Speaker Bruce Clark - Life on Mars

Whether a David Bowie hit song, a TV drama series or news of the current space programme of a probe heading into the blue yonder, a Life on Mars can be a gripping tale.

Club member Bruce Clark provided precisely that when he addressed this week’s meeting on the subject of Mars – a form of training ship which was based at Wormit for a lengthy period around the turn of last century.

Certainly this was news to most of the audience who had never heard of what was to become an important part of Tayside life.

Bruce himself was first introduced to the story of the Mars as a nine-year old when he met William Bowman at St Michael’s Golf Club. Born in Dundee, Bowman told how, as an orphan aged 11, he was put into care from 1900 to 1904 on the Mars, along with some 400 other boys who were orphaned, underprivileged or destitute..

The Mars had been constructed as a three-masted sail battleship in 1848 but had been overtaken by the introduction of motorised military vessels and decommissioned in 1863.

Six years later the Mars was berthed at Wormit as part orphanage, part reform school and part workshop. Many of the boys also trained to join either the Royal or Merchant navies. That role continued until 1920 and during that time about 6000 boys had spent their formative years on the ship.

William Bowman had told Bruce about much of his life connected with the Mars. After military service in World War 1 he had returned to the ship as an instructor, helping with schoolwork and onshore workshops teaching the boys metalwork, woodwork and other skills which could help their futures.

Although a tough and unrelenting life for the boys, they had the opportunity of sports days and picnics in Newburgh and even travelling south to Elie.

In 1929, the Mars was fast becoming a bit of a wreck and was towed to Inverkeithing where she was broken up.

Bill Bowman went on to become a head teacher in a number of schools and credited his success in life to the hard but instructive upbringing on the ship.

He died in 1969 and had in fact written and published his memoirs of both his terms aboard the Mars.

Bill was quoted as saying of his own time and that of the many others on board that “it was the best thing that could have happened to us”.