If there is one man who is delighted that the Commission is overit is the Editor of the EE. His duties embraced just about every-thing short of editing: Censor, ghost writer, cajoler, persuader,recipient of many broken promises - yes, even troublemaker attimes (as when we printed RAS times half an hour later than theyshould have been!) -all those odd jobs have now, with thelast-ever issue, been laid to rest. No one will miss the paper -for it was only ever published to cover those times when therewere few other substitutes.

After the DED, as the new Editor tookover, things were a bit of a struggle fora while. Tugg had `made' the previouseditions with his prodigious output(now he can be seen by all in the DailyPapers). Without the assistance of theCBGLO section, who had previously runthe paper entirely, things were verymuch a one-man band for a while.Wag and Doodle made those earlyissues well worth while with theirexcellent cartoons. The Welfare Com-mittee were then approached andagreed to pay a wage to helpers whogave up time regularly to do chores.The `style' of the paper was changed:a new heading, in the same style type-face later adopted by the Daily Mirror,was made up; a new shape of page(even though it meant a special deliveryof a lorry-load of paper rushed downfrom the makers and delivered the daybefore we sailed); special supplementswere prepared prior to every foreignvisit; a weekly version was produced,pruned of all double entendre and suit-able for sending home if you wanted to;a Families' version was produced, too,and mailed home automatically to thosewho subscribed the cost of the postage.

Assembling the `FAMILIES'

TOO BLUESometimes there were complaints aboutthe articles that never quite made it:` Well, I'll never do another one foryou.' The criterion for what was overthe mark was the letter from an Aus-tralian farmer replying to a final taxdemand. It was over the mark andnever got published. It contained justabout every swear-word known to Jack- anything less potent usually got intothe paper. The Editor still has a file ofmaterial that is regarded as being `tooblue'. If he can get it past the Customs,he'll be offering it to Lord Longford.

MERCENARIES

Wes Wescott, Bungy Edwards andDave Manley have typed regularly.Chats Chater has printed, helped outby Barny Bush. Cliff Mills and BungyWilliams have managed the small anddevoted team of staplers. As long as thecash was there, so were the helpers.They were a dedicated band of mer-cenaries. The object of their dedicationmay have been in doubt at times, butwithout it there would have been nopaper. Nor would there have been sucha good one without the efforts of theEditor, Instructor Lieutenant `Berny'Harrison, and, of course, the manyauthors and contributors, both knownand unknown, famous and infamous,on the ship and off it, whose work wasplagiarised, hacked, or stolen but aboveall very much appreciated by everyoneboth on board and in the many ships incompany.

The printer and his machine

To the best of our recollection,no one ever complained thatthey had read the stuff they sawin the EE before in the `Reader'sDigest', `Week End', `Reveille',`Tit Bits', `Playboy', `Who'sWho', `Mayfair', etc.; but therewere complaints when we re-printed articles that had beenpreviously run in the EE - evenif they had been used more thana year ago. From these facts weconclude that there are somepeople on board who not onlyread the EE and digested it all -they read nothing else either!

The last staple is driven home

FAR-SIGHTED

The ship has nearly always had apaper of some kind. EAGLE EYEdeveloped into EAGLE EXPRESS,but there was never anything par-ticularly farsighted or speedy aboutthe paper. 'Yesterday's news to-morrow' was the motto, and theEE never pretended to be a news-paper. It set out to entertain. Itsucceeded, as these press cuttingsshow ...

'Brilliant, scintillatingly funny . . .'- EAGLE EXPRESS

'Jokes getting a bit near the border-line again . . .'

- BRIDGE WEEKLY

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Radio 4XO Disc Jockeys : " Dave Gerry (Manager); Chris CAVANAGH; Tams CLARK; Dave (Waz)LOVICK; Ken Ross; Dickic DALE; Taff EVANS; Tony FRANCIS; Tex SOMERVILLE; Ivan HILL; DickSTEPHENSON (in charge);. * * Dave BULMER; Chris SYMES; Dave DONATI; Jack DAVISON; Ken MOULTON.

CHILDREN'S PARTIESMention the awe-inspiring words,` Children's Party', to any EAGLE sailorand you will have a cringing, whining,blubbering heap who would rather gothrough shot, shell and Jutland overagain `free' if he could persuade hisdepartmental regulator not to volunteerhim as a pirate.

But Jutland, the King's Cross patrol,grippos and even duty watches have alltaken second place to pirate's duty atsome time or other. No sooner has thecry of `Not me again, Chief' echoedthrough the ship than Jack has brokenout his No I pirate dress and is readyto put on a brave face and entertain.

We have thrown seven children'sparties in places as far apart as South-ampton, Villefranche, Malta, Sydney,Wellington, Perth and Durban. Some1,200 under-privileged children havevisited the ship.

On a typical fateful day the piratesmuster. At 1400, dead on the knocker,along the jetty comes this horde oflaughing, screaming, piccaninnies, in-fants, bairns, juveniles, and children -invariably led by a nun. They descendinto the bowels of the ship and are sub-jected to all the develish means ofpiratical torture that could be devised:swings and roundabouts; tea andstickies; Tom and Jetties; rides on` Jack the Flight Deck Railway' and the` Buccaneer Bomber'. Alas, after threehours they depart: some missing,believed lost, but all happy and con-tented. They all say, every time, `Thankyou very much HMS EAGLE'.

RADIO 4XONamed such because it is midships inX section on four deck, the Ship's radiostation is one of the major sources ofentertainment on board. From `Call theHands' to `Pipe Down' the Ship'sRelay Equipment, or SRE, channels tworadio stations or taped music to all themessdecks. During lunch hours andevenings at sea, Channel B is given overto locally found talent in one form oranother: a happy band of amateur discjockeys and announcers put out a widevariety of programmes from pop toprogressive, classics to jazz, folk toMotown and also the comedy pro-grammes from the BBC and those pro-duced locally on board.

Over the past year the standard ofprogrammes has become quite pro-fessional. In the early days hardly any-one had any broadcasting experience,and the thought of an unseen audienceof two thousand-odd was a bit daunting.This has been overcome to such anextent that some of the staff broadcastover the air in New Zealand, puttingout a two-hour record show on RADIO

2ZB. The staff has always been on thelookout for something different - fromtaping cabaret shows ashore to inter-viewing people like Russ Conway orasking for programmes from local radiostations that were visited.

One of the most popular programmeswas `Requests from Home', made onlypossible by the wonderful support

from those at home. Despite all sorts oflocal problems on board - at speed thevibration of the ship is sufficient tothrow off the record stylus - we havemanaged to keep some of the Ship'sCompany happy some of the time, butnot, unfortunately, all of them all thetime - but that's show business!

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EAGLE BRASSWhilst in the Mediterranean we decidedto form a volunteer brass band, and anotice to this effect was promulgated.Thirty-one musicians of varying skillresponded, and our problem - that ofgetting instruments and music - wastackled during the forthcoming leaveperiod. With assistance from the Wel-fare Fund and from the Royal MarinesSchool of Music, sufficient brasswareand music was assembled by the timewe sailed in May to let the playingcommence.

During the time the ship has been inthe Far East a very high standard hasbeen attained. A lot of this is due to thepatience, encouragement and keennessshown by our conductor, Band CorporalDave Fillingham, LTCM, Royal Marines.A more enthusiastic and tireless manwould be hard to find. His resources

EAGLE KINEMAUnder the guidance of Surgeon LtGibson and the management of ChiefControl Electrician Cork, the cinemastaff have been responsible for selecting(when that is possible) from the RoyalNavy Film Corporation libraries ashore;exchanging films with other ships;storing films and equipment in safecustody; coping with the paper-workinvolved and, finally, they have triedto keep the selection of films fair andvaried to provide all-round entertain-ment.

During the long cruise at the end ofthe commission, the various operatorsbetween them showed 136 differentfilms in about eleven showings. This isestimated to be about 130,000 minutes,and works out to an average of 240hours for each of the operators.OEMECH2 Smith, as the cinemamaintainer, has done a very good jobcoping with the well-worn projectorsand with the difficulty of obtainingspare parts for them.

