One event which occurred yesterday and which I did not report (for the reason that I wanted to ascertain more details before applying typewriter to paper) was that a rating employed on the Flight Deck fell down into the lift well, the lift being down at the time.
Potentially very nasty, as it is a drop of around 40 feet onto a large expanse of entirely unyielding steel plate. But he fortunately had the presence of mind to hang on to the refuelling hose he was holding when he went over the edge, and this served to break his fall sufficiently to prevent serious injury. I understand that he has a broken arm and a good deal of bruising, but nothing more than that. I bet he’ll be more careful next time.
With the ship alongside, the workload eased considerably, and I was able to get quite a lot of my own work out of the way, as well as catching up on a few things that I have meant to do in the office for some time.
There was a Harbour Fire Exercise this evening, which we all thought it would be an extremely good idea to miss, so at about 1815 Paul Harvey and I departed the ship for the Portland Officers’ Club – a sort of semi-detached shed effort, not far from the Control Tower – where we drank beer (him) and Coke (me), until it was time to return for dinner.
I borrowed my Spitfire back again (Brian was in the Club), delivered Brian to the Osprey Wardroom and then went back for Paul. On the way to the ship, we were told by a couple of officers leaving that the Fire Exercise was still going strong, so we returned to the Osprey Wardroom, had another drink in the bar, watched ‘Top of the Pops’ on the box, and finally made the ship at about 2015.
And had an early night, just for a change.