Careers

At the invitation of the Commanding Officer, six members of the Committee, together with Mr. Cummin and Mr. Dodds, dined in the Officers' Mess of the R.A.F. Station at Linton-on-Ouse on Thursday, 2nd June. After dinner, before a House consisting almost entirely of young Naval Officers being trained as pilots by the R.A.F., St. Peter's proposed the motion that "This House puts security before interest in a career". D. L. Brown, proposing, believed that mental security was the first essential in any career, and D. L. Slade, in his support, analysed all the material advantages connected with security. The opposition painted a powerful picture of the office worker, and elaborated on the stimulation given to the mind by a career in the Services. The debate, on being thrown open to the house, showed a tendency, apparently usual in the Mess, to degenerate into a discussion of the opposite sex, but J. 0. Armstrong, F. D. Lavender and E. M. H. Ranson, as well as Mr. Cummin, attempted to restore at least a semblance of public school dignity. N. R. Barton, summing up for the proposition, gave his diverting exposition of his ancestry, this time giving it a slant on the motion. On being put to the vote the motion was rejected by 21 votes to 17.

In due course, School was reached, and an evening which all had enjoyed immensely, had come to an end. Our sincere thanks are due to the C.O., and all those who gave us such a vivid impression of Service life and hospitality.

D.L.B.

THE BRITISH SHIP ADOPTION SOCIETY

The "Clan Stewart's" Voyage 14 ended at London early in the Easter holidays, and in the last "Peterite" some account of this voyage was given. Capt. Graham sent us his usual narrative and two extracts, together with dates and ports of call, are given below.

Voyage 15 began on 20th May, when the ship sailed from Liverpool for South and East African ports : Lourenco Marques (14th June), Beira (19th June), and Durban (12th July). She should arrive back during the summer holidays and we hope to be able to give some details of this voyage in the next "Peterite". Extracts from the narrative of Voyage 14. TRINCOMALEE. "As this was my first visit I was interested to see what kind of place it was. Before Ceylon obtained independence, Trincomalee was our big naval base. It is a large harbour with plenty of water and completely sheltered. Apart from three oiling berths, ships lie at anchor or at mooring buoys. The town is very small. Unlimited fresh water can be obtained, which is most important on the Indian coast 39

where water is usually at a premium and often brackish. The entrance to Trincomalee is easy; there are several shoal patches inside but they are well marked, and there is no difficulty to encounter. Inside the entrance there still remains a sunken dock. This was bombed by the Japanese during the last war. Since the Navy left, there has been much unemployment. The labour is mostly Tamil. The Tamils are kept apart from the Sinhalese owing to religious trouble. There is one safe bathing beach, which also has a sea anglers' club."

MA S SAWA.

"I made a coure to pass 10 miles off Shabs Shakhs lighthouse and then proceeded up the S. Massawa Channel. It is advisable to do most of the coastal passage during daylight so that some of the small islands and reefs can be seen. We arrived off Massawa at 5 p.m. but had to wait an hour for the pilot, as the motor boat had broken down. The following morning we started loading the groundnuts. One is struck by the cleanliness of the port and nearby buildings. The town itself is very small and one can walk around it in about half an hour. The native market is a warren of streets and turnings. We all had to have passes to go ashore. Even the native labour had to hand over a token to the watchman when they boarded the ship. This is on account of the number of would-be stowaways. Our second day was spoiled by some torrential rain : I was told it rains only about 10 times per year. We sailed at 6 a.m. on 24th March. The route is through the N. Massawa Channel. It needs to be done in daylight on account of the small islands and shoal patches. We had a good passage." Port Arrival Departure

Birkenhead ... Milford Haven Port Said ... Aden ... 6th January 7th January 16th January 16th January 21st January 22nd January

Colombo Trincomalee Madras ... ... Visakhapatnam ... Calcutta Madras ... Trincomalee Aden ... Massawa

2nd February 3rd February 9th February 10th February 12th February 13th February 28th February 2nd March 11th March 12th March 14th March 20th March 20th March 21st March 24th March Suez ... Port Said London ... ... ... 26th March 28th March 6th April 26th March 28th March —

The homeward cargo consisted of the usual remarkable variety of goods from India. The largest single item was manganese ore for discharge at Birkenhead. There was a considerable quantity of tea, but the rest of the cargo was made up of relatively small quantities of such items as leather, goat skins, drugs (including opium), chutney, copra cake, gunnies, jute twine, tobacco, carpets, wood carvings, handkerchiefs, shellac, beeswax, mica, bones, and cutch.

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