John Hills

Living on the Dingledale for 10 months was and did have its funny and interesting moments. We left the UK at Xmas time, which as you know can be a bit chilly, our cabin quarters were quite small, in fact of the many ships I had sailed on these were the smallest but nice and cosy in the colder weather, BUT when we got into the Caribbean our cabins became sweat boxes. Conditions got even worse when we arrived at our Manus Island base, some of us did manage to get some hammocks from our navy friends, so from then on we tied up said items on the after boat deck, and we also slept fully dressed when at sea, just in case we had to abandon ship.