The photograph on the left is taken from oneof the prizewinning entries in the Ship'sPhotographic Competition. All the otherphotographs in the book have been takenby the ratings of the Ship's Photographic

Section

THRASHThe Organisation for Thoroughly HappyRuns ASHore was born on 5 June,shortly after deploying for the FarEast. The motive was to give us a goodtime in foreign ports of call and to makesure that all invitations received by theship were accepted. An office was builtin the starboard pocket of the juniorRates' Dining Hall and large notice-boards displayed the forthcoming attrac-tions. Our army representatives onboard, 63 Carrier Borne Ground LiaisonSection, ran THRASH whilst at sea. Inharbour, an officer, senior rate andjunior rate manned the office continu-ously from 0800 to 2000 daily. Asimilar party manned a shore liaisonoffice in each port.

The organisation operated in Cape-town; Sydney; Wellington; Fremantle;and Durban; and collected names and,when necessary, money for privateinvitations; visits to breweries; ServiceOrganisations; bus tours to places oflocal interest; ship's dances, etc.; 5,385` grippos' and 1,138 bus tour seats werearranged, and the organisation has beenan undoubted success: many ratingshave testified to this by personal com-ment, or letters to the ship's news-paper.

The PMO conducts

were particularly essential in those early,less tuneful, days (especially when weremember the difficulty we had of find-ing a space far enough away fromanyone in which to practice).

All along we have enjoyed the dailypractices and occasional Saturday NightSingalong performances. They, too,lacked polish at first, and we fitted intothe programmes well, always receivinga welcome from the Saturday Nighters.We have presented music rangingthrough Elgar from Tchaikovsky toRichard Rodgers, and our major concertgiven on the quarterdeck for the ward-room and in the Junior Rates' DiningHall was enthusiastically received. Allconcerned were pleased, some evensurprised, at the high standards reached.Most of the individuals have improvedtheir own skills and, as a result, bandsaround the fleet will be enjoying theservices of some quite `professional'amateurs.

Cinema Group: *OEM1 Tony LOCKE; LOEM Fred BRISTOW; POREL Graham HINTON; LOEMDutchy HOLLAND; CEM1 Taff WELBOURNE. ** POREL Cuddles BATES; OEMN1 Smudge SMITH;Surg Lt GIBSON; CCEL Brian CORK; OEA1 Tony POLMEAR; POREL Lew BARRY.

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The Professionals:

* AB WALL; LS MELVIN;PO ELLIS.

** CPO BROWN; Lt VARNS; POSPLAIN .

SPORTS SECTIONForeword by the

Physical Training Staff

Firstly, the PT Staff would like tothank the many sports secretaries,officials and helpers who contributedmany hours of their time in assistingthe sports organisation: without theirenthusiasm the variety of teams fieldedwould never have been possible.

In general, just about every sport oractivity was provided for during thecommission. In particular, during visitsto ports, teams were well catered for inboth the social and sporting aspects. Asa result, players met many friendly andinteresting people. Perhaps for thosefortunate enough to pay a return visitto some of our ports of call, they will beable to renew friendships that weremade during this commission.

Pitches were not always available inthe abundance required during visits,but this was mainly due to them beingout of season on our arrival, or theresimply were not enough facilities. How-ever, some clubs were only too pleasedto offer their grounds and put on afixture for us. For those who canremember, over 110 soccer allocationsor matches were played during theship's maintenance period at Malta.

It is regretted that the flight deckwas not available as often as we mayhave wished during our sea periods.Sea competitions were very limited,and only three of the activities arrangedcame to any satisfactory conclusion.The most recent was the `PottedSports': perhaps it was the mostsuccessful.

For both the enthusiasts and new-comers, circuit training and keep-fitclasses took place each evening at sea.(It's amazing the corners and apparatusthat `Jolly Jack' will find to keep him-self active.) Judo, Karate and Fencingenthusiasts managed some periods each

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week to keep themselves interested andin trim. On average, fifty of the ship'scompany took part in the `sweat box' onthe cable deck nightly, and there werethirty or so officers on the Quarterdeckevery evening.

The `Tourist and Information Bur-eau' (PT Office) dealt with numerousquestions and queries concerning train-ing and weight-reducing techniques.We were, however, very surprised thatit was mostly the usual sportsmen whowere keen to take part and inquire aboutsuch things. Most youngsters seemedto be content with their run ashoreand do not realise the importance ofkeeping fit or playing games. We canonly hope that gradually they willrealise that they are `growing old' tooquickly, and will revert to a healthierexistence.

It was not until later in the com-mission that the ship's company realisedthe thrills and excitement of EXPEDDING.

At one period the equipment in thestore was thought to be `going off', untilgradually the buzz got around thatexpedding is really the thing. As timewent by, more and more faces appearedat the PT Office disappointed to findthat at last it had caught on and all thegear had been allocated.

Inter-departmental competitions real-ly started, on our first visit to Singapore,with a mini-Olympiad. This coveredswimming; volley ball; cricket; soccer;rugby; hockey, and running. I'm afraidthe new arrivals to the climatic con-ditions with their interest in acquaintingthemselves with the Orient, made thiscompetition one for the survival of thefittest. Taking over a week to complete,it was finally concluded under flood-lights in HMS TERROR with six-a-sidesoccer; seven-a-side rugby and a one-mile race. The Seamen Department

were overall winners of the competi-tion. Even though they lost the soccerfinal, they were represented in the othertwo events and gained sufficient pointsto emerge the victors.

Sixteen teams entered into two soccerleagues on board, and only with hardwork by the officials and referees was iteventually concluded during the periodin Hong Kong. The Mariners' Club inKowloon very kindly offered theirground to us: enough periods in factto enable us to complete the competitionthe day before we sailed. Near the clos-ing stages the Captain's CompetitionCup was within the grasp of four teams.The Wardroom Stewards did extremelywell to play four games in five days andreached the final versus 899 Squadron.After being down most of the game, 899eventually made a great effort in the lastfive minutes and won a very interestinggame.

The 899 champions

There were no Inter-Ship or com-petitive swimming galas during visits,but we did have an Inter-DepartmentalGala and Barbecue in HMS TERROR underfloodlights. This was won, again, bythe Seamen Department.

If you come across any of the Staffin your future jobs, look in and we shallalways try to find a place for you in theorganisation. Keep fit and you will behappy.

R. J. VARNS, PT Officer

HMS `Eagle' Soccer Referees: * RELMN2(A) SAUNDERS; POOEL(A) LLOYD; MEA1(P) MURPHY;PO TILLER; PO HARRIS-SMITH; MEMI MCCLUSKIE; LAM(O) HUTCHESON;. ** FCPO COLLINS;A/CAA(O) HUGHES; Lt-Cdr E. J J WADY; Captain I. G. W. ROBERTSON; Lt R. J. VARNS; POAF(O) OLIVER;

GOALBY; LEM(A) WILSON; POPTI ELLIS.

SOCCER 1970 - 1972Football never stopped in EAGLE. Com-mencing during the 1970 DED atDevonport, it will continue well afterthe ship returns to Portsmouth in 1972to be de-stored and de-equipped.

As the 1970 DED progressed and newplayers joined, Lt Ron Westlake, aidedby LAM Chris Symes, began to formthe nucleus of a team. In October theAir Group joined the ship and added anumber of talented players to a teamwhich, when the ship visited Southamp-ton were entertained by `The Saints',and also defeated the SouthamptonPolice XI.

When the ship returned to Ply-mouth for Christmas leave, a number offriendly matches were played, a mem-orable one being played against 45 COM-

MANDO, who were defeated 8-2. Duringthis period a trophy, to be named `TheGlobe Trophy', was presented to theship by Mr Bill Reagan, a Chichesterbusinessman, well known for his activeinterest in encouraging amateur foot-ball. This trophy, which remains inHMS EAGLE, has been contested for,against EAGLE, by worldwide teams; thenames of the clubs have been engravedon the trophy.

