"For myself, Madame Denile had offered to get me a job on the Sabena, as a radio-operator or sparks, after following the one year higher level institute in Brussels. My Aunt Helen was also trying to help get me a job by tying to get her husband to offer me half shares in his plumbing business.
I had quite a few other offers. However, they were not quite as straightforward as the ones above. One idea was suggested by my Aunt Ray and Cousin Irene who lived in Morrocco - their plan was to get me a job in a machine shop in either Casablanca or Rabat.
In the end I chose my own way - I wanted to do my own bit - which turned out to be to join The Merchant Navy.
My first ship was to Ghent, S.S. Helle-a. They needed people who had completed trade school and had experience with motor engineering on trawlers. After the war, there was a shortage of skilled tradesmen in those categories. My friend Roger and myself studied the trawler exams. Roger had been taken over to England during the war and had come back to Belgium as a Petty Officer in The Navy.
The ship we were to sail in was a beauty! It was an old ship and on each side had a twin motor capacity of 12,000 H.P. The ship had been named after an old viking call: "Helle-a", which was uttered before, The Vikings, disembarked from their ships and claimed land. Similar to the past, she was manned by a crew of Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Dutch and Flemings.
She had been sold to, The Chemical Union in Belgium and our destination was Morroco. Our purpose was to pick up phosphate and then later sail to to India, to collect bones, - as there were many available there, then.
To be continued ...
I had quite a few other offers. However, they were not quite as straightforward as the ones above. One idea was suggested by my Aunt Ray and Cousin Irene who lived in Morrocco - their plan was to get me a job in a machine shop in either Casablanca or Rabat.
In the end I chose my own way - I wanted to do my own bit - which turned out to be to join The Merchant Navy.
My first ship was to Ghent, S.S. Helle-a. They needed people who had completed trade school and had experience with motor engineering on trawlers. After the war, there was a shortage of skilled tradesmen in those categories. My friend Roger and myself studied the trawler exams. Roger had been taken over to England during the war and had come back to Belgium as a Petty Officer in The Navy.
The ship we were to sail in was a beauty! It was an old ship and on each side had a twin motor capacity of 12,000 H.P. The ship had been named after an old viking call: "Helle-a", which was uttered before, The Vikings, disembarked from their ships and claimed land. Similar to the past, she was manned by a crew of Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Dutch and Flemings.
She had been sold to, The Chemical Union in Belgium and our destination was Morroco. Our purpose was to pick up phosphate and then later sail to to India, to collect bones, - as there were many available there, then.
To be continued ...
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