Graphic tale of life on lower deck

The author was born in Llanfyllin in 1938, and was educated at Whixall Primary School, then Adams Grammar School, Wem.

He joined the Royal Navy in 1956, sea-training aboard the carrier HMS Ocean, following which he was drafted onto the battleship HMS Vanguard.

Fully trained, he then served a full commission aboard a destroyer and two frigates. Retiring from service in 1978, and by then married and a father of five children, he became an apprentice civilian and family man.

The book follows the lives and exploits of four young men joining the navy during the Suez war, each one joining up to avoid National Service in the army. But ship’s company life doesn’t run smoothly for them, resulting in an appearance at the defaulter’s table.

All is not bad though, and the lads’ sporting ability comes to the notice of a Petty Officer Physical Training Instructor who takes them under his wing.

As a result of meeting this officer the lads’ lives change and they suddenly find themselves welcomed into the fraternity of career-minded servicemen who not only do their job well, but enjoy doing it.

Many dangerous, exciting, and humorous adventures become mixed with the essential hard work of a fleet destroyer in full commission.

A book about the senior service wouldn’t be complete without plenty of involvement with the fairer sex, so all the lads meet nice, and not so nice, girls during the course of the story.

The language used in the text is typical of the lower deck - blunt, explicit, and very much to the point, and the social scene in post-war Portsmouth is portrayed in graphic detail!

The essential discipline of service life and the good times, camaraderie, and sense of belonging provided a wealth of memories, recalled here by the author in an immensely readable style.

You don’t need “sea-legs” to enjoy this book. It has a universal appeal, as well as enough naval detail to keep seafaring folk happy.

Sally Bunn