Following the Cease Fire at Port Said, HMS Manxman fulfilled several tasks in the area, conveying personnel and stores. We returned briefly to Malta but by mid-December we were again called upon to go back to Port Said, via Cyprus, for more tasks.
In a letter to my parents dated Sunday 16th December, 1956, I wrote:
"As I write we are anchored at Limassol, having arrived here yesterday morning from Port Said. Our programme had been altered after we sailed from Malta so we went straight to Suez. On arrival there we dropped some Christmas stores, including Turkeys, cakes, biscuits and decorations for H.M.S. Forth and H.M.S. Tyne. During that forenoon, the ship's company was addressed by the First Lord of the Admialty, Lord Hailsham, who has been out to Suez with C in C Med in order to take stock of the situation out here.
"He told us that he was agreeably surprised at what he found, having expected to find things in a much worse state. But he seemed worried that we were having to evacuate the Canal so soon before we could remove more of the block-ships. Apparently the U.N.O. have very inadequate equipment for lifting the sunken wrecks and it will be a long time before large vessels can pass through.
"We sailed from Port Said that night at 11 p.m. With the First Lord and the C in C on board, arriving in Limassol yesterday morning as I told you. I was bowman of the barge (Nobby was cox'n) and we had to take the V.I.P.'S and their staff ashore. The weather was very rough with a heavy swell and we had a tough job on our hands. [There was no harbour, as such, at Limassol.] However, they both thanked us for what we did and of course we were rather proud to have been able to do it for them.
"Prayers and a Bible reading were read to the ship's company by the Captain this morning, being Sunday.
"The latest news concerning our movements is that we return to Suez tomorrow, Monday, supposedly to cover the withdrawal of the troops. Later we will have to escort some of the slow-moving landing craft back to Malta and will probably be at sea on Christmas day. However, as usual, everything is "in the air" so to speak, and we can be certain of nothing. . . . "
In fact we arrived back in Malta at 0815 hrs Christmas Day (see photo) much to our relief. We were, without exception, exceedingly weary after all the steaming and laborious tasks but Manxman's cooks prepared a splendid breakfast and lunch for us - at least as good as we might have expected at home. There was mail waiting for us - parcels, cards and letters - and we even had a few Christmas trimmings to decorate the mess.
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