The first few months in 1971 foundthe ship operating in the Mediter-ranean. At Gibraltar, the local cham-pions, GLACIS FC, beat EAGLE 4-0, and

in the south of France shortly after-wards, the ship suffered a further defeatwhen the NICE FC beat EAGLE by 7 goalsto 2. At Malta we had sufficient timeto train on the rock-hard ground atCorrodina before holding the COM-BINED SERVICES to a draw, and pro-gressed to the next round of the Wes-tern Fleet Cup by beating HMS SCAR-

BOROUGH by 6 goals to nil. The high-light of the Malta visit came when theMalta national side challenged HMS

EAGLE, in preparation for their EuropeanNations' Cup matches against Englandand Switzerland. The Maltese team,who shortly afterwards were onlynarrowly defeated by the England XI,beat EAGLE by 3 goals to nil.

In March the First XI flew homefrom Gibraltar to defeat HMS CAVALIER

in the quarter-final of the WesternFleet Cup at Devonport, only to beeliminated in the next round, by 2 goalsto 1, by HMS ARK ROYAL after a hard-fought game. With the Easter leavecompleted, the ship sailed for the FarEast with a new Football Officer, Lt-Cdr Wady. The first stop for the foot-ballers was at Ascension Island, wherePAN AM FC were beaten 8-0 on a dusty,volcanic ash pitch. In Capetown, allgames were won, and at Singapore wewent on to beat the SINGAPORE PORTAUTHORITY XI and HMS ALBION before

suffering our first defeat since sailingfrom Devonport, when we were beatenby our old foes from HMS GLAMORGAN.

Sydney, New South Wales, was ournext port of call, where we won allthree encounters against Royal Aus-tralian Navy teams. In New Zealand weplayed games against two SuperiorCentral League sides, MIRRAMA FC andWATERSIDE FC and in each game we weredefeated. At Perth, in Western Aus-tralia, we met two First Division pro-fessional sides. These teams were com-prised mainly of European immigrants,some of whom had been professionalplayers in the United Kingdom. Thefirst game, against COTTESLOE FC, was aclosely contested game, EAGLE goingdown by 4 goals to 3. The Second gamewas lost 5-0, to the OLYMPIC XI, in theEmpire Games Stadium.

On our return to Singapore in Sep-tember, an inter-departmental leaguecompetition was played, which resultedin 899 SQUADRON being the championteam. During this period we playedHMS TERROR and lost. We beat HMS

TRIUMPH and drew with HMS GLAMOR-

GAN.

In Hong Kong we were defeated bya skilful and well-trained HONG KONG

FC XI after holding them to a draw at half-time. But, within a few days of this defeatwe routed SI WAN FC by 14 goals to nil.

RUGBYEAGLE's rugby trials were held inSeptember 1970 and, considering theSquadrons were not onboard, theresponse was very good. As a result, itwas possible to field three XVs. In thefollowing months the Ist XV did notlose a match until they played HMS

BULWARK and the Plymouth Police justbefore Christmas. Following this, thejob was to integrate the existing teamwith the additional members of theembarking squadrons.

At Villefranche, we met our firstforeign opponents and we fielded amost successful side and won both the1st XV games against The Universityof Nice and Nice itself. The 2nds alsohad two hard games but were un-successful. However, their disappoint-ment was well compensated for by theentertainment provided after the games.The high social life enjoyed by boththe teams there was to set the patternfor the Club's journeys throughout.

Malta, too, was a complete successfor both 1st and 2nd XVs, where weprovided no fewer than eight playersfor the triumphant Navy side which

` Eagle' Vixens (1st XV): * Dick LANGTON; Mike COWELL; Graham SULLIVAN; Mac MACARTNEY;Ted WHITWAM; Taff WALL; Al PRICE; Johno JOHNSON. ** Mac McDONOUGH; Taff POTTS; Bill VEAL;Martin THOMAS; Shiner WRIGHT; Toney JONES; Roger PRICE; Ugs BAMFORTH.

beat the Army; namely, Bodga Rear-don, Bill Thomas, Shiner Wright, TedWhitwam, Dick Langton, Bill Veal, andRoger Price. Unfortunately, beforeEAGLE's arrival, the Navy had lost tothe RAF who were the resulting cham-pions. Feeling robbed of an opportunitywe challenged the RAF at the presenta-tion of the Champions' Trophy, a placewhere they could hardly refuse. Theyreluctantly accepted and EAGLE trouncedthem 19-0. I think we can safely say

that EAGLE was, unofficially, 'Cham-pion of Malta'. However, we sufferedheavy personal losses in spite of oursuccess. Broken legs and shoulders wereabundant, and so the Rugby Club setSail for UK minus Bodga Reardon,Martin Thomas, Dick Langton, PaulCollins and Bill Thomas as playingmembers.

Back at Plymouth, playing rugbytook second place to visiting homes,naturally enough, with the prospect of

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` Eagle' Buccaneers (2nd XV): * Dave TOWNSEND; Morris MERCEY; Baz HARTLEY; Ginge COUSINS;Simon MARTIN. ** Jan CREEK; Chris BARTLETT; Taff JAMES; Mick WALSH; Tuds TUDBURY. *** BrumDAVIS; Andy HALES; Chas CHAMBERS; Coin JONES; Taff Jenkins.

eight months away. A few games wereplayed, though, with varying success,because at this time a consistent teamwas difficult to field.

At sea once more, Capetown was thefirst port of call, and all teams had amost enjoyable time and really began toget back into the swing of things.Singapore yielded little for rugbybecause of the Ship's concentrationon a grand inter-part competition,including all sports. Unfortunately, itwas to the detriment of the 1st XV whowent down badly to HMS ALBION, andno sooner had they started back on theirfeet again than we were back at sea.At this stage, the number of players roseconsiderably and, at one time, the Clubhad no fewer than ninety names on thebooks. To counteract this, the selectioncommittee was increased in number anda system of voting introduced, withsome success, in order to select teamsin the most impartial manner.

The next stop was Sydney, and therethe 1st XV took part in a grand contestwith RAN Air Station ALBATROSS whichincluded all sports; unfortunately, welost, but an exceptionally enjoyablethird half was enjoyed by all. It fellupon EAGLE to organise a XV from ouraccompanying ships and ourselves toplay the Royal Australian Navy. Inspite of long discussions and a verydifficult selection, only two playersfrom the other ships turned up, leavingEAGLE to fill the gaps from her 2nd and3rd XVs. They put up a gallant battlebut lost quite heavily, which was onlyto be expected in the circumstances.The 2nds and 3rds had a good run-outin preparation for Wellington.

On passage, the selection committeeput their heads together to make a few

alterations designed to withstand theexpected strength we were to encounterin New Zealand. To cut a long storyshort, someone - whom, we never foundout - led the NZ RFU to believe thatwe had onboard no fewer than fiveinternationals and trialists. Actually, atthis time, we had one Navy reserve anda Command player. However, when weheard that we were playing the 'Wel-lington Colts' we were filled with con-fidence, and were perhaps a littleworried about the effect EAGLE's menof the world might have upon theseimmature young gentlemen. Well, theColts team consisted of players (under22) selected from the surrounding topclubs, and many of the players hadplayed against the British Lions ontheir recent tour. Result: 75-0 to theColts. By Golly, they were good andthat's all that can be said. At least oneof them has since had an All Blackstrial. The 1sts and the 2nds were both

entertained after the match in a mannerbefitting the calibre of the team thehosts had expected to play and wecertainly appreciated it. For many thiswas the start of a hectic social calendar,which resulted in us sticking with theColts for the rest of our time in NewZealand, culminating in a grand partyon our last night. The 1st and 3rd XVsalso played the Wellington CombinedServices, two closely fought matcheswith the usual following celebrationsat which EAGLE'S players always seemto star.

On to Perth, where a very pleasantafternoon was spent playing `WesternSuburbs', a team which we had notrouble in defeating. Once again, bothteams proved their superiority in thefollowing celebrations. A further gameagainst the Special Air Service includedmany an `Australian Rules' player,much to the 3rd XV's confusion. Thisconcluded the Club's Western Austra-lian activities.

By the time we returned to Singa-pore the 1st XV had changed con-siderably and showed signs of gettingback to its Maltese form. We arrangedgames against The Royal Signals, HMS

TRIUMPH, Singapore Cricket Club,HMS GLAMORGAN, just to mention a few,and all the teams went from strength tostrength, showing that all we need is alittle time on land to become a top-classclub.

