Crime on a Queen

8/20/2019 Crime on a Queen

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About the Author

The author was born and brought up in Portsmouth, England and

on leaving school at fifteen served an engineering apprenticeship before joining the Merchant Navy. He has been married to the

same lady for fifty-three years and has two children, threegrandchildren and one great-grandchild. He now lives happily in

retirement.


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Dedication

I dedicate this book to my mother and father who gave me andmy brother a sound and loving upbringing, including for me,

through the Second World War when times were very hard.


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Copyright © James Harley (2015)

The right of James Harley to be identified as author of this workhas been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of

the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any

form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the

publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims

for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the BritishLibrary.

ISBN 9781785541384 (Paperback)ISBN 9781785541391 (Hardback)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2015)Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

25 Canada SquareCanary Wharf

LondonE14 5LQ

Printed and bound in Great Britain


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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Shirley Lipscomb for kindly taking the timeand trouble to proofread the original manuscript.

Also Alex Cracknell, whose contribution towards the publicationof this book is much appreciated by the author.

And last but not least, to thank my loving wife Betty for her patience and understanding while I spent many hours writing this

and other books.


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1

The alarm went off on the bed-side table at six o’clock, thetime that James Royston had set it for the previous night. He

had left it late getting to bed, spending time talking with hismother and father before venturing onto the second biggestliner in the world at that time, the Queen Mary.

After serving an engineering apprenticeship, he hadspent three years as an engineer on cargo ships with two

companies, both of which sailed out of London Docks. Hehad recently applied to join the Cunard Steam Ship

Company who, with his previous engineering experience,accepted him as an Engineer Officer.

He was now twenty-three years old and wanted to getonto a more regular way of life and sailing out from nearer

home in Portsmouth.He arose, washed, shaved and got dressed, but not in the

uniform he had had to buy himself because it was not

supplied by the company. That was neatly packed away inhis rather large suitcase. He sat and ate the breakfast his

mother had got up to prepare for him as she had done for hisfather for years. After his dad had gone off to work in thePortsmouth Dockyard having shaken hands and wished his

son all the best and given him some fatherly advice, it wastime to say a fond farewell to the mother.

Before he picked up his navy blue uniform rain-coat,

leather gloves and his now rather heavy suitcase, he turnedto his mother and gave her a most loving hug. “Cheerio,” he

said with a catch in his throat disguised with a little cough.“It will only be for less than two weeks if all goes well,” and


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with that went through the front door, out of the woodengates that needed some TLC and down the hill to catch the

bus that would take him to Cosham Railway Station. He

stowed his case under the stairs of the double-decker buswhen he got on and sat just inside rather than go upstairs,

knowing he could manage without a cigarette for twentyminutes, the time it would take to get to the station? Onarrival in Cosham, which is a suburb of Portsmouth, too

large to be a village and too small to be a town, he made hisway to the station. There he purchased a single ticket toSouthampton Central and sat waiting for his train. Seeing

that he had a while to wait, he thought he would get anewspaper, but being only a small station there was no WH

Smith’s news stand on the platform, but there was a paper boy just outside that he had spotted. He asked a lady on the platform if she would keep her eye on his case while he got

himself a newspaper, and could he get her one while he wasat it. She said, “No thank you, I have a magazine,” but yes ofcourse she would look out for his case. So James went out to

get the Daily Mirror. He chose that because at the time, atleast as far as he was concerned, it had the best sports

coverage, which was his main interest. He had tried his handat a lot of sports while at and after leaving school, so enjoyedreading about and keeping up to date with what was going

on in the world of sport. So, armed with his newly acquirednewspaper he returned to his suitcase and the young lady that

was keeping her eye on it. It was quite a cold morning andvery draughty with the chill wind blowing along the

platforms. This was excuse enough for James to get intoconversation with the young lady. Two trains passed through

the station one each way, before the train both he and theyoung lady were waiting for came along.

They both got on, and, seeing he had already spoken to

her, asked if he could join her on the journey.She said yes that would be alright and so they found two

adjoining seats. The young lady in question was about fivefoot four with light brown wavy hair and the most beautiful


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blue eyes. Being so cold she was heavily wrapped up so hecould not judge what sort of figure she had, even when sheloosened her coat before sitting down. Above the boots she

was wearing she had shapely legs, what he could see ofthem. He was attracted to her mostly by her eyes; they were

not just blue, but soft, with a hint of humour and intelligence.She was not heavily made up, obviously relying on hernatural beautiful complexion. Her finger nails were well

manicured and she wore earrings that dropped slightly.James wondered if the small diamonds in their gold settingswere real.

