Hi Ian, yes that was it, the tender trip from hell! Nigel has a good account of it in his book. Funnily enough Nigel and I went down to Margate the night of the sinking to try and see what was going on from the coastguard station there. We heard the final message and decided to get back to Sheerness and wait for them to arrive, he and I were responsible for Ton the 'Dutch Guy'. Nigel's car completely and fatally died though and we had to get a taxi back to collect a spare car. There was a lot of bad luck floating in the air.

How the Mi Amigo lasted so long is a mystery, I thought the end had come after she was abandoned at the beginning of 1979. She was in a sinking condition when I took out a repair crew. Peter Chicago boarded her the day before we arrived and spent a night alone without power on the ship, he was a very brave man to do that!