The ship itself

Baron Saltoon, Sister Ship to the Baron Cochrane

This ship, the Baron Cochrane, was a standard design for those times generally referred to as a three island ship, consisting of a forecastle, well deck with two hatches, raised section over the engine room consisting of the bridge and accommodation, then a well deck with two hatches, then the raised poop over a counter stern. The deck crew and Fireman lived in the forecastle in very cramped conditions heated by coal bogey stoves and all their food had to be brought forward to them. In heavy weather this was a hazardous task in the food seldom arrived hot. The captain, deck officers, chief steward and radio operators lived in the bridge structure while the engineers, the cook and galley boy, the pantry boy in the two apprentices lived in the accommodation above the engine room. The saloon which is situated in the bridge structure was used by the officers and only for the meals and there was no common mess room or anywhere that people could gather other than in their cabins. Our cabin was about 8' x 8' and was the after most one on the starboard side of the engine room structure. Facing the door was an uncovered settee against the outer bulkhead with a port hole above it. The forward end of the settee was attached to the lower bunk and this, with the one above it, were attached to the forward bulkhead at the inner end of which was a narrow locker. Between the locker and the door was a steam radiator which we could never use at sea because water on the deck would wash against the hot pipe and produce clouds of steam. On the after bulkhead there was a four drawer chest of drawers and a second locker. In this cabin our whole life took place. We ate, we washed, and we slept. The bulkheads were steel on which a layer of cork had been sprayed, but they constantly streamed with condensation which washed around the deck as the vessel rolled. The bunks had no bunkboards and only had a narrow plank to keep the occupant off the steel bulkhead. The bunks were provided with uncovered flock mattresses and pillows and we took over the two blankets left by the previous boys. There were no sheets or pillow cases. This may seem a bit rough but it must be remembered that up until the war crew members were expected to bring their own bed covers as nothing was provided by the shipping company. Sharp at 7 AM I was aroused by the arrival of the other apprentice, a Scots boy who already had two years sea time under his belt. I was hungry and my cabin mate made sure that we got some breakfast. Huge bowls of porridge doled out by a black cook who had been signed on the previous trip in the West Indies when the steward had died. This was followed by fried eggs, which the cook lifted from the fat with his fingers. He also used to pick up a red hot coal from the galley stove and rest it in the palm of his hand while he lit a cigarette. The world I had grown up in had been nothing like this! In fact I had scarcely ever seen a colored person in the parts of England where I had lived. What colored people there were in the UK lived mainly in the seaports and were seafarers and most of them were engine room hands, fireman rather than deck hands.