Monday 13/04/1964 Joined HMS CASSANDRA [D10] (destroyer) at Portsmouth dockyard. She was a 'CA' class destroyer built by Yarrow at Scotstoun. Launched the 29th November 1943 and completed on the 28th of July 1944. Service with Arctic Convoys, during which her bows were blown off from a torpedo. April 1960 she was part of the 8th Destroyer Squadron Far East. February 1963 to 1965 21st Escort Squadron Mediterranean and Far East. Paid off January 1966. On the 28th April 1967 she arrived Inverkeithing to be broken up. My first passport Monday 11/05/1964 Sailed from Portsmouth for the Mediterranean; first foreign port - Gibraltar. My first encounter in a foreign port wasn't altogether a happy one. Whilst at sea we used to ditch the gash (rubbish) over the ship's stern through a chute. First day's duty in Gibraltar I ditched the gash through the chute as previously. No one had told me that in harbour all gash has to be taken ashore and put in the bins. Consequently the Master-at-Arms saw me and I was 'trooped' (put on report) and lost 3 days pay and 3 days leave. Not a happy man. As I never passed my ETLR (Educational Test for Leading Rate) in maths I had to do some revision. The Instructor Lieutenant would have us on the upper deck sitting down taking notes from the blackboard. Of course this was fatal for me as all I did was gaze at the 'Rock of Gibraltar' in wonderment. Never did pass my maths! I passed the English exam at GANGES but you have to retake both exams again before they will pass you. It wouldn't of been so bad if the first pass on the English exam counted, so that I could then concentrate on the Maths. Oh well, not worth crying over spilt milk. We were able to cross the border for a run ashore in La Linea, Spain Went for a weekend to Tangiers in a MFV (motor fishing vessel) as the radio operator. It was an interesting trip, though we had to watch our pockets and the beer was extremely expensive. We sailed to Port Vendres, Cannes and Malta which were even better runs ashore. Whilst at Cannes I went to Grasse where the worlds best perfumes are made and also Monte Carlo where I had a look inside the famous casino. Not much chance of me using the casino for gambling on our wages. When I was in Malta I had the good fortune of being allowed to fly with the RAF in a Shackleton bomber whilst it did 'circuits and bumps' (takeoffs and landings). We had chicken sandwiches, which was quite rare in those days! This was my first experience of flying and I loved it. Life onboard CASSANDRA was an adventure now and much better than training ever was. The only downside I remember was this big fat Radio Operator 1st class (Buster Brown) who used to sit in the captains chair (with his feet up on the binnacle) in harbour and point to the brass tallies which I had to clean. I couldn't just start at one end and proceed to the other. Oh no, he had to show his authority and point to each one which would be in a different area of the bridge. Maybe that he thought this justified his semi-horizontal position. The other unpleasant task I recall was to take up the bridge duckboards and scrub them with a holystone and sea water. The holystone was a brick of sandstone (aka a bible) which was used to scour the wooden duckboards. We used to end up wet and filthy. When dry, the duckboards had to be put back inside the bridge - just like jigsaw pieces they had to be fitted together in the right order, otherwise they would never fit. Afterwards the duckboards used to have a much whiter and smoother appearance, thanks to much elbow grease, scouring of the holystone and the bleaching effects of the salt water and Mediterranean sun. Though of course it didn't take long for them to get black marks, with everyone walking on them again. It was in Malta that my attache-case was stolen. I think it must of been someone who was living ashore as the RA's (married accompanied sailors) used to use these attache-cases to put their packed lunch in. This led to problems when I had a kit-muster for Captain D's inspection. Can't remember how I got out of that one as I never purchased or obtained a replacement. My bed on the CASSANDRA was a hammock. These were surprisingly comfortable to sleep in, though depending where you could sling your hammock is whether you were bumped in the night when the other sailors came back onboard. Being the youngest member onboard I had to sling my hammock in a gangway, needless to say I was being 'bumped' continuously from those that came off of shore leave as well as the night watchkeepers. One of my duties onboard was to take care of the SRE (Ship's Radio Equipment) compartment and maintain a steady flow of records or a radio program so that it could be listened on the ship's Tanoy speakers in the messdecks. Being a 'disk jockey' made a change from the usual mundane work of a junior. For recreation we used to sail one of the two ship's piccolos (small sailing boats) Not much bigger than the size of two windsurfing boards, just about room for two matelots at a push. These were great fun and always in demand. I was temporarily drafted to St Angelo for a few days so that I could attend the signal school for a refresher course on Manoel Island. All I remember about the signal school were the cool classrooms made of sandstone and  having to learn how to code signals using different formats other than by machines. St Angelo was a fort high up on a peninsular. We slept in a mess down by the foreshore but had to climb the high ramps to the fort for meals and to watch the cinema. In the summer of 1964 HMS CASSANDRA was ordered to set sail for Borneo to guard against pirates and terrorists, as well as providing backup for forces already there. The Royal Marines, Gurkhas and local security forces were on constant patrol searching and repelling marauders, manning ambushes and guarding native villages against infiltration along the 700 mile border of Sarawak and Indonesian Borneo. As I was still a Junior the 'powers that be' had me transferred to HMS TROUBRIDGE in Malta along with one other person, the Canteen Manager (David Vella) who was Maltese.