Don Cleavin – Explosion on board (Part 2)

My bunk was at an angle like that, because when the deck came up, it pushed my bunk out and I couldn’t see anything, just like a London mist, foggy. I wasn’t aware of very much at all, just a foggy atmosphere.

I got my torch. I always have a torch. You might notice I’ve got about eight torches around here because now I do not go anywhere without a torch.

I put my torch on with a red filter on it because I was Panel Watch Keeper.

You can’t have any lights in the Control Room, shone the torch into the Stoker’s Mess. I couldn’t see anything, just a haze. “Anybody in there?” and this bloke says, “Yeah, me.” “Who’s that?” “M E Legg.”

I said, “Walk towards the torch, towards the light.” He said, “I can’t.” He said, “There’s all the furniture in the way.” Everything was a shambles, broken furniture.

He climbed up, climbed out of the Mess. He joined me in the passageway, just as this character arrived.

He’d been coming up from aft, from the Control Room with a DCBA, breathing apparatus, breathing from that.

He arrived just as Stoker Legg came out the Mess. You couldn’t see him, just a haze. Of course, the Engineer Officer arrived, and he said, “Right, follow me out” so he turned round and set off back to the Control Room and M E Legg followed him out and I followed him.

He said, “Well you’ve got to be careful because the Battery Board”, about the size of that settee there, square, had been blown up and it was tilting back against the bulkhead, and we just had the bare battery we had to try and get across this thing. Not easy you see.

Then on the side there was a switch covering the battery. Big brass switches, you see with power on there as well and we had to get between the bulkhead and the switches through that way.