Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2018 19:58:21 +0000 (UTC) From: Peter Brown Subject: Queen Mary Bell Boys Chapter 107 Queen Mary Bell-boys by badboi666 =============================================================================== If sex with boys isn't your thing, go away. If, as is much more likely, you've come to this site precisely to get your rocks off reading about sex with 14-year-olds then make yourself comfortable - you're in the right place. Don't leave, however, without doing this: Donate to Nifty - these buggers may do it for love but they still have to eat. http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html =============================================================================== Chapter 107 We never got round to doing all the excitingly different things which had seemed such a good idea only the day before. It was a bit like getting home after a holiday - it all seemed a bit flat. The Cunard accommodation wasn't intended to be a place of entertainment for a pair of teenagers and by the middle of the morning we were both in need of diversion. Sir was sitting in the sun outside reading the morning newspaper. "You two look bored," he said, "shall we all go into Southampton and see what's on offer there?" Fifteen minutes later a taxi arrived and drove us the few miles into the city centre. When I was there last year I was amazed again at how much had been destroyed by the War, and how the scars had all but disappeared nearly 80 years later. I don't remember much of the detail of the city as it was in 1939, but I do remember we visited the Civic Centre and had lunch in the restaurant there. I didn't learn until decades later that it had been flattened by a direct hit late in 1940. In July 1939 Sir and the other adults were aware that war was all too likely, but we kids hadn't sensed anything yet. All that would soon change. It was a hot day and the placards outside the main cinema enticing patrons in with "It's cooler inside" signs led the three of us to see "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", which had just come out. Nowadays of course we are all accustomed to cartoons, but in those days it was miraculous. Charlie and I watched it on television a few years ago, and he reminded me how excited I had been when I got back on the ship - I had forgotten that it had made such an impression. Tim and I had only been to the pictures occasionally in the Liverpool days, and nothing had been like "Snow White". Prince leaned over and whispered "I'll have your dwarf in me later on," and I burst out laughing at a most inopportune moment, just when the Wicked Witch was doing her worst. Later, much later, he did just that, although it wasn't a dwarf then. Nor was his, but then it never was. At 0730 the three of us - was Sir as excited as we were? - were on the quayside watching Queen Mary's crew gangway go on. Sensing that his Bell Captain might forget his dignity and rush on board to be greeted by his lover, Sir led us up in a dignified procession. It was a nice touch that someone - Charlie and Graham, perhaps - had got all the gang, Tim, Sam and the As as well as the bell boys - to welcome the travellers back home. Sir allowed us two minutes before he quietly suggested that it might be better if we all moved to the canteen where we would no longer obstruct the comings and goings at the head of the gangway. By 0900 our stories had largely been told, the questions had been asked and answered, and it was time to get back to what Cunard paid us to do. "Tim, Patrick, 0915 as usual please," said Sir. The 0915 turned out to be rather an eye-opener. I didn't know that Sir had briefed Tim before we'd arrived in New York about the process of contacting clients - neither of them had said a word to me. "How did it go, Tim?" asked Sir. "The first time I was nervous, but it went all right. He knew exactly what he wanted. The Passport and the money was easy. By the time we got to a day out I was getting pretty good at it." He turned to me. "What's the most you've had on a crossing?" I said I had no idea (I keep all that in my book so I don't have to remember it), but it was probably in the 30s. "27," he said proudly, "right up there with the experts then, and over $2200." "With only six of you that's bloody good," I said, "who had the most work?" "Javid, George and I had five each, The other three all had four. George and Vincent had a double overnighter." Sir said that he was very pleased, and Tim ceremoniously handed over the money. Sir then gave me the letter from the Captain of the Yankee Clipper. "I think the Captain would like to have this as soon as possible, Patrick. Why don't you take it up to the Bridge now." He got up. "Back to normal now, but I don't think life will be normal for much longer." Tim was curious about the letter. I hadn't said anything about it at breakfast, because with so much to talk about we hadn't really said much about the flight home. I asked if he'd been aware of an aeroplane flying above the ship, but he was unaware of it. I hoped Sam would have seen. I knocked on the Bridge door and stepped inside. I saw Will and Sam at the other side of the ship and an officer I didn't know asked me what I wanted. "I have a letter for the Captain and I was instructed to put it in hands myself." The Captain heard this and recognized me. "Well, Patrick, what have you brought me?" I gave him the letter and he opened it. "My goodness!" he said, "listen to this, all of you. Do you remember two days ago an aeroplane circled us 200 miles off the Irish coast. This is a message from her Captain. It seems that Patrick and Mr Corrigan were on board returning from their adventure with the American courts." He turned to me. "How did that go?" I had no idea that he would have been aware of Prince's predicament, then it occurred to me that if Cunard had stumped up lots of money to fly us home then the Captain must know the story. "Prince gave his evidence very