On 11th October 1904, the Royal Naval Hospital overlooking Simon's Bay, South Africa, was opened by HRH Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, 3rd daughter of Queen Victoria. It was built to serve the naval community of Simon's Town, setting for my latest book The Girl from Simon's Bay. At the time, the town was home to the Royal Navy's South Atlantic fleet. The princess could not have guessed how important a role the new hospital would play some 40 years later during World War 2. The initial 3 wards were expanded to accommodate over 200 patients served by 5 medical officers, 2 dental officers, 29 sick berth ratings, 6 nursing sisters, 22 VADs and many locally-recruited staff. The hospital was under constant pressure. For example, during the final quarter of 1942, 550 patients were admitted with ailments from battle injuries (burns and contusions from shell splinters) to VD and ulcers. Over 8000 patients were treated between 1939 and 1945.
The Great Dane was Just Nuisance, a local celebrity(!) during the war. He was a particular favourite of the seamen and regularly rode the train with them into Cape Town. He was commissioned into the navy as an Able Seaman, and his statue stands proudly in Jubilee Square to this day. It is said that he enjoyed a pint as much as his sailor friends and ended up in the Royal Naval Hospital somewhat worse for wear...
What has become of the Hospital? This is where the 3rd connection comes in. The hospital closed in the late 1950s but the buildings have remained, and were converted into accommodation and facilities for the South African Navy band. I rather like that. Yet if you look around the site closely, you can still make out the structure of the old wards. And you can peer into one building that has been abandoned and see the former laundry with its overhead pulleys still in place.
Louise Ahrendts, the heroine of my book, serves at the Royal Naval Hospital during the war. It's where she meets the man who will change her life.
Lieutenant David Horrocks DSO, gunnery officer.
Emergency appendectomy, transferred from HMS Dorsetshire.
Reached us just in time.
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