Hong Kong gave more EAGLE playersthe opportunity to play for a Navy side,and the following were selected: MartinThomas, Shiner Wright, Ted Whit-wam, Johno Johnson, Roger Price,Jonah Jones and Mike Cowell. Unfor-tunately, the Navy was defeated. Itwould have been embarassing for theselectors to select any more EAGLE

players but the Navy may well havewon if they had done so. We had moregames for all teams against RWF; The

'Eagle' Kings (3rd XV): *Pete BOYCE; Brum DAVIS; fug WILSON; Taff FORD; Taff BIDDER; JackoJACKSON; Crash EVANS.

** Paul COLLINS; Mac MACSWEENY; Pincher MARTIN; Les STOKES; RobbyBURNS; Taff HATHWAY; Joe PENNINGTON.

*** Taff HUSSEY; Taff MORGAN; Bill LEANING; DougleDOUGLAS; Jan FARMILOE; Terry JOHNSON.

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Rugby - continuedArmy Trials Side; the Police and HMSTAMAR; and furnished a most successfulbunch of sides. The third half wasalways our strong-point, and on morethan one occasion a player in truerugby tradition ended up showingmore than the flag! Undoubtedly themost sociable Club ever!

A vote of thanks is due to S/Lts MikeCowell and Dick Langton for taking onthe thankless task of Rugby Officer andfor making such a success of rugby inEAGLE. S/Lt, now Lt, Chas Chambers,and LAM(O) Brum Davis also deservea public vote of thanks for their com-bined efforts to produce a successful2nd team, and for fostering such a goodspirit throughout the Club.

HOCKEYThis is an extremely opportune time togo to press, with the hockey star firmlyin its ascendency. Of our last four games(played in Hong Kong), we thoroughlywhipped two ARMY teams and one RAF

team. The only team to stay with uswas Club Recreiso, a very good Portu-guese side. Unfortunately, this gamewas abandoned ten minutes before theend, with the only light available comingfrom the lights of the BMH, thus givingour somewhat dusky opponents theadvantage of concealment in the dark.This was a pity because we really hadpressure on at this time and we wereunlucky not to score on several occa-sions.

Like Auld Nig, my memories, too, arebecoming hazy but, casting back to ourtime in the Med, I recall that wegathered together our band of superb,and not so superb, players. There werea few immemorable scraps in Malta,mainly ending in defeat. We did playRAF MALTA, a crack team made up fromthe best in Malta, Cyprus and Gibral-tar. They formed up flushed with theirrecent successes against RN MALTA andARMY MALTA: our steamer obviouslypresented them with no problems atall. It was a superb game, and the resultwas a 1-0 win for EAGLE.

And so to the Far East leg. Weplayed three games in Capetown. Allwere hard but will mainly be remem-bered for what has turned out to be arecurring problem: that of turning outfit. We cannot blame the ship-borneexistence entirely for this, the difficultywas to find a team of sparkling-eyedmen from a squad decimated by localhospitality and the injuries gainedtherefrom. To lug a pain-wracked bodyaround a muddy pitch for ninety min-utes or sit back in splendour and allow

the carnage of hospitality to take itstoll? Quite so. We lost all three gamesin South Africa, but reckon to havewon the socials afterwards hands down.

The game in Singapore was our con-frontation with ALBION. For the steely-eyed EAGLE team this was their firstintroduction to Tiger Beer and itsattendant effects. ALBION took the fieldsmugly whilst our nine men shuffledonto the pitch. After ten minutes theleft-half went into a tight left-handspin, foamed at the mouth and fell tothe ground twitching feebly. ChippieHarrison, our only spectator, had tenminutes earlier refused to blow awhistle for us (on medical grounds -he had almost hacked his hand off inthe workshops). Now, still in his HushPuppies and tiddly cravat, he foundhimself hacking one-handed at fiveaggressive forwards. Both sides pro-duced some good hockey, and it was alow blow when ALBION sneaked theonly goal of the match two minutesfrom the final whistle.

The Australasian ramble gave us anumber of good games, the hardestundoubtedly being against WellingtonColts - the cream of Wellington youth.They beat us 7-1, although the scorewas not all that realistic - we gave thema hard practice match, and in returnlearnt something about good hockey.In Perth, a 4/1 win against RNAS

LEEUWIN restored morale. Our returnto Singapore brought us another reallyhard game, and an excellent win, 2-1,against HMS TERROR. Unfortunately,our 2nd XI went down 2-4 to HMS

JAGUAR two days later.We are presently hoping for one or

two games in Mombasa and Durban,and it is even darkly rumoured thatthere is a ladies' team in Mombasa

Hockey Team: * Ted HEATH; John DAVIS; Doc HALLIDAY; Eric YOUNG; Joe HADLEY; Derek CROCKFORD;Chris MASTERMAN; Don WEBBER; Yorky BULL; Peter MORRIS. ** Sharky WARD; Robin KENNEDY;Paul MOLLOY (Captain); Jessie OWENS; Malcolm BEECH-ALLEN.

quietly sharpening their sticks readyfor a belligerent meeting. If presenttrends continue, and no one gets eatenin the game reserves, or injured headingTusker bottles, we could well arrive atSpithead with a commendable record.Now I wonder how Noddy came to falloff that dining-room table....

S/Lt MOLLOY, Hockey Secretary

SQUASHThe ship's squash team enjoyed verycompetitive fixtures at every port of callthroughout the commission. They gavea good account of themselves in allmatches with the exception of Durban -where they were `whitewashed' by whatmust have been the City's number oneteam! Socially, all the squash eventswere a tremendous success, and manyfriendships developed and numerouspresentations of ship's crests and photo-graphs were made to the opposing clubsto remind them of our visits.

The Squash Team: * Lt NIELSON; REA PURDY;F/Lt BRUYN. ** Lt MOULDING; Lt P. A. WRAINE; Lt J. HARRISON.

sixty-five

CRICKET '71Unfortunately, the planners of EAGLE's

cruise were not cricketers, as the Ship'svisits to Capetown, Sydney, Welling-ton and Fremantle coincided with theircricket `close season'. Cricket on EAGLE,

therefore, has been limited to Singa-pore and Hong Kong during the firsthalf of the trip.

We commenced our `season' with afull Ship's practice and a six-a-sidedepartmental knock-out. All those tak-ing part in the latter found it bothexhausting and enjoyable, with the finalresult being a win for the Seamen overthe Comms/Medical/Regulating team.

During our two stays in Singaporethe Ship's team played GLAMORGAN

(twice), JAGUAR and TRIUMPH on thematting wicket at HMS TERROR. Ourresults were a little erratic, as befits ateam playing without practice, but thegames helped to get some of the team alittle fitter.

In Hong Kong against the RAF atKai Tak and the RN at Sookunpoo, weshowed our best form - the formermatch being played on a grass wicket.We came out well in these games,giving the RAF a thrashing, much totheir surprise, and scored a moralvictory on `runs per over' against theRN.

It is now as we steam across theIndian Ocean with some confidencebehind us that we look forward to somegood cricket in Durban. The team isshaping up well both in spirit and play-ing ability.

In Dick Stephenson and Roger Wardwe have two reliable spin bowlers;whereas the medium-pace trundling isnormally supplied by Taff Hussey,Robin Cox, and Bob Beasley. Openingthe innings (and usually the account)we have Al Harris, unfortunately awayfor the photograph, and Derek Tatewho has now proved to us that he canscore runs as an opener. Roger Evans

Cricket Team: * D. A. WRIGHT; R. G. EvANS; H. I. HOUSLEY; R. H. WARD; J. E. RACE; R. W. BEASLEY.** D. A. TATE; D. G. HUSSEY; G. MARSHALL; R. P. COX (Captain); J. G. WILSON; R. D. STEPHENSON.

is always a reliable No 3 and the'quickie' bowler. I am afraid we mustbid him farewell before Durban. Themiddlemen in the batting order arenormally Robin Cox, Geoff Marshalland Taff Hussey. Ian Housley andPeter Skriabin have both contributeda great deal by their good fielding;and always there, efficiently 'keeping'behind the stumps, is the unobtrusiveGeoff Marshall. We can even boast a` professional' umpire, Shiner Wright,and a scorer, Eddy Race, who moreoften than not find themselves runningaround in mid-field with a bat or a ballin their hands. We must apologise forthe state of the XI in the team photo-graph as it was taken after a long run-ashore `down Wanchai', where we cele-brated our victory over the RAF!

