HMS Tartar 4th Commission 1971 20

New Year 1971 found me at the cocktail bar of some posh hotel in Singapore after the obligatory pint at the Armada Club, a pint in Sembawang, more in the Victoria Club and then being homesick for about ten minutes in a fancy bar with fancy prices, no doubt the night ended in Boogie Street.

Singapore really was the frontier for most of us, some times when a certain Jack Dusty (storeman), begged a lift back with us we had to make a detour to a house of ill repute where he would leave his watch as surety for his return with real money the next day, the stop did not take long and we would be on our way again tout suite. We were also accosted by youngsters with small white envelopes with about half a dozen dodgy photographs in them whenever we alighted from the local bars One of my delights was the street food available, usually Nasi Goreng, from little stalls which came alive as the taxi pulled up, minutes later we were tucking in sitting on old rickety planks and eating off whatever passed as a table before we weaved to and fro back to the ship. The street food back then was not poncy and it didn't kill you or come with a health warning.

All good things come to an end though and we left our paradise behind and headed west just after New Year. We were to stop off in Gan, an island in the Maldive group but right on the edge and 400 miles from the capital, a short stop but our repairs had not been great and we had a problem once again with the gas turbine so we stayed long enough to get ashore. Gan was basically a runway in the sea, the RAF used it as a stopover for refuelling and had a small detachment there, 600 crabfats (RAF personnel) and one woman on the island. Legend had it she was a beauty, needless to say this was blatantly untrue, she was more like a Sunday School teacher from what I saw, albeit from a great distance. A couple of us did manage to go ashore for some sun time, I remember lying on the pristine beach as large, very large birds swooped and played amongst the palms, these turned out to have been bats!

 The repairs are now estimated to be far more serous than at first thought, we are not expected to sail again until the 13th, the stokers and the engineering officers etc. are having a hard time and working constantly. As usual sports were organised for those so inclined, which always seemed to be quite a few, we RO's of course just lay on the beaches when off watch with the bats. We are doing another Beira Patrol on the way back, before this however we should have a run ashore in Diego Suarez (Madagascar).