On Thursday, November 29, 2001 5:56 PM, Mike Wallace wrote:
(snip)
> > Because the Navy weren't able to do the clearances and check the wreck
> > for unexploded ordnance, the organisers turned elsewhere!

> Really? Ya'll got some civilian EOD guys around. ;-)

Mate!  Of course we have - but they all learned their trade elsewhere! :-)

Which actually reminds me of a 'Tall Tale' told to me by Billy Fitz., the
former RAN Chief Clearance Diver - who drools over Viv!.  :-)))

Bill was in the RAN's  EOD team moving through the near Pacific Islands in
1947 and rendering safe all of the ordnance that had been left behind by the
Allies and the Japanese.

They arrived at a small, coral island in - what was then - New Guinea.  They
were operating from an ocean going tug.  The island had been a storage base
for U.S. bombs - and there were lots of them. So many, in fact, that the
islanders had built a long-house on top of them! :-)

The team went ashore and assessed the situation.  Obviously it was necessary
to remove the population to a nearby island while they made the ordnance
safe.  Once the atoll was clear the team re-assessed the situation.
"Bugger!  We'll have to blow it up in situ."  said the Boss.

Once the ring main charges were set, Bill and the Boss remained ashore to
set the detonation train.  They did so.  And in the best tradition walked
slowly away towars the beach where their dinghy awaited.  The tide had gone
out.  Their dinghy was so far away from the water that it would have taken
forever to launch it.

"OK, Fitzy.  Go cut the fuse."  Said the Boss.  Bill did.  But without radio
comms, they had difficulty communicating with the Tug.  "You know semaphore,
don't you, Fitz?"  Said the Boss.  "Er! Yessir!"  Said Fitzy, "But all that
I know how to say is 'Happy Birthday - and some other things!'" :-)

They sat and waited for the tide to come in.  Once the dinghy refloated they
re-set the fuses, walked to the dinghy and began rowing back to their
mother-ship.  Bill was busy rowing while the Boss sat in the bow looking at
his watch.  "What do you make the time, Fitzy?"  He said.  "I don't know,
Sir.  I ain't got a watch.".

As they climbed over the boarding rail of the tug the Boss screamed,
"Everybody drop!"  There was an almighty explosion followed by a rush of hot
air.  When they all lifted themselves from the deck they witnesed a huge
cloud of black smoke rising in a plume from an empty space in the sea where
the island used to be.  (And noticed that the entire side of the tug had
been stripped back to the metal by the explosion.)  :-)

The obvious problem was how to explain to everyone concerned that an entire
island had gone missing!
It was reported in the newspapers of the time that a tidal wave had swept
out of nowhere and completely obliterated the island!  :-)

Strike