A Real Life Story

A Real life communicator’s story. I was serving on HMNZS Endeavour in 1956 under Captain Harry Kirkwood and we were approaching the New Zealand coast. He sent for me, his secretary and said that he had been exchanging signals about our going to Gisborne. He had talked to nobody on the ship but the ship’s company knew about it and this must have come from the wireless operators and I was to carry out an immediate investigation of who had broken their obligatory silence on the contents of signals. As might be expected I got a hostile reception when I approached the communications PO. I told him that I could understand his concern about the strict silence observed by his men but I required him to speak to his staff whether an inadvertent breach had occurred and I would check with him next morning. That night when I was on watch the leading hand on the wheel asked me if it was true that we were going to Gisborne. When challenged for his source he replied that he had seen the Captain measuring off on the New Zealand chart the distance to that port! I told the Captain that rumour had it that he was seen calculating the distance to Gisborne. He was not happy with that but the Communicators were. ex Cdr Neil Howard