This is the story of George James Dixon’s arrival in Bermuda as a boy in the 1930s, continued from Saturday’s edition

Our water requirements were a perpetual headache as it was my job to pump it up to the gravity tank located in the roof space — all by hand pump. The water was drawn from the underground tank outside up to a galvanised tank on the roof, which allowed the gravity of the water to flow down into the house.

During the summer months, the heat of the sun on the tank on the roof provided instant hot water. We soon learnt to conserve as much as possible as it was used for sanitation and laundry in addition to kitchen usage. Nobody complained when it rained in Bermuda as the water supply was wholly dependent on it.

During the summer, it was not unusual to see bathers using saltwater soap on the beaches. Although we never ran out of water, it was quite worrying; however, a summer thunderstorm could fill an empty tank in a matter of two hours or so, the household tank being an average of ten feet square and eight feet deep.

On the whole, we adapted to this new way of living and it was not too long before we came to know our nearby neighbours.

The cottage near us was owned by a charming elderly White couple named Trew, and they were a great help in getting us settle in. As things became more stabilised for us, we made it a habit in the evening of walking a few yards down the road to Skeeter’s Point with its picturesque small sandy bay and numerous small boats. This was a lovely part of the day — cool and usually with a light breeze and it was there that we met more of the nearby residents who were “cooling out”.

One family became well known to us, and though Bermudian-born, they had a strong Portuguese background and especially so did their parents, who lived with them. The younger couple were the Pitmans and their parents were the DeCoutes. We spent many hours, usually with fishing lines out, if the tide was right.

My mother’s health improved remarkably with the expertise and advice of Dr Eustace Cann, with whom she had registered. She acquired a bicycle, and by doing so, she was introduced to many shops, their owners and their assistants, many of whom became her good friends. As time went on, I could see that my mother would have no problem settling into the Bermuda way of life.

Mangrove Bay was a focal point as the local butcher shop was there, also a chemist, grocery store, general outfitters, several tourist shops and a beer store. There was a police station and a post office just up the road. All bicycles had to be licensed every year at a cost of three shillings, obtainable at the post office, which supplied an official licence plate for attaching to the bicycle.

By Easter we were well settled into Palmetto Grove — ourselves on one side, the O’Callaghans on the other. It was a good arrangement, especially for the two women who went down to the bay together to take a daily swim.

One thing I missed on my arrival in Bermuda was my friends. Living in Somerset did not help as I knew no one and I could see that my age group was non-existent. I was lonely. The first thing my parents did to offset this was the decision to build a small boat. Mr O’Callaghan, our neighbour, was a tradesman boat-builder and we were close to the sea and beaches which was ideal for this type of activity.

It was very close to Easter when the boat project was started. It was decided that it would be a shallow eve-bottom punt of some 14 feet in length. This absorbed all my idle time. Mr Trew, our next-door neighbour, and his two brothers displayed interest as they were all small-time commercial fishermen who kept their two boats in Skeeter’s Bay. I learnt a lot from them including sound weather lore. (According to Wikipedia, rather than myth — these sayings rely on generational observations of pressure changes, humidity and atmospheric conditions.)

Although I did not realise it at the time, I was becoming a “boat addict” and soon learnt that boats and their care absorbed a considerable amount of time and work, whether they were afloat or not.

Anything with boats attracted local interest, and it was not long before I met one of my first Bermudian friends, Jimmy Chamberlain. He was in the same age group as myself and a second-year apprentice fitter in the Dockyard and lived up the road from Palmetto Grove. Boats, sailing and fishing were his life, and he too kept a boat in the little bay down the road. Meeting him opened the gate for me to become known by his boat-minded friends as well, especially the boys of the Steynor family, who lived in a rambling old Bermuda house called Belfield on Long Bay Lane. Alan, the second eldest, was a “yard apprentice”, and there was also a younger brother, Norman, and an older brother named George.

One thing led to another and soon I had friends calling round to see how things were getting on with the boat construction and giving a hand where it was necessary. And it was the Steynor boys who initiated me into the offshore world of the reef areas of Somerset’s West Side. I also learnt all about fish pots — wire-netting cages that were baited to entice fish in through a specially shaped door. All of my boating and fishing exploits of the future had their foundation laid by these Somerset boys. Some of these exploits were quite precarious at times, causing a lot of worry to a lot of people including the local Somerset police on one occasion.

• Cecille Snaith-Simmons from the writing of George J Dixon Jr, with thanks to Barry Dixon for sharing the memoirs of his father

Additional information

• The Oropesa (the ship described in Part I) was torpedoed by a German U Boat as it crossed the Atlantic unescorted in 1941 — 106 people lost their lives.

• Re: Palmetto Grove — in The Royal Gazette dated January 15, 1960, it states that at the AGM of Sandys Grammar School, debt, although reduced, had been incurred because of the purchase of Palmetto Grove as a home for the headteacher. However, there had been more interest in the adjoining property than in repairing Palmetto Grove. The Government purchased the property from Mr Misick for a playing field, and the house was condemned and demolished.