SAMUEL SAVORIE.
RAIIWAYMAN & SPY.
FOREWORD: The English Elementary Education Act of 1870 allowed local authorities to make school attendance compulsory. Exceptions included children who worked, or who lived too far from a school. This naturally included the children of Canal Boatmen, who’s families travelled with them. Education was thus the duty of the captain. A duty taken seriously, particularly by many of such captains who were also owners of their vessels. Samuel’s father, Owd Sam, on his barge T’Skelder, was such a teacher to his Daughter and five Sons. He taught them two subjects, How to run a Barge, and more importantly, How to Learn Anything. Young Sam chose Languages, becoming fluent in French & Flemish, Conversational in German, Norse, Danish, Swedish and Russian. The tongues of his ancestors.
BBBC116. Poppy Goes To Belgium.
The smell of a leaking barrel of Burton’s Beer sallied throughout their barge bound for Sittingbourne. Night and day, Trent to Thames, the family stayed on deck or in the cramped wheelhouse, desperate to avoid inhaling inebriating intoxicant fumes. Escaping London’s clamour the Estuarial Breeze dismembered the stenches of city and Burton booze from their exhausted nostrils. As they turned, refreshed into the Medway mouth, Young Sam cried “Medway blows Mead away !” “ The elder grinned as usual, delighted at his firstborn’s ever ready wit “Aye Lad, aye gud’un ! Yer wanna take ‘er up the Swale ?” At 14 Sam was already competent in maneuvering of North Kent waters. “Reckon so Dad. I hope Poppy’ll be wharfeside.” “Aye, probable, don’t you get no fancy ideas now, she’s yer cousin yer know !” They both turned a bit pink at the thought. Soon enough, there she was, waving like daft ‘un, wearing a right big posh hat above a welcoming shout.
There was a long queue of craft at the short old wharfe, it’s main hoist broken meant unloading the heavy barrels was not going to be quick. Could be days. “Uncle Sam me Mam and Pa have a job for Sam just for a few weeks can I take him back to Ramsgate please Uncle Sam it’s really important, see” she paused after the breathless rush. She knew how to get round him, he could never refuse his sisters girl. “Aye, three days back ere, Lad, ter let me know what’s up, then we’ll see. Jos ‘n’me can cope”. The boy returned on time.
“It’s that sailor Jean-Pierre, she’s told us about, going steady now they are. His Dad has had a nasty accident and want Jean-Pierre to quit the ferry and run the riverboat for him. Jean-Pierre has asked Poppy to wed in Belgium, she’s willing, but Aunty Mary and Uncle Joe say only if she has a chaperone until after the wedding. Has ter be someone they know and trust. Seems like they want me” “What about the living arrangements ?” “Jean-Pierre’s parents own a cottage by their boat berthing, we will stay with them, He’ll be on the boat, where there’s repair work to be done, and they will pay me to help him… Only Jean-Pierre’s final trip on the ferry is this week. His captain has offered free passage for us as a wedding gift:” “Aye, well, hmmm…. If it’s ok with yer Mam, then y’d best set off in the morning” “Thanks, Dad, er, if yer tell her it’ll improve my French and Flemish it’ll help her decide”. Neither Sam, slept much that night. Next morning Mum and Sis, wept on his neck, Jos gripped his hand until they both hurt. The three younger brothers walked him to the station, for his third train ride in five days. Three rides he was never to forget.
BBBC112. To Capetown and to Freetown and to Far Americay. *
A few weeks grew into four years, such was Sam’s passion for Francais and Nederlands, although he spoke them with Walloons and Vlaamse accents. In the meantime he had become First mate to Jean-Pierre’s ailing riverboat. Most of it’s trade now taken by the railways. The young captain’s parents passed away a month apart, and Poppy in April announced that she was with child. Several times a year Sam and Jos had exchanged family news. In England the Railways had all but decimated the canal industry too. The demise of T’Skelder best customer, Burtons, like so many breweries, had been a severe blow. The Irish Navvies who had built both networks were emigrating to fresh opportunities in America, where they were being joined by Europeans fleeing the poverty and threats of War on the Ottoman and Serbian horizons. Poppy declared that she would have her baby in Britain, no argument tolerated. Jean-Pierre and Sam persuaded her that if they could sell the cottage and boat, they could join the Atlantic exodus, once the baby was weaned. Jos wrote to say that Sissy was getting married, brother Ashley wanted to emigrate to Australia, Roger was now an apprentice mining engineer in Rotherham, Richard was still with their parents. Jos himself was thinking about working on the Docks in either England or America.
