AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 70 of 237 rats to India. Early April, the ship was asked to sail straight to Cochin with dispatch, 1035nm away. INS Kesari did not enter any port en route and sailed straight to Cochin on the West Coast. It took about three and a half days at 11 knots to arrive at Cochin. At Cochin, a mobile Coles Crane was loaded on the upper deck. After fueling etc. and embarking dockyard fitters the ship sailed to the reefed Godavari 480 nm away. The ship reached at the destination by sunrise and in a superb feat of seamanship and navigation went alongside port side of Godavari in a single attempt. There wasn’t much room for error what with corals all around. Ships were tied up hull to hull with just coir fenders in between. Rat guards were extensively used on all the berthing hawsers to prevent rats from walking across. No catamarans were used as it would have affected the radius of the crane’s jib. The ship got to work in removing heavy loads from the forecastle using the crane. Whilst walking around the grounded ship, we found scores of live rats in a highly dehydrated and starved condition. They were moving around in large groups. They didn’t scurry away as they normally do in the presence of humans. They were in a ‘ratatonic’ state, probably surviving on scraps and pockets of fresh water. Their