I was born in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay area. We were a very poor family and I can recall going to the soup kitchen, and we used to eat bread and dripping, which we called bread and scrape. Most people were out of work and were without jobs until the start of the Second World War. My father was a ship’s fireman but went blind in 1942/3 and died in 1946. I then had to leave school and got a job in a wire-works; wages were sixpence farthing an hour, after six months I received an extra halfpenny. I later worked at a box factory and in 1949 I joined the training ship VINDICATRIX for a three months course. I then joined the British merchant navy and later joined the Swedish merchant navy. I married in 1957 and in 1960 came to live in Wellington, New Zealand.

At school I shared a desk with Donald Ceilia,we are still friends today, so many years later and often laugh about what happened this day, one of the boys sitting in front of us never used to wash and his dirty neck was right in front of us, we threatened to wash it if he did not do so, he ignored us ,so we took matters into our own hand and scrubbed his neck with a scrubbing brush that was used to scrub the floor and we used cold water, his neck was red raw when we finished and we were both caned by the teacher, but we never saw another dirty neck.

We had a new head master who I am sure did not like me from the start,one morning I was standing in the late line on the stairs, waiting for my turn to be caned for being late,after receiving the cane, the head master gave me a push which sent me flying down the concrete stairs and I landed at the bottom, I got to my feet and made a beeline for home, I had scrapes and bruishes which my mother dressed and off we went back to the school, I showed her where it happened and she stood there while I brought the head master,she listened to his excuses then sent him flying down the stairs,with a warning not to touch me again, she must have scared him as he never did. 

THE UMBERELLA LADY

Just before the second world war a friend told my dad that a crew was being chosen for a ship, but he would need to give the man at the shipping office a backhander of five shillings to get a job,My mother borrowed the money and off went my dad to try for a job as a ships fireman, he gave the man the money and was told to come back the next day.When he went back there was no job,My mother went to the shipping office and demanded the five shillings back, he denied taking any money and my mother lambasted him with her brolly smashing it to bits,The police arrived and my mother related what had happened, an enquiry took place and he lost his job for taking bribes,and my dad was given a job,Bill Henke, later to become the boss at the shipping office was a witness to what happened and always called my mother the "Umberella Lady."

THE MYSTERY WEEKEND

We were given tickets for a mystery weekend, on arrival at the airport we discovered we were to go to Auckland for the weekend,we arrived at Auckland and were taken to a very old but comfortable motel,We spent the day at the races and won about 400 dollars, We had dinner at the motel and went to bed at 11pm, at about 3-20am on Sunday I went to the bathroom and when I came out there was a woman and a child standing in the lounge, they were dressed in victorian clothes with bonnets and capes,I could not believe what I was seeing as they were barring my way to the bedroom, They disappeared, and I spent the rest of the night sitting in the lounge smoking cigarettes, one after the other,It was a very scarey experience and I was pleased we were leaving that day,It turned out to be a real mystery weekend,was I scared? You bet I was.

When my brother Randolph was at sea, I used to borrow some of the clothes he bought when he was overseas, it was 1948 and I was 16 years old,on this particular night I was at the Victoria ballroom and I was wearing A Panama jacket and a pair of shoes belonging to my brother, I was on the dance floor dancing with a girl and a crowd had gathered around us watching, suddenly a voice shouted,"take easy on my shoes our kid" I was so embarrassed,I was not aware that he had arrived home,he thought it was very funny.

KEEPING ABREAST OF THINGS

We had just left Manchester enroute to Cardiff,having discharged a cargo of logs from Canada,I was on the 12 till 4 watch,at 3-45 am I went to call the next watch, pushed my hand between the bunk curtains in the lower bunk of an able seaman and found that I was shaking a very large breast, it gave me quite a surprise,and caused quite a lot of laughter.

"THE JACKBOOT CAPTAIN"

It was 1951, I was sitting in the waiting room of the doctor at the shipping pool in Cardiff, it was my turn next, suddenly there was a lot of shouting comming from the next room, the door opened and a young lad came out looking very red faced,I went in and saw that the doctor was very angry, when I came out I discovered that the lad had spilt a container of urine all over the doctors papers.His name was Ronnie Sweetland and we were both joining a ship called the "EASTERN CITY" We became good friends and shared a cabin, The captain’s name was James Doughty, who wore leather jackboots, and blamed Ronnie and I, for everything that went wrong, ranting and raving like a mad man, called us communists, and when he was threatening us would say "CAPTAIN BLIGH" has got nothing on me,also on board was an AB named Danny who had made several trips with the captain and he was suspected of telling tales to the captain about the rest of the crew,when he complained to the captain that he was afraid to live in the crews quarters he was moved in with the apprentices. One day the bosun told me to paint the after- mast, as I was about to go up the mast the chief mate said ,you have to paint the fore-mast,I said, the bosun said It was Danny who was doing the fore-mast as I had done it the last time it was painted,He said the captain wants you to do it as Danny has never painted a yard-arm before and he might fall. Clearly he did not mind if I fell, I refused to do it and said I would report the matter to the board of trade, as Danny was an AB and was receiving an unfair advantage. The chief mate always agreed with the captain,and was not a very nice man either, Then one day he came running to our mess-room shouting for us to help him, he had had a row with the captain who had threatened to shoot him with a slug gun, we told him where to go.These two were the worst Officers I have ever sailed with,and I think they deserved each other.

