Don Cleavin – Getting a tot after explosion on board

Somebody said, “Right, you go and get yourself a morning coffee or tea…”

This is still about five o’clock in the morning. “Go and get yourself a coffee or tea off of Malcolm” which was the Frigate which was tied up in front of us you see.

I’d not been able to find my shoes. I found a pair of shoes ticking round from somewhere. I put them on. They were both left-hand shoes (laughs) but they were better than no shoes.

So, I walked across to the Malcolm. ‘Cos when you’re at sea, you’re not wearing your uniform as much., I had a blue drill shirt and a pair of civvy trousers. No cap.

I goes onboard the Malcolm, and the Master at Arms of the Malcolm was there.

He said, “Who are you?” I said, “I’m the Chief Stoker on that there.” He said, “did you [inaudible] “ “Yeah, a pair of bloody boots.” Anyway, he got a pair of boots very quickly.

He said, “Go down to the Chief’s Mess and get …” this was about half past five in the morning, he said, “Go down Chief’s Mess and get yourself a cup of tea.”

Brilliant. I needed that.

I went down there. He came down a few minutes later, and he said, “Would you like a tot?” I said, “I need a tot now more than I’ve ever done in my life before.”

He came back with a neat Pusser’s rum… [visually shows the size of the tot]

Maybe not quite as much as you’ve got in that glass. Neat rum.

Simon: Yeah, that’s a third of a pint or …

It went straight down the hatch, never touched the sides. Ooh, I needed that.