The South Africa Training Ship/Nautical College General Botha,popularly known as "the Bothie",started it's first cadets in 1922 and numbered them incrementally.I was No1506 in the sequence and the pictures and memories below relate specifically to my 1947/48 period of training. There is no strict order but generally Red Hill appears, then Gordons Bay and last Bothie events after 1948.
The pictures were collected from those given to me by other cadets or from professional photographers (I had no camera). Some are old press cuttings and the quality is poor. I have given cadet names where I can remember them and apologise to those for whom I have put a question mark. Names are of cadets in the 1947 year intake unless otherwise stated.
Apart from nautical terms such as "Heads" for latrines the Bothie had a small vocabulary of its own which probably changed in some respects over the years but first year cadets were always (unofficially) called Chums, second year cadets were Old Salts and keeping watch for approaching authority was "Keeping Sponsies". In my time cigarettes were called "burns", sweets or delicacies were "ergs" or "gwogs" (so a gwogbox was a food parcel from home) and the cleaning fluid Brasso was called "bluebell".
There are 38 pictures to follow (including "Older Posts" ).
For comprehensive information about the Bothie go to its website:-
www.generalbotha.co.za
