We tour a mine-sweeper at Whyalla, South Australia

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We passed through Whyalla in South Australia recently. It is noted for its steelworks and once had a ship-building yard. One of the boats it built was a mine-sweeper named Whyalla. We had a guided tour over the Whyalla and, as we’ve found everywhere we’ve been, we really enjoyed the tour and learnt a great deal. Conditions were really cramped on the ship with hammocks being shared between those crew on duty and those off duty. Even then, there weren’t enough hammocks and some of the men slept on horsehair mattresses. I was surprised that the bridge was lined with copper and constructed mostly of timber to ensure the most accurate performance of the compass as possible. On either side of the ship's wheel was a steel ball. These were adjusted (calibrated) periodically to again ensure accuracy of the compass. Our guide was a lovely lady but she spoke as if she'd been part of the crew saying 'we did this' or 'we did that' which came across as a bit odd. The other real surprise was the list of ships sunk/torpedoed/damaged/salvaged off the east coast during World War II. At the time, these events were all kept out of the media and it was many years later before Australia’s citizens knew how close they’d come to being overtaken by the enemy.