T H E   L A S T   S A L U T E   by   Terry Cattermole
The English Channel 4 miles south of the Nab Tower, marking the eastern approaches to The Solent, 1430 Thursday 25 February 1960 on board HMS  WAKEFUL, a converted V & W Class Destroyