The SARAH or MARGARET BOWATER was making one of the last trips by a Bowater ship to Holmsund (1967 or 68) as Gorthon Line had got a long term contract for the run so everyone was saying good-by to the place and people. The crew had organized a party and it was winding up just before we sailed in the early evening. One of the females was missing from the party and this information was told to the chief officer. He conducted a search and said she was not onboard. The morning after we sailed she emerged from the stevedore’s toilet where she had passed out. This was a space that the chief officer had not searched. The Swedish ports are shallow so the most convenient one to land her was Trelleborg on the south coast. She was held in one of the passenger cabins (so she could not jump overboard or to protect her from us?) until arrival when she was made to go down the pilot ladder, rather than the accommodation ladder, to the pilot boat. At least someone had the safety sense to put a harness and line on her. I think Cockran (long time Union Castle staff commander and master on a Bowater ship just before he retired) was the master.

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