By
Graham Davis
When the lookouts on the coastal minehunter HMAS Gascoyne (CMDR
Jay Bannister) spotted people on a Type 3 fishing boat waving
a white flag, they knew they had a job to do.
As Gascoyne closed on the craft, the four fishermen on board indicated
they had run out of fuel.
Gascoyne launched her seaboat, which took a 20-litre drum of fuel
to the fishing boat.
At the time the minehunter was off the Malay Peninsula in company
with sister ship HMAS Norman (LCDR Scott Hamilton) as part
of a South East Asia deployment.
Using five drums from the fishing boat Gascoyne provided the drifting
vessel with a further 140 litres of fuel.
The fishermen indicated that they had planned to motor to Pulau
Tioman so Gascoyne also provided an accurate heading to the master
and a few minutes later the fishing boat chugged away to the southwest.
