Aft Port were on anchor watch from 04.00 off Fecamp. At 05.45 the bosun and Bosun’s Mates were roused, followed at 06.00 by the rest of the duty watch. As we were entering port, the voyage crew were woken early at 06.30, followed shortly by an early breakfast, for some. Whilst others weighed the anchor.
Shortly after 07.00, the pilot from Fecamp arrived, and Lord Nelson turned towards the port. There were two sharp turns into the harbour, the last with little room to manoeuvre, and the entrance into the inner harbour had only 2 metres of clearance either side.
Lord Nelson was then turned inside the inner harbour to face back out to sea before mooring alongside the town, and finally the gangway was lowered into place.
Once this was all completed, voyage crew were allowed to go ashore for the day, and watches were suspended for shore leave until 22.00.
The crew split into small groups for a run ashore, and Unity arranged for an evening meal at a local restaurant for those who wished to attend. We met back at the ship for aperitifs, and most of the voyage crew elected to go to the restaurant for a meal out which was excellent and much merriment later we meandered our way back to Nellie. Due to the level in the dock changing, there was now a steep climb back up the gangway, although the officer of the watch denied that this was a sobriety test.! The stoical headed for the bar to round off the evening, and the more delicate among us beat a retreat to our bunks.