Tension in fleet

Press, 19 May 1982, Page 8

Tension in fleet

NZPA London The mood aboard the British task force fleet, as it awaits word from London on whether to lauch a full-scale invasion of the Argentinianheld Falkland Islands, is tense but confident after weeks at sea, according to British correspondents with the fleet. “The general mood is one of supreme confidence,” Max Hastings of the London “Standard” reported from the requisitioned liner Canberra yesterday. But there is plenty of tension, too, as Royal Marine Lance-Corporal Richard Everritt, aged 23, was quoted as saying.

“It’s just the waiting that seems to get to people. It’s just riot knowing when we’re going to go and where. Once everybody knows that, they’ll be all right,” Corporal Everritt said.

Hastings said the naval chaplain on board, the Rev. Albert Hempenstall, was praying for a peaceful settlement. “Deep down I think a lot of the lads feel the same way, especially the seniors who know what it could be like,” he was quoted as saying.

But one battle version, Major Pat Butler, of the Parachute Regiment, was quoted: “For me, it’s, the culminating point of 16 years in the army. No doubt it will be the high point of my career.”