I served aboard the TEV (Turbo Electric Vessel) Canberra as an Engineering Officer. Canberra was driven by two huge electric motors, one attached to each propeller shaft, with steam turbines spinning the generators. A passenger ship in peacetime, she served as a troop ship and a hospital ship for the period of the war.

At sea for 93 days, with watertight doors shut, each engineroom compartment was a potential tomb. There was no way to persuade the troops on board come down to the engine room voluntarily. Some were forced by irate NCOs to carry out small tasks down below but on the whole the troops preferred the open air.

I have never met a tougher, more dedicated group of men. All of the cheese wires were taken from the galley. If the soldiers could not break them around their wrists they were sent to the engine room and made into garrotes.

Thought for the day: I'm glad they were on our side !!!!

The night before the attack was a sobering time. The senior naval commander on board saw the off duty engineers drinking a cold beer after our watch and told us that the government had written the ship off as a war loss. Canberra was not expected to survive the next day. We were also asked to make a will. It was not something I had considered as a young twenty year old who was going to live forever. I didn't have much in the way of an estate, so the task was not too difficult.

The Argentine pilots were offered a reward to sink the Canberra, a fact disputed by some. A white ship with yellow funnels made a very inviting target. Bombs exploded around us, each one a dull thud that reverberated through the ships hull. When not on duty we stayed in the restaurants near to the engine room or sneaked onto the deck to try and photograph the Argentinean jets.

God smiled on us that day.