HMS Oxfordshire dropped the survivors of HMS Dorsetshire in Durban and the wounded were taken to Addington Hospital. Just over the hill from the hospital was an airfield where pilots were being trained in Harvards. One day the learners thought it would be a good idea to"buzz" the hospital. I don't know where the others were, Vernon Brill told me. I was under the bed. Vernon hesitated but his wife Joyce urged him on and Vernon began a reluctant story about his paybook. 'Inside the paybook was my Liberty Book, the little book you had to have when you were on shore. If you went ashore without it the MPs would lock you up as a deserter, so it was always in a safe place. When we were bombed it was two decks below but when I was in Addington, the Sister came with a paybook in her hand and asked me if it was mine. The Liberty Book was still inside. Who brought it, or how it got to Addington, I have no idea,' Vernon told me.
I thought that would be the end of Vernon's story but there was more to come.

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HMS Oxfordshire picked up HMS Dorsetshire's wounded from the beached hospital ship and made for Durban. 'It took three weeks,' Vernon remembered. HMS Oxfordshire broke down in the warm sea around Mombasa doing Vernon's injured hand no good. By the time they got to Durban the hand wass smelling and gangrenous. First opinions were that it must be amputated but Dr Wassing intervened and and, although inflexible, Vernon still has his hand- no doubt with the help of the new miracle drug Penicillin.

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HMS Enterprise took the survivors of HMS Dorsetshire on board and made for the ship beached on one of the islands that was being used as a hospital ship. A Petty Officer took a look at Vernon's leg and said he could see the end of a bullet sticking out. The PO sucked his teeth and muttered,'That will have to come out before it suppurates.' 'Get on with it,' Vernon told him and the PO took out a pen knife, heated it like John Wayne, and dug out the bullet. Vernon grimaced at the thought. They could do nothing about his hand, however, and that had to wait for another pick up.

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I am tempted to add atmosphere and detail to my notes from Vernon but that is for a day when I write it up as a novel. For the present let me stick to what he said.
Vernon was in the water not far from the sinking Dorsetshire. He found a piece of timber an clung to it. His bum smarted but the salt water would cleanse it and he was more concerned about the noise of the Japanese planes . One came and machine gunned those in the water. Vernon couldn't see if anyone was hit but later learned it killed the doctor and the priest. The plane, or another, came back again but Vernon just clung to his driftwood. Some time later, someone in one of the lifeboats that had survived said, 'Look at Brilley's hand.' When Vernon looked there was a hole right through his left hand. They later found two bullets in his leg so he must have had a lucky escape.
There were bodies floating among the survivors but no sharks came. From time to time someone would ask about so-and-so. Sometimes someone had seen them, sometimes not.
One of the first to go was the chief killik of vernon's mess. Although firm friends, they had had a bad start. The killik had a bad habit of touching Vernon's plate as he ate. After a bad night looking through frost rimmed binoculars, the killik touched Vernon's plate and, before he had time to think, Vernon laid him out on the floor.
'What could I do?' Vernon asked me. 'It was a serious offence to hit a superior.'
Defaulter's parade.
The captain listened to the story, remembered the bitter cold watch and decided they should settle it on deck with boxing gloves.
'After a few knocks we apologised and became really good friends,' Vernon commented.
Day passed into cool night and now and then Vernon could hear people shout as he hung on to his bit of timber. In the morning things settled down and one or two adventurous spirits swam races between the boats. Vernon just hung on and by evening knew that, if they weren't rescued, he wouldn't see another dawn. Just as they grew desperate, HMS Enterprise appeared and they were hauled on board.  

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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

After the Bismark's sinking, the crew of HMS Dorsetshire were invited to tea with King George V1, Queen Elizabeth and the two princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret, at Windsor Castle. The King shook their hands, his grip feeling like velvet according to Vernon.
The tea was laid out on a patio on the edge of the great lawns of the castle and Vernon said he found the family  very down to earth, the Queen showing a motherly concern for her young guests, making the sailors feel at home. When the Queen asked Veron how he came to be in the Navy, Vernon told her he was from Cape Town and had lived beside the sea all his life.
The two princesses, in blue uniforms, were in gracious attendance - at least one of the princesses was. Margaret was a real terror and in the end, her father told her, 'Leave my ears alone and stop tormenting me.'
Who

www.sullatoberdalton.com/booksknows. Maybe Vernon may have made such a big impression on the Royal Family that they couldn't resist visiting his home country themselves.