Big Boy's Toys

Yesterday evening I was sorting through some old photographs when I came across a few that were taken while I was in the Army. Some of them are blurred and none of them are particularly clear but that is because they were taken thirty years ago on an old 110 format camera. However looking at them now has brought back some really good memories of when I served in 51 Port Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport based at Marchwood Military Port near Southampton in Hampshire.

Ensign flown on all Army vessels and worn on our uniform sleeves.

Mexeflote raft, Marchwood Military Port 1982.


I loved my trade, I was a Seaman working as part of a crew operating Ramp Powered Lighters (RPLs), Work boats, harbour launches and what I think is the best bit of kit in the world, the Mexeflote raft. Our primary job at the port was to perform a lighterage role, that is we transferred ammunition and other stores to and from Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships and larger Army vessels that were moored in Southampton water.

Mexeflote raft unloading ammunition from HMAV St George, Southampton Water.

Off loading ammunition from HMAV St George, Marchwood Military port 1982.


During my time with the Squadron I was fortunate enough to serve a tour of duty in Belize in Central America, where the Army was assisting the Belize Defence Force in keeping the countries borders safe from threat of attack from neighbouring Guatemala. Belize is only about the size of Wales but the southern half of the country is covered in primary jungle making it difficult to travel  by road. We therefore transported all the necessary supplies to the bases in the south by sea. While the Infantry spent their time up to their eyeballs in snakes and mossies in the Bondu (Jungle), we cruised up and down the coast topping up our tans (Not a bad way to make a living).

RFA Landing Ship Logistic Sir Bedevere and RPL, Belize 1981.

Two RPLs in Belize 1981.


Although I enjoyed everything that I did in the Squadron I particularly enjoyed my time in Mexe Troop working on the 125 foot rafts. The Mexeflote is like a giant floating Meccano set for big boys, there is nothing delicate about it, every part of it is heavy and solid and the tools we used to construct it were large crowbars and sledge hammers. The main components of the rafts were three different types of floating pontoon, bow sections with hydraulic ramps, mid sections and stern sections. These various sections could be joined together in different formats to make floating jetties, bridges, landing pads etc. However they were normally joined together to make a standard 125 foot raft which was fitted with large out board motors and could carry the weight of a main battle tank.

RFA Landing Ship Logistic taken from a Mexeflote raft in North Norway 1982.

Mexeflote raft, Norway, I am standing on the ramp lower right.


The rafts could be broken down into their component parts and transported by air, sea or land to any theatre of operations in the world, where the pontoons could be craned into the water and reformed. However the usual way of transporting the rafts though was to side lift them onto one of the RFA Landing Ship Logistics. An LSL could carry two rafts, one on each side of its hull, with all the ancillary equipment carried on its upper deck.

In March and April 1982 I was lucky enough to be part of a Mexe crew taking part in a NATO exercise in Northern Norway approximately 200 kilometres above the arctic circle. After undergoing a basic arctic survival course near Trondheim, we spent a couple of weeks operating a raft as a ferry across one of the Fjords. The temperature was about 30 degrees below zero taking account of windchill as I recall, luckily we had excellent kit to keep us warm. On one particularly memorable night, I was extremely fortunate to witness one of the most fantastic sights in my life, the darkness was suddenly illuminated by the shimmering green and red curtains of the Northern lights high above the mountains.

This is me during my basic Arctic survival course, it was -37 degrees C on top of this hill.

Over the years my mind has blanked out the bullsh*t and boring bits of serving in the Armed forces and now looking at these photographs I remember those days with a sense of pride and fondness (That sounds a bit twee I know, but they were great days).