Royal Navy's Watch Over Smugglers - SEA PATROL CUTS CYPRIOT ARMING

In April 1956, the New York Times 'embedded' its Pulitzer Prize-winning Cyprus correspondent on board HMS Fenton. This is the report JOSEPH O HAFF filed.

By
JOSEPH O HAFF

FAMAGUSTA. A blood red sun is sinking below the ruins of Othello's Tower on Famagusta's old walled city as HMS Fenton slips her moorings and heads out through the harbor breakwater to the open sea.

HMS Fenton M1135. She was one of the vessels that took part later in Operation Musketeer in October-November 1956.

The Fenton, commissioned only eight months ago, is one of four British minesweepers that nightly patrol the waters of eastern Cyprus. Their task is to prevent the smuggling of arms, ammunition and men to terrorist bands that hide in the mountain fastness by day and strike at British security patrols at night.

The 108th minesweeping squadron.

Minesweeper HMS Kellington

The Fenton and her sister ships - Tarlton, Rodington and Kellington - are small fighting craft of 500 tons each. They have packed in their 160-foot length a bewildering assortment of gear to trace and render harmless the many types of mines developed for modern warfare.

This night, the Fenton is not looking for mines. Her mission is to protect the 73 miles of coastline from Cape Andreas at the north-easternmost point of the Cyprus Panhandle to Cape Pyla at the eastern end of Larnaca Bay.

Darkness closes in over the Fenton. All portholes are covered and no riding lights show. The little ship cruises at about 10 knots, her skipper, Lieutenant Commander Michael De Vere Hart on the flying bridge.

The Fenton has a peacetime complement of 30, including four officers and 26 ratings. Besides the skipper, who is from Bridgewater, Somerset, the officers are 1st Lieutenant Richard Todd of Bridestowe, Devon; Sub-Lieutenant Richard Mander of Battle, Sussex; and Midshipman Rodney Fowler-Farkas of Pinner, Middlesex.

The first three hours of this patrol are uneventful. The ship runs from Famagusta to Cape Andreas and then turns south on a long leg to Larnaca Bay. Lieutenant Todd has replaced the skipper on the flying bridge when the lookout reports two sets of lights far ahead. In the chartroom two 'blips' appear on the radar screen.

By now the Fenton is close enough to make out the name Omona on one trawler. She is on the list of licensed fishing boats in the area, so she is allowed to proceed.

The other trawler's name cannot be made out as the weather-beaten Greek letters are too worn to read. The Fenton's boat takes a boarding party to the trawler.

The craft is the Ayia Phylaxis out of Famagusta. Lieutenant Todd makes a walkie-talkie check with the Fenton. The Ayia Phylaxis is on the approved list.

'There's a bit of psychology in a search like that,' Commander Hart remarks. 'Those chaps will go into town and spread the word around. They'll tell their friends that the blooming patrols never give them a minute's peace.

'Of course, that's an exaggeration, but it makes anyone who has a mind to do a job of smuggling for the murderers up in the hills hesitate taking a chance. They know the penalty for smuggling firearms is death and none of them is very keen on dying.'

DAVID CARTER writes: Adding to the New York Times article, Rodney Fowler-Farkas tells BSW: 'During the year preceding the Suez affair I served as a midshipman and sub lieutenant in the Royal Navy attached to the 108th minesweeping squadron on patrol duties around Cyprus to prevent smuggling of arms to EOKA. As an officer under training I performed various duties from gunnery, wardroom mess secretary, boarding and search and watch keeping. We sometimes landed search parties when there was evidence of suspicious activity on the coast. Our minesweepers were based in Famagusta harbor when not at sea, which we were most of the time. Our ships were almost the largest vessels that could get in there.'

Says Bob Dean, another crew member: 'I completed 10 anti-terrorist/gun running patrols between January 1956 and October 1958. I loved every minute of my time in Cyprus. Fenton was Half Leader of the squadron.'

THE BLACKFOOT PATROLS

Ray Anderson served on HMS Walkerton and Essington, and recalls his memories of the anti-smuggling patrols:

'I was 22 when I joined Essington in October 1955, with Commander, Roddy McDonald as skipper and leader of the Blackfoot flotilla. He ended up as Admiral Sir Roddric. Sadly, he died in January 2002 on the Isle of Skye. He was the clan chieftain. I must say he was the best officer bar none under whom I have ever served.

The Blackfoot flotilla had a black footprint inside a red triangle painted on the ship's funnel.

'For us, the Cyprus patrols were a trouble free time, although it was a pain in the arse, when we wanted to go ashore and were only allowed in groups of four, one of whom had to be armed and stay off the drink. Even bathing parties had to have a sentry with a Lanchester gun and ammo at the ready.

'We were all given a leaflet, issued by the Governor's Chief of Staff, instructing us when we could open fire - that made us feel a lot safer!

'I came back to Southampton in June 1956 with Essington to put her in mothballs.

HMS Walkerton patrolled the Cyprus shoreline in 1956.

'After that I joined HMS Walkerton. She was brand new and even had a covered bridge. After a series of short trials, we sailed to Malta for stores and ammo and then began patrolling Cypriot waters again, until the start of the Suez operations.

'In late October, the skipper cleared the lower deck and told us all to fill out a Last Will and Testament for our next of kin, as trouble was brewing. Some days later we were warned we would be in a war situation and we packed the lockers with ammo.

'The ship now sailed in blackout conditions. Then, as quickly as we had been told, the Suez crisis was over and we headed back to Limassol.

'While we were on patrol at sea, we heard some army lads families' school bus had been attacked by EOKA. News like this made us take our job much more seriously.

'We often had the army on board while some of our sailors joined them on shore patrols. I didn't fancy that as their grub disagreed with me. After tasting some, I was rushed into BMH, Nicosia, with an ulcer caused by it and almost died.

'We were lucky on our minesweepers because the RN cooks were good. The Army lads loved our food and the daily tot of rum they received. By the time they left us, they were very accomplished seamen. I left the Walkerton in December 1958.'

HMS Delight intercepts a suspect fishing boat in 1957. This photograph was taken from Delight's boarding craft.

ANY SHIP entering Cypriot waters was liable to stop-and-search operations by the Royal Navy, irrespective of nationality. One such incident took place on 22 September 1958, when the 5,200-ton Italian vessel Enotria failed to stop off Limassol after being ordered by HMS Appleton. The minesweeper put a warning shot across the ship's bows and boarded her. The action was in accordance with accepted custom, an Admiralty spokesman. 'We have been stopping virtually everything entering Cyprus waters for over three years now. It is a purely routine matter for the prevention of arms smuggling or the landing of enemy agents.

The Adriatica Line MV Enotria (courtesy of the Bjorn Larsson Collection.)

The Enotria was less than a mile and a half from the shore when the warning shot was fired. The boarding party, consisting of an officer, a petty officer, and seven ratings, searched the ship, after which she was allowed to proceed. The Italian Government later lodged a protest, but the British insisted they were in the right in accordance with Maritime law.

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