THE SWEDISH SHIP

I had jumped ship in New Zealand, and was deported after two years,On my arrival back in Cardiff, I reported to the shipping pool hoping to get another ship, however I was told that I had been thrown off the pool and would not longer be able to get a job on a British ship,I kept going to the pool but without success,then I was offered a job on a Swedish ship and joined her at Newport docks along with another A B who I did not know, His name was Frank Sage, I really enjoyed my time on this ship as conditions and wages were far better than those on the British ships I had been on,There were many nationalities but everyone seemed to speak Norwegian,in those days they did not speak any English, I bought a book to learn the language and with some help from the crew I learned a little and at the same time I taught them English, Frank showed no interest in learning and always thought they were talking about him,One day he said to me "BLOODY FOREIGNER’S" why don’t they learn to speak English,I said to him we are the foreigner’s, He replied don’t be stupid how can we be foreign, "WE ARE BRITISH".

SUPER-MAN

Donald Sumar was a friend who lived with his grandfather in the next street, he was quite a prankster, one of his pranks was at the cinema, if woman went to sit in front of him he would jam his feet against the seat so she could not pull it down, then demand that she sit down, he would say I can’t see the film, if you don’t sit down I will call the manager,they always went to find another seat, I can’t recall him ever having a job and his grandfather gave him money whenever he asked for some. One day I called for him as we were going to the cinema, I was sitting waiting for him, his grandfather who could not speak English very well and had never been to the cinema in his life came into the room, Donald was combing his hair, Donald asked for some money which his grandfather gave him, then he said to Donald, where are you going?Donald replied ,we are going to see "SUPER-MAN" His grandfather replied,"WHO IS THIS BLOODY SUPER-MAN" Another lazy bastard.

A VERY WET NIGHT

Arrived in Yawatta Japan, that night most of the crew were enjoying a few drinks at a local bar, there were hostesses at each table, the one sitting near me and pouring my drinks was very nice looking and the deck boy took a fancy to her, he kept asking me if I would be going with her," I said no she is all yours" he was delighted, the bar was getting very full as a crowd of Americans arrived, I left with Peter the Donkey-man, We went to a Quieter bar and met a couple of girls who took us to a theatre and then for a meal,We then went to a hotel for the night,At about 6 am the next morning there was a lot of shouting in the next room,Then the door to my room burst open and Peter’s girl rushed in shouting and raving ,and pushed me into the next room, Peter was laying there saying "it wasn’t me" "it wasn’t me" He had "PISSED ALL OVER HER" All the way back to the ship he kept pleading with me not to tell anyone,However I decided this story was to good to be kept a secret, much to the delight of the rest of the crew,The deckboy caught VD from the good looking hostess and said I was to blame,as I had passed her over to him.

THE ROOSTER

We kept a few chickens in our yard, we also had a rooster which became very vicious, and started to attack anyone who went into the yard,as we had an outside toilet this became something of a problem, one day my mother went out to the toilet and every time she tried to leave, the rooster charged at her,so she spent the next couple of hours in the toilet, until my father arrived home and rescued her, naturally we all had a good laugh, however she had the last laugh, she cooked the rooster the next day.

IMPALED

We were living in Angelina street, at the bottom of the street was Loudon Square Park where I was born about six years earlier, it was a summer’s day and my older brother Randolph was at the Park playing cricket,the Park was surrounded by railings and in the middle was a fountain also surrounded by railings, the cricket ball landed in the fountain and my brother climbed the railings of the fountain to retrieve it, suddenly he slipped and was impaled on the railings which penetrated his groin, he had a terrible scar to remind him for the rest of his life, when the war came all the railings were removed for the war effort, and were never replaced, somehow it never looked so nice to me without the railings, but my brother was pleased to see them go.

A FISHY TALE

The year was 1962, it was a very dark and miserable night, my friend Peter was working late on the wharf at about 10-30pm he arrived at my flat on his motor bike climbed the stairs and banged on the door,when I opened the door he limped into the kitchen shouting oh my leg! oh my leg! and started removing his trousers, imagine my surprise when he removed his trousers I saw strapped to his leg a very large frozen salmon,which we enjoyed for the next few weeks in spite of his hairy leg.