Fear of Drowning

‘I did two years in the navy.’

‘Did you?’ Timmins beamed. ‘National Service?’

‘How did you guess? Saw the world as far as Portsmouth. Didn’t enjoy it but I survived. Got my ear burned for returning a salute…I was on duty standing at the stern of the ship, two officers came aboard and saluted in my direction.’

‘Oh no!’

‘’Fraid so…’ He

‘As you would have done.’

‘What officer in what navy salutes a rating! They were saluting the ensign, of course…but he let it go at that…half-witted National Serviceman…’

‘We were not unhappy when conscription was abolished. We’re much happier as a volunteer force…one volunteer is worth twelve pressed men…so what else can I tell you about Lieutenant Williams?’

‘Anything and everything. He’s not a suspect, but in cases like this, we like to obtain as broad a picture as possible. We have two suspects in the frame but we need to know more about the family…hence my interest in Lieutenant Williams.’

‘Two suspects? Good for you, that’s speedy work.’

‘It can be the way of it, but only can be. Some cases are solved only years later…if at all.’

‘Well, Lieutenant Williams…not a popular man, not popular with his men, not popular with his brother - and sister - officers either. We now have SVPs in the navy.’

‘SVPs?’

‘Squeaky Voiced Persons - had women ashore for a long time, now they’re at sea as well. Getting more numerous ashore lately…so he’s not popular with his brother and sister officers. Not popular with his men either. If you’re an officer, you can bully people into following you, or you can make them want to follow you by virtue of your leadership skills…we like the second sort, Williams is the first sort, the sort that slip through the vetting procedure. Daresay it’s the same in the police force?’

‘It is. Sadly.’

‘Williams came to us under a cloud. He had command of a minesweeper, still in his twenties…destined for great things in the navy. If you’re given a command of a small ship when young, you’re being fast-tracked for big ship command in your forties…I mean aircraft carrier, that short of big ship. Then a rating assaulted him. Punched him, broke his nose, in fact.’

‘Oh dear…’ He

‘Yes. The rating got a hundred and twenty days’ detention and was dismissed from the service.’

‘Is that all?’

‘It was a lenient sentence and thereby hangs the tale. Turned out that the rating was the ship’s cook and Williams was given to bringing his girlfriend back to the ship at two a.m. or thereabouts and having said rating turned out of his bunk to cook a three-course di

‘A vote of censure.’

‘Exactly. The navy has a hidden agenda, Mr He

‘But not Williams?’

‘As you see, he’s still with us, and he has not achieved promotion, he’s constantly passed over. This is all off the record, you understand.’

‘Understood.’

‘Hence me being out of uniform, just to emphasize the informality of this chat.’

‘Noted.’

‘I won’t be making any sort of statement about this.’

‘Agreed.’

‘I’m doing this to cooperate. I don’t like any of my crew being looked at by the police, especially an officer. I subscribe to the view that the best course of action is to offer full cooperation in such circumstances. To do otherwise only invites suspicion.’

‘I could do with meeting more people like you in my professional capacity. Commander.’

‘So he came to us, not HMS Halley. By “us”, I mean the concrete fleet. The navy is a close-knit community, and the permanent shore-based officers all know each other and we all felt the smack of Williams being transferred shore in the circumstances that he was transferred, and none of us wanted him as part of our crew. We have a job to do. Do you know that for every sea service man or woman there’s ten people ashore? It takes ten people ashore to keep one person at sea.’

‘I didn’t know that.’

‘It’s true. The point is that shore-based service is vital, we are not a dumping ground for the bad apples. Such a practice destroys morale. Williams was transferred shore eight years ago, still with us, getting posted from one establishment to another. A year ago he came to the Halley, by then he was one of the oldest lieutenants in the navy.’

‘What is he like as an officer?’

‘Very repressive. A bully. He just should not have been selected, let alone identified as a fast-track-career officer. Seems to be a man who can mislead the world around him until his true nature is exposed.’

‘Repressive, you say?’

‘And very dismissive. In an unguarded moment he was overheard referring to the other ranks as “the cretins”. He openly refers to people who make mistakes as “cretins”.

‘Cretin” is a form of insult he employs, he’s fond of the word. It seems to have some significance for him.’

‘My sergeant…’ He

‘Was he indeed…that’s interesting.’ Timmins too finished his meal. ‘Enjoy it?’

‘Yes…’

‘Good, isn’t it?’

‘As I said, I’ll remember this pub.’

‘But yes, that incident says a lot about Lieutenant Williams. That lad is close to his mother, there’s just the two of them. Found out she had cancer, just diagnosed - the boy asked Williams for a few days’ compassionate leave and Williams said no, on the grounds that she was not at death’s door. So he went to see her for three days anyway. I can understand that.’

‘So can I.’

‘He came back, but he shouldn’t have gone like that. There are procedures that can be used to complain, like the rating who felled Williams in the companionway of his ship…he had a legitimate complaint and had access to procedures that would have had his complaint listened to, and in circumstances like that, acted upon. So I fined him three days’ loss of pay and then told him that the navy is his home, and like a home it works for you, and gave him seven days’ compassionate and sent him back to Newcastle he’s up there now. We’ll also make sure that he doesn’t leave the UK during his mother’s last few months. But if he did go overseas, we could get him home within twenty-four hours if necessary. But Williams wanted Able Seaman Hendry flogged round the fleet…that’s the lad’s name, Hendry. Good lad…he’s got what it takes to go far, he doesn’t need an officer like Williams.’