Under leaden skies, two British Royal Navy jet boats sped across the North Sound, and a troop of engineers clambered ashore at the George Town Yacht Club.
Days ago, the crew of the HMS Medway had been on the ground in Turks and Caicos, more than 1,000 kilometres away.
But as Hurricane Ian approached Cayman, the disaster relief force made swift progress to be on standby in the islands’ waters in the event of a catastrophic direct hit.
As they disembarked on Tuesday, it was to the welcome scenes of an island that had been buffeted and battered but had come through the storm to relative tranquility on the other side.
Commander Chris Hollingworth said his crew were ready for anything, but happy that most of their skills were not required this time.
“I’ve got a really competent team on board. And what we have is, essentially, it’s like the big yellow pages.
“I’ve got a group of carpenters, electricians, plumbers and everybody else on standby so, anybody you need, we can just offer a little bit of orientation to the clearly resilient forces that you have already.”
With high seas still making conditions gnarly along the south coast, the Medway crew arrived in Grand Cayman on a pair of all-weather Pacific 24 jet boats. The craft are equipped to make an emergency beach landing if necessary, in instances where a major storm has damaged docks.
Commander Hollingworth said his troops were the ‘first response’ team in a disaster and were ready to assist whenever needed – but principally are charged with protecting life and property in the immediate aftermath of a storm.
As it turned out, on this occasion, that level of expertise was not required. But they spent the day assisting with the island-wide clean up effort.
Troops were deployed to George Town waterfront, South Sound and East End, where they helped to repair Gun Bay Dock.
Aside from that support and the reassurance provided by its presence, the deployment of the HMS Medway proved a valuable stress test for the partnership between Cayman and the UK in disaster relief.
Hollingworth said, “Fortunately the damage from Ian has been minimal. But equally this is a great opportunity for my team to show their capability, prove to ourselves and prove to our partners in the region that we are able to get the equipment to shore and to assist as required.”
Governor Martyn Roper, who was there with Premier Wayne Panton, to greet the crew on their arrival, said it was reassuring to see the speed at which the naval ship had deployed to Cayman.
Dry run
He said the storm had provided the kind of test emergency scenario that no table-top exercise could achieve.
“Cayman has one of the best disaster responses in the region, but to have this additional capacity come in just gives us so much more resilience,” Roper said.
In the event of a major storm, he said, the ship was staffed with a team of first-responders. But the UK would also co-ordinate further support as needed.
The premier said it was great to have such a well-functioning support network in place.
“Thankfully, this was this was just a practice run for us effectively, we didn’t have much damage at all.”
Speaking directly to Commander Hollingworth, he added, “Having you here is a great reassurance for our people that those types of services will be available to address the safety and needs of our people in our time of need.”
The ship’s crew spent the day in Cayman, but with the storm causing only minimal damage, they were scheduled to depart and continue their patrol in the Caribbean Tuesday evening.
The ship is on standby to support Cayman and other territories throughout hurricane season.
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