The Georgios V was a sizeable tanker which suffered a crankcase explosion
in the main engine a few hundred miles West of Walvis Bay. Ten men were
severely injured, some with 3rd degree burns. It was essential that a
doctor and medical supplies be delivered to the helpless ship as soon as
possible. But the weather conditions were frightening - a full gale with
waves sometimes as high as 60 feet.
R30 was dispatched. The trip was fraught with difficulties. She suffered
two major problems. Firstly a new
anti-fouling was being tried on her hull and this prevented her HF radios
from working as they could not earth properly. This necessitated an emergency
stop at Walvis Bay so that divers could go overboard at night to scrape a
sufficient length of the earth strip clean of paint. At Walvis Bay the
opportunity was taken to refuel as well - and the diesel supplied was of
a very poor quality. This caused injector after injector to fail. 17 in
all had to be replaced. A difficult job while in harbour, an almost
impossible one in a vessel doing a maniac dance in the furious seas.
Finally R30 approached the wallowing tanker - her engine was not working and
thus she could do nothing to assist the crashboat. How to transfer the
supplies and doctor? Any idea of going alongside was lunacy in that
sea. A small two-man rescue raft was inflated but the wind caught it and
blew it away before it could be launched. A second raft was inflated and
in this Warner Baxter, the radar technician, a man renowned for his strength,
rowed towards the tanker. He had to climb a rope ladder a number of times
hefting the large steel containers of medical supplies on board.
Then he returned for the doctor. The doctor was unable to grip onto the
wildly snaking rope ladder so Baxter carried the doctor up the ladder.
The doctor was able to stabilize the injured men until a tug arrived to tow the
Georgios V to Walvis Bay and proper medical treatment.
R30 approaches the Georgios V
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