This night, the sailors had been given a midnight deadline to get back to the wharf for the last motorboat back to the ship out in the channel. One sailor, inevitably, didn't make it in time. Let's call him Seaman Able. He was very drunk, to state the obvious, but not drunk enough to forget that he was in serious strife if he were not present to report in the morning. So arriving back at the wharf way after midnight, he looked around for other means of transport out to the ship, perhaps a mile across the sea. This particular wharf was used for all sorts of small leisure craft, all of them expensive. Seaman Able had enough of his wits about him to work out that one of these would be perfect to get him back on board the ship. Seaman Able was a ship's mechanic. He was good at his job. So getting the luxury craft started was not a problem. He chose one, or perhaps he just fell into it, got the engine going, and set off at speed in the general direction of the ship. Trouble was, this particular boat was tied up at the wharf, not for convenience but because it had a steering problem. As in, the steering didn't work. Needless to say, as he exited the small port area, pretty well out of control but at speed, he managed to hit a good number of the other luxury launches tied up alongside. The noise created alerted the watchman, who called the police, who called the US Navy back at Pearl Harbour, who called us. The Maui Police set off in their own boats after Seaman Able, soon joined by craft from the Australian ship. Seaman Able on the run, though drunk, was nonetheless still a good sailor. And now he was driven by fear too, as the pursuing craft had sirens and loudspeakers and were using them, forcefully. The night was foggy, our ship hardly visible, but at least Lanai Island loomed up across the channel. In a triumph of seamanship, Able, now not trying to return to his ship at all, managed to ground his escape vessel onto the barren shore of Lanai, and flee, Brer Rabbit-like, into the scrub. It took the combined forces of Maui Police and a detachment from our ship many hours to track him in the bushes of Lanai. But they did, and he was duly handed over to Maui Police to submit to the American justice system. We left the next day, without him.

The night after Seaman Able's exploits, which had been generously covered in the local media, I was hosting a formal dinner for senior staff from the US Commands at CINCPAC. A number of American Admirals and Generals were present. Some were discussing the case. Much tut-tutting, rather sanctimoniously I thought really, along the lines that US naval personnel would never have got up to such tricks. But the General commanding the US Marine Corps, who was also there, weighed in with a classic Marines' perspective. He was a tough old combat soldier. "OK, this kid, he gets back to the wharf a bit drunk and a bit late: does he give up? No. He grabs another boat. It doesn't work. Does he give up? No. He fixes it up and gets going. There's no steering. Does he give up? No. He makes it into the channel. He's pursued by half the Maui Police and all their boats. Does he give up? No. He makes it across to Lanai. It's a tough landing. Does he give up? No. He's out and up into the bush. He's pursued for hours by dozens of police and Aussie sailors. Does he give up? No. He holds out for hours. This guy, he shouldn't be in the Navy, he should be a MARINE!" But back to the Seaman Able story, which is not over yet by a long shot. After his excursions Able was held in the local Maui lockup. The Honolulu media, by now quite captivated with the story, sent a team to interview him. The interview was not allowed but the photographer got a good picture of him and this was spread across the front pages the next day. It had an extraordinary effect. Turns out that Able is a very good-looking lad, blond and looking appropriately repentant in a little-boy lost sort of way. Maui lockup was swamped by local girls and their mums bringing chocolates, flowers, all sorts of goodies. Seeing the reaction it dawned very quickly on me that jail would be a frankly dangerous, place for Seaman Able to be. Other inmates would not have taken kindly to the wave of local female sympathy for Able. Hawaii prides itself on its harmonious race relations but there is a strong undercurrent of racial tension, especially in the form of resentment against Haoles, the local term for whites. I spoke to the judge handling the case who agreed that if I could find some secure location for Able to be held in, he would allow a release into that custody. But it had to be on Maui.

I asked all the admirals and generals but the US military is based completely on Oahu. Finally I realised that the US Coast Guard had a base on Maui and I appealed to the Coast Guard Admiral to take him. He immediately agreed. Seaman Able was put happily to work and I more or less forgot about him while the ramifications of his actions progressed back in Canberra. That was a mistake. Seaman Able, being an excellent marine mechanic, did a great job at his temporary home at the US Coast Guard on Maui. He was unofficially "promoted" to perform higher duties. His personal behaviour was, now, unimpeachable. About a year later I got a phone call from the Coast Guard Admiral. Seaman Able, he wanted me to know, was doing very well. That's good, I said. Yes, said the Admiral, in fact, we intend to give him a medal. What would the Australian navy think of that? I could imagine very well what the RAN was going to think of that. They just couldn't wait to get their hands back on young Able. The damages bill for cutting his swathe through the luxury boats of Maui had come into the millions, I had been told and even required a special decision of the Australian Cabinet to pay out. The RAN had been hugely embarrassed. Their lack of enthusiasm for giving Able a medal was uncontainable.

Seaman Able was duly repatriated to Australia. He was cashiered by the navy and given a dishonourable discharge. But the US Coast Guard gave him his medal. Bill Fisher is a recently retired diplomat and was consul-general in Hawaii in the 1980s.