Awoke with an early morning cup of coffee, followed by a whopping breakfast.
Went on board "Penelope" to fetch the movie camera, films and our soiled clothes which the Navy has offered to wash for us.
The Skipper then showed some films of the earlier part of Penelope's voyage and gave an impromptu talk in the auditorium of 300 officers and men of the base.
Latter(sic) we filled up with fuel and water at the jetty and went into Saldanha village to buy some fresh fruit and vegetable for our final voyage to Cape Town.
My Sister Eda rang through from Cape Town to the base, having read of our arrival in the Cape Argus. I had previously sent her a telegram to Mossel Bay telling her we were at Saldanha. Unfortunately, we cannot send international cables from here so we must wait until we reach Cape Town for the "safe arrival" cables to Brazil.
In the evening there was a cocktail party and buffet supper in the Ward Room, partly as a send-off for one of Commander Johnson's chief administrative officer Flick, who is leaving the base to join the "Good Hope" and partly in our honour. All the officers were present with their wives- very interested in the wild bearded men from Brazil! After the usual speeches, the skipper made a further resume of the trip helped by a blackboard and maps. He is accustomed to giving lectures and quickly obtains the interest of his audience.
Juan, who can only speak Spanish and a few words of French, had a whale of a time, consuming vast quantities of food and drink particularly a mixture of South African Brandy and Van de Hamm, an excellent local liqueur. He has learned a few words of Afrikaans already. Fortunately, perhaps, no one other than Oliver and I understood his final impassioned conversation with one of the officers' wives. He told her at great length that she had such wonderful blue eyes, rose-bud lips, delicate hands, etc. and that he really wanted nothing more than the privilege of taking her to bed with him.
The party thus ended happily and hilariously.
Slept again in our luxurious surroundings.
Our hosts at:
S.A.S. "DROMMEDARIS" (the official name of the base)
P.O. Saldanha
C.P.
are:- Commander James Johnson
Lieut. Comdr. Bierman
Lieut. Roy Kingon
" J. Johannsen
" Peter Ayris
and others
No comments:
Post a Comment