Nelson & His World

And then he has to stand smartly to attention on the button (although I believe he was allowed to hold onto the lightening conductor!)

I remember seeing this display at the Royal Tournament in 1977. I also seem to remember that at the end of the display the 'button boy' slid down the forestay and went to the Royal Box to receive a Silver Jubilee Crown from the Queen.

You asked: So how did they go about preparing you? Were there tips like, 'Don't look down?'
All boys were required to climb the mast; you did it as a class, so there was quite a number of them all clambering up at the same time. Preparations were fairly basic - don't look down but up when climbing; use only one arm/leg at a time; don't wear boots!

As a separate issue, the ceremony of 'mast-manning' was usually done once a year, on parents day. This required weeks of practice by the selected division, all done to music. The crowds of assembled parents were usually very quiet as the 'button boy' scrambled up the last bit and finally hauled himself onto the cap. There was an almost audible sigh of relief when he sat on it ... but a few moments later he would stand up and salute, which usually impressed them even more. Descending from ceremonial mast manning was done double-time, with several coming down hand over fist along the backstays.

Phew. Pass the smelling salts. But these helpful instructions will stand me in good stead next time I do the White-Knuckle-Wobbly-Knees ascent of the ten-rung ladder into our attic!

Mark: thanks for the links. I read of the 'teaching methods' in Ganges - prodding poor swimmers with poles and coshing typists with heavy books etc. - with astonishment. I kept order in classes of very naughty adolescent boys (one now doing time for murder) with only my 'playground voice', as my family call it when I sound off at home. (Three inch heels added to my command presence - since I'm only 'five foot and a fag paper.')

And some rousing Shakespeare to end:

'Play with your fancies, and in them behold
Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;
Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give
To sounds confused; behold the threaden sails,
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrowed sea,
Breasting the lofty surge. O! but do think
You stand upon the rivage and behold
A city on the inconstant billows dancing;
For so appears this fleet majestical.......'

from 'Henry V'

Anna

I think the "poles" thing was one of those "cruel to be kind" issues. Certainly in the case of the Iranian boys it was a matter of reaching a certain standard of swimming or "pack your bags - career over".

The instructors were trying to extract the very last breaths/ounces of strength from the boys.

I'd be interested to know if P-N recalls it that way.

Some while back in the Answers to Correspondents section of the Daily Mail somebody asked whether anyone had ever fallen from the mast at Ganges.

There were a couple of replies and I did mean to keep them. If I did I can't recall exactly where I would have filed them. I'll try and have a mooch later - see if I can turn them up.

MB

Mark:

one of the comments on the 'derelict' link you gave refers to 'those who did not make the passing out parade'. So presumably there were deaths?


Re: my 'astonishment'. I wasn't criticising the methods, merely musing on the very limited disciplinary measures the law allowed me in comparison!

Anna,

I would imagine that some of those who did not make it to the passing out parade, might have failed for other reasons. I gather that these days there are at least two opportunities to leave the navy, if you find it's not for you. I would be interested, though, to know if anyone ever fell from the mast and died or were injured.

re: falls from the GANGES mast etc.

This was the subject of many a gory tale told to new recruits, of how various people had fallen and met a gruesome death. In particular there are stories about falls in 1944 and 1949 - they seem however, to be myth. There seems to be only one established case of a boy that fell to his death from the mast, and that occurred back in October 1928.

It was the swimming pool that got them - two drowned in 1944 and another drowned in 1948.

As to the PTIs use of the poles being 'cruel to be kind', then probably so, except it wasn't very pleasant being shoved away from the side with a shout of 'don't give up now boy....keep going'

.
I managed to find the information that was printed in the Daily Mail about the mast at Ganges.

There was not actually much information about boys falling from the mast.

There was apparently a myth that a PTI had overbalanced and fallen through the Post Office roof. But this would have been some feat as the Post Office was 25 yards from the mast.

There was an eye witness account of a boy who fell straight through the gap in the safety net and hit his head on the metal bars at the bottom of the shrouds. But he was seen some years later - alive and well.

One thing that interested me was that there were similar masts at other training establishments such as St Vincent, Bruce and Wildfire - but Ganges remains the one surrounded by a particular aura.

BBC TV filmed the mast manning several times, including a 1968 Blue Peter episode.

Here are a couple of interesting bits of film from the Pathe News archive.

The first is from 1930 and shows the HMS Ganges ship just before she was broken up. You have to smile at the superstructure that they have built on the upper deck. It detracts somewhat from her "classic good looks"!!

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=22004

This second film has some nice shots of the mast manning - plus the classic commentary of (I think) Bob Danvers-Walker.

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=43386

MB

These may be of interest:

http://www.rhscommunity.co.uk/news/2527 ... STORED.htm

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-storie ... -21458942/

Thanks - FANTASTIC to know that the Ganges mast has a long term future.

MB