Ron Beswick senior part 2

 

It was probably 1947 when Dad first joined the Maritime industry and the earliest ship I could trace was the MV Morialta. It sailed from Port Adelaide and went to Wallaroo, Whyalla, Cowell, Port Neil, Arno Bay and Port Lincoln in the Spencer Gulf South Australia. He paid off on the 2nd of February 1948 in Adelaide and he stayed at the Seaman’s Mission. On the 6th of February 1948 he joined the SS Stanley Park in Adelaide where he sailed to Glasgow. On the way he called into Freemantle and after 21 days at sea arrived at Durbin in South Africa where he ended up with a pet monkey. He had to take it to a zoo because it kept pissing on everybody. They called in to Saint Vincent in Cape Verde on the West African coast before sailing to Scotland.

He spent about 7 weeks in the UK after arriving at Glasgow on the 26^th of April before staying at Newcastle and London. He got a days work on an American ship and got a flat at Paddington. At Tilbury on the 17 of June 1948 he embarked as a passenger on the MV Orontes and sailed back to Australia. He met his future wife Betty Reynolds and her family who were migrating to Australia on that voyage that went through the Suez Canal. They stopped at Colombo in Sri Lanka before arriving in Freemantle on Tuesday the 13th July.

Saturday the 17th July the MV Orontes arrived in Adelaide and a week later on the 24^th July Dad flew by plane to Sydney. This would have been his first time in a plane. He joined the SS Aldinga on Tuesday the 27th July 1948 and sailed to Newcastle before Port Pirie. Dad wrote in his diary that he was off Wilson's Promotory on the 5th August 1948. This was the nearest he'd been to Wonthaggi in 2 years.

On the 9th August he went to hospital in Port Pirie with Tonsillitis. On the 14th August he was discharged and took a nurse to a dance. On the 17th August he flew from Adelaide to Sydney. On the 26th August 1948 he signed on the Duntroon as 3rd Cook. He arrived at Kure Japan on Sunday the 12th September and sailed to New guinea on the 17th. On Sunday the 26th September he was at Dreger Bay in New Guinea. On the 27th he sailed for Auckland New Zealand. He had his 24th birthday at sea.

Tuesday the 5th October he was in Auckland and on the 12th he arrived in Sydney. On the 22nd of October he sailed for Dreger Bay and then again to Japan. He arrived on the 7th November and visited Hiroshima on the 9th and sailed for Dreger Bay on the 12th November. On the 29th November 1948 Dad arrived in Sydney on the Duntroon and sailed to New Guinea on the 10th December. He arrived at Dreger Bay on 16th of December and arrived at Manus Island on the 18th December. Dad was logged on the 19th December after he sailed from Manus Island. New Years Eve was spent in Kure.

On the 2nd January 1949 Dad sailed from Kure Japan to Dreger Bay New Guinea. He gave notice on the 12th January after he sailed from Dreger Bay. Arrived in Sydney on the 17th January and on the 18th was caught smuggling, was fined and went to Jail for the night. A story I remember is it was a Necklace stuffed in his shoe. On Thursday the 20th January Dad joined the River Derwent in Newcastle and sailed for Albany Western Australia. The ship broke down and instead went to Freemantle and arrived on the 31st January. He sailed out of Freemantle on the 10th February for Whyalla. On the 16th February he arrived in Whyalla at 8 am and sailed at 7pm. On the 22nd February he paid off the River Derwent in Newcastle. On Saturday the 26th February he went to Bellbird and stayed at the Australia Hotel in Cesnock. On the 28th February left Cesnock for Newcastle to get his teeth out. On Friday the 4th march Dad got his teeth out. On the 14th March he joined the SS River Hunter after 2 days of standby. He sailed to Geelong where he stayed for about a fortnight. From the 3rd of April to the 6th April he was in Devonport Tasmania before he sailed to Sydney. He arrived in Melbourne on the 10th May on SS River Hunter. On the 14th he left for Wonthaggi at 8.30AM and arrived in Wonthaggi at 12.30PM. On the 15th he went back to Melbourne. On the 22nd May went back to Wonthaggi and came back to Melbourne the next day. 27th May Arrived in Newcastle 7.45pm and the Steering Gear broke of Nobby's.

On the Saturday the 4th June he went to Maitland and returned to Newcastle the next day.