clearly and the men were convicted, Sir." "Good. Mr Corrigan was sure that he would do well. Please thank him from me - thank both of them. I'm sure Cunard was shown in a good light. A nasty business. Poor boy. I hope he's got over it." "Yes, Sir, there's been a big improvement in him just in the last few days." He turned to the other officers. "This aeroplane fellow congratulates Queen Mary on holding the Blue Riband but has the cheek to suggest that his infernal machines will one day steal our business. I shall send a salty reply." But he had a twinkle in his eye, an eye which I swear winked at me. "Off you go, Patrick." I saluted and left him to matters well above my pay grade. I wondered what Sir had said. As I was leaving I heard the Bridge door open behind me. Sam appeared, his eyes bright. "You were on that plane! I was on the Bridge and all of us were amazed to see it come closer and closer and then circle round. We've never seen it before." I explained that the service has started only a month before and that he should not be surprised that my famously skilled tongue should produce miracles from the skies. "You didn't ... ?" "No, Sam, I just told the nice man driving it that my friends were down there somewhere and it might be fun to dive down and startle them." "A skilled tongue all right. Well done. Now I must go back to the nice man driving this one," and since we were completely alone my brother-in-law and I shared a nice family kiss. ***** Throughout August things went on much as they had. Everyone expected a war to start sooner or later, and there were rumours on board that Queen Mary would be turned into a warship. This seemed unlikely, given the sheer size of her: where would they put guns and stuff? To our great excitement the eastward voyage in late August saw us accompanied by the biggest battleship any of us had ever seen - HMS Hood. She kept on station with us for the last few days of the voyage. We must have been the last escort duty she had. To this day I remember the shock of hearing about her blowing up and sinking in May 1941. We lost a good friend that day. But I'm jumping ahead again, far too far ahead. We set out for New York again - unescorted this time, and by the time we arrived War had been declared. Once the passengers were all disembarked the entire crew was gathered in the biggest room on the ship - the First Class Dining Room. We'd had some interesting times in that room in the last three years, but this was different. Over 2000 of us were crammed in, almost all standing. The Captain told us what had happened, that we were at war with Germany and that the Government had commandeered the ship. We were to remain in New York under Admiralty orders until it was decided how to make use of us. We could go ashore that day if we wished, but were to return to the ship by 2200 and await further orders. There was a stunned silence. Most of the crew had families in England: when would they see them again? Men would be called up: how would they get back home? Most of the crew saw themselves as being part of the Merchant Navy, serving at sea in the ships that would bring food and materiel to Britain. It was Sir who calmed us down. "We stay put here," he said, "it will be some time - months, maybe, before anything is done with us. A ship this size is far too useful to the war effort for her to sit for long however, and with her speed she'll be going all over the world, I expect. She'll probably be a troop ship." "What's that?" I asked. "She'll go to the countries of the Empire to collect troops to fight the Germans. And if there are thousands of soldiers on board they'll all need to be fed and the ship will need to be manned properly. My guess is that she'll need a crew of about half the size of the crew now. Running the ship will be the same as it has been; all that's different is that the passengers won't get any service apart from food. I expect there'll be a fair amount of cleaning up too." "Does that mean we stay?" asked Alan. "You heard the Captain, Alan, we all stay until we're ordered otherwise. Now go ashore for a few hours - it might be your last chance. Back by 2200 though. Good luck. Oh, by the way." We turned back. "If there's 10,000 soldiers on board some of them may be of interest to you professionally. Since there's a War on and I won't be here, I imagine you may wish to offer your services for nothing. Patrick, you know how it works." ***** Towards the end of September there was another huge meeting. The Captain told us that the Admiralty was going to have the ship converted into a troop ship. This would mean that all the fancy furniture and fittings, carpets, lounges and so on would be stripped out and the spaces turned into bunkrooms for thousands of servicemen. There would be no need for at least half of the crew, and in the next few days we would learn whether we were needed, and what would happen to the rest of us. "Some of you may wish to volunteer for the Royal Navy," he said, "and you will go with my blessing. To fight the enemy at sea is a noble calling, and I know that you will do so bravely and valiantly. You have served Cunard White Star well, and you will serve the King well. Some of you will prefer to sail in smaller ships - the freighters and tankers, the cargo ships upon whose ability to cross the ocean Britain and her people will depend. Some of you will be needed here, to sail this proud ship and to look after the thousands of brave men who will be taken across the ocean to fight wherever they are needed. God bless you all." There was a moment's silence then someone called out "God save the King!" and a cheer went up. It was a very emotional moment. As we trooped back out of the First Class Dining Room we all went to Cabin 3 to talk about what the Captain had said. Alan and Andrew said that they had decided what they wanted to do. They were keen to stay together if possible, and they were keen to fight 'that cunt Hitler,' as Alan succinctly put