Edinburgh #12
The tour of the Royal Yacht was very comprehensive and there was a lot to take in. It was powered by steam turbine engines running on fuel oil, so the engine rooms were full of complicated machinery but it was very, very clean.
Crew quarters were all below decks. It wouldn't do to be claustrophobic! But it was all smart and bright and rather mid-century in style. The Officers' Wardroom was where the senior crew ate. Dinner in the evenings was a formal affair, in uniform. One of them would begin by saying Grace (which had to be in rhyme!) and dinner ended with a formal toast to the Queen, when the Marine band would play the National Anthem.
The Wardroom Anteroom was where they'd relax and unwind, a sort of gentleman's club afloat, out of bounds to the junior crew. They'd watch TV, listen to the radio, play games and take part in fiercely contested quizzes. The 'wombat' on the ceiling fan was a sort of game of tennis, with two teams, a lot of noise and much batting about of the poor stuffie.
You can perhaps spot the wooden monkey in the cabinet. No Officer was allowed to touch him and yet every day he mysteriously appeared in a different place.
There were other bars and messes where the junior crew members relaxed and took their meals. The ship had two galleys where meals were prepared for the crew, and a separate Royal Galley staffed by chefs from Buckingham Palace when the Queen was onboard.
The sleeping quarters were - to my eyes - unbelievably cramped, with very little headroom. Given that the crew were obliged to change uniforms numerous times a day, it must have been bedlam. On the website it says the crew slept in hammocks until 1973, the last Royal Navy ship to do so!
The yacht had a huge laundry, which apparently got very hot, especially when in the Tropics. It had a well equipped sick bay and operating theatre, staffed by a Naval Medical Officer, a nurse and a physiotherapist. The Queen was attended by her own Royal Surgeon.
It also had a shop - a NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institute shop) - and its own tiny Post Office.
Given that many of the crew chose to spend their whole careers on the ship, it must have had its compensations, but it sounded to me like a hard and busy life.
'When a sailor became a Royal Yachtsman on Britannia, he entered a world quite unlike any other in the Royal Navy. His orders were nothing less than to 'strive daily for perfection'. Each man was hand-picked to meet the very highest standards, and each and every one chose this special ship for the honour and privilege of serving Queen and country.'
No comments:
Post a Comment