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| During our stay in "picturesque" Formosan waters, we 'assisted in support of the Tachen Island evacuation, and spent most of the rest of our tour in the area running errands up and down the coast, from Matsu to Quemoy. Then one fine day (no one noticed the rain that day) our reliefs appeared, and we were heading for Yokosuka, and a few days respite from the rigors of Condition III. Never a dull moment however, and just as we were getting settled down in Yokosuka again, we headed for Okinawa for ASW operations with the Princeton and a division of British and Canadian destroyers. About this time we learned that we had been granted a diplomatic pass to visit Singapore. We also learned, to the chagrin of all polliwags aboard, that on the way we were to cross the Equator. For several days prior to that most infamous day in HOPEWELL history, 14 March 1955, strange things were happening. Several times a day word would be passed for "All shellbacks lay up to the CPO quarters," and woe be unto the polliwog who happened to blunder in on one of these fateful gatherings. The ship became divided into two camps; the one wandering around in a state of bewilderment as to why the garbage was being saved, and why polliwogs were not to go on the focsule or on the port side of the fantail; the other chuckling fiendishly at the quandary of the first. Finally the fateful day arrived, and the long line of clean-shave neophytes was summoned before the Royal Court for "jusice," tried, sentenced, and dealt with severely. At the end of this hectic day, the HOPEWELL set course for Singapore manned with a full company of Crusty Shellbacks, duly initiated into the Ancient Order of the Deep. Exotic Singapore proved to be interesting, if somewhat expensive. The courtesy of the Royal British Navy was exceeded only by their capacity for beer, and the use of Nuffield Servicemen's Club added to amiable relations with Her Majesty's boys in blue. Other names which will remain in our memories of Singapore are the Raffles Hotel, the Adelphi Hotel, and Cockpit. | |
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