Not-so-tall Tales
This set of narratives are not really Tall Tales because they give a more-or-less accurate account of various aspects of the Royal Ceylon Navy. I say "more-or-less" because they are shown as seen by the writer: another person would have seen each incedent differently. But, importantly, none are invented or willingly misprepresented. We have to be thankful to theose who wrote them (many for me, at my invitation) because the stories are now preserved for, at least, one more generation. After that - who knows?
Something about each these:
- 1. Maritime Policy and naval activity in historic times
- 2. Naval activity in historic times
-These were compiled by me for the Navy's Pictorial History and I am sure they can be improved upon
- 3. The Cruise of the “Halpha”
- This was found by me among the hand-wrtten papers I discovered in the Record Room when I was writing the
History of the CRNVR. From internal evidence I concluded that it was written by Lt.Cdr. Alanson Caldera.
- Another of my compilations written when the Navy's historic base at Kochchikade was about to be re-located.
- 5.HMCyS Viyaya: the RCyN’s fIrst ship
- Attanayake6. Joint Exercies in Trincomalee (JET 1950-62)
- These were written by Cdr. M.M.A.("Mushin") Wahid, with some inclusions suggested by Cdr. M.G.S.Perera who
was one of the first Ceylonese crew of the good ship "Vijaya"
- 7. The “Blue water Fleet”: the ships that sailed away
- Another of my efforts, written in a nostalgic moment long after I had left the Navy.
- 8. Looking back at UNIPOM
- Written at my request, by Lt.Cdr, "Dingo" Dominic who, with Cdr. Chris Fernando served a stint as UN Observers on
the Indo-Pak border. I asked him to write it for the record
- 9. Officer cadet training in the Navy
- Compiled by me in memory of the first professionally qualified/trained RCyN officers.
- 10. Administration and maintenance of Lighthouses formerly owned by the SLN
= Written at my request by Cdr. Ivan Attanayake to place on record abrief period when the Navy ran the lighthouses.