In August Poppy and Jean-Pierre moved to stay with her parents, back in Ramsgate. Sam and Jos found lodgings down Bean Street in Kingstown-Upper-Number, where nearly half the houses were occupied by distant relatives. Jos, being of beefy build quickly found work on the docks, Sam’s slight build was a barrier but eventually was well pleased to find work as a railway clerk on another dock. They courted Bean Street neighbors, sisters, Alice and Lillian, who refused point blank to emigrate. “You both have paid jobs here, maybe in a few years, after we are married !” Poppy’s child was now a toddler, but the ever determined Poppy would not countenance America without cousin Sam.
BBBC106. The Western Front.
With the ever looming prospects and uncertainties, the four lovers decided to have a double wedding. The following day Britain and her allies declared war on Germany, as Germany, unprovoked, marched into Belgium, en-route to attack France. The day after that Sam and Jos presented themselves as volunteers at the local barracks. Jos was told he could serve Britain best by staying on the docks, as he was now an under-foreman. Sam’s slight figure was pondered by the Officer in charge. “You don’t look as if you are fit enough, Laddie, so unless you have any special skills…….” “Well Sir, I know every town and waterway along the Belgian French Border, and am good with both languages Sir” The startled officer gaped “How can that be the truth !?” “Family ties on their canals, Sir” “Can you prove it, and can you shoot a rifle ?” “Absolutement, mais sur, mon Kapitain, Zonder twijfel mijnheer, and erm, I have done a fair bit of poaching too Sir, here, and over there !” The Officer, struggled to contain his laughter… “Cheeky Bastard, and by the way I’m a Leftenant, not a captain, You will need to know the difference !” It was Sam’s turn to struggle. The officer handed Sam a rail pass with instructions to report to the East Yorkshire Rifle Regiment within 72 hours. He paused, then said, “Look if you can pass a language test we might have another use for you” “Well Sir, I am proud to be English, and I am just as proud of my favourite foreign family, I will do whatever I can for both.” “Right ho Laddie, we will be in touch” They shook hands, man to man. Within a month Sam found himself signing the Official Secrets Act, prior to being attached as a translator to the staff of Field Marshall John Denton Pinkstone French, commander of the British Army on the Western Front.
On more than one visit Sam accompanied the Field Marshal to confer with General Joseph-Jacques-Cesaire Joffre, Commander in Chief of France’s Armies. During one intense meeting the General suddenly asked Sam if he could speak any German, to which he replied, probably enough to fool a non German Sir. “Alors ! tres bien, and you can handle un petit bateau and also drive a train, n’est pas ?” Sam surprised at the generals interest could only agree. At the end of the meeting he was told to wait outside, whilst the two top officers spoke in private. Afterwards the Field Marshall informed Sam that he was to be seconded to the French Resistance until further notice. His orders were specific. He would be introduced to a forger of documents this day, leaving with false identity papers, in civilian clothing, the next morning for Paris. He was promoted on the spot to the honorary rank of Major, and his assignment was to be a Field Liaison link between the Resistance and Whitehall. They shook hands and parted. At breakfast a HQ Aide brought him clothes, papers and money for a ticket to Gare du Nord, Paris, another unforgettable rail journey. There he would be approached by by an agent with the password Adolphine. The agent would recognize him if he took his beret from his satchel as he limped from the platform. He was not to contact anyone he knew. The War Office would tell his wife that he was safe, doing translation work in a Belgian Hospital, far from the front line, but the censor had prohibited all letters. She would receive his pay. “Be very careful Sir, Bon Chance” “Je remerceri” responded Sam, momentarily oblivious that it was the Aide who had saluted him first.
TO BE REVISITED.
NeXt Article. 13 Sept. Sam can you see that big green tree ? Where there’s water, running Free. Part One “Dirty” (Ed... This is not about Samuel Savorie).
NeXt Legend. 20 Sept. “D’ARKANII; Twins of a Stranger, Dry Feet”.
First A,B+C. Sunday 24th Sept. Arts, Books & Cats. (In equal measures). Plus first advance notice of first Libre Libris list.
Further Article. 27 Sept. Sam can you see that big green tree ? Part two “Clean”.
Further Legend. Oct 4th. “t’OTHERWITH BOY; The Mystery of Simpson’s water tower, A Bejewelled Cat.”
* Ed. Extract from “Muirsheen Durkin”, a traditional Irish Emigrants song, full of hopes and emotions, beautifully recorded by the Dubliners.
And so, once again, my thanks for all your comments, likes, complements, pledges and most of all - your valuable time. A bien tot ! Peace, Maurice.
I shall follow the tale
Thank you for a very entertaining story.