On Tamaki we were woken up before sunrise with a loudspeaker chanting “Wakey, wakey, rise, and shine. You’ve had your time and I’ve had mine. Hit the deck, Hit the deck, Hit the deck!”. If we were slow we were tipped out of our hammocks, and they were slung up high.

          Our first task was to lash up and stow our hammocks into bins at the end of the hall.  Then we were given a cup of thick ‘Pussers Kai,” a sweet thick chocolate drink. Regardless of the weather, we went straight into vigorous exercises before cleaning up for breakfast.

          No shore leave was granted for one month.  It was not easy, but we were very fit at the end of the month.

          Learning to sleep in a hammock, learning to climb up a rope, and rowing a cutter against a tidal flow were all memorable skills taught –  it was all drill and discipline.  

          Perhaps I should tell you how came to join the Navy.

          At the time I was a cadet working on a farm at Waitotara. I was playing rugby for Waverly,  in the Wanganui competition. We would catch the train into the city to play most of our games.

          One day on the train I met George Sargent heading for England in the Fleet Air Arm. We had been in scouts together in Hawera.  At that time, the only people that could travel were service people. He said;  “One-month training and you are off to Great Britain or Canada. ” That sounded good to me.

          I needed my father’s permission as I was underage. He agreed under certain conditions. I needed to get a qualification and a permanent job first. He had seen what had happened to return servicemen after the First World War.

          I joined the Correspondence School and passed a Public Service entrance examination. Then I went off to Wellington and started work as a Clerical Cadet in the Department of Agriculture.

           Months later I spent three days going through my Navy tests. Being physically fit must have helped.

          One test I remember well was a written examination.  We were given a hundred questions and we needed to get a 60% pass, within one hour. Everything was done to distract us. One sailor was bashing a kerosene tin with a stick and a canteen opened in the examination room. Shortly after I became a Royal New Zealand Navy Airman second class – an NA2.

          I  wonder how many people fully realize the important role played by the New Zealand Navy Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War.

          Five hundred and eighty NA2s were given their basic training on “The Rock”.

          The “Rock” was HMNZS Tamaki situated on Motuihe Island,  in the middle of Auckland Harbour. Over 15,000 sailors were given their basic training on ‘The Rock’.

          During the Second World War 1,070, New Zealanders served in the Fleet Air Arm. New Zealand provided 20 recruits a month for pilots or observer-navigators.

          The first draft left New Zealand in July 1940. The last draft F29 finished training on Tamaki in June 1945 between the end of the European War and the end of the Pacific war.

          The age limit for recruitment was between 18 and 28. A Naval Airman 2nd Class received a weekly wage of  1 pound 19 shillings per week but 3 shillings were deducted for superannuation.

          If the rating was married there was an allowance of 1 pound a week and 5 shillings per child.  If you did not draw your tot of rum and opted to be ‘temperance’ you received an extra 3 pence per day. 

          At the end of the war, one in ten British Fleet Air Arm aircrew were New Zealanders.        When the aircraft carriers of the British Fleet were operating against Japan in 1945, New Zealanders made up a quarter of the operational aircrew.

          I was in the F29 draft. After final leave, we were stationed at the Naval Transit Camp, Camp Hale.

          This was on the grassed area in front of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It had been a large US military camp prior to the Navy taking it over.

          After final leave, we were marched through the streets of Auckland with our rifles, with fixed bayonets. We were taken to a pub and permitted one handle of beer.

          The European War had finished in May. The Navy then recruited experienced pilots from the RAF and most of our class became Stores Accountants or Writers joining the cruisers the Gambia, Achilles, and the Bellona.     We helped to decommission the Gambia and the Achilles and we were kept on to help decommission Hostilities Only Crews.(H.Os.) We had an interesting time.

          By the time I was 20 I had visited every port in New Zealand and been around the world by the sea having many adventures on the way.  From a small-town farm cadet to a mature ambitious young man. I owe a debt to the New Zealand Navy.  

Geoffrey Moss(mossassociates.co.nz)

Source: “Rolling On” A free book available on Google from mossassociates.co.nz.