As part of my last job I was a coxswain of small boats. I was not an instinctive driver of such boats, nor even a particularly brilliant one, but nevertheless a perfectly competent one. Small boat driving was the one area of my job that consistently gave me the most satisfaction, though it wore me out from a purely physical point of view. This story is not really about driving small boats as such, but is the tale of an incident in a small boat that involved me. It has remained in my mind for a number of reasons, not the least the glorious weather at the time.

On a time four of us were out in a sturdy 25' dory or work boat with a big diesel engine and huge propeller; it was a calm and sunny day in Tropical waters, in late afternoon. Our task was nearly done – I shall not attempt to describe that task in detail, save to say it involved the boat being physically attached front and back to a long drain-pipe sized seismic cable towed through the sea. Our task was to replace a one hundred metre section of that cable.

The time came to remove ourselves from the cable, which being many kilometres long and towed from a large ship – our primary work-place and home away from home – was under perhaps a ton of tension. Hydraulic pumps and motors were to be used for this task. We went to do this task, and we found that a leak in the hydraulic equipment meant that this was no longer possible. The time was around 4.45p.m, and we found ourselves in a potentially quite hazardous situation. We were in a small boat on the open sea, attached to a cable with no obvious means to free ourselves, about an hour’s journey from safety, with perhaps ninety minutes of daylight remaining.

It so happened that on that occasion I was a workman – I was not the coxswain. It also happened that I was far and away the most experienced and senior person in the boat. What did we do? It is instructive. We paused to discuss the problem. This is a commonly used technique in the oil industry today, a technique proven to reduce accidents and injuries in the work-place – the concept of the “toolbox meeting”. Then, the coxswain, a young woman colleague, ceded the helm to me as the more experienced cox. We had to get the cable free of the back of the boat. Since we were towed from a rope attached much further forwards, we contrived to let out that rope manually, by letting the brake on the winch slip. This enabled us to free ourselves from the cable at the back of the boat, though not without some difficulty, and the task took fifteen minutes. As the sun sank to the horizon we became very conscious of approaching night, ever aware that the long run back to the mother ship would take most of an hour.

Next, as coxswain I caused the boat to move forward, such that the rope on which we were towing became slack, and the boat was under way independently. This was a delicate task involving some concentration. Slowly then I ran the boat forwards up this winch rope, and my colleagues looped the slack into the bows of the work boat, since the winch, being hydraulic, would not work. It was a long rope - 200m - and by the time the task was done, there was a blazing sunset, a picture of glory, the sky painted red and gold and pink and orange. The final task was to remove the clamp that held the rope to the cable. This, though a delicate manouvre, was one we were all well familiar with, and in moments we were free of the seismic cable and clear to go home. A potentially disastrous situation had been averted, through teamwork, clear communications, strong leadership, and familiarity with emergency procedures.

It remained only for us to motor the four miles back to the mother ship, our home away from home. This task took a full hour since she herself was making 4 knots, and the 25' boat could make 10 knots - just. It was nearly dark when we arrived back, and we were well ready for our dinner after such an exciting adventure and – truth be known – such a narrow escape.