Stevenson (DD 645) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 62 text:

.lf -Q Anfgen' Q-1 1 'Y97' it F-A WD , 6 Q 5 4, 5 'Q Y 1 V iy - ew..,w AW , f 5 , KUW,VWWW?WHfVUf X Q4 g,, :ali Q 'M ,Q ' ,,., 2 X, ' V W lr! , K fx 3 f,, fx I Q ,'f, F ,f - i, ,. 1 ,,. ,, A gnu!!! h?hS.l . ,Q 1 1 X. iIf,C Qf2t 'f 'Ka' M.- xm- 't E n ! u

Page 61 text:

Ceylon Colombo, Ceylon, was our second and next to last stop of the cruise. We arrived on the morning of October 30th, and after having made our way' into a harbor so crowded that it closely resembled a jammed parking lot on a football Saturday, 'we moored alongside the California. Fortunately we found that the liberty dock was a lot closer aboard than it had been at Singapore, which was a biq help to the liberty hounds. Ceylon, the land of Tea, the land of sapphires and diamonds, opals and emeralds-or were they? Every man was on his own as an expert as we poured ashore and swarmed through the shops to see what we could see. How any one town could support as many jewelry shops and gem merchants as did Colombo made us wonder, but in no time at all we were pretty busy supporting them ourselves. Little groups could be seen gathered around a counter or seated at a table, peering intently through a magnifying glass at a precious stone. The dusky Indian merchants were spieling their sales talk at flank speed, urging us to buy. Most of us knew little or nothing about stones, but we did our best to pretend we knew all the ropes. - And what prices! Unlike Singapore, where we knew that the asking price was simply the beginning of a maneuver and meant nothing, we found much to our sorrow that we couldn't bargain with these boys at all. There may have been some two packa one rupee deals, but not many. The Colombo mer- chants stuck by their guns, and usually we paid their price. In Colombo the rickshaw again made its appearance in large numbers, and any time of the day or night you could see some of the Steve's gang being trotted up and down the street in one of them. The barefooted natives could really made those buggies fly, despite the fact that their costume seemed to be a cross between a tight skirt and Grandpop's old nightgown. New sights and new experiences were in store for us. The Limeys , God bless them, had prepared an extensive schedule of sight seeing. trips and games by day, and dinners and dances by night. There were specially organ- ized tours of the town, Rugby football matches, and all-day trips to Kandy. The Wrens, the Waafs and the Fanys CField Army Nursing Yeomenl made their appearance for the first time, and in short order had us spinning around like tops. Dances at the Waffery and the Kent House Wrennery , picnic lunches on the beach with the Fanys-which leads into a good story. ,A xt

Page 63 text:

Ceylon eanlumecf It seems that the Chiefs were doing their part in cementing lntemational Relationships as well as anyone else, and had invited a party of about ten Wrens aboard for lunch and a picnic supper on the beach later. Well, a crowd of Wrens did arrive on board all right, and were duly fed as advertised. But, to the great consternation of all, the gals turned out to 'be an entirely different bunch from the ones who had been invited, knew nothing about any picnic, and furthermore had to report back early. Later in the day as they were being escorted ashore by our gallant Chiefs, the Wrens who had really been invited suddenly turned up, and not one Chief anywhere in sight to pipe them aboard. This time, the Wardroom took over to feed the lovely creatures, and in a few minutes the Steve was literally crawling with females and only three offi- cers to keep them happy. They ate everything in sight, including the first ice cream they had seen in three years. In due course the boys returned from taking home Consignment No. l, only to find Consignment No. 2 had arrived and taken things in hand. They were all over the ship, on the focastle, in the pilot house, the signal bridge and up on the director. The director seemed to be a favorite spot, and never in our entire career have we seen a more wide-awake Signal Watch-and we really mean Watch. The poor old STEVE shivered from paint locker to after steering. War was never like this. All in all, we will never forget Colombo: the crowded little harbor with na- tives paddling queer looking boats out to even stranger loolcing craft that might have drifted right out of an oil painting: the big Passenger Ietty, with its Custom Officers suspiciously eyeing everyone in sight: the crowd of boys outside on the street screaming Ricksha, Bickshau. Then there was the Grand Oriental Hotel, the Clock Tower in the middle of town, and the Galle Face Hotel out on the sea shore. Brass hats too were flashing in the air, and scrambled eggs could be seen everywhere. To lend tone and cement higher relationships, cocktail parties were held on H.M.S. Collossus, and Commander-in-Chief East Indies Station and Flag Officers of the Royal Navy had a party at Admirals House. At Kandy, the Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia, Lord Louis Montbatten, had a big lunch. It was like everything we had ever heard of the Far East come to life, with ourselves right in the middle of it all. On November 2, tired but happily worn to a frazzle by British hospitality, the Steve headed the procession out to sea once more, to Cape Town and home.