One of the junior instructors could barely conceal his mirth as he replied that it was all about launching the lifeboats and evacuating the vessel in the case of an emergency. ‘We will also be teaching you how to put on life jackets that will help you float.’
The exercise quickly degenerated from the relaxed to the almost comical when the girls giggled away after they were told to ‘fall in’.
‘Is he trying to get us to jump into that freezing cold water?’ asked a voice from the ranks.
The instructors courteously smiled through gritted teeth but the laughter stopped instantly when one of the sergeants warned that he was about to ‘select a volunteer’ and throw her over the side. The point had been made.
Typical man, thought Madge. We’re not part of the military so why should we have a clue what he’s talking about?
Once the Strathnaver was at sea, however, the drill took on a new seriousness. There was no joking or laughter as the instructors patiently demonstrated once again how to put on and secure the life jackets, and then jump into the sea once the lifeboats were launched. When they came back to the surface they should start swimming towards the closest lifeboat or life raft.
Madge gradually came to enjoy the drills, and there was a lot of very enthusiastic support from the inordinate number of soldiers, who seemed to be constantly walking past. What did worry Madge was that while there were hundreds of people already on board, she was far from sure if there were enough lifeboats should they be told to abandon ship.
The Strathnaver boasted a top speed of 23 knots an hour. If push came to shove, Captain Beck, the Strath’s wartime commander, could still order full steam ahead but few of the other boats could match that speed. KMF.33 progressed at the rate of the slowest vessel in the convoy.
One morning, after they had been at sea for a week, a doctor who was due to give a series of lectures to the VADs about tropical diseases joined Madge for a morning stroll on deck. He was one of a small group of doctors bound for the Middle East and India who had boarded the Strathnaver at Liverpool.
After Madge confided in him that she felt a little vulnerable out at sea, having seen the size of the guns on the battleship and being well aware that German ships would be equipped with weapons just as powerful, the doctor turned to her and said, ‘I can tell you something that will really cheer you up.’
‘Oh, what’s that?’ Madge asked, intrigued.
‘Before boarding this ship I worked in a hospital in the Wirral where lots of wounded soldiers told me the same thing – there is one reason why the German Wolfpack submarines are suffering such huge casualties and that’s all due to the tactics of Captain Frederick John Walker. This Captain Walker devised a system that actively chases the submarines instead of waiting for them to attack the convoys, a system that has proved to be hugely successful, and they are the same tactics we are employing with this convoy. So that, miss, is why I firmly believe that this ship will not be sunk.’
‘Well, that is a relief to hear, I must say,’ said Madge, feeling at least mildly better.
In spite of that, the German Wolfpacks were still a threat so in addition to several destroyers, Sunderland flying boats scanned the seas to provide an extra level of security. The convoy was by now in turbulent waters heading southwest, away from the German-occupied Atlantic coast of France. Whilst the whole coast from the French border down past Spain and Portugal and round to Gibraltar was neutral the waters were still desperately dangerous.
The weather was warming and Madge, who had enjoyed her first week at sea, spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up some sunshine. Vera and Phyl, on the other hand, began to feel seasick as the Strathnaver started to pitch in the increasingly powerful swell and they retired to the Ladies’ Lounge. Madge went back down to their cabin and used the rare bit of time on her own to have a good browse of the multi-page contract she had signed before setting off. She realised that she’d barely given the terms a cursory glance due to her excitement at being given the opportunity in the first place.
The contract showed that she would be paid £134 pounds per annum for the duration of her service which was more than double the money she received in the early days at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. A fifty-rupee Indian Allowance was added along with a ‘free messing and servants’ assessment’ of 80 rupees. What did surprise her was the fact that the annual pay for the very senior position of VAD liaison officer was just £222 – she had heard of some factory workers who were earning more – and that of assistant liaison officer was £198. One liaison officer and two assistants were appointed to General Headquarters, New Delhi, to advise the Chief Principal Matron of the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service on problems arising from the service of VADs in India.
Madge had been given an initial uniform allowance of £15 and was pleased to discover that she would also be entitled to an upkeep allowance of £5 after the first year of service, as well as an initial tropical outfit allowance of £10 plus an additional £5 after the same amount of time. Perhaps the week they had spent living the life of Riley in London hadn’t been their last chance to shop after all!
Item 14 of the contract concerned travel: ‘For journeys performed at government expense after acceptance, first-class railway and equivalent sea
