In December 1989, I was asked by the National Museum of Bermuda to interview two Bermudians — Hubert Ible and Rudolph Stines — who were employed during the 1940s on a vessel named the War Brahmin.

It is with their permission that I am able to share the information gathered from these men, who are now deceased.

The War Brahmin, one of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, was a war class freighting tanker and one of a group of vessels with the prefix War. It was the only one of the fleet fitted with a Davit — a crane that projected over its side.The rest of its name, Brahmin, was derived from an Indian word and refers to the highest in the Indian caste system.

Rudolph Stines joined the crew of the War Brahmin in August 1944 at the age of 18. He had just received conscription papers for the army and, in his effort to avoid joining up, he applied for a job as an assistant steward. He was required to wait on tables and, as he had no prior training, was surprised when he was accepted for the position, which he held until his discharge in November 1945. Before this, he had worked as a barber in the family business.

Hubert Ible completed his high school education at Sandys Secondary School at the age of 16. He immediately went to work in the kitchens of the Bermudiana and later the Hamilton Princess Hotel. At that time, the mail censor examiners were accommodated in these hotels.

He later found employment with HM Services, where he worked on the HMS duty boats Sumer and Ganeth. These boats were about the size of the Chauncey M. Depew and were used during the war to tow targets out to sea so that other ships could perform target practice.

In 1945, at the age of 18, Raymond “Libby” Simmons encouraged him to apply for a job as a cook on the War Brahmin. He was successful and shared a cabin with three other men.

This vessel was built in 1920 at Port Glasgow, England. It was a support oil tanker for the Royal Navy, stationed at Dockyard. It was 410 feet long, 52 feet wide with a draught of 28 feet. The gross tonnage was 5,545. The carrying capacity was 7,400 tonnes of diesel oil.

It was a single-screw ship — one propeller — and travelled at ten knots with a full load and at 12 knots as a light ship. A journey from Trinidad to Bermuda took four to five days. It was seaworthy with a very good sea hull, good lines, steered well and maintained good speed in rough weather. The hull was not regularly maintained and it never went into dry dock during the time of Mr Stines’s employment. He felt this was owing to the ship’s great importance.

The War Brahmin was painted black and flew a blue ensign. The port holes and most of the glass was painted black and covered by curtains. At night, light was kept to a minimum. The captain’s quarters and the wheelhouse were located on the top deck. The kitchen and crew’s quarters were located two decks down on deck or main level in the midship and the stern. The ship was “nothing but oil tanks” — oil was stored forward, midship and bow.

A gun was located on the stern and the crew took regular rifle practice. Rifles were stored by the gunner in a special area and the crew practised according to the department in which they worked.

The weather forecast was given daily by Malabar. In port it was given by telephone, but at sea it was communicated by morse code.

The War Brahmin would collect oil from a huge American tanker at sea, then return to Dockyard where the oil was discharged into holding tanks located beside Casemates prison. There were also holding tanks on the dock, which since have been demolished. The ship would travel back and forth to the tanker to fill the Dockyard tanks, but always carried a load of oil on board. When discharging the oil, the ship would dock near the 80ft crane, but normally it would berth where the cruise ships now dock in Dockyard.

During the war, convoys would form at Fort St Catherine, St George’s, as Bermuda was the last port before crossing the Atlantic. At that time, Dockyard was the Hub. Ships of many nationalities came for bunkering — water, oil or whatever was needed. Some came for repairs; others to deliver or collect supplies. Merchant ships flying the British flag and Royal Navy ships were refuelled as well. Mr Stines stated that before he joined the ship, he had heard that they would refuel moving convoys who had a deadline to meet. The ship would usually be at sea for two weeks. No local pilots were used when the ship was leaving Dockyard to go out to sea, even when the ship left at night; however, a local pilot was always taken on when returning to Bermuda. Mr Stines could not understand this. The only local pilot Mr Ible remembered was Pilot Kennedy.

Mr Ible described the War Brahmin as a “work ship”. The man responsible for the ship during his employment was Captain Woodward, who he recalled had a difficult personality. On Christmas Day, he allowed no serving of Christmas dinner and behaved as though it was just another day. The ship sailed back and forth in sight of Bermuda for many days just to avoid being in port during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. He felt the Bermudian crew could not be trusted to return to the ship.

