THE EASTERN FLEET I3I 



of respect, but he received an even sharper signal in return, 

 drawling his attention to the Navy List. 



One day Captain Wyatt, who was reconnoitring onshore for the 

 scheme of triangulation, came to a 100-foot high water tower 

 situated in a sisal plantation. Thinking that this would make a good 

 position for a triangulation station he climbed the fixed ladder to 

 the top of the tank where he began to make notes of what he 

 could see from this vantage point. He noticed bees swarming 

 round the top of a vent pipe on the tank and soon one of these 

 stung him. He killed it and was at once attacked by the whole 

 swarm. He beat a retreat down the ladder and ran through the 

 plantation to a house about a quarter of a mile away. The good 

 people let him in and plucked 30 stings from his head alone and 

 dozens of others from his arms and legs. 



Swollen-faced in the wardroom that night he asked if anyone 

 was game for a go at making a theodolite station on the tank. Sub- 

 Lieutenant J. E. Moore said that he had kept bees and was willing ; 

 so next morning he and the Doctor set off with a Flit-gun filled 

 with chloroform and a mail-bag. They doped the bees inside the 

 vent pipe and tied the bag over the end, and returned to the 

 ship to report that all was ready for observing. Next day the 

 Sub-Lieutenant climbed the water tower confidently, his theodo- 

 lite on his back. But he had reckoned without the keeper of the 

 sisal plantation ; the wild bees were this man's tribal totem and he 

 had removed the mail-bag so that the entire swarm was ready for 

 the Sub as he reached the top of the tank. When he got back to 

 the ship some hours later his head was in a bandage and his arm 

 in a sling. 



Shortly after this incident the Sub volunteered and was accepted 

 for service in submarines; perhaps he thought enemy depth 

 charges preferable to African wild bees. 



Those in the field had worked hard, but now the Royal Marines 

 were also busy. The chart of the Port of Kilindini was too large 

 for Challenger' s printing outfit, so that it had to be produced in 

 two halves, and two plates had to be made. After many difficulties 

 due to the high temperatures and the humidity of the atmosphere 

 both plates were ready on the 2 2nd November, only i 2 days 

 after the survey was completed. 



