AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 71 of 237 extraordinary survival instinct (Ship partly flooded but will not sink and therefore carry on surviving) was still sound. None of them ventured on to the upper deck as it was extremely hot. An hour before sunset the decks were cooler and we could see a mass movement of rats from different part of Godavari towards Kesari. It was Tora! Tora! Tora! We were ‘rat- tled’ watching this ‘Exodus’. No ‘Moses’ was leading them. The rats were relying entirely on their ‘Noses’ when they smelt food and fresh water close by. Amazing survival instincts. Kesari swung into ‘Action Stations’ ‘Condition Z’. All port holes and hatches were closed. Instead of manning weapons, the stbd side was manned to prevent Godavari rats entering Kesari. It was like repelling boarders from pirate ships. The unloading operation went on through the night and so was repelling of boarders. In spite of such vigil, quite a number of determined ‘G’ rats jumped across to join their brethren during the night hours on board Kesari. Godavari’s loss was Kesari’s gain. I guess after an initial ‘who the hell are these scrawny looking guys’, discussions within the ‘K’ rat’s panchayat; the ‘G’ rats must have been accepted on board. The Polish rats on board may have rekindled memories of Poland in Polish descendants ex Godavari. Some sort of ‘Milan’ of long lost families? Remember the movie Ratatouille! By next noon Kesari had unloaded whatever was needed to lighten the forecastle and cast off. There after the divers plugged as many leaks as possible. The pulling out ops commenced and after a couple of attempts by two huge tugs in tandem, Godavari was literally wrenched out of the reef to every ones relief. Once afloat, the other major leaks were repaired to the maximum. Godavari with a skeleton crew on board was towed back to Cochin stern first. (The photo is representational of grounded ship being pulled out. Definitely not Godavari). Kesari returned to Cochin to unload the crane and personnel. After a few days R&R, sailed to Vizag, stopping at Madras en-route. The whole trip was an Ra (t) zzmatazz where a Naval Vessel built in Poland ‘pulling the chestnuts out of the fire’ of another