And so, with great expectancy, welook forward to cricketing in theChristmas sunshine of the southernshores of Africa.

Bowling

WATER SKIING

When first thought of, EAGLE's itineraryfor the East of Suez part of The Com-mission seemed like a dream for thoseveterans of the River Tamar and Ply-mouth Sound - Brrrrrrrrr. However,closer examination revealed that themajority of the ports of call to be visitedwere going to be in the grip of theSouthern Hemisphere's winter. Asevents turned out, the weather wasreasonably bright but the water dis-tinctly chilly, especially in Wellingtonand Capetown. So, clad in wet suits,our heroes of the curling board loggedlots of skiing hours. This time wasvastly augmented when our fair-weatherskiers joined the scene in Singapore andlearnt to ski both over and under theshiny surface of the Johore Straits.Well, we all had a lot of fun, especiallyOS Perkins who seemed to be avail-able every time the boat went away(apparently `Neither the sea nor theDuty Watch shall have him'). No boneswere broken, either, although theSenior Dental Surgeon limped for daysafter he triumphantly managed tomono-ski: along the beach, doing aboutthirty knots, and not a drop of water inhim or under him. One of the Opera-tions Officers also took a header into themangroves. All such misfortunes weresoon forgotten as the boat whizzed backto the sandy shores, the palm frondsand the opportunity for another Tigerand a chat with that blonde whilstwaiting for the next tow. Yes, therewere times when the big Ship seemedvery far away!

sixty-six

RESULTS

GLAMORGAN . . 94 EAGLE . . 98-2TRIUMPH . . 123 EAGLE . . 78EAGLE . . 83 JAGUAR . . 65GLAMORGAN . . 97 EAGLE . . 88EAGLE

. .153-9 RAF HK . . 67

EAGLE . . 192-3 RN HK . . 180-5(30 overs) (37 overs)

won by 8 wicketslost by 45 runswon by 18 runslost by 9 runswon by 86 runsdrawn

AVERAGESBatting

G. Marshall 16o runs Av. 53.33 R. P. CoxR. G. Evans 12o runs Av. 40.00 R. G. EvansR. P. Cox 115 runs Av. 28.75 J. C. Buck

D. G. Hussey

12 wkts. Av. 9.335 wkts. Av. 1o.004 wkts. Av. 14.756 wkts. Av. 24.50

EAGLE HARRIERSCLUB

The present EAGLE Harriers began theircompetitive programme on 28 May 1970when a team of four, consisting of RayRoberts, Bryn Thomas, Albert Sim-cock and Mick Ellis, took part in theDartmoor Charity run. They put in anexcellent performance to take thewinning team award from a toughMarines team, despite having to dragEAGLE's heavyweight long-distancechampion Ray Roberts out of the mireseveral times. In this event the runnerswere sponsored by members of theShip's Company and the proceeds wentto a local charity.

Following this gruelling run, we tookon our first serious civilian competitionat the Devonport Carnival 6-mile roadrace on 20 June. This was a high-classfield and our team was Danny McFad-zean (11th); Brian Vockins (19th); RayRoberts (at a racing weight of 13½stone - 20th). EAGLE finished fourthin the team race.

Following our efforts at Devonport,we were ambitious enough to enter forthe Paignton Dairy Festival 15-milerace. This event is reputed to have thetoughest course in the UK and, con-sidering that only Danny had any pre-vious experience in this kind of com-petition, it is to the credit of Bryn, Rayand Brian that they all completed thecourse. Danny finished 4th in theindividual stakes, just in front of theArmy Champion Keith Darlow, andBryn proved the most durable of ourother competitors in finishing 19th.The pain was soon forgotten and wereplenished with stacks of good Devonmilk supplied by even more attractivedairymaids.

September brought the start of theCross-country season, and just two daysbefore we sailed for sea trials on com-pletion of DED we took on RNEC

MANADON and happily defeated themby the narrow margin of three points.We now had a real interest in runningand new names appeared, such as TimHird, Tug Wilson and even a rareappearance by Chas Chambers. JohnCaine finished 2nd in this his last racefor EAGLE; Danny Mac 3rd; MickEllis 5th; and Bryn Thomas 8th.

We then challenged BRNC DART-

MOUTH over their mountaineeringcourse, but heartbreak hill proved toomuch for our lads and we were thereceivers of a good thrashing. Bestfinishers for EAGLE were Danny McFad-zean 3rd, Mick Ellis 6th and MalDavies 8th. The last event before wesailed for the Med leg was our own

Cross-country Team: * S/Lt Danny McFADZEAN; LEM(A) Mal DAVISS; S/Lt Ray ROBERTS; PORELBrian VOCKINS; OEM Tim HIRD. ** NA(AH) Dave CARROTT; NA(AH) Danny HAY; POPTI NipperELLIS.

inter-part cross-country championship.After the usual battle between Dannyand Mick, the final result individuallywas: Danny 1st, Mick 2nd, and Brian3rd; Team race: Weapons ElectricalIst, AED 2nd.

When we called at Gibraltar justbefore ORI in early February this year,we took a strong field of runners in a42-mile Round the Rock race as part ofthe `Med-train Olympiad'. EAGLE tookthe honours from HMS ROOKE, andDanny McFadzean gained 2nd place toCpl Alun Williams, Royal Marines. Wefielded 18 runners in this event andthings were looking bright.

Then followed our visit to Ville-franche, and up in the mountains weenjoyed a good hard run against Nicebut, what with `runs ashore' and duties,we were no match for them. They pre-sented us with a trophy to mark theoccasion, while in return we drank alltheir wine. Danny took 2nd place afterlosing his breakfast on the way round,and Bill McIntosh did well to finish avery tired 11th.

Our next port of call was at Malta inMarch, and this proved to be our mostsuccessful visit to date. In the space ofjust four days we took both the MaltaNational and Inter-Services Cross-country Championship team trophies.Danny and Mick took the winner andrunner-up awards in both events, andothers who ran with distinction wereColin Morris, Brian Vockins, BillMcIntosh and Ray Roberts.

As a finale to our Med visit, a charityrun was organised in Gibraltar, and theteam consisted of the Ship's cross-country squad with a few additionalfitness addicts. Each athlete had to runfor three hours, covering as many milesas possible. Danny Mac and BrianVockins ran together most of the way,Danny completing 242 miles and Brian232 miles. Bryn Thomas, Ray Roberts,Tim Hird and Colin Morris deservespecial mention for completing 212miles. The proceeds from this venturewere divided between Gibraltar chari-ties and UK charities, including theLillian Board Cancer Research Fund.

By this time our stalwarts haddeveloped a strong spirit as a team andwe were all looking forward to somecompetition on the Far East leg.

We certainly found this in Cape-town, where our team received arunning lesson in the Capetown-Stellenbosch relay! A really happy stagevening with the University lads madeup for our defeat. We then sampled theincomparable hospitality of the twoAthletic clubs in Wellington. In spiteof having to send a posse out to findBryn Thomas and Malcolm Davissprior to the race in Fremantle, we havecherished memories of our races downunder. Sydney proved a great success,both in the social and Athletic fields.Mick Ellis contacted the team managerof the Modern Pentathlon Associationof Australia prior to arriving and,together with Colin Morris and David

sixty-seven

'Eagle' Harriers -continued

Carrott, competed in a Biathlon com-petition against the Australian OlympicPentathlon team. In the swim eventthe EAGLE boys were completely out oftheir depth but soon showed theirworth in the run event. Mick finished3rd, ahead of Olympian Peter Makem(4th in Tokyo Olympics). Colin andDavid ran exceptionally well to finish8th and 13th. The remainder of theteam were engaged elsewhere `doingtheir thing'.

Call it madness if you like, but we allenjoyed the torrid sweat-drenched com-petition in Singapore, and sharing theups and downs together has made usricher for the experiences we haveshared during this the last commissionof HMS EAGLE. It is of interest to notethat, everywhere we went, peopleremembered the names of EAGLE ath-letes of the past, and our friendshipswere made easier in the wake of ourpredecessors.

