My Very Early Life

Mom and Dad were living in a rented cottage at Foul Bay, Victoria, B.C.,  high up from the beach and on the bank. I believe the house is still there and is on the town end of the beach. I was just over a year old at the time. (1922)  Dad used to saw up the logs on the beach for fire-wood.  He made a track-like ramp up the slope of the bank on which he would drag wood to the house for use in the kitchen stove.   

Dad used to go out fishing in a row boat.  I don't know if he caught anything but he must have felt it was worthwhile, as it was another way to supplement his small income and feed the family, during those rough early years.  Mom told me that when dad went fishing he took me [a baby] with him and I used to have my afternoon nap lying in the stern of the rocking boat, lulled to sleep by the water lapping against its side. 

I wasn't much older when I had another experience that was connected with the sea.  If mom hadn't told me about it [and I'm glad she did],  I wouldn't be any the wiser today. 

It was a day that Victorians had a real treat when in 1923 Great Britain sent out on a tour of the world [to show the flag], a mighty armada of ships.  The two main ships were battle cruisers, the H.M.S. Hood and H.M.S. Repulse.  They were too big to be together at the navy yard, so were berthed side by side, at Ogden Point.  It is very near there where the cruise ships dock today [2013]. 

The battle cruisers were open to the public.  My mom and dad, who had navy friends, thought they would like to tour the ships.  I suppose because babysitters were not in vogue at the time, or more likely not affordable,  I was taken along in mom's arms to  both of these magnificent naval vessels.

Apparently it was the practice for ships' crews in those days, while visiting various exotic countries, to pick up birds of one sort or another, mostly parrots, and teach them to talk.  The parrots therefore learned most of the naughty language spoken by the salty sailors.  Because of this the parrots were kept below deck while visitors were aboard.  

Quite often, in later years as World War Two approached, mom would repeat the story of my visit to the Hood and the Repulse.  When the war did come and I joined the Royal Air Force, and was serving in the Far East,  it was of great interest for me to hear of the Hood and the Repulse still in action.  During World War Two the Hood was sunk by the German pocket battleship Bismark, and later the Repulse was sunk by Japanese torpedo planes in the Malaya Sea. 

 Along with HMS Prince of Wales, [Dec.10], three days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour on Dec. 7, 1941.