XIX 



Homeward 



BACK in Kure, Bill Ashton became the last one of those many 

 who returned for a second commission in the Challenger ^ 

 this time as her last Commanding Officer. Almost at once 

 he took the ship to Ominato, at the northern end of the main 

 Japanese island of Honshu. This was not the Japan of green valleys 

 and blossoming cherry trees, for it was winter time and Ominato 

 lay deep under snow. It was a town of slushy streets, whose in- 

 habitants in padded coats and fur-lined caps hurried home to their 

 charcoal stoves and sukiyaki. 



Ominato had formerly been a minor Japanese naval base and 

 at this time there was a proposal, since dropped, that the British 

 Fleet might visit there in the heat of Hong-Kong's summer, much 

 as they had visited Wei-Hai-Wei before the War. 



There was an interpreter here called Hamaya who assisted the 

 ship and introduced the various local figures. As the weeks passed 

 the ship became a part of the local landscape moored at her buoy 

 in the harbour while the boats were away on the survey, and her 

 men had many acquaintances in the township with whom they 

 drank sake, ate sashmi (raw fish) or learnt judo. 



Tom explored the barren hinterland on skis, worn, as the locals 

 wore theirs, by pushing his feet into rubber boots which were 

 roughly secured with string to the skis. 



During the visit the Wardroom were invited to Hamaya 's 

 wedding. Some discussion took place onboard as to what would 

 constitute a good wedding present. It was finally decided to give 

 him and his bride a ship's crest painted on a shield, an item of 

 which Number One kept a large stock for all manner of gift- 

 giving occasions, a bottle of Scotch and a few odds and ends 

 from the canteen. Having checked their stockings for holes they 

 landed and made their way to the house where the wedding was 

 to be celebrated and where they found that the normal wedding 

 gifts were beautifully decorated envelopes containing money 



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