“Every matelow is an independent person and every ship is personal”
Last week, when one of our conservation volunteers was polishing the HMS Sheffield bell in the cathedral ahead of the ship’s memorial service on 14 May, she was stopped by a man who tapped the bell twice.
The man was Mr Frost, a crew member of the original HMS Sheffield and the sailor who laid the ship’s flags at the cathedral when it was taken out of active service in 1963.
We were interested in learning more about Mr Frost and life on board of the original HMS Sheffield.
After general conversation about rum, Mr Frost said: “Every matelow is an independent person and every ship is personal”, meaning a ship is individual to each person as there will only be that crew at that time and the things that happen will only happen to them.
Mr Frost’s journey with HMS Sheffield began when he was about to be called up for national service. At that time national service wasn’t very exciting, packing sandbags, cutting grass or even cleaning windows, so he ‘decided to join the navy instead and see the world’.
His first ship, HMS Vidal, took him through the West Indies to Trinidad in 1960. In 1961 he boarded HMS Leopard and ventured to Nigeria, Ghana, and Simon’s Town in South Africa where the ship supported the evacuation efforts of Tristan da Cunha following the eruption of the island’s volcano. He then continued onto Madagascar and Marrakesh.
On his return to the UK, he was docked back to Portsmouth where HMS Sheffield had become the flagship of the reserve fleet. After awaiting space on a training course to move up the naval ranks, Mr Frost boarded the HMS Sheffield as Killick stoker . This was the same ship his father presented gifts from the City of Sheffield to in 1936.
When checking a notice on the daily orders he saw the navy wanted volunteers to lay the ships’ flags at Sheffield Cathedral. Mr Frost jumped at the chance to go back home for the weekend.
HMS Sheffield’s White Ensign was made and presented to the ship by the Ladies of Sheffield. The ensign was hoisted to the peal during battle. Both the ship’s White Ensign and Union Jack were laid up in the Cathedral by Mr Frost and three other servicemen after HMS Sheffield’s active life came to an end in June 1963.
Mr Frost recalls the service in the cathedral as an emotive experience which honoured the years of action HMS Sheffield endured and all the memories it still holds to this day. The service ended with an old navy prayer.
The ship’s flags, badge and bell were left to the Cathedral and are maintained by our team of conservation volunteers. They had some questions about the ship’s bell. Mr Frost told us the bell had been used on the ship to christen babies who were born onboard or had permission to be. They would remove the bell’s clapper, fill it with water and the babies names would be stamped into the drum of the bell using letter stamps. One of our conservation volunteers is researching the possibility of the removing paint in the bell to see if it reveals some of the names of people who were christened onboard.
After serving on HMS Sheffield Mr Frost remained in the navy for a further 10 years where he travelled the world serving on numerous ships as chief stoker. He eventually returned to Sheffield in 1973 where he trained to become a schoolteacher, teaching product/workshop tech at Sheffield College.
HMS Sheffield’s bell, Union Jack and White Ensign are permanently on display in the Cathedral.