shot off the catapult and dived towards the sea. It was almost touching the water when it pulled away and took him to hospital. He said he was glad to be taken back to the ship in a boat.

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