was one of the thirty-two Scouts of the V.I. who
were lucky enough to visit the aircraft carrier Theseus when it called
on our shores. We started from school at 8 a.m. Our bus was not very crowded
and as soon as it left the school, we began to sing popular songs. The people
on the roadside stared and waved at us. We were driven to the pier at Port
Swettenham where the other schoolboys and girls had arrived earlier and were
waiting in two motor-launches. We got down in an orderly manner and marched
smartly to a launch called Dorothy. After all were aboard, we set out
for the aircraft carrier, which was anchored about three miles off. On the way
we passed the destroyer Constance and a few cargo ships whose sailors
waved to us.
We boarded the Theseus and followed the crowd
straight up to the flight deck, the place where planes take off and land.
We were asked by some officers to stand together on the aircraft elevator
and were taken down to the hangar within a few minutes. To our amazement
the place was like a huge factory with planes neatly lined up. We were
divided into several groups and each group was shown round the ship by a
sailor.
My group was very lucky for our guide happened to be an
officer, a Lieutenant Williams. He is a Firefly navigator and has a wide
knowledge of planes. He was very kind and told us a lot about planes. We
saw a Seafire and it looked exactly like a Spitfire. It was armed with two
cannons and eight rockets for attacking shipping. All the planes had tail
hooks to catch the wires across the flight deck when they landed. There
were twenty-four planes in the hangar. Lieutenant Williams told us that
during the war the Theseus used to carry forty or fifty planes.
We were brought to the quarter deck where we had drinks
and were surprised to see Chinese cooks and petty officers serving. After
some refreshments Lieutenant Williams took us to the flight deck again and showed
us the armaments. We noticed that all round the ship were anti-aircraft guns
and pom-poms. We were told that though the pom-poms fire at the rate of one
thousand six hundred rounds per minute, it is very difficult to shoot down a
plane with them.
Our next visit was to the bridge. It was in the fore part
of the tower above the flight deck. It was a circular compartment lined with
windows all round, and telephones were fixed everywhere - there were thirty at
least. We could not stay long enough to see everything because the place was
being washed. Soon an order came through a loud speaker asking all visitors to
leave. So after thanking our guide, we got back to our launch and departed,
waving and cheering.
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