Edward (Teddy) Chapman appreciates the knowledge he gained as a Dockyard Apprentice.

Mr. Chapman joined the scheme in 1944 and graduated in 1949 alongside the late Hon. Eugene Cox and Tommy Hender.

He began his apprenticeship in the main electrical shop, where the boys learned to make their own spanners and then spent six months on the lathe. Continuing his studies, he worked on engines that came in for repair.

But he said, one of his most fun moments in the Scheme was when he was sent afloat on ships that had come in for repair.

?This was one of the most exciting periods,? he said. ?I was working on a submarine, then going in it off St. George?s, and then diving to see that everything was working. We also re-wired the and that was enjoyable.

?The other was working on the then new floating dock that was moored off the Naval Operating Base (NOB) (Morgan?s Point) until the old one was towed away to South America, where it was purchased by a shipyard.

?It was a wonderful grounding and even today I don?t use an adding machine.?

Six months before Mr. Chapman?s apprenticeship was due to end, he said: ?I worked in the drawing office, where I had to show on The Dockyard Plans where the most important electrical lines were buried.?

In order to advance through the four years of schooling, an exam had to be passed each year.

?There were 18 of us who started and there were only three of us who did the whole four years and Eugene (Cox) was one of them.?

The most popular lines of training were electrical and engineering, he said.

?The Dockyard would announce how many apprentices they would need and the choice pick was always electrical,? Mr. Chapman said. ?I chose electrical and my good friend Eugene became an engineer, which were the two choice ones.?

Because Mr. Chapman finished up in 1949, he did not go to England with many of the others, and opted to work instead. ?I didn?t look for a job, I was offered a job instead.?

?I then worked for Edmund Gibbons and I worked for them for 43 years. I was also the manager of Bermuda Motors, on Church Street, and when they bought Freeza Fresh, I became a manager there, and for Belvedere (later the Bermuda Creamery).

?I retired and then I was asked to come back to Bermuda Motors ? it was for four hours a day, but that soon went to five, six, seven, eight!?

He became involved in Royal Naval Dockyard Apprentice Scheme because his father Edward Chapman Sr. worked and lived in the Dockyard.

?He was charge man of the electrical fitters afloat and that meant repairing all the ships,? said Mr. Chapman.

?I always thought I wanted to become an apprentice and all the apprentices in Bermuda have done excellent things ? everyone of them has been successful.?