There was a crew of 36 comprising the captain, nine officers including one marine gunner, the wireless operator, the chief steward, chief engineer and the bosun. The remaining crew served as able-bodied seamen, chefs and stewards. During Mr Stines’s employment, Captain Hobson was in charge. The crew was from England, Scotland, Panama, the Caribbean and Bermuda. For insurance purposes, one third of the crew had to be on the ship at all times, but Captain Hobson was extremely lenient with time off when in port, especially in one’s home port. There were about 15 Bermudians employed on the ship and they were usually called by their nicknames — Hubert “Chips” Ible, Eugene “Bread” Fubler from Somerset, Stanley “Ding Dong” Dowling from Hamilton. Sidney Oscar “SOS” Smith, Raymond “Libby” Simmons from Somerset, “A1” Simmons from Hamilton. Other Bermudians on the ship were Kingsley Swan and Ormonde Sharpe.

Only the officers wore caps with a badge on them — black caps in the winter and white in the summer or if they were in the Caribbean. The rest of the crew did not wear uniforms.

One member of the crew, Clifford Sommersall, completed his term of employment and returned to England to enter the ministry. The head chef, George Swan, assisted by Hubert Ible, cooked traditional English meals. The food was excellent and Mr Stines recalled this as his introduction to Yorkshire pudding. Food was supplied by Dockyard and delivered to the ship.

In 1946, the ship and crew spent five months in Manchester, England, where it was sent to be scrapped. Most Bermudians who knew the War Brahmin felt the crew were very brave to make this journey because the ship appeared unseaworthy. However, it was thoroughly examined by a naval surveyor, who decided to put the ship into dry dock. The plates had become thin in certain areas, probably because of the constant pounding of the waves, which caused some of the rivets to loosen and pop off. New plates were installed, the ship repainted, an up-to-date telecommunication system installed and the ship generally “fixed up”.

The crew was paid every fortnight by the purser, commonly called the paymaster. Salaries were paid by the British Government and each crew member signed a year-to-year contract. You didn’t have to collect your entire salary, as part of it could be “held back”. Mr Ible had a specific amount deducted and sent monthly by cheque to his mother. Money was issued in the currency of whatever port you were visiting. Mr Stines recalled his salary was £24 a month, which was considered extremely good considering the army paid £1 a week. For some reason, the Panamanian seamen were more highly paid, but they did not know why.

They recalled the bar was always locked when the ship was in port. This was to prevent the crew from purchasing cheaper liquor and cigarettes to sell or give to people on shore.

The navigator was extremely accurate and would inform the crew of the time certain islands would be passed. They would remain awake until 2am or 3 am just to catch a glimpse of land. Days would pass when all they could see were birds and porpoises, and at night it was a thrill just to see a light in the distance. There was a strange feeling of being lost in space.

The ship went to Trinidad and Curaçao three times during the two years of Mr Ible’s employment. In Curaçao, the oil was pumped through pipes directly from the oilfields. They saw nothing of the island and the town seemed very distant. Mr Ible did not know whether the oil taken from Curaçao to Trinidad was identical to the oil taken from Trinidad.

Although the ship was not equipped for passenger travel, they recalled a woman passenger who disembarked in Jamaica.

When the ship was moving through the English Channel or off the coast of England, life preservers were worn at all times. There was always the danger of mines or being caught in wire netting used to entrap submarines.

Eventually, the War Brahmin sailed from Bermuda for Gibraltar, where it served as a water carrier. Its work taken over by the Leaf vessels — the Orangeleaf as well as the Pindar, which was not a Leaf-class vessel. In 1959, she was sold and in 1960, after serving in Gibraltar, she was scrapped.

After the war ended, men employed on the War Brahmin could travel on any naval vessel for eight shillings and four pence a day, which covered the cost of their meals. Kingsley Swan and Ormonde Sharpe took advantage of this.

Mr Ible completed his contract and returned to Bermuda, where he found employment as a mason and a taxi driver. But most will remember him as an HM Prisons officer, a position he held until his retirement. Mr Stines returned to his family’s barbershop business on Court Street and later became a government bus operator.

• Cecille C. Snaith-Simmons is a retired nurse, writer and historian. With thanks and appreciation to the National Museum of Bermuda