Stretching a leg for charity

On 8 February 1972 the runners tookthe Team Race Trophy in the Ports-mouth Command Championships - last

done by a sea-going ship (HMS HOOD)

in 1935. A fitting end to their com-mission.

EAGLE GOLFING SOCIETYAny man claiming to be a golfer musttake his game seriously. Also, however,he must approach the social activitieswith equal keenness. It must beadmitted that we have been far moresuccessful at the latter.

During the commission we have beenfortunate enough to have played overtwenty-five different courses. Thesehave ranged from One Boat Golf Club

HMS `Eagle' and One Boat Golf Club Teams - Ascension Island - June 1971: S/Lt HUNTER;Cdr GREGORY; CPO TROW; RO WALSH; Lt-Cdr HARMAN; CPO STOILES.

on Ascension Island (considered evenby its members to be the worst coursein the world); to the lush greenery ofthe Wellington Golf Club; to the verylong New Course at the Island Club inSingapore, and even to the nine-holecourse at HMS TERROR where we playeda pro/am event.

Over thirty officers and ratings haverepresented the EAGLE Golfing Society,

including, of course, the Captain, whokindly presented a putter for competi-tion.

We have certainly enjoyed our golfand, despite indifferent play from timeto time, our feelings can be summed upin the statement made by a certaindistinguished officer who will remainnameless. On being asked by a rovingreporter about his game, when he washaving a particulary torrid afternoonin the wind and rain at Yelverton duringthe DED, he remarked, 'Well, it's betterthan work!'Clubs which have kindly accepted us,

1970-1971:Devonport: Yelverton; Bigbury; Tavi-

stock; Staddon Heights; Thurle-stone.

Southampton: Stoneham, Southamp-ton Municipal.

Villefranche: Monte Carlo; Nice.Malta: Royal Malta.Ascension Island: One Boat.Capetown: Royal Cape; Mowbray.Singapore: HMS TERROR; Island Coun-

ySydney: Moore Park; Royal Austra-

lian.Wellington: Masterton; Mahunga;

Shandan; Wellington; Otaki.Fremantle: Point Walter; Royal Fre-

mantle; Royal Perth.Hong Kong: Shek-O Country Club;

Royal Hong Kong.Durban: Royal Durban; Durban

Country Club; Kloof Country Club.

sixty-eight

FENCINGThe ship's fencers have met on thequarter deck nominally three times aweek at sea, depending on the weather,flying and other obstacles. Despite thelack of practice, we have always beenable to produce a team wherever amatch has been arranged-surely aunique achievement for an RN ship.

The first match was against South-ampton University during the Ship'svisit there in the autumn of 1970. Thefencing was of a good standard and theresult satisfactory: Foil lost 5-2; Epeewon 6-o; Sabre lost 5-4. The com-petition continued with a most pleasantparty somewhere in the city.

Fencing:

* OEM ACOURT; POPTI ELLIS;REA(A) CRABTREE; Lt JOHNSTONE; Lt HERBERT.** S/Lt HILL.

The next match was against NiceUniversity in February 1971. We weregiven an excellent exhibition of fencingby one of the leading continental teams- and we lost. However, the three-hourdinner afterwards, followed by anevening afterwards Chez les Ecossais,

was a great success for both Clubs.We then returned to Devonport for

Easter and had to re-establish contactwith 826 Squadron in order to raise afull team of six fencers on 3 May for theNavy Championships. EAGLE's teamwas the only seagoing team. Alas, therewas no handicap, and we came last.The team was: Foil - Lts PatrickJohnstone and Geoff Herbert; Epee -REA(A)2 Mike Crabtree and POPTIMick Ellis; Sabre - S/Lt Barry Hilland Lt Nick Rutherford.

Barry Hill and Mike Crabtree from826 could easily fence for the Navyonce back in the UK with the oppor-tunity for regular coaching and prac-tice. Lt Taylor Scott (899 Squadron)and OEM Malcolm Acourt and GeoffHerbert have all taken up fencing againand, with continued enthusiasm, coulddo well in the future (the former two

replaced Mick Ellis and Nick Ruther-ford in the pool of regular fencers fromwhom our teams have been chosen).

The next time we assembled as ateam was against the University ofCapetown, where three of us were ableto fence; Foil lost 6-3; Epee won 5 -4.This was very creditable against a goodSouth African team.

No fencing team could be found inSingapore, and our next match wasagainst the University of New SouthWales, the Inter-Australian UniversityChampions in 1970. Much to every-one's surprise, we won, Foil won 5-4;

evening's entertainment was completedwith dinner at King's Cross - much later.

We fenced against Wellington FC withsome very close finishes, but the scoreis best left out. Their team includedthree New Zealand CommonwealthGames Fencers. The subsequent hospi-tality was up to the extravagant enter-tainment provided throughout theShip's visit to Wellington.

We hope to put a team into the NavyChampionships again this year - sowish us well!

CYCLING THE NOOWith the aid of grants from the NuffieldTrust and the Ship's Welfare Fund,nine cycles were purchased for the useof the ship's company. Other ratingswho were keen cyclists embarked theirown cycles during the May leave periodshortly before we deployed to the FarEast. An enthusiastic cycling club wasformed.

Contact with foreign clubs has beenmade, and they have given valuableassistance and facilities in the form ofvery fit guides and the knowledge anduse of local roads.

At our first port of call the clubtoured Capetown's outer districts andhad a barbecue to end the day, bycourtesy of the local club. Motor trans-port was provided afterwards to provideeight sore and weary men with an easyroute back to the ship. In Singapore theclub participated in a forty-mile roadrace and organised tours of the island.A longer tour onto the mainland to theLongbong Waterfalls (near Kota Ting-gi) took five and a half hours for theround trip of eighty miles. In theAntipodes the cycling took on a genteelform of flag-showing on an informalbasis. At Hong Kong several outingswere made to various parts of the

Some Cyclists: LMEM Mick GOODE; AB Blacky BLAKEMORE; S/Lt John NUNDY; PO Ted CROZIER;LOEM Brigand YOUNG; LMEM Spider KELLY; LMEM Andy NAILOR. The following also cycledfrequently: MEM CLIFTON; MEM GUNTER; Ck HALL; LOEM HOLLAND; LMEM KNIGHT; AB MANSELL;MEM RIDLEY.

island - with pleasant stops for swimsat Repulse Bay.

Cycling is a small part of the Navalsports effort but one that is catching on.There are many good cyclists in the

Forces and in the Navy. It is not just asport confined to the younger man butcaters for the older person - offering toall a good view of the countryside fromthe saddle.

sixty-nine

SURFINGA trio of dedicated surfers - you haveto be dedicated to surf at Lossiemouthwhere the water temperature is rarelyabove 12°C and sometimes below 4°C -decided to have a meeting of all would-be surfers. It was unanimously agreedthat, during this tour, some of the bestsurfing beaches would be within ourreach.

Capetown, ideally situated for botheasterly and westerly swells, proved tobe disappointing. After initial contactwith the local surfers, two of the triospent a long time sitting on borrowedboards waiting for waves that nevercame.

The next stop after Singapore was themecca of surfing in the Southern Hemi-sphere - Bondi Beach, just outsideSydney. Unfortunately, it was the `off'season, the waves were tiny, the wholeplace was very much overrated, but atleast we did manage the odd cut-backand numerous wipe-outs. Having touse borrowed boards was the maindrawback; to become proficient at anysport, one has to practise, and surfingis no exception. The most apparentdifference was the size of boards, muchsmaller than current ones in the UK.

And so to Wellington, with an invita-tion from the Maranni Surf Club atLyall Bay and one of the worst (best forus!) storms in years -the scene wasset. A week-end meet was arranged,boards, surf canoes and an excellentclubhouse were provided. A good turn-out of newcomers and diehards led to avery successful meeting followed by aneven better `drinkex' ! Unfortunately,the surf was not up to the usual stan-dard, and the water was somewhatreminiscent of the UK - very cold!Hospitality was unbelievable; somemembers went up coast to the bettersurfing beaches; others tried some ofthe latest in board designs; whilstothers carried on with the drinkex; allby courtesy of the local surf shop. Withreluctance we left Lyall Bay, the bestbeach so far.

