Story of a sea cadet
"Life on the Conway." from the magazine of Scarborough High School for boys 1923-29
A boy joining the "Conway" from the "Muni" experiences one of the greatest possible changes in his life. The first few weeks on board are like a dream, but it is surprising how quickly one settles down.
The first thing that strikes you when you step on board is the cleanliness of everything, but it never enters your head that before long you will be helping to keep things clean.
The most difficult thing for a new cadet to understand are the bugle calls. Of course anyone knows "cook-house" and "Reveille," but they have calls that you have never heard before, and when one goes, you run round asking what it means. But these calls gradually sink in, and that is one obstacle conquered.
As I have said previously, the cadets keep the ship clean. The bulk of this work is done Saturday mornings. The 165 boys are divided into four companies called "tops," each one of these being responsible for one of the four decks. This work is always done thoroughly, as everyone knows the punishment if the Skipper complains when he inspects the decks on Sunday morning.
But as "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," we go ashore every Wednesday and Saturday for Rugby. To one who has always played Association Football, Rugby is a very big change, but when play regularly, you quickly get used to it.
The playing field, some 12 acres in extent, is well laid out with a large Pavilion. For Winter use there are four Rugby grounds, and for Summer, two cricket grounds and seven tennis courts.
Should the weather be stormy, we stay on board and amuse ourselves as best we can, During the summer term several rowing and sailing boats are available in the evenings, and these are always in big demand. At the end of every month there are Cutter Races. These races cause great excitement and are looked forward to eagerly.
But although we have heaps of games and manual labour, we have also mental labour. From Monday to Friday we have school on the main deck, 9 to 12-30 and 1-45 to 4. We have a weekly order in class, which gives us something to aim at. The school staff is a very good one, some teachers being a little more strict than others. Unlike the "Muni" staff, they do not give us impositions or detentions, but deduct so many remarks from our weekly total.
On the whole the life on board is so busy that the terms seem like weeks, and before you realize that you have learnt anything, the exams are upon you. But after the exams, there is a something to look forward to, and that is, a heard earned holiday.
OTHER ARTICLES
• A sea shanty about a storm on the Scarborough coast
• The national RNLI and the Scarborough lifeboat of 1861.
• Hinderwells account of the first launch of the Scarborough Lifeboat in 1802
• The early years of the Scarborough Lifeboat
• Sea shanties and the filey Fishermen's choir
• Charles Dickens account of Filey and Scarborough graveyards
• The U-Boat campaign in the First World War
• Filey and the gales of 1860,1867,1869 AND 1880
• Strange customs amongst the Scarborough shipbuilders
• Harwood Brierleys description of Scarborough harbour at the opening of the 20th century
• Tommy Rowley - stories about loss of life at sea
• Robin Hood's Bay - The Storm family website
• Sailing ships - a true ghost story
• Coastal erosion in the 19th Century around the North Bay and Scarborough Castle area
• Thomas Crimlisk - First of the Crimlisks
• The Allen and Truman Scarborough fishing families
• Tunny fishing in Scarborough in the 1930's
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI
• The port of Scarborough in the late 15th Century
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