Brentwood College School - Brentonian Yearbook (Mill Bay, British Columbia Canada)

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Brentwood College Magazine the Quarter Deck where we have divisions (morning prayers). After ' ' divisions we proceed to instruction or to Part of Ship, as detailed by the routine. The prelims all go to instruction. Instruction continues from 9.25 till 12.00 without a stop, but if you are at Part of Ship you get a stand easy at 10.30. At 12.00 lunch is served. This meal usually terminates at about 12.10 and the mess deck cleaners, commonly known as cooks, clean up their respective messes, each table being a mess. There is then a stand easy until 1.15, or 13.15 as time in the navy is reckoned. The bugle again sounds pipes out and we proceed either to instruction or part of ship. Prelims always proceed to instruction, which continues till 3.45 with a ten-minute stand easy at 2.30. At 3.45 all hands proceed to part of ship where they sweep up the decks. The bugle sounds the still at 3.50 and we all again face outboard, after which we fall in in our parts of ship. T his is known as Evening Quarters. The Commander now comes round and inspects us. At sea at this time we get some exercise such as Fire Stations or Collision Stations, or as we had to-day Cutter ' s Crews away, which means that four buoys have been thrown overboard and that the cadets who are the cutter ' s crews must lower the cutter and go and pick up one of the buoys. These exercises always come as surprises as the bo ' sun pipes them. The bo ' s ' n ' s pipe is a little whistle which he blows, and he then shouts out what has to be done. His words are more often than not quite unintelligible. After these exercises we proceed to tea and after tea leave is given to the detailed watches, if we are in harbour, but if we are at sea we stand easy. This stand easy lasts until supper time for all except prelims, who have to change and go to instruction from 6.00 till 7.00 when at sea and from 6.30 to 7.30 in harbour. Prelims get leave on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1.15 to 7.15. On these days there is no instruction after tea. Wed- nesday, incidentally, is also the day that we get paid. We all line up on the Quarter Deck four deep, and when our names are called out we answer sir, receive our money (7 -) from the Paymaster-Commander, and then salute the Captain and march off the Q.D. After supper we are allowed to do anything we want except when we have flashing exercise from the mast-head. This occurs nearly every night. The officer of the watch goes on his rounds at 8.30 when at sea and 9.00 when in harbour. I for- got to mention that all messes and studies have to be swept after supper. We are allowed to turn in any time after the flashing exercises finish, which is about 9.00. At 9.30 at sea and 10.00 in harbour the bo ' s ' n pipes pipe down, which means all work for the day is finished. On Sundays pipe down goes after church. This is a very brief summary of what our day is like. T have tried to keep it as simple as possible so that you may understand it. To-day when Cutter ' s Crews away went the ship was stopped for half an hour and we all went over the side for a swim. You must also remember that this letter was started on September 28th and it is now October 2nd. It will not T)e mailed till October 5th which is the day we arrive at Naples. A very funny thing occurred while I was in Gibraltar. I was at a dance there given for the Canadians. I was dancing with a girl when she quite suddenly announced that she was a Canadian and on asking her where she came from she said Victoria. I told her that I went to a school in Victoria and that it was at Brentwood. She let out an exclamation of joy, and after I had managed to get her talking at about one hundred and twenty words a minute, I found out that s he lived there and knew many people that I knew including Mrs. Ellis and Major Tayler. Well, I have done my best to explain what I do or don ' t do aboard this ship and if you can understand it you are a better man than I am, and what is more, if you can read it you are a wonder. Well all you people, tons of luck and all my good wishes, GEOFF. Page Twenty-three