'Probably the most underrated surfingarea in the world' - that's how surfersdescribed W. Australia, and we weredue there. So we sent one memberashore to make all the arrangements (hissquadron thought he was part of thediversion party!) and as a result webecame involved in a Polar Bear Meet -a mid-winter meeting! Once again wehad the problem of new boards and notenough time to become acquainted withtheir suicidal tendencies, but everybodyhad a good time.

The most unexpected find of the yearwas Big Wave Bay in Hong Kong where

it was possible to body-surf. We evenhad some US competition from someguys on R & R. One member reportedfrom Cubi Point, in the Philippines,during the big storm period that thelocals were really having a time ridingtwelve-foot waves - he, too, would haveloved to have joined in but his only kit,pusser's aircrew overalls, was not quitethe in-gear on the beach!

Durban was the last chance for somegood surf before returning to the coldwaters of the UK. For a change, theconditions were ideal: the sun shone;the surf was up; we were befriended bythe local surf shop; as a result, a goodtime was had by all, which amply com-pensated for the previous disappoint-ments.

SHOOTING CLUBDuring the period from September1969, the EAGLE Shooting Teams havepractised and competed with .22 rifleand pistol as well as with all types ofService small arms.

Our match records reads: Won 5;Lost 8. At first glance this doesn't seemtoo good, but we are satisfied with theresults, considering that we have hadonly one `Home' match, and that manyof the opponents fielded strong teams(for example, in Wellington they in-cluded half their national team). Wehave competed against other RN units;Royal Naval Reserve and Cadet Units;South African and Royal AustralianNavy teams; and also civilian clubs. We

Some of the Surfers: * Terry HANNAM; KevMEEHAN; Alan WATT; Roger CRAGG. ** ChrisO'CONNELI; Danny Ross; Dicke DALE.

have also competed in the PlymouthCommand Small Arms Meetings for thelast three years with a reasonableamount of success. In 1971, for example,the EAGLE teams won the Juniors' andOfficers' Team Tiles, and the Com-mand Individual Small Arms Cham-pionship was won by MEA(H) Veal.Two of the Ship's team were also sent torepresent Plymouth Command at Bis-ley in 1970 for the Inter-Service meeting.

In conclusion, we would like to takethis opportunity to thank the smallnucleus of devotees for their supportand enthusiasm throughout the com-mission - Cheers! See you all on theRanges!

The `Eagle' Shooting Team at the Command Meeting, Trevol, May 1971: * PO GRIFFITHS;Lt NOONAN; PO GOUGH; CPO CARROL; EA GLASS; MEA ELLIOT; MEA VEAL; PO HARRIS; S/Lt MOLLOY.** S/Lt NUNDY. *** AB PRICE; ORD THAXTER; AB BAKER; NA MARSHALL; JS TAYLOR.

seventy

EAGLE WATER POLO TEAMFrom

humble

beginnings - afterstruggling with an odd game duringthe DED, the team ended up as a well-trained squad able to take on any oppo-sition. The first chance of seeing ourpotential was at Capetown, where wewere soundly beaten 12-1 in the onlyMatch played.

With more practice available atSingapore, we beat RAF TENGAH 4-3,

8-2 and 7-3. A combined SIMBANG,

40 COMMANDO beat us 8-2, but prob-ably the best result of the commissionwas our beating TERROR 2-0, their firstdefeat by a ship's team for nearly twoyears.

New Zealand gave us our onlymatches for nine weeks between theSingapore visits, and in the first gamea depleted team took on the NEW

ZEALAND OLYMPIC SQUAD and werethrashed by a cricket score, but theentertainment afterwards mellowed thedefeat. MARANUI SURF CLUB handed usan 8-1 beating, but once again madeup for this by their hospitality.

On return to Singapore, our firstmatch was the return against TERROR.

Through shortages due to their run-down their team was supplemented bythree Singapore International playersand we went down 7-2. Four easymatches followed: TENGAH 8-0, GLA-

MORGAN 10-0, HMAS SYDNEY II-I, andTRIUMPH 12-1 - even Tiny, our goal-keeper, came out and scored a hat-trickin this last match. The best match ofthis visit was against the SINGAPORE

SWIMMING CLUB. Up to the last quarterthey were leading by the odd goal innine, but for the last quarter theyfielded the full Singapore Junior Inter-national Squad and they slotted inanother four goals without reply.

In Hong Kong, the local championsTHE WRECKS were beaten 2-1, and thenwe combined with them to beat a localChinese side 6-4. RAF KAI TAK were

Judo Club: * Mick BRIGHAM; Bob HERRON; Jock McGREGOR; Sweeny TODD; StU STEWART. ** JohnBINGHAM; Dave LOVICK; Les SLATER; Dave DEADY.

beaten 12-1 and, finally, THE WRECKS

had their revenge 7-4 in a final match.Although the whole squad has com-

bined to produce some fine matchesand results, the credit must go to PORoger Cragge for his unflagging effortsboth in and out of the water in organ-ising the matches, training, and makingsure that the team turned up at theright place!

Water-polo Team: * Dickie DALE; Dodger LONG; Dave CARROTT; Nigel GARBETT; Snaps FLETCHER;Chris WALSH. ** Roger CRAGG; Pony MOORE; Bill THORPE; Max O'CONNELL; Blister KEATING;Tiny MARSHALL.

JUDO CLUB EAGLEQWAI, EAGLE's own Judo Club,hit the headlines hardly once during thecommission. At Villefranche the Clubtook a crippling blow at the hands andfeet of the Riviera Team: our brownbelt, Bob Hamilton, was dismissed withan injured shoulder. During the lastpart of the trip to the Far East the clubmembership increased and, by the timewe reached Hong Kong, we had `a goodthing going'.

Our long spell at sea brought theKarate Club and the Eagleqwai togetherfor demonstrations combined with lec-tures. Fitness of mind and body was theaim, with an especial view to self-defence.

Perhaps the highlight of the year wasduring the visit to Perth. The 'Kan-garoo Judo Club' there arranged aspecial grading and D. Lovick andL. Slater were awarded their orangebelts and R. Herron was awarded hisyellow. This event provided us all withthe incentive to run a better club, andwhen the ship returns to Portsmouththere will be twelve Judoka ready tograde higher in the art: we feel we haveachieved something.

DAVE LOVICK

seventy-one

CANOEINGCanoeing got off to a bad start in thesecond half of this Commission. Firstof all, the club secretary, who com-muted daily from Torpoint to thedockyard by canoe, was given a parkingticket rocket by the Captain for leavinghis boat on the wrong catamaran duringthe day (`and get your hair cut whilstyou're about it too . . .'). Thus, barredfrom the flight of stone steps, a jump-ing ladder had to be used. It's a longhaul up from sea level to four deck(CENTAUR) even at high tide. Ourintrepid commuter still remembers the

eyeball encounter with a pair of sizetwelve dockyard police boots as hescrambled over the coaming. In theresulting conversation, accusations ofillegal entry into the dockyard werenever actually mentioned; and, for-tunately, relations remained cordial,and the plucky paddler continued tosave himself 4d (as it then was) a dayin ferry fares and also got time off tospend a week in Scotland paddling forthe Navy Team in the Inter-Services.

Villefranche was a delightful spot fora quiet paddle in the bay, and the Nice

canoeists could not understand how wemanaged to survive in such small boats.The boats were much used at GahjnTuffieha Adventure Camp. Gentle surfalways provides a splendid introductionto canoeing for the cocky novice. If hestays upright he loses his novicehood;if he capsizes he loses his cockiness. Acouple of hundred men `had a go' overthe period and the boats took a lot ofwear.

Singapore provided some oppor-tunities for the beginners to pick up therudiments. It was too hot for comfort,and most trips were short. There wasthat little hut a mile or so away wherethe chap sold Tiger. . . .

