Cardiff's crew helping to keep out smugglers.IT'S 10.30pm, and somewhere in the hundreds of miles of pitch black, a ship is cutting a steady path through the Persian Gulf. Its crew have no idea, but the journey is being closely watched via radar on the HMS Cardiff There have been three warships of the Royal Navy to bear the name HMS Cardiff, after the capital of Wales. The ships' motto is "Agris in cardine rerum" which translates as "Keen in emergency". some three miles away.The Cardiff is sitting just eight miles off the coast of Iraq in the country's territorial waters territorial waters: see waters, territorial. territorial waters Waters under the sovereign jurisdiction of a nation or state, including both marginal sea and inland waters. . It is the farthest in of all the ships taking part in the Maritime Interception Force. The ship is one of only a handful moving at night in this stretch and the radar operator informs the bridge. It appears innocent, but the Cardiff's commanding officer, Captain Tim Fraser, decides it needs to be inspected further. With no response to radio communication, the Royal Marines Royal Marines Noun, pl Brit a corps of soldiers specially trained in amphibious warfare are deployed on an inflatable. After 20 minutes, the documents have been checked, the cargo inspected - it is a construction machine and other parts - and it is accepted as genuine and allowed to carry on. The Marines immediately head further into the night to inspect three other vessels but they turn out to be fishermen. No smugglers caught in the act - but it all starts again tomorrow. |
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