I joined my first ship HMS YARMOUTH, then Captain ship of the Londonderry Squadron, on 7 January 1963 in Devonport, as very immature 18-year-old REM2.

Was very late arriving and greatly surprised to be given a length of canvas, rope and bits of string and invited to make up a hammock. Never done that before but was helped by messmates and was soon relatively comfortably ensconced.

Vic King was the killick of the mess and my boss on the radar section, who taught me a lot about 277 and 293 and JDA displays.

Didn't stop me getting a 27,000 volt belt of the magnetron leads though, which saw me enter the wardroom for the first time as an uninvited guest having been blown out of the Radar Office and across the Burma Road to land on the Wardroom table much to the surprise of the officers! , enjoying their mid morning coffee.

My real claim to fame came on arrival in Londonderry when, first night in, I was awarded the honour of being changing room sentry, in those days you had to leave and return to the ship in uniform but could change in a nissen hut about 25 yards from the gangway. Being January, with the wind blowing at mach 2 up the River Foyle, it was very cold but the Chief Elec took pity and gave me a small paraffin heater and a 40 gallon drum of paraffin! I managed to fill the heater by rocking the drum back and forth such that the paraffin splashed over. On completion I was left with a full heater and an enormous pool of paraffin. I put the heater into the changing room and lit it; then considered what to do with the paraffin pool.

I know, I thought, I'll set fire to it! Well on that bitterly cold January day it took a blazing rolled up Daily Mirror applied for several minutes to set the paraffin alight but when it lit it lit! Unfortunately in the meantime the mach 2 wind had taken the pool under the changing hut so the hut went up as well. In keeping with my training I ran to the gangway and shouted Fire, Fire, Fire! but was given a complete ignoring to.

Meanwhile the revellers in the Foyle Club had noticed the flames and were pouring out with fire extinguishers, hoses and pints to tackle the blaze. Eventually it was put out and I was interviewed by the MoD Plod to explain how the fire had started. I told them that while lighting the heater a sliver of paper had blown off and landed in the paraffin, igniting it. Had they known how long I'd had to hold the blazing newspaper to the liquid I could have been in deep s***! Anyway they accepted my story and I got away with it

I learned later that Arson in Her Majesties Dockyard remained on the statute book as a hanging offence, although it has since been removed, so when I say deep, I mean deep. The twist in the tail is that on the same night the Embassy Dance Hall in Londonderry was burned down but I had the perfect alibi I was setting fire to the Dockyard at the time.

 George Hands.