Diary pages from this date

Last Saturday evening we were suddenly told that there would be a blackout and we had to make the best arrangement we could which is difficult in hot weather, but even before 10 o'clock the guards came round and made us put out our lights altogether. Then the authorities got nasty with the poor results of the blackout during the next two days until we finally had to put out the lights at sunset, which made conditions rather miserable. However they finally withdrew the ban on Friday and so we are back to normal conditions again.

One of the rooms had a gramophone and kept us amused and cheered with funny records such as Max Miller etc.

Last Sunday was Easter Sunday and I went to the 7 o'clock service taken by Sandbeck and at the 10 o'clock service I was a sideman it was a special service taken by five of the ministers. Downie not preaching just now as he has had all his teeth out. ((Possibly James Downie Thomson, though he was a manager at Dairy Farm before the war, not a priest.))

D.B.B. and I went to the hospital to help H. Smith bring his clothes and bedding up here as he was discharged today. When one goes to hospital you have to take blankets and pillows with you as the hospital is so short, so your mug, spoons and plate, sugar if you have any and any tit bits of your own.

Last week a coroners inquest was held into the death of a Mrs Evans who died on the operating table due to the lack of oxygen, which the Authorities wont supply to the hospital. Dr H.Talbot has been arrested and put into the prison. It is said that he has received a sentence of 18 months and Grayburn has received 4 years. so Bidweed one of the internees who escaped a year ago and was caught with three others has died in prison. ((That sounds like Kenneth Bidmead, though in fact he survived the war and lived until 2007.))

On Monday I went to our engineering lecture on Charter Party and it was most interesting. J.F., D.B.B. and I have our usual walk at night and tonight D.B.B. and I went to J.F. for a cup of instant postain and a biscuit and had our usual yarn.

We have been told that we can write a 200 word letter which will be dated 30th April and it is expected that we will be able to write monthly and by backdating the letter we'll be able to send one for May. This is jolly nice to think about.

Rice reduced to 8.1oz per day. Flour increse to 4.22 oz. per day

5 pkts May Blossom

Issue of 2lbs. sugar

Classical concert ((see 30 April for details))

200-word letters allowed.

((The original text isn't dated, but suggests the event described happened over an extended period.))

But I must not conclude without mentioning the service done to the community by a retired sea-captain.

He managed to obtain some packets of tea that had been sent in by the Red Cross and by collecting twigs from the hillside he was able to boil water to make tea. Every afternoon without fail, at 4 o'clock we would her a stentorian shout "come and get it!", and there would be a rush of people from all over the camp carrying any sort of containers they could find in which to carry the precious tea.

I think this service was appreciated as much as any: it helped to break into the otherwise monotonous routine of the internees.

((Who was the tea-boiling sea-captain?

I asked Barbara Anslow, but she doesn't recognise the description, writing:

I didn't know Phyllis Ayrton, but see from Greg Leck's camp list that she was in her fifties in 1945. I have never heard about this distribution of tea by a sea captain, I think it must have been in a different part of the camp than where I lived, as I would surely have been in the queue if I'd known about it!

Geoffrey Emerson makes a good case:

My guess is that it's the famous Gingles, former Navy cook not captain.  Somewhere I read he used to shout "Come and get it" and he certainly made people happy with his cooking, so why not his tea?

))

1943 dragged slowly through. Our monotonous existence was taking its toll and we watched man after man, although not suffering from any serious physical complaint, slowly let himself go and eventually die. Whenever a sick person was transferred to the camp "hospital", his food was cut and he was denied the simple but welcome privileges of the "workers" - cigarettes, books, etc. Under such conditions, it can be understood why the percentage of deaths in the hospital was so high.

Our camp was divided into two parts, the British on one side and American POWs from the Philippines, Wake, and Guam on the other. We also had in the camp about 50 merchant seamen, who had been captured in the South Atlantic by a German raider, and put ashore into the hands of the Japanese, when the raider entered a Japanese port for refuelling.

There were roughly 40 to 50 of us in each room. Our only form of bedding was a double shelf about six feet wide, which ran the length of the room. This shelf, covered with straw matting, was where we ate and slept, each man being allowed only 22 inches of space. Each morning and evening "Tenko" (roll call) was held.  We stood in one line round the room and when the Japanese Duty Officer and N.C.O. entered, we numbered smartly in Japanese - I say smartly, because if the Japanese officer was not satisfied, we were invariably struck over the head with a sword scabbard or rifle butt. One unpleasant incident occurred when a Japanese officer, whom we called "Abenei" ("Dangerous") flew into a rage and laid about him with his sword. When he had finished, the room looked like a battlefield, with blood everywhere, and over twenty men in one room had to be treated for injuries and cuts.

Nearly every week the Japanese guards would make surprise searches of the camp, and it was unfortunate for anyone who was found with forbidden articles, such as knives, diaries, records, etc., or goods pilfered from ships or docks. Yet it was surprising that in nearly every case, we were able to get advance information, that such a search was to take place and hide forbidden articles. It was easy for us to outwit the Japanese on these occasions, as they would only look in the most obvious places, and at times when we knew a search was likely to take place, we w ould hide our diaries, records, etc. in the firebox in the Japanese Guardhouse or hanging outside a window on a piece of string, and after the "raid" had been completed, would calmly retrieve them, when the guards’ backs were turned.

Lovely day.

Cookhouse, beef.

((G.))

5 pkts cigs issued.

((G.))

Walk with Bonnie & Steve.

Drafting out my 200 word letter.

((G.))