Life at Ganges

Ganges was an old establishment, ratings had been taught all things Naval since it opened its gates to the first raw recruits way back in 1905.  I was going to be one of the last, albeit a six week wonder, as it would close its gates on June the 6th 1976.  There were many hurdles for recruits to cross before going forth to wage war across the oceans, some were fun, some were hard and others downright frightening.  Fortunately for me the one that worried me most was no longer carried out by the time I joined, mast climbing.  I hate heights, so the thought of having to climb to the top of a 143 feet 10 inch pole terrified me.  So it was with great pleasure that I discovered the ceremonial manning of the mast (click link to see John Noakes attempt) was no longer carried out.  I'm sure it was seen as character building, but if I'd have been asked to climb it, that would have seen me on my way back home.

Most of the time life at Ganges was monotony, dhoby/dry/press uniform, mess cleaning and bulling boots.  Some recruits tried short cuts in these area's, rarely did they come off.  Like the guy's who put a layer of "Clear" on their boots, this was a product put onto floors to make them shine, and in all fairness their boots looked great; until they got wet.  

Sunday mornings were always taken up with a passing out parade, each week recruits who had completed and passed their training would be officially passed out in front of their invited friends and family members.  On a typically wet Sunday morning whilst on parade, those who had used Clear found out that it turned a whitish colour when exposed to water; not a good look when being inspected by the Captain.

On the subject of passing out parades, I was unfortunate enough to take them in a literal sense.  Each and every week after standing to attention for what seemed like an eternity, I would collapse in a heap only to be carried off to recuperate.  The only Sunday that I did not pass out was on my own passing out parade which is the reason that I'm not on any of my class photographs from my time there apart from the one taken on that day.

There were other character building activities which still continued, for recruits who not had achieved a certain academic standard in mathematics further education was prescribed, whilst those who had achieved the standard went out in "Whaling Boats" on the river.  These boats where old wooden boats which could be rowed or sailed, we had great fun in these especially knowing that others were in a classroom doing maths.  

The "Gas Chamber" had many in fear, I suppose in a way we were all a little nervous as none of us had been gassed before.  When our gassing day arrived we were marched down to the chambers, taken inside and told to sit down.  Once everyone was inside the doors were closed and we were given instruction on what was going to happen.  You could still smell the gas from previous sessions as the place was only used for this purpose, however the irritants from the CS gas used had been dispersed so there was no effect from it.  

Our instructions were clear, we would line up single file, then one by one remove our respirators state our name, rank and serial number then walk outside; easy peasy.  The CS pellet was lit and we were told to walk round in circles to circulate the gas, then after a minute or two we lined up to go through the drill.  All was going well, one by one we approached the instructor and did exactly as he said, but there had to be one didn't there?  I cannot recall who it was, but this one lad approached the instructor on his turn but instead of  taking a breath before removing his mask, decided to breathe after.  The result was breath, D156, cough cough, 1, cough cough, reach, cough......exit.  Everyone else continued as instructed, when I got outside the lad who breathed after removing his mask was still "shouting for Bill" while everyone else just rolled about in fits of laughter.

The swimming test was also quite entertaining, I could swim but was not what I would call a strong swimmer. I'm one of those people who could spend long periods of time in a pool larking about, but not a lot of swimming as such.  

The swimming test was quite simple, carried out in some ill fitting overalls collected from the pool side.  We were to climb to the highest board wearing a life jacket, partially inflate the jacket before jumping into the water, fully inflate the life jacket, swim two lengths before removing the life jacket and treading water for two or three minutes.  

One by one we struggled into the already wet overalls and donned our life jackets and climbed to the top board, I looked down and my stomach turned.  The board wasn't that high, but as mentioned previously, I'm not one for heights.  I half inflated my life jacket as instructed, waited my turn and stepped off; I've never been so glad to have my head under water as I was at that moment.  I inflated my life jacket and continued to swim the two lengths of the pool, reaching the deep end of the pool I removed the life jacket and started to tread water,  It was not possible for each individual to be timed, so the timing was started when everyone had reached the deep end.  One or two obviously couldn't hack it and immediately climbed out the pool, most of us had no problem.  One lad was struggling though, but as it was getting towards the end of the session, the instructors wouldn't let him climb out.  His head kept sinking just below the surface, each time accompanied by a cough.  He kept asking the instructors to let him out but they wouldn't, one instructor grabbed a pole from the side of the pool and held it above his head.  He was told to grab hold of the pole but the pole was held just out of his reach, all the time he was stretching for the pole and with each lunge the pole was raised higher.  The time was up, he's passed his test with a little help; other would have swimming lessons while everyone else was still in bed.