On Wednesday the 8th June he sailed for Western Australia and was anchored of Albany 6 days later. His next port was Freemantle and he arrived there on the 19th June at 9.30 pm. On the 25th of June he sailed for Bunburry and then to Adelaide where he spent 4 days going to Devonport. It took 2 days to get to Devonport where he spent 5 days in port. On the 19th of July he arrived in Burnie Tasmania where he spent before he sailed for Brisbane on the 19th of July. He arrived at Brisbane at 1.30pm on the 23rd on July and was promoted to Chief Cook on the 27th and sailed to Sydney on Tuesday the 2nd of August at 7pm. He arrived in Sydney on the 4th of August and on the 17th sailed to Newcastle on the 17th at 11pm. He arrived in Newcastle the next day at 7 am and sailed for Brisbane on the 20th of August at 4pm. He arrived at Brisbane 22nd August and sailed to Newcastle on the 30th August at 4pm. He arrived in Newcastle on the 1st of September at 7am and sailed for Geelong on the 3rd of September at 1300 hours. On the 5th of September he arrived at Geelong and on the 14th of September sailed to Melbourne. On Friday the 16th of September he sailed to Sydney and arrived after 48 hours. On the 19th of September the ship changed articles and on the 20th he sailed for Newcastle at 2300 hours. He arrived in Newcastle on the next day at 7.30am. He spent 6 days in Newcastle before sailing to Geelong where he arrived on the 29th September at 4.30pm. On the 1st of October took a couple of days of to go to the races at Flemmington, and tried to trace his Mother at Calton and go to Wonthaggi. On the 8th of October he sailed from Geelong to Whyalla before spending the 13th October in Adelaide. He may have contacted his Mother before sailing to Brisbane. He arrived in Brisbane on the 19th of October and sailed for Newcastle on the 20th and arrived there on Saturday the 22nd of October at 7.30am. He sailed for Western Australia on the 26th Of October and arrived in Albany on the 3rd of November. After 2 days in Albany he sailed for Freemantle and arrived on the 6th of November. He sailed from Freemantle on Sunday the 13th of November at 2000 hours. On the 19th of November he arrived at Whyalla and berthed there for 12 hours before arriving in Adelaide on the 20th of November when he visited Glenelg. On the 21st of November he sailed to Brisbane where he arrived on the 27th of November. He sailed on the same day for Newcastle where he spent over 3 days before sailing to Geelong. He spent about a week in Geelong and had a night in Port Londsdale before sailing to Newcastle on Tuesday the 13th of December On the 15th of December he spent 4 days in Newcastle before sailing for Adelaide on the 19th December. He arrived in Adelaide on the 23rd spent Christmas 1949 there before sailing to Rapid Bay in South Australia on the 30th December.

He was a financial member of the Marine Cooks union until about 1954.

I introduced Dad to a seaman from Mackay in Queensland at a BBQ in Sydney. “Do they still make the jails up your way out of Bamboo?” Dad told one of his great stories the beer drinkers love to hear. He and his mate broke out of jail and got up to all sorts of mischief. Years later I realised he may have been telling a true story.

Nearly 40 years after the War Dad and Mum were drinking at the Bald Rock Hotel in Balmain and a fight broke out. Dad and a Japanese Marine Engineer who was also drinking at the pub broke it up. They were in the same place in New Guinea at the same time. I was introduced to him later in the day and this was the most I can recall Dad talking about his involvement. He didn't say much except, “We were firing bullets at each other once and now we are drinking mates.” This is something I can look up to him for! He was an atheist and not much of a Bigot.

Dad would spend a lot of time at the Swansea RSL and a lot of his mates were returned men. He knew what they did and they knew what he did. He liked his beer and I recall him saying the reason he joined the Army was because they'd serve him grog in a uniform. He was 16 when he joined the army and like a lot of other soldiers put his age up. Dad went from being a 16 year old to a 20 year old overnight!

In 1957 Dad wrote away for medals and was rejected. It's great story! Man enlist to fight for his country and goes into a combat zone ends up in hospital and suffers shell shock and they reject his medal application.

When Dad had a falling out with the Swansea branch before he died it was over lies he was told about entitlements and putting up the price of his beer. “None of them ever seen combat.” was his rant.

I remember him being angry because Mum paid less for her beer than he did. I recall him saying, “I've got nothing against that but as a full member why have I got to pay more?”

There was an incident when a local lad that had been on welfare payments for about 15 years danced up to Dad with a schooner of beer. “Never worked in his life but he can dance and afford schooners.”

Dad wasn't alone with his criticism of the Swansea branch at the time. I was told he was once on the committee and I remember him signing up his mate in the club and telling him,”Don't say you're a communist even if you are one”. Dad was once a Communist Party Member and was critical of the RSL for this policy at the time which was after the Vietnam war. I also remember hearing around the same time that a president of the Belmont RSL branch was also an ex member of the Communist party.

When he fell out with the club they were like a lot of clubs at the time that had to put profit before people to survive. Dad accused the club of driving out the old to bring in the younger patrons who spend more money. The Rank and File was where Dad belonged and he'd always find someone important to drink with. A Barber, Policeman, Carpenter or Shoe Salesman was type of company he'd rub shoulders with.

Dad was not sympathetic towards Fascists, Nazis or Racism. When he was on the Macedon he'd refuse to accept South African fish when Nelson Mandela was in jail. He was anti American which I believe developed during the war and when Joseph McCarthy frightened everybody about Communism.

Although some of the people he admired were American. He had a Paul Robeson record in his collection and became an admirer of Jack Lemmon after he made the 1982 movie Missing. Dad would often bring up the overthrow of Mr Allande who was the Democratically elected president of Chile. “The Americans were involved,” he'd say. When the United States invaded Grenada he wasn't happy with Uncle Sam. When a war would break out he'd say, “The Yanks are just testing their weapons.”

When Peter Garret first became famous Dad had a new Political Icon. He previously spoke well of John Curtin who was the Prime Minister when he was in New Guinea. He was not a fan of Stalin and I'm sure he praised General Tito. He resigned as member of the Communist Party after the big split over the invasion of Hungary in 1956.

When he put Goldie the family dog out of her misery, it was the first time he'd used a rifle since the war. Dad didn't like guns! Mum mentioned this to me on the quiet when he returned the rifle to a neighbor.