One of the canon experts told me he had a farm called Kanonkop not far from where wee lived in Cape Town's Durbanville suburb and he had something I might be interested in. It turned out to be an old cannon, made in Falkirk and sent out with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders when Napoleon was causing all the trouble. The Brits took over the colony to prevent it being used to threaten the route to India. The general in charge was a Scot called Baird, who fought two 'battles' in which there were a few sprained ankles and red faces but at least one of his canon is preserved at Kanonkop. The canon was cast at Falkirk in the Carron works and bears King George's insignia of the time.

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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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Having put down my notes of interviews from Vernon and his naval experiences from clipper ships to sinking Bismark and being sunk by Japanese bombers, I must get back to my other journalistic notes. I'm in the last stages of editing a book of short stories and that made me wonder if I could turn the notes on Vernon, the 1740 silver mining scam and the Cape Corps in East Africa in 1915 into a kind of series. Not short stories exactly but maybe three books in one. Something to think about anyway.

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I thought I'd finished with Vernon's story when he brought out photographs of his brothers. One was in the army with the Dukes at Tobruk. (Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh granted the CTVR the title "Duke of Edinburgh's Own", after it had formed a guard of honour for him during a visit to Cape Town. The nickname "the Dukes" appears to have come into use in the 1880s.) Another was with the RAF as an aircraft fitter and saw service in Somalia and Italy. Quite a contribution by one South African family to the war effort during WW2. People tend to regard South Africans as being tainted with racism but I never heard Vernon say anything that indicated anything other than concern for others. His comment about his medals - that he wouldn't wear awards he had been given for trying to kill young men from the Bismark that could have been his friends in different circumstances - was typical.

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Vernon's wife had been looking after us with coffee and cake and it was natural to ask how they met. Vernon looked slightly embarrassed and began - My brother had arranged for me to meet someone and I was on my way when I saw two toughs pushing about an old shipmate, who suffered badly from shell-shock. I lost my temper and got stuck in. Fortunately my brother came along and stepped in. 'What were you trying to do? I arrange for you to meet a nice girl and the first thing you do is get into a fight with two rough characters - with only one hand!!
Some days later Vernon was at a dance and met the 'nice girl' and married her.
Vernon and his old shipmates stuck together and in 2007 the last two still got together.

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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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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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