4 CHALLENGER 



the Admiralty to go there at once. The ship's boilers were in a 

 state of preservation, the fuel tanks were empty and the crew on 

 leave : tomorrow was impossible, but by recalling the crew from 

 their Christmas festivities and by every man's doing his utmost, 

 the ship sailed in three days' time, the skeleton crew being 

 augmented by a few ratings from Chatham Barracks to form a 

 steaming party. 



The Captain had been told that he was urgently required at 

 Portsmouth and he thought he had done well to get there so 

 quickly. In those days a Commanding Officer put on his frock 

 coat before waiting on an Admiral, and as he stepped ashore at 

 Portsmouth so attired he was pleased with himself and anxious to 

 know what urgent work lay in store for his new vessel. He was 

 shown in to the Admiral who had been informed that the CO. 

 of Challenger was there to see him. 'Good morning, Baker,' he 

 greeted him. 'What is Challenger — a new fleet repair ship?' Buck 

 wondered where the urgency lay. 



Naval ratings are all attached to one of three manning ports — 

 Chatham, Portsmouth and Devonport — and in peace time at least 

 it is the custom to man a ship with a crew all drawn from one 

 of these three depots, as they are called. Although the ship had 

 been built at Chatham it transpired that her arrival at Portsmouth 

 had been ordered so that she might commission with a Ports- 

 mouth crew of about one hundred men, which she did on 2nd 

 January, 1932. Except for the war years, when crews were 

 mixed, she has had a 'Pompey' (naval slang for Portsmouth) crew 

 ever since. 



It had been decided to take her over as a full-time naval 

 surveying ship, and, as this service is limited in its number of 

 ships, often an old and well-loved ship goes to make room for the 

 new. H.M.S. Iroquois was due at Portsmouth in a few days' time 

 from the Red Sea after many years surveying in the East, and 

 orders had been given that all her stores and surveying equipment 

 should be transferred to Challenger on her arrival. Iroquois's 

 surveying days were over. 



Surveying ships in peace time go to sea for their working period 

 during what is called the 'season', which lasts for eight or nine 

 months while the weather is at its best. The remaining three or 

 four months of the year is loiown as the 'lie-up', when the ships 