it. "How?" asked Sam. "We're going to join the Royal Navy. We've talked to Sir about it, and there's a lot of us wanting to do the same - over two hundred, Sir said. One of the officers has been talking to the Admiralty representative on shore and it's been fixed up. The Navy is keen to have as many people who can navigate and keep engines going as they can, and although we don't have those skills we do have a lot more sea-going experience that most recruits. Sir said we'd probably be leaving Queen Mary in a few days." The rest of us were suddenly sombre. The War had come to Cabin 3, and two of the tight little gang of a dozen friends would be leaving, perhaps for ever. Nobody said anything. Nobody knew what to say. Andrew eventually broke the silence. "Fuck it, we're not gone yet. Let's save the sadness for when we go down the gangway. We've got a few nights still. Let's make the most of it." Suddenly the rest of us knew we had to make the effort to be normal, if only for the As' benefit. At that moment Sir knocked and put his head round the door. "Can I come in?" We shuffled up and he sat on one of the beds. "Alan and Andrew have told you, I suppose. I think the rest of you are going to be told to leave as well, but not for a couple of weeks. The merchant navy is probably the best place for the older ones, because your seamanship will be more useful there. It's not as romantic as the RN, and it's probably just as dangerous, but knowing you lot I think you'll find the surroundings more congenial without strict navy discipline. What I'm trying to say is that you'll have more fun in the merchant navy. I've no idea what they will do about you 16-year-olds. You're too young to be allowed to join the forces, so I imagine they'll find a way of getting you back home." Weak smiles greeted this. Sir went on, "think about it and let me know if you decide." He got up to go. "Enjoy your last few nights together. I want you to know that I'm proud of you all, and so is Phil. The last three years have made a lot of money for all of us, and you've all done everything that could be expected of you. Thank you all," and he left quickly, but not before we'd seen the tears in his eyes. With the wisdom of old age I know now that he saw us all, in a strange way, as his children, and we were going out to war, quite possibly to be killed, and whatever happened it was unlikely that we'd ever be all together again. It was no wonder he was emotional. The rest of us needed to talk, away from Alan and Andrew at least while we got our heads round what we'd heard. The idea of being split up was horrible. I didn't want to be away from Tim. Whatever happened there were going to be some painful splits. Sam and Charlie were both 19 and we were still two months short of our 18th birthday. If we'd still been in Liverpool we would be expecting to be called up into the army, but that would have been compulsory, so it would in a way have been easier to accept being split up. Here we were in the position of being able to volunteer, which made the choices sharper and more painful. We chewed it over for hours, but got nowhere. The six younger ones felt even more helpless as they didn't even expect to have a choice about what would happen to them. That night the sex was uninhibited. We couldn't come as often as we had three years earlier, but we could make each sex act last longer, and we could keep at it all night. Even the randiest 14-year-olds fell asleep after a few hours fucking; 16-, 17- and 19- year-olds could, and that night did, fuck all night. Alan and Andrew had each fucked four of us. They hadn't always come, but that was only because having already come twice, fucks 3 and 4 went largely unspunked. They promised to start with those two the next night. After breakfast the next morning, eaten by twelve haggard former bell boys (to the evident amusement of several other crew members who must have known exactly what had been going on), we met again in Cabin 3. Before we got started there was a knock and a steward came in to tell us to go to Sir's office - "not you two," he said to Alan and Andrew. What could this be, we wondered. Sir surely couldn't be chucking us out so soon. I knocked on Sir's door. "Come." To our surprise Sir had company - Will and Ryan. "Sit down somewhere," said Sir, and turned to Will. Will not naked, as we had become used to seeing him, but a different Will, Will in his uniform with gold braid on his sleeves and a serious look on his face. What was going on, with Will and Ryan there? Will smiled. "This must seem very strange to you all. Within the privacy of this room we all know exactly who we are and none of us has any secrets. The other crewmen who you boys have come to know are not here now, but they know what I'm about to say. Queen Mary will need around 900 crew when she sails as a troop ship. She'll carry well over 10,000 troops and they'll all need to be fed. The existing engine room crew and officers will all remain with her, but the crew employed in looking after passengers will mostly be leaving - about two thirds of them. Now, first of all - Charlie, Sam, Patrick and Tim. When Queen Mary was out of service in '36 after the storm and you four went to Ashokan you all learned skills. I want you all to stay on this ship together. We all know that you are two couples, and the ancient Greeks found that lovers fought better together. I don't think there will be much hand-to-hand fighting on Queen Mary in this war, but I still want lovers to be beside each other. Not only that, but in the few hours when you're off duty you'll probably want to be with each other, just as we've all been doing. As I say, this is all within the privacy of this room. No-one apart from Mr Corrigan knows that I am pulling these strings. I have been ordered to gather a crew to cater for the troops, cooking, serving, running the bars - and there'll be plenty of that, I'm sure - cleaning up, because most of them will be sick, running