Books | Sparks in the Tinderbox

How arrogance and indifference of the naval leadership led to the uprising. An extract

The HMIS Talwar in Bombay was a strategically important naval establishment for the British forces in India. It was the second largest signal school in all of the British Empire.

It became the platform for the launch of the naval mutiny of February 1946. There were close to 2,000 Indian naval ratings posted there, who had been subjected to the most degrading and inhuman service conditions. Their anger and frustration had reached boiling point, and it was further fuelled by stories of the nationalist movement and the heroic deeds of the INA.

The spark that lit the conflagration was supplied by the British themselves, namely, by Commander King. The British authorities made a cardinal mistake in appointing King as commander of HMIS Talwar in January 1946 — a time when emotions were running high in this important shore establishment.

In his book B.C Dutt described King as ‘a large built man with a very small brain. A racist, his hatred for ‘Bloody Indians’ was displayed openly. Not only was he a racist, he was also uncomfortable with educated ratings who could talk back to him. His dismal man-management skills led to him using bullying tactics to discipline the men under his command. The result was inevitable: he became the target for the ratings to vent their frustrations and growing anger at the mistreatment and blatant discrimination.

The ratings had deflated the tyres of his car and painted nationalist slogans like ‘Quit India’ on the vehicle, making King look foolish and incompetent. He became a laughing stock within the Bombay naval establishment and by February 1946, his hold on command was tenuous. He was getting anonymous threatening letters that put him under extreme psychological pressure until he snapped, leading to the point of no return.

Commander Arthur Frederick King, who incidentally was born on 2 October (the same as Mahatma Gandhi) 1917 will forever be remembered as the man who lit the ‘spark that kindled the fire’ of the rebellion.

King’s naval career started in 1934 when he applied for a cadetship in Royal Navy, but wasn’t selected because he failed in the written exams due to his poor proficiency in French. He had, however, passed the admiralty interview and was invited to join the Royal Indian Navy. He underwent the same training given to seamen of the Royal Navy. He was involved in a salvage operation in the mid-Atlantic in the very first week of his joining the navy and earned appreciation for this.

King’s first ship was the elderly sloop, HMIS Clive, which was operating in the Bay of Bengal searching for Japanese spies and for covert operations around the islands of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. He and his fellow seamen had to be disguised as pearl-fishermen for this mission. During the expansion years of the RIN in 1938, King was appointed to the training ship, HMIS Dalhousie. His first group consisted of forty boys