The 'lost' bell on the bow of the Brighton

There was some magic about that era; TV hadn't taken over our lives and decreed more or less what was expected to be the proper way to live.

Large towns and small towns all had their local dance bands, some designed to please the young and others the more mature, but which ever, it was frequent that the evening finished with the waltz Goodnight Sweetheart with some dress- suited MC or the band's vocalist doing his best to imitate Al.

Then the exit doors would open and out would pour the cast of the evening, back to reality, the real world. So not surprisingly our main picture falls right into that category.

I took the photo, I would think, in 1935. Yes, it's ships again, but please bear with me. The vessel ahead is the screw SS Brest, one of the regular cargo steamers of the service with two of the three-ton cranes attending her.

With two other vessels they brought a lot of employment to the quayside. Beyond is the 'flier', the Royal Mail steamer Paris IV; record crossing when new in 1913 '“ 2hr 36mins.

Under Naval command in the First World War, she was a mine-layer in enemy water. She was chased by three German destroyers. Wooden furniture was thrown into the furnaces and with red hot funnels, she escaped.

Sadly, in 1940, as a hospital carrier after going into Calais and then about four trips to Dunkirk, she was attacked twice from the air when about nine miles short of the beaches. Machine-gunned with bombs falling close to her, she was abandoned and sank with the loss of two lives and injuries to some nurses.

It was her skipper, Captain Ernest Biles, who took me when about an eight year old, on to the SS Dieppe '“ my first ship, when she was laid up in Sleepers Hole, and he was second or first officer.

The object sticking up on the East Pier is the Green Light, which then was a hut like that now on the West Pier. The lighthouse then on the pier is visible with that of the breakwater in the distance.

Now for the ship I am on, the Brighton No 5. New in 1933 and though still in my teens, I was luckily a guest aboard, not actually sailing to Dieppe until August 1939 as war was about to be declared.

She was five years younger than the Worthing which many readers will remember. Like most of her contempories, the Brighton was first engaged in taking the British troops to France and when this exercise was completed she and many others were converted to hospital carriers, to bring the wounded back.

For such purpose she was trapped in Dieppe, as the enemy advanced from Dunkirk and were 'coming over the hill'. There is a little uncertainty about the gates of the dock in which she was positioned. A rough chart of new mines sown to the harbour exit and given by the departing Royal Navy to assist her departure was not used, for bombs fell close to her and she settled down in the dock.

Her crew, with great determination got back to England. The Maid of Kent, sharing the same dock, was less lucky. A bomb went right into her causing great fire and loss of crew.

The object of the photo?

Note the ship's bell, left of centre, near. With German occupation, the Brighton was broken up at Dieppe, but three years or so ago, the late Steve Benz, saw the bell in an antiques shop window in Warrington, Lancs. The dealer said he had bought it at a street market at Le Mans, not all that far from Dieppe.

Steve kindly bought it and presented it to the museum. It has come home. Ask if you may ring it!

PETER BAILEY

Peter Bailey is curator of the Newhaven Local and Maritime Museum based in its own fascinating premises in the grounds of Paradise Park in Avis Road, Newhaven. Summer opening hours are daily, 2-4pm or by arrangement. Admission 1 (accompanied children free). Contact the curator on 01273 514760. Log on to the website at www.newhavenmuseum.co.uk