One night on my destroyer I had the midwatch in the radio room, and was assigned to dump bags of shredded documents over the fantail. I took the first bag to the aft end of the superstructure and opened the door, only to find the sea was just heavy enough that the deck was dipping slightly under. I waited until the ship rolled to starboard, stepped outside and dogged the door, and grabbed the railing as the ship rolled to port and the water came up to my knees. We were making about ten knots at the time.
On the next roll to starboard I ran to the fantail and grabbed the railing again as we rolled to port and my pants got soaked again. Next roll to starboard and I dumped the bag over the stern and hung on again. The process was reversed as I made my way back inside.
As I recall I had to empty six bags that night.
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“Never do anything you can't take back.”
—Rocky Russo
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