Dockyard Tower Signal Station, secret messages and black market watches
The signal station on Gib was quite a prominent building on a smaller scale than the one in Malta. Duty watches were 4 hours on, 8 hours off with a leading sig and two or three sigs of various grades. It was possible to have one week in a month working owing to the amount of sigs available. I preferred to go more often at nights because in the basement there were about eight teleprinters manned by Wrens. The Wrens weren’t the attraction for me so much (but very acceptable) as the information that came in on the teleprinters.
The best report to read was classified “Most Important” for the Governor of Gibraltar and as I was writing to a friend on HMS Indefatigable in the Pacific, I was very interested in the contents. All the information imaginable was reported and the Indefatigable was having a rough time with Japanese kamikaze planes. This TP machine would hammer this report out every night for about an hour or more from Whitehall. I did wonder about security as one Wren who had been there 15 months during the war in Europe said the situation was very similar and it gave very valuable information.
The best report to read was classified “Most Important” for the Governor of Gibraltar and as I was writing to a friend on HMS Indefatigable in the Pacific, I was very interested in the contents. All the information imaginable was reported and the Indefatigable was having a rough time with Japanese kamikaze planes. This TP machine would hammer this report out every night for about an hour or more from Whitehall. I did wonder about security as one Wren who had been there 15 months during the war in Europe said the situation was very similar and it gave very valuable information.
The noise in the basement was chronic and I wondered about the hearing problem of the personnel as it certainly affected my ears, which were pretty ropey at the time.
One particular Wren did voluntary charity work at the “TOC H” Club (Salvation Army) and was looking for volunteers, so I opted in. She was quite nice and there again she could vouch for me in the TP basement. I thought spying work could not be very hard really. The ‘TOC H’ work was a horrendous three months of washing and drying thousands of dishes. No wonder they had trouble getting volunteers.
I worked with a telegraphist at this club who was getting out of the service on special dispensation owing to his Civvy Street job. His firm had applied for his release and a week before he left he took me aside one day and asked if I’d like to take over his little black market number flogging watches and perfume that he had brought in from Tangiers. One of his reasons for working at the club was the myriad of contacts he could and did make. He left it a bit late as there were a number of middlemen to talk to and it was a busy week and he said it was fairly lucrative and did I have £14 to buy his stock?
£14 was bloody impossible at that stage but the Wren loaned me ten pounds and said he was okay so I set up in business that was very good indeed but had to give up the ‘TOC H’ due to commitments.
James the Yeoman of the Vetch had gone to be in charge of Europa Point Signal Station on the south point of Gib – a self-contained unit and I was waiting to join him, but as it was a pleasant and cushy number no vacancies occurred. I went up to see him about the business inviting him to join but he was fully occupied. There was a one ring RN signal bosun in charge above James but he was an alcoholic and in a daze most of the time and James was running the station completely, filing all the necessary forms and the bosun scrawled his signature.
One particular Wren did voluntary charity work at the “TOC H” Club (Salvation Army) and was looking for volunteers, so I opted in. She was quite nice and there again she could vouch for me in the TP basement. I thought spying work could not be very hard really. The ‘TOC H’ work was a horrendous three months of washing and drying thousands of dishes. No wonder they had trouble getting volunteers.
I worked with a telegraphist at this club who was getting out of the service on special dispensation owing to his Civvy Street job. His firm had applied for his release and a week before he left he took me aside one day and asked if I’d like to take over his little black market number flogging watches and perfume that he had brought in from Tangiers. One of his reasons for working at the club was the myriad of contacts he could and did make. He left it a bit late as there were a number of middlemen to talk to and it was a busy week and he said it was fairly lucrative and did I have £14 to buy his stock?
£14 was bloody impossible at that stage but the Wren loaned me ten pounds and said he was okay so I set up in business that was very good indeed but had to give up the ‘TOC H’ due to commitments.
James the Yeoman of the Vetch had gone to be in charge of Europa Point Signal Station on the south point of Gib – a self-contained unit and I was waiting to join him, but as it was a pleasant and cushy number no vacancies occurred. I went up to see him about the business inviting him to join but he was fully occupied. There was a one ring RN signal bosun in charge above James but he was an alcoholic and in a daze most of the time and James was running the station completely, filing all the necessary forms and the bosun scrawled his signature.