HMS GANGES
“If”
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
The Royal Naval Training Establishment H.M.S. Ganges derived its name from a sailing ship launched in Bombay in 1821. After nearly eighty years of active service - during which time she became the last "Wooden Wall" to wear an Admiral's Flag - she was converted into a training ship and stationed at Shotley pier.
In 1905 the boys were transferred ashore to an establishment on the Shotley Peninsula and the old ship was towed away. From that time until the establishment closed in 1976, thousands of boys passed through HMS Ganges where they trained to become the backbone of the Seaman and Communications Branches of the Royal Navy. Sometimes they went from the establishment to a Training Squadron for a short period, but frequently went direct to take their place in ships of the Fleet as trained Seaman and Communication Boys.
Boys entered the Royal Navy between the ages of 15½ and 16½ years of age spending in the region of 18 months at Ganges receiving a thorough training in seamanship, gunnery, communications and other practical applications. The boys also received school instruction as part of their general education.
Joining up
It was a motley crew of in-disciplined boys that left on the night train from Glasgow Central to London then on to Ipswich and Shotley. As we entered the Annexe to identify ourselves, I remember the first words ever spoken to me in the Navy by the Instructor Boy, himself only a couple of years older --"You call everyone sir here!"
Thus commenced a period of rigorous training and character forming that stood me in good stead and about which many of us I'm sure remain grateful.
Of course, 5.30 a.m. backward swimming in winter mornings was not something that I relished, but I learned in two weeks swallowing a large proportion of Ganges swimming pool in the process!
Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘If‘ was painted on the end wall of the Ganges gymnasium and it was our constant companion during our 18th month’s training. Many of us committed the words to memory that influenced us all life through
Here then are some of my photographic memories, some taken by official Navy photographers, but many just my own snapshots of those memorable days over 50 years ago.
Background & History
