Anyway, the delights of Bugis Street were not in my mind as we approached Stanley Sound. For those of you who access "Google Earth" this is a doddle, but for those without I'll sort of explain the layout.
The reason the Islanders are known as "Kelpers" (didn't know that? Shame on you) is because of the huge kelp forests surrounding the islands. And I use the term "forest" with good reason. You may think you have a "weed problem" in your local boating lake, but this stuff has trunks as thick as telegraph poles. Underwater trees. Probably do to a full size ship what a bit of weed does to your model. Great for the marine life though. Stanley Sound is really one of a pair, the other just around the corner to the North is Berkely Sound. Another good anchorage....well used by fish-factory ships these days, but more on that another time. Stanley Sound has another "inlet" that leads to the town and harbour of Port Stanley. This inlet has a fairly narrow entrance and is not really usable by modern large ships, especially with a draught of 25' or more. But that doesn't matter as the "port" facilities are basically non-existent...that is, there is nowhere to tie up to. At least there wasn't in 1982. So all the STUFTS anchored in the main Sound.
We were directed to "raft-up" alongside our sister ship Lycaon, so at least our arrival had been noticed this time. But nothing happened for a couple of days. No visitors, no nothing. Part of our cargo was 6 CSBs. (sorry, Roger, "Combat Support Boats"....not the "Courage Sparkling Beer" stuff, although we had that as well). These are pretty nippy things fitted with (I think) Ford V6 engines re-configured as water jets. So we "resurrected" one for "operational purposes". Naturally, everyone and his dog wanted a "run-ashore",..but not this time. Me, the 2/E and a couple of "deckies" went into Stanley to try and seek out the elusive "guiding light" who could tell us what was going on. Nobody had a clue. Although I did meet up with a team of smiling Gurkhas loaded down with crates of beer, who took me to meet their CO. He hadn't a clue either, but was just grateful for the respite. So we had a beer. He was pretty interested in our cargo and mused that he could have done with some of it a few weeks earlier. The loss of the "Atlantic Conveyor" must have been a dreadful blow. For what it's worth, I still feel that a few "small" ships are probably a better bet in a war than one socking big one...especially if it is poorly defended. So I went back to the ship and decided that another CSB should be brought to life to be used as a "jolly" boat. This was worth a few more Brownie Points, but as the boat could only take about 12 people max, it was more of a ferry service.
We had a couple of days of this before the powers that be realised that some of the assets they had been waiting for were already there and waiting to be collected. Then I got the visitors. Army, Navy and Air Force. All demanding priority.
Please don't get me wrong here. Before the "pen-pushers" arrived there was a fantastic esprit-de corps between all the services that I had never believed possible. Wonderful guys to work with and totally free of any inter-service rivalry. This period was probably the most satisfying period in all my time in the RFA.
I'm sorry for the (lack of) quality in the pics, but perhaps later ones will make up for that. Next time will be a more casual look at Stanley and a bit of the aftermath. Ta for reading. BY