POP

 

HMS Eagle, sometime in 1964, somewhere in the Indian Ocean, about 3 bells in the middle.

"Emergency party close up at..." I never knew exactly where, midships somewhere.

Much running and shouting, lots of noise... Then nothing, all quiet, I went back to sleep.

 

Later, sometime early forenoon, the captain pipes up on the SRE...

"There was an incident earlier, a seaman heard a loud pop and raised the alarm, the source was investigated"

"Nothing was found that would explain the noise, but that doesn't mean the seaman took the wrong action.  Quite the reverse in fact."

"Now I don't want to hear that this seaman is being ostracised for his action."

 

Shortly after, a drawing similar to this one, was found attached to the flightdeck door to AMCO.