They sat together, not speaking for a few minutes while

the train with its usual ‘puff puff’ started out from thestation, heading towards Portchester and Fareham; being aslow train it stopped at most stations on its way to London.

Once they were under way, James introduced himself. Shetold him her name was Katherine. He said he was on his wayto the Southampton Docks to pick up the Queen Mary,

which was due to sail tomorrow afternoon. She said she wasgoing on to London for an interview for a new job. “Will

you not be a bit early arriving?” she said, “I didn’t think the passengers arrived until the day of sailing.” This brought asmile to James’s face and a little flush of embarrassment

came over hers because she thought she had said somethingshe should not have done. “Why are you smiling?” she said,

“Have I said something funny?”

“No, not really,” James said, “I am an Engineer Officer

and part of the ship’s company, I only wish I was sailing as a passenger, especially if it was first class. What job are yougoing to interview for?” James asked, thinking it was

probably modelling or the like.“It is with a new in the market travel agency that have

advertised f or candidates for their organisation. I’ve alwayswanted to travel so thought I might give this a try. I wantedto be an air hostess but could not speak a foreign language

which was one of the requirements and like you, would like


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to be on the liners, but they will not take me until I’m twentysix, which I am not; so if nothing else, if I get a job with atravel agency it will stand me in good stead when I am

twenty six and apply to go to sea in some capacity.”

As the train pulled in and out of the stations and thesmoke from the engine passed the carriage windows, theconversation turned to where they lived and what schools

they went to. James asked if Katherine had been evacuatedduring the war, to which she answered she had not and wasglad she had not been. She said that they had been bombed

out and that the house she lived in with her mother,grandmother and elder sister had been so badly damaged by

a bomb that exploded about a hundred yards down the road,that they had had to find alternative rented accommodation;an upstairs flat near the Portsmouth sea front. She said they

had been in the air raid shelter when the bomb went off andafter the all clear was sounded and they immerged from thedug-out, they found the house was partly demolished and not

a window intact. She said she was very young and couldremember very little of the war or moving houses. They

were still talking of the past when the train pulled intoSouthampton Central Station and it was time for them to saytheir goodbyes. Wishing each other all the best for the future,

James especially wished Katherine good luck at herinterview.

Lifting down his suit case from the luggage rack, Jamestook leave of Katherine and left the train to try to find a taxito take him to the old docks where the Queen Mary was

berthed at the Ocean Terminal. On crossing over the bridgeto reach the platform leading to the road, he dropped his

ticket and had to put his case down to pick it up. As he picked up the ticket he noticed a pair of dark brown well-

worn suede brogue shoes staring up at him. As he lifted hishead his eyes passed the tweed turn ups of a rather baggy

pair of trousers then to the matching jacket of a well-wornsuit, flannelette type checked shirt and heavy duty, man of


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the country tie, along with a battered corduroy hat. He was atallish man of about five ten and when he spoke he had avery thick Scottish accent. “Can I help you?” said the man,

in a friendly way.“Not really, I’ve only dropped my ticket which the ticket

collector will want to see as I leave the station.” Jamesreplied.

“Where are you off to? He asked, in an enquiring, rather

than demanding sort of tone.“As a matter of fact I am going to try and get a taxi to

take me to the old docks and the Queen Mary,” said James.

“That’s funny,” said the man, “so am I, should we traveltogether and share a taxi?”

“My name is James Royston, what’s yours?”“My name is Gordon Caligan and I have just come down

from Glasgow to join the Queen Mary for my first trip as an

Electrical Officer, I am pleased to meet you.” They walkedthe short distance to the gate where the ticket collector tooktheir tickets and out onto the pavement where other people

were waiting for taxis. When it came to James’s andGordon’s turn they both got in the back and James said, “The

Ocean Terminal Old Docks, please, and the Queen Mary.“How many crew does that ship carry?” asked the taxidriver, as they started off towards the docks.

“I don’t know off hand,” James said, “but I do knowthere are eighty three Engineer and Electrical Officers of

which we are two, why do you ask?”“Only because I came on two hours ago and this is the

sixth trip I have done from this station to the ship already,when is she due to sail?”

“At four o’clock tomorrow afternoon,” James replied.The rest of the ten minute journey was completed in silence

until they arrived as close to the ship as the driver could get.“How much do we owe you driver?” asked Gordon, who

was first out of the car. “Make it half a crown, please,governor, and have a good trip.”

“Thank you very much and take sixpence for yourself,”he said, giving the driver a ten bob note. James had gone

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Crime on a Queen

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