errands, doing whatever the officers tell you. How I do it has been left up to me. "You four older ones are special to me, and I love you all. I want to keep you as safe as I know how while still doing our bit in the War. Keeping you on this ship is the safest place I can think for you. Charlie, you've already had eighteen months in the galley, and you and Patrick will be with Ryan there. It will be hard work. Sam, I want to keep you on the bridge; you have the makings of a good officer. That leaves you, Tim. Francis says that if you want to stay with him to become a ship's engineer he will be willing to keep you full-time. I see no reason why you should not all keep the quarters you already have. They're not very spacious but, believe me, you'll have twice as much room as the troops will have, and you'll have the most precious thing on the ship - privacy. Now think about it. "Now, you other six. You are all far too young to be called up, and I don't imagine you'll be acceptable to the Merchant Navy either as none of you have the sort of sea-going skills they need. I can't guarantee when it would happen, but a lot of the older crew members are expecting to get back home as soon as arrangements can be made. As you are all under age you won't have any priority on any ships that are sailing east, but if you want to go home I will put your names on the list." He paused, seeing only long faces. "On the other hand there will be a lot of work to be done on Queen Mary once she starts her new role. It will be hard, make no mistake. You haven't the skills your older colleagues have, because we haven't seen the need to train you yet. There will be dog's-body jobs - cleaning, peeling potatoes I imagine, all the tasks that need to be done for 10,000 landlubbers who need fed and cleaned up after they spew all over the place. We'll train you for better jobs if we can, but I make no promises. Choose. "All of you, talk about it and come back to this room at 1030." It still brings a lump to my throat nearly 80 years later when I remember that all four of us older ones spontaneously stood up and went to shake Will's hand. A few weeks earlier he'd been naked and sweating in the sling. Now he was literally saving our lives. When we all left Sir's office I stayed with the six no-longer bell boys. "Come on down," I said, "we need to talk." When we got there we all crammed into Cabin 1. Vincent said that he and George had already decided that they wanted to get back to England. "We're both good divers and if we get the right training there's bound to be jobs in the Navy for skilled divers. We want to get back to see whether they'll take us on as boys and train us." "And that's what you both want?" "Of course it is, Patrick," said George, "we want to stick together just like the rest of you. They may not let us, but we bloody well want to try." That was clear enough. "What about the rest of you?" The four of them all started to talk at once. I calmed them down. "Do you want to stay together as couples?" Four nods. "OK, Prince and Javid, you tell us what you want. Javid first." "We all think we'll be split up if we go back to England. They won't let black or brown boys join up with white ones. So if we want to be together it has to be here. Besides, being on Queen Mary feels like it'll be a lot safer." "Is that how you all feel?" Four nods. "I've no idea what Will had in mind for you to do once we're converted. I think all four of you should think hard what trades you want to learn on board. One day you'll be old enough to be called up for service, and if you have a trade on board here they may let you stay as we'll be a big part of the War. You can't spend the whole time peeling potatoes and mopping up sick." Nigel spoke for all of them, I think, when he said they hadn't much clue about what trades might be needed. I didn't know much more than them, but the engine room would need a lot of people - just as many as now - and the catering would need a lot more if we would be carrying 10,000 passengers rather than the usual 2,000 or so. "They won't get served, I imagine, but the food still has to be prepared and cooked." We went on discussing things until it was time to go back to Sir. When we got there Will had gone. Vincent and George explained what they wanted and Sir said that he would tell the Navy liaison officer. He thought they would be welcomed with open arms. "Be ready to go at short notice, maybe a day or so." The rest of them said they wanted to stay, willing to do any task but hoping to learn a trade. "I'm glad," said Sir, "I believe you'll be safe here, and I will make sure that you get the training you want. I want each of you to think what part of the ship you think you'd work in best, and tell me tomorrow. "I will have a new job on Queen Mary in a few days. I will be staying in New York to oversee the massive business of getting the ship converted, and putting all the furniture and everything else that will be taken out and stored for the duration. That means I need to be based on shore. What you don't know - and this must remain a secret - is that our sister ship, Queen Elizabeth, is nearing completion in Glasgow and will be joining us here in a few months. She will be fitted out as a troop ship as well. I will be handling that also. Now, you younger six - you're not bell boys any longer. I wonder what we should call you." "Able Seamen," I said quietly, "for that's what we all are." =============================================================================== The fun continues in Chapter 108 as things develop further. HMS Hood did accompany Queen Mary in August 1939. The photographs in Queen Mary 2 are real. I saw them while making a transatlantic crossing last year, and the boy I describe as "me" is really cute. I'm sure he had adventures ... Drop me a line at badboi666@btinternet.com - that is after you've dropped nifty a few quid. ===============================================================================