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Brentwood College Magazine Now and again I run into the odd old Brentonian — Bishop who is now with a bank at Vernon, and Grieve, who is, I believe, ranching near the same place, and Vincent and Hugh Pease at Kelowna. They are operating a fine fishing lodge at Beaver Lake high up in the mountains above Kelowna. Vincent has been married for a year or two now. Also, I occasionally see Ian MacLaren at Kelowna, where I have enjoyed the hospitality of his house and hearth. Chuck Martin recently graduated from Albany College, Oregon, and is also in the matrimonial ranks. To my knowledge there are two other members of the Old Boys ' Fraternity in the Mounted Police — Mason-Rooke is, I believe, at Hazelton, B. C, and Crease is stationed at Vancouver. Alex McTavish is, I understand, stationed somewhere in Eastern Canada with the Royal Canadian Engineers, although I have not heard from him, and my brother is at present at University College, Oxford, where he managed to win his oar for rowing last year. Wishing the School and the College Magazine every success, I remain Sincerely yours, T. J. QUIRK CAMERON Dear Friends: Before I left Vancouver I promised that when I got properly settled down to Naval routine I would write and give you, as well as I could, a des- cription of my life. There are 137 cadets aboard this ship; some of them entered as I did from a school, and the rest — the greater part — came from Dartmouth Naval College. The Public School Entry as we are called are known aboard this ship as preliminaries, While the Dartmouth people are called the Anson term. The greater part of the prelim ' s cruise is devoted to instruction, while nearly the whole of the Anson term do practical. The routine has been changed to-day so I will give you the details of the new routine, here and there comparing it with the old routine. On Mondays the routine is known as A routine, Tuesdays B, Wednesdays Wednesday, Thursdays C, Fridays D, and Saturdays Saturday. This method is used so that the programmes may be changed around. Every evening a list of the daily orders is posted on the notice board. At the top of this list is an announcement as to what the routine of the day will be. For instance, Tuesday is not necessarily B routine, though it usually is. On the new routine we all get up at 6.30, but by the old routine the Ansons got up at 5.30 while the prelims got up at 6.30. This lying in is known as Guard Steerage. We then lash up and stow our hammocks and get dressed into white shorts, flannel shirts, caps and sea-boots. We fall in on deck at 6.45 and scrub decks till 7.15 when we eat. Deck scrubbing is not as simple as it appears. First you squirt water over the decks then scrub them with hard brooms. After the scrubbing you provide yourself with a squee gee which is a wooden block with a rubber flap on it. When the decks are partially dry then we get cloths and buckets and dry the deck that way. After breakfast, the maximum time of eating being about ten minutes, some of us who have been previously detailed as study cleaners or mess cleaners clean up our respective parts and the rest go upon deck and lounge about and smoke till 8.00 when the bugle for colours — raising the ensign (this is not carried out at sea be- cause the ensign never comes down) — and we all turn aft and salute. After colours we fall in at our respective parts of ship and polish brass or clean guns or re-spread awnings. At 9.10 the bugle sounds the still and all hands face outboard until the carry on is sounded. We then fall in in our respective parts of ship and march onto Page Twenty-two

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Brentwood College Magazine H.M.S. Frobisher, Montser rat, March 7th, 1934. Dear Mr. Ellis: Thank you so much for your letter received at Barbados. It sure was good to hear from you again. I am always very interested, as you know, to get any news of the College and those there who were so good to me and who took so much trouble to get me into the navy. The crew for the year looks bad, but no worse than we did, I suppose, when we first started. It is only to be hoped that you find an oar as good as Akin in the new boys; anyway, knowing what kind of crew you made out of us, I am sure that any crew you train will not be poor at the end of the year. I am glad to hear that you and Mrs. Ellis are planning to go for a cruise on a yacht. I would love to be going with you. While we are talking about sailing, I was a member of one of the cutter ' s- crews that sailed from Barbados to St. Lucia, a distance of 120 miles. Three cutters left the ship at 1730 one evening, with orders to sail and arrive in due course at St. Lucia. I was signalman in the 1st cutter which was the flag ship. We had eight cadets and two officers, ten hammocks, two-dozen beer, three day ' s food ration which, incidentally, would feed a zoo for a week, and divers instruments. The first signal hoisted after we left the ship v as check com- passes. Well, if you have ever checked compasses by semaphore, when you can only see the ships you are checking with half the time, you will have an idea of the fun we had. At about 2000 the first sea came inboard, and from then till about 0500 the next day the sea was continually breaking over us. I have never spent such an unpleasant night in all my life. It was rather funny observing the stages we passed through. The first time a sea came over we all laughed; then after it had come over a few more times we were just giving disgusted grunts; then we swore a little; then we swore lots; then we tried to sleep, and interrupted our own sleep by swearing more every time a sea came upon us; and finally, we just turned over and went to sleep, too tired and wet to say anything. We were making a good eight knots. After six- teen hours sailing we arrived at St. Lucia. We unloaded our gear and hung it up on trees to dry while we swam and got really sunburnt. It was 0930 when we arrived and the ship was not leaving Barbados till 2100, and not arriving at St. Lucia till 0700 the next day, so we spent the day being lazy and the night in some old army barracks which were occupied by the Canadian reserves during the war. We joined the ship at 0730, everyone sound in body — except for sunburn and one case of slight sunstroke — and mind. I hope your trip will be as much fun as ours but not quite as uncomfortable. We are leaving this joint to-morrow, thank goodness! It is one of God ' s forgotten places I think. While we were in Barbados I spent a lot of time with the Canadian ships which were in with us. I asked Sub-Lieut. Grubb if he knew you. He said he knew the name but couldn ' t place you so I gave him a description and he recalled that he had once had a lengthy discussion on war with you which you had promised to con- tinue on next meeting. Is Miss Egerton still with the School ? If she is, please remember me to her. Well, I must go on the quarterdeck and dance with some of the Captain ' s guests. Please give my love to Mrs. Ellis and the very small daughter. Yours always, GEOFF. Clubs ' Union, London Hospital, E. 1., England, May 21st, 1935. Dear Mr. Ellis: Once again the time draws near for the publication of the School Magazine. Last year I took up a good deal of space with my Tetter and this year I hesitate to repeat the dose. Page Twenty-four