Saltus Grammar School - Yearbook (Hamilton, Bermuda)

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26 Arriving from London by train I proceeded to a shore-post where a motor boat transported me to the Foudroyant . I was escorted before the Captain, and given orders to go below and hoist my hammock and unpack my kit. With some hundred other recruits I was shown over the ship. Suddenly there was a fly-past of twenty helicopters in formation, and they buzzed low, dropping sand-bombs on the water. Astern was H.M.S. Dolphin a submarine base where once we saw a battered submarine fresh from a collision with a freighter limp in. There was plenty of action for the entire three weeks I was there. Warships of every description both British and foreign lay up-harbour and we saw many at close range (at rather too close a range one time) in our tours of the harbour. There was daily rowing and sailing practice in the ship ' s skiffs, whalers and gigs and as most of the boys were new to the sea, we had quite a few exiting moments. My group set sail one morning in a dinghy up the inlet, a strong breeze blowing. We tried to go about ' but in vain and each time we were getting closer to an American destroyer. Believe me, we nearly destroyed the destroyer as we hit at full force. We left a wavy scratch right down its side. At last we got out of the mess, but this time headed straight for a landing-craft. We could not stop, and our mast hit the ramp of the landing-craft. ' ' Crack ! Overboard went the mast, but luckily nothing else that time, and we were towed back to the Foudroyant in style by a lugger. Jeers greeted us on our arrival. Other highlights of our stay were sailing trips to the Isle of Wight, a visit to Nelson ' s flagships, the Victory , and two Regattas where we completed in sailing and rowing. During my stay I met a boy who had once been at Saltus and we exchanged notes and opinions; his name was Piper. All in all, it was a very interesting and instructive experience. R. A. FAROE, Fprm 4L. •oOo-

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25 I started to get my boat ready about a month before the racing was to start. I had to sand-paper the whole boat and then paint it. The bottom was white, the topsides and inside were varnished and the deck was dark blue. This took me two weeks to do, the other two weeks was going out in the boat and tuning it for the racing. There were nineteen boats in the races all of them Bermudian boats. There were eight skippers from Bermuda, six from Canada and five from the United States. Each of the visiting skippers brought their own crew and sails. All the boats which they used were pre- pared for them by members of Bermuda Team and others who wanted to help. On Monday afternoon we had our first race in which I came eleventh. The breeze was blowing lightly that day so I was able to manage the boat quite well. The next day I was ' nfc quite so lucky because the wind came up and I had a hard time keeping the boat on its feet. I think I came fifteenth about the best position I made was the sixth which was on a Wednesday. In the whole series I ended up eleventh out of nineteen. Mr. Brownlow Grey won the series. The Prize-Giving was held on the Saturday of that week. It started at 7.30 and, was held at the Princess Hotel. Tlie dinner was served at about 8.30 and afterwards the prizes were presented I went tiome with my parents. The following morning was spent washing the boats and putting them away. J. C. HOOPER, Form 5. Life on Board the Toudroyanf ' The ' Foudroyant ' is an old sailing vessel which was built in 1812 and set sail on the high seas in 1816. It was built to look like an old French frigate, but never saw action. It is now anchored in 40 feet of water in Gosport harbour near Portsmouth and is the oldest ship afloat. It is kept going by the King George VI Memorial Fund, but that is slowly running out and it would be indeed a great pity for the old ship to be scrapped, as many boys enjoy happy holidays aboard her. In the summer of 1957 I had a chance to spend three weeks aboard the Foudroyant .

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WE WOULD ADVISE STUDENTS TO CONSIDER BANKING AS A CAREER AND INVITE THEM TO CALL ON ONE OF OUR OFFICERS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION THE BANK OF BERMUDA LIMITED