Any thoughts I’d had of setting up an impromptu schoolroom for the children in the hold were soon dashed. People were squeezed tightly into the limited space, mothers clinging to small children and babies, all near hysterical with fright – even though the aerial attack had stopped.
Instead, I tried to get them to follow the example of the servicemen on deck, by singing. At first, there were only one or two participants, but after a few minutes, more joined in, along with several mothers, grateful for distraction. We worked our way through the complete canon of nursery rhymes and lullabies, before moving onto hymns and other songs. The tunes wandered off-key at times, but were soon steered back. Among the women were one or two I recognised from Penang – mainstays of the dramatic society an
