The British Ship Adoption Society

The meeting following, on 5th March, was a talk on "Colour Photography", given by Mr. T. B. Lyth, an old "boy" of the School, now a retired bank manager. He told us much about preparing a photograph for a competition; then showed us many beautiful colour slides which he had taken and prepared.

The last meeting of the term was an illustrated talk by Mr. L. G. Manchester, B.Sc., on "Fermentation in Industry". He started by telling us about the various types of fermentation to be found. Then he showed us two films on the preparation of Penicillin, and ended a very interesting talk by telling us about citric acid. Mr. Manchester brought with him many specimens of fungi especially prepared for this lecture. The attendance at this meeting was good in spite of the fact that through some oversight it was run in competition with the Debating Society.

It has been pleasing to note that more senior boys in the Vth and VIth Forms are now becoming members of the Society. M. I. L. RICE (Hon. Sec.)

As anticipated in the last issue of "The 'Peterite", our adopted ship has changed, for we have transferred with our correspondent, Capt. Graham, to the "Clan Brodie".

Our new ship was built in 1940 and was then taken over by the Royal Navy, in which she served under the name of H.M.S. "Athene". She has a gross tonnage of 7,473 tons and is 487 feet long. She is an oil-burner, with a speed of 16 knots, though 14 knots is normal speed in order to reduce oil consumption.

The crew numbers 84, of whom the officers are Europeans, the others being 'Indian and Pakistanis, with appointments which sound odd to the layman : serang, tindals, topasses, besides the more familiar quartermasters, winchmen, and donkeymen.

An unusual feature of the ship is a derrick able to lift 105 tons, so that heavy loads are a feature of the cargo.

The outward cargo provides a fascinating cross-section of British exports to S. Africa, ranging from hens to Centurion tanks. We counted over 90 different items in the cargo loading plan—to take a few at random : pails of grease, bales of waste, bags of salt, rolls of linoleum, drums of caustic soda, cartons of biscuits, crates of earthenware, bundles of hoes, coils of barbed wire, cases of motor parts, cisterns and baths, Dettol and drambuie, tractors and railway waggons, and so on for a long time.