Racheal Watson 1 - My first time on a ship so I didn't know about the lighting rules
Name: Racheal Watson
Rate: Operations Mechanic
Service: 2000 - 2005
Job: Communicator
Racheal Watson joined the Navy in 2000 age 17. She served as a Communicator on three ships: HMS Coventry 2001 - 02, HMS Leeds Castle 2002 - 03, and HMS Endurance 2003 - 05. She left the Navy in 2005 to pursue a different career.
In the clip below Racheal recalls what it was like joining her first ship, HMS Coventry, in 2001.
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Extract Text (Duration1.10)
I was shown around the ship briefly, you know, where all the emergency points were and things to do in event of a fire, you know, health and safety more than anything. And I had to wait for my bed 'cause one of the girls who was supposed to moved out by the time I got there hadn't done so, so I had no locker, I was living out my suitcase, and she eventually turned up late Sunday night, so I was up late Sunday trying to put my stuff away. And obviously it's my first time on a ship so I didn't know anything about the lighting rules, so I was turning all the lights on, and I had people yelling at me. I think there's about 30 odd girls down the mess all sleeping in three bunk high gulches they're called. So you had like three bunks on the left, three bunks on the right and that would be one gulch and it would be the same all throughout. You had like this tiny narrow passageway and at the foot of the beds there'll be like a set of lockers, and you had like a tiny little locker, no bigger than an average chest of drawers and you had to fit everything in there and I had all my stuff. So I had no idea where I was going to put it all, so I ended up leaving the majority of it in the suitcases chucked down some hole somewhere.
My first time on a ship so I didn't know about the lighting rules
1.10 mins - mp3 File
There were women everywhere
0.35 mins - mp3 File
It wasn't really sexism, more ageism
0.34 mins - mp3 File
The interior looks like a cruise liner
0.31 mins - mp3 File
You could see the whales in the morning doing little dances
1.10 mins - mp3 File
The uniform it's one size fits all
0.29 mins - mp3 File
