Memories from those who served
Harry Goodall of HMAS Gull
on  Malacca Fred

How many of the sweeper crews remember Malacca Fred?
I first meet Fred when we where in Madang we got him from the
Teal  and he became the mascot for the Gull .

The first couple of weeks Fred was every bodies pet but Fred
had some dirty habits like pissing down the voice pipe on the
bridge and the helms man in the wheel house getting wet,not
very funny or when you were working on the upper deck. Fred
would sometimes get savage and try to bite you on the leg.

After that Fred's days were numbered,  there was two attempts
of getting rid of Fred I know of. He was thrown into the Harbour
at Singapore Naval Base twice but he got back on board!

Then one dark night while we were on patrol in the Malacca
Straits, Big Jim Dickson the skipper announced over the p.a
system that Fred was missing and we had a monkey murderer
on board the reaction of the crew was one big cheer.

I suppose you could say Malacca Fred went missing in action
later on we got another pet we got a cat and being sailors we
had to give it a good name someone came up with the name
Dildo.

We had to leave her in Singapore as we could not bring her
back to Australia.  The last I heard of her [was that] she had a
litter of kittens.

Teal history and current usage.

Teal was working in Queensland for a time and then
went to Cyprus as either a floating college vessel or
survey ship

Like most ships she had her peculiar likes  and
dislikes and she didn't take kindly to rough weather
she used to vibrate through the gearbox at times and
the forward bathroom left a bit to be desired, however
I think there is always something special about a ship
if you were part of it right form the start.
HMAS Teal before she became a
teaching ship in Cyprus
Rod Clarey of HMAS Ibis
remembers Rough Weather

At the Plaque dedication, part of Jim Dickson's dedication speech mentioned how the Sweepers handled the rough
weather reminded me of the time in Ibis.
We were enroute from Subic Bay in the Phillipines to Hong Kong & steaming through a Force 9 Tornado I was sharing
the first watch with Ian Thompson on the helm, Our Navigator, Lieutenant Bob(The Phantom) Walker was the Officer of
the Watch on the bridge, When he called down through the voice pipe " Able Seaman Thompson WHY ARE WE 45
Degrees OFF COURSE."
Thommo's reply was. " BECAUSE WE ARE COMING BACK FROM BLOODY 90 DEGREES OFF COURSE SIR."  
This was how we travelled all the way to Hong Kong 5 days of up & down & bouncing from one wave to the next.
I spent those 5 days in the galley as my off sider Cook Wacker Payne(rest his soul) was so violently sea sick he was
unable to get out of his bunk.
On the 3rd day our Chief Coxswain "Noritake" Chandler(rest his soul)came into the galley& told me I had to get Wacker
up to resume his duties in the galley, well I finally got him to get dressed & he turned to in the galley & I was handing the
galley over to him when we started climbing up this wave & was perpindicular to the ocean when another wave hit us
side on. Fortunately I was hanging on to the galley sink but Wacker wasn't hanging on to anything & the next thing he
was somersaulting across the galley range(stove) & landed on the galley deck & brakewater & bruised the hell out of his
rib cage, so I didn't get any break from my duties in the galley until we reached Hong Kong & the only time off I got for
my effort was my lousy 24 off.

Such was the NATURE of the BEAST.  
HMAS Ibis Crew As they were: 1964-1965.


Backrow: Ian(Huckers) Hughes, Carl Clifton, Ian Thompson,
Rod Clarey
Standing: Rick Rosenthal, John(Tom Lauparker) Parker,
Gordon(Stroppy) Prove, Shorty Shewan, Arthur( Rather)
Large, Nigel Prout, Peter Romeyn, Terry Feltham, Bob
McNamarra, Dave(The Pom) Reddick.
Kneeling: Len(Curly) Henshaw, Wacka Payne, Perry Mason,
Tom Fleming, Errol(Lofty) Hunt. John King, Bob Walker,
Sitting: Bill Robinson, Herman Terrahe, Bluey Tindall.

Missing: Adrian Cummings, Noel(Noritake) Chandler, Don
Rochow, Laurie Calder, Bernie Collins, Max Baker,
John(Jacko) Bardsley, Spike Jones. Quinton Henry, Tony Hart,
Sandy Meares, Bob Goode,
Bob Kitcher came on Board to replace Perry Mason after
Perry Mason  fell into an open storm drain and broke his leg.
This happened in Singapore
HMAS Ibis Crew As they are now: Yamba Reunion 2004
               anchor colour to base colour here
THE
ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY
16th MINESWEEPING SQUADRON
The Infamous Malacca
Fred!
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RAN 16th Minesweeping Squadron Association.
site conception and editorial content copyright (c) RG Clarey,JL Clarey & C Collins.
2004-2010 all rights reserved.