It was the dawning of 1986, the Peoples Revolution that would topple Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines was on the cusp, staff at a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl mishandled the safety test that would ensure that the city’s name would live on in infamy and the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were preparing to join the Royal Yacht Britannia on a 10 day tour of New Zealand.
The Royal couple was to have little idea that their floating palace was about to star in its own Hollywood blockbuster.
The turmoil of the 1980’s oil crisis was being felt throughout the world and in Marxist Yemeni, once a British colony, fighting had broken out over the rights of oil from Iraq. Pinned down in a hotel in the capital city of Aden and at the mercy of the fighting factions, was a group of British business men and diplomats, trapped in a dire situation with little hope of escape.
Following a particularly heavy barrage of missile fire which destroyed the front parts of the hotel, the group sought the sanctuary of the lift wells in the middle of the building and for a week were subjected to the sound of mortar shells, rifle fire and screams of the wounded outside - all whilst being constantly pelted by collapsing ceiling tiles.
During the day, tank battles raged in the streets of Aden and heavily armed Arab tribesmen of varying loyalties were reportedly descending on the capital from the stony mountains of the country’s interior.
Then word came in via radio, from the British Embassy some blocks away, that help was on the way. The Queen had personally given her approval for the Britannia, currently sailing through the Red Sea (minus the Queen) to rescue them.
The news left them incredulous and disbelieving, “the stuff fairy tales were made of,” according to later news reports.
As a non-combatant Royal Navy ship, Britannia would be able to enter the territorial waters without further inflaming the situation and sure enough, on 17 January 1986, the Yacht in all of her glory, covered in ceremonial flags and the British Ensign, dropped anchor at Khormaksar Beach, to begin one of her most dangerous missions yet.
As dawn was breaking the next day, the British Embassy’s single land-rover conveyed the evacuees from the destroyed hotel to the beach through dangerous streets littered with dozens of dead and wounded in a scene reminiscent of the Apocalypse. All whilst they waved broomsticks decorated with white flags made of pillowcases.
Once at the beach, the rebel fighters refused to release the evacuees until one of the ship’s crew negotiated their release with Mars bars and biscuits pilfered from the Queens pantry.
The crew from the yacht’s tenders waiting just off the shore, waded through neck-high water to meet and help the civilians to safety, all the time being watched suspiciously from the sand-dunes by the insurgents who were eyeing the increasing number of local civilians fleeing with the British against the backdrop of the burning city behind them.
"I can tell you, when we sighted the Royal Yacht all lit up, there were lumps in everybody's throat." British Ambassador, Arthur Marshall said in a later interview.
When filled to near capacity, with tarpaulins laid over the Queen’s expensive carpets and her drawing and dining rooms full of grateful evacuees who were enjoying hot soup courtesy of the royal kitchens, the yacht pulled up anchor and sailed to Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. Once in the safe port, the refugees disembarked to the strains of ″Land of Hope and Glory,″ played by the Royal Marine band on the yacht in what must have seemed to be a completely surreal atmosphere.
The Britannia was to return to Aden twice more over the next two days and even though heavy shelling fell close to the yacht as the rebel Marxist forces fought for position on the beach, her Commander, Sir John Garnier, persisted and would later earn the personal thanks from the Queen and the gratitude of all those he saved.
After saving and doing all they could, the Yacht left the area and continued on her voyage to NZ for her upcoming tour and into the waiting arms of the Duke of Edinburgh and Her Majesty the Queen who, Buckingham Palace reported as saying, were “delighted” that She could help.
Britannia, her Officers and crew, had saved 1082 civilians across 55 nations in the act of quiet bravery with just that little bit of British stiff upper lip that would have made even Blackadder proud.
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