Royal Navy Cadets on anti-terror Thames patrol
Eight Royal Navy Cadets spent the day with the Metropolitan Thames River Police, responsible for all police work on the river. The force includes divers who search any areas of water for evidence, bodies or bombs - often in zero visibility. The enormous task of protecting prime targets on the river from acts of terrorism was made clear; anybody could sail a boat from anywhere in the world up the River Thames right up to walls of Westminster. Other duties include searching some of the thousands of ship movements for drugs and breaches of immigration laws. The cadets were given some important water safety advice; on average a person dies once a fortnight on the river often drowned by the fierce tidal currents or killed by the hypothermic shock of cold water.
Despite their functional, plain design the police boats are actually high performance jet boats with twin 740 hp engines capable of very high speeds and able to turn and stop in extraordinarily small distances. The performance demonstration at the end the trip was enjoyed by all as the patrol boat completed high speed turns at a 45 degree bank angles and spun like a fairground ride in its own length. Onlookers must have been baffled by the spectacle of an eight tonne police patrol boat behaving in such an erratic fashion!