In Fremantle, we were lent transportby the RAN base and we were able totake the boats and tentage down to thePeel Inlet for a couple of days of`Exped'. All very enjoyable, especiallythe hot pie at the end of the ten-milepaddle `home' on the last day. Moreshort trips in Singapore and severaloutings in Hong Kong wound up thecanoeing scene. Rough weather claimeda couple of the boats from the PV spaceon the way home; the rest will be passedon to the ship most likely to gain thebenefit of having them.

DOG-SHOOTING

TENNISTennis on board has, on the whole,been well subscribed, and nearly everyport of call has provided the ship witha fixture or two. The first match of theseason took place in Malta on 10 March1971 versus RAF LUQA and, though theresult was a draw, it was apparent thatEAGLE had the makings of a good side.

Since then the policy has been, as faras practicable, to field a nucleus of fourwell-tried and proven players togetherwith two lesser-known names in thehope of giving everybody interested ataste of tennis under match conditions.

Weather has played a big part in theorganisation up till now, and tennistrials - as well as matches in Sydneyand Fremantle - have had to be can-celled because of rain. There was onememorable match versus the SAN atSimonstown when, under threateningrain-clouds, the courts were playableonly after an hour of careful sweepingand draining: both teams loath to givein to the weather.

Singapore and Hong Kong provideda wide range of opposition and plentyof match experience. On return from

Fun in the sun at Gahjn Tuffieha

The Tennis Team: * Lt VEALE; LS MAUGHAN;NAM HARRISON; Lt Cdr DICKENS. ** CdrMCCLELLAN; REA PURDY; Lt HERBERT ( Captain;Lt RAINE.

the Far East, the results indicate aneven balance between matches lost andwon, which is a fair outcome consider-ing the constant change-round of theteam members.

The following have, at one time oranother, represented the ship at tennis:Cdr McLellan, REA Purdy, Lt Her-bert, Lt Raine, Lt Veale, L/S Maughan,Lt Beattie, Lt-Cdr Dickens, NAMHarrison, Lt Sullivan, NAM Ford,Lt-Cdr Trinder, Lt Aylward, Lt Jones,LAM Mitton, NAM Needham.

Yes, we organised a splendid MaltaDog-shoot - there were nearly a hun-dred applicants when the lists firstopened. There were even three whoapplied to use pistols on horseback.S/Lt Roberts, the main perpetrator ofthat first hoax, carried it through to theextent of asking the Maltese villagersto pose with their pets under the barrelof a self-loading rifle.

Morris Dancing had its devotees,too - several men were making foot-bells and silk handkerchiefs and won-dering why no one ever seemed able toget round to having a meeting. AlligatorHunting fell a bit flat, but there weregreat hopes for Boomerang-throwingClasses. They were nipped in the budwhen the Australian Tourist Boardliterature arrived on board - and thereare such classes!

The leg-pull of the trip was the`Pilots for the Pilotless Target Air-craft'. A dozen chaps volunteered.After a gruelling day of interviews andcheck-ups, only six remained. Furthertraining reduced the number to three,who to this very day are disappointedthat their one chance for fame was foiledby the unserviceability of the pilotlessaircraft: at least they still think pilotsare needed!

HMS EAGLE - a brief historyThere have always been ships of the Royal Navy named EAGLE - or so it seems. The present one is the twenty-third, according to Manningand Walker: British Warship Names. Weightman, in Heraldry in the Royal Navy, lists it as the fifteenth but refers to other lists withtwenty-one.

Many of the previous EAGLES were small and insignificant ships; others were first rates, and have earned Battle Honours from the seventeenthcentury: here are some notes on the past EAGLES, with Honours in dark type:

1

900 tons, purchased in 1592 and sold in 1683: was used mainly as an ordnance barge.

2

100 tons, 12 guns, hired 1650, returned 1655: took part in the battle of the Kentish Knock (September 1652) and honours at Portlandand Gabbard (February and July 1653).

3

300 tons, 22 guns, built as the SELBY in 1654, renamed EAGLE in 1660, sunk as part of Sheerness breakwater in 1694: took part in theblockade of the Zuyder Zee (April 1655) and won honour at Lowestoft (3 June 1665).

4

240 tons, 6 guns, captured from the Dutch in 1666 and expended as a fire-ship during the Four Days Fight of 1-4 June 1666 andwon the Orfordness honour.

5

50 tons, 6 guns, captured in 1670 from the Algerine Corsairs: she was fired on 2 May 1671 in a night attack on the Algerine Fleetin Bugia Bay.

6

208 tons, bought in 1672 as a fire-ship: she foundered in 1673.

7

1,050 tons, 70 guns, built in Portsmouth in 1679, wrecked with Sir Cloudesly Shovell in a fog off the Scillies, 22 October 1707: wonhonours at Barfleur (19 May 1692) and Velez Malaga (13 August 1704). She was Rooke's flagship at La Hogue and took part inthe attack on Cadiz (15 August 1702) and the capture of Gibraltar (24 July 1704) and Barcelona (23 September 1705).

8

150 tons, 10 guns, built in 1696 and wrecked on 27 November 1703.

9

1,130 tons, 60 guns, launched (as the CENTURION) on 1 December 1744 and renamed EAGLE in 1745, sold in June 1767: assisted in thecapture of various French and Spanish ships and convoys: she won honours at Ushant in 1747. (Able Seaman James Cook servedon board from 1745 to 1748, when he was rated Master's Mate. He later rose to the rank of Captain ... ).

10

1,400 tons, 74 guns, launched 12 May 1774, renamed BUCKINGHAM in 1797 and broken-up in 1812: another successful ship that wonhonours at Sadras, Providien, Negapatam and Trincomalee in 1782. Later converted to a prison ship, she was used to imprisonsome of the mutineers from the Nore.

11

71 tons, 4 guns, bought in 1794 and sold in 1802.

12

158 tons, 12 guns, LA VENTURA, captured from the French in 1803 and renamed EAGLE, then (in 1804) ECLIPSE.

16

(or 13 if you discount tiny EAGLES), 1,723 tons, 74 guns, launched 27 February 1804 at Northfleet and renamed EAGLET in 1918. Shewas the flagship at the blockade of the Texel, Brest 1805, 1807-1808 with Collingwood at the blockade of Toulon, 1809 Walcheren,1810 Cadiz, 1812 in the Adriatic -Ceste, Istria, Trieste. The name EAGLET is still used by the Mersey division of the RNR.

20

22,790 tons, launched 1918, sunk by torpedoes 1942: laid down as a battleship for the Chilean Navy, the ALMIRANTE COCHRANE wasbought for the RN in 1917 and finally commissioned as an aircraft-carrier in 1923, winning honours at Calabria (9 June 1940) andthe general Mediterranean (1940) and Malta Convoys (1942) honours. She carried Swordfish and Gladiator aircraft, and transferredaircraft of 813 and 824 Squadrons to ILLUSTRIOUS for the attack on the Italian Fleet at Taranto.

23

45,000 tons, launched by Princess Elizabeth on 19 March 1946 and first commissioned on 31 October 1951: extensively modernisedand rebuilt at Devonport from November 1959 to May 1964. Saw service in the Suez campaign of 1956 and took part in confrontationactivities in Malaysia, the Beira Patrol, and covered the withdrawals from Aden, Singapore and the Persian Gulf. Commanding Officers

UNDERHILL (PLYMOUTH) LTD., REGENT STREET, PLYMOUTH

Captain G. Willoughby Captain H. C. D. Maclean, DSC Captain J. C. Y. Roxburgh, DSO, DSC*

Captain A. N. C. Bingley, OBE Captain M. Le Fanu, DSC Captain J. E. PopeCaptain D. E. Holland-Martin, DSO, DSC* Captain J. B. Frewen Captain J. D. TreacherCaptain A. P. W. Northey, DSC* Commander P. L. Langley-Smith Captain I. G. W. Robertson, DSC

Captain E. D. G. Lewin, CBE, DSO, DSC* Commander G. B. Pearse Commander R. F. WhiteCommander A. T. F. G. Griffin Captain L. D. Empson

Before and After: Launched in 1951, extensive modernisation: was carried out on the present EAGLEfrom 1959to 1964

Below: 11 August 1942 - the previous EAGLE is torpedoed and sinks in the Mediterranean

Past and Present: the previous EAGLE is shown in photographs taken in 1939 ,