Men Of One-Ship Navy Raise Pigs

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30512, 6 August 1964, Page 22

Men Of One-Ship Navy Raise Pigs

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter) COLOMBO (Ceylon). Some officers and men of the one-ship Royal Ceylon Navy with time on their hands have taken to raising pigs at Trincomalee, the former British naval base on the east coast of Ceylon. Some 75 pigs now root about among the once wellkept flower gardens and lawns in the sprawling Trincomalee naval yards which used to be the pride and joy of the British Admiralty. The pigs roam the yard side by side with stray cattle, goats and dogs, which were once shot on sight. A notice, posted by the Admiralty warning that strays would be immediately shot, has long since been removed, and strays today enjoy a free run of the yard. Water has been pumped into a makeshift sty for the pigs and two naval ratings are daily told to clean out the

sty and fetch the pigs their swill.

The pigs have the personal interest of the Commanding Officer of the base, re-named R.Cy.N.S. Tissa.

Smuggler Patrol The Royal Ceylon Navy became a one-ship navy when two of her Ships Mahasena, a River class frigate, and Parakramabahu, a fleet minesweeper, were sold early in June to a Hong Kong scrapyard for £20,000. The navy’s only other fighting ship is a river class frigate, Gajabahu, which once saw service with the Israeli Navy and now patrols the northern and eastern waters of Ceylon with its full complement of officers and men, all intent on keeping down illicit immigration from south India.

“Gajabahu is assisted by small detachments of patrolmen in high-powered motor boats which comb these waters, seeking the flatbottomed, glorified rafts

which bring south Indians across the Palk Strait. To combat the illicit immigration is now the Navy’s main pre-occupation. In this task, the Navy is assisted by the Army, the police and the Customs authorities. It is also a duty of the Navy to help maintain internal security and to keep essential services going in the event of any dislocation.