After the 2 weeks in Portsmouth in the Harbour Training Ship HMS Kent I had an extended weekend (Jack-speak - Extenders) at home in Oxford before boarding the train on an 8 hour journey bound for Inverkeithing (Jack speak - Inver queer thing) in Fife Scotland. Here I was to undertake my Part iv task book training for the next 18 months to 2 years under the guidance of shore based Senior Rates - this would be on the job training in the Main Galley at HMS Caledonia which at the time was the Marine Engineer Artificer's training school (Jack speak - Tiff's School).
After nervously climbing out of the taxi and duly reporting myself to the CPO in the Guardhouse of the Main Gate as Junior Assistant Cook Jessett I was immediately given forms to fill in and directions to the Ship's Company Accommodation block where I reported to the Leading Hand of the Block who duly allocated the 6 man mess I would be housed in. 5* luxury by comparison to Mountbatten block back in Chatham.
After meeting some of the guys I was sharing with and a pretty restless night I was taken to the Main Kitchen where I met the CPO Cook and the PO Cook - at that time possibly the scariest two individuals I had met since joining up.
For the next 18 months I was trained in the fine art of cooking for high volume numbers whilst completing task after task in my Part iv book and becoming proficient in working the 3 watch Galley routine. This consisted of:
Standby Watch: 0800-1400 Preparing and cooking of Lunch and deep cleaning Galley Equipment such as ovens, fryers and industrial mixers etc.
Duty Watch: 0800 -1900 Preparing and Cooking dinner that day as well as prep for next day's breakfast.
Morning/Off Watch: 0430-0830 Preparing and cooking Breakfast and then having the rest of the day off - luxury - first full days off apart from leave and off duty weekends since Sep the previous year.
It was during the off watches that the younger cooks in the watch were introduced to the fine art of an all day drinking session (Jack Speak - All Day Sesh) and I quickly became adept at this side of my new career.
Following a successful spell in the Main Galley I was transferred to the Wardroom Galley to complete the last part of my task book. It was here that I was employed in April 1982 when the news came that Argentinian Forces had landed on South Georgia. At that point nobody appeared to know exactly where South Georgia was...this was something that was very quickly remedied in the coming days when the Argentinian military went on to invade the Falkland Islands and the whole conflict became headline news in the press and other media. Very quickly a stream of volunteers came forward adding their name to the list of servicemen willing to put their life on the line in the name of Queen and Country; me included. And so it was that after the brief conflict and the loss of many lives both at sea and on land that this 18 year old cook was drafted to Naval Party 1242 to be based in Port Stanley, the Capital if the Falkland Islands, for an as yet undetermined period with little or no idea as to what would be required once I arrived. All I knew was that I was to mobilise at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth along with the other members of NP1242 to be bussed to RAF Brize Norton on Monday 12 July 1982 for the flight to Stanley via Ascension Island.
After nervously climbing out of the taxi and duly reporting myself to the CPO in the Guardhouse of the Main Gate as Junior Assistant Cook Jessett I was immediately given forms to fill in and directions to the Ship's Company Accommodation block where I reported to the Leading Hand of the Block who duly allocated the 6 man mess I would be housed in. 5* luxury by comparison to Mountbatten block back in Chatham.
After meeting some of the guys I was sharing with and a pretty restless night I was taken to the Main Kitchen where I met the CPO Cook and the PO Cook - at that time possibly the scariest two individuals I had met since joining up.
For the next 18 months I was trained in the fine art of cooking for high volume numbers whilst completing task after task in my Part iv book and becoming proficient in working the 3 watch Galley routine. This consisted of:
Standby Watch: 0800-1400 Preparing and cooking of Lunch and deep cleaning Galley Equipment such as ovens, fryers and industrial mixers etc.
Duty Watch: 0800 -1900 Preparing and Cooking dinner that day as well as prep for next day's breakfast.
Morning/Off Watch: 0430-0830 Preparing and cooking Breakfast and then having the rest of the day off - luxury - first full days off apart from leave and off duty weekends since Sep the previous year.
It was during the off watches that the younger cooks in the watch were introduced to the fine art of an all day drinking session (Jack Speak - All Day Sesh) and I quickly became adept at this side of my new career.
Following a successful spell in the Main Galley I was transferred to the Wardroom Galley to complete the last part of my task book. It was here that I was employed in April 1982 when the news came that Argentinian Forces had landed on South Georgia. At that point nobody appeared to know exactly where South Georgia was...this was something that was very quickly remedied in the coming days when the Argentinian military went on to invade the Falkland Islands and the whole conflict became headline news in the press and other media. Very quickly a stream of volunteers came forward adding their name to the list of servicemen willing to put their life on the line in the name of Queen and Country; me included. And so it was that after the brief conflict and the loss of many lives both at sea and on land that this 18 year old cook was drafted to Naval Party 1242 to be based in Port Stanley, the Capital if the Falkland Islands, for an as yet undetermined period with little or no idea as to what would be required once I arrived. All I knew was that I was to mobilise at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth along with the other members of NP1242 to be bussed to RAF Brize Norton on Monday 12 July 1982 for the flight to Stanley via Ascension Island.
