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Our team was despatched to Malaya to carry out a similar
calibration exercise there. I was given a revolver and put in charge of the
train from Singapore up to Tampin. The train never seemed to go faster than
thirty miles an hour and kept stopping for buffalo on the line. This was bandit
country and it was a nervous, though uneventful journey.
Carrying out the pure survey for the baseline was a joy. Seldom does a land surveyor have the chance to indulge in pure land survey in such wonderful surroundings where trigonometry points do not exist. The baseline was to be set out across the bay and, due to the steep cliffs and jungle the line at right angles, f or angular measurement purposes, was set out in the sea. My theodolite for measuring the angles to the three ranging rods was set up in about eighteen inches of sea water and the lapping of the waves on the tripod made the hairline throb. We felt a sense of achievement when the calculations checked out to within a tolerance of about point three of a metre (brilliant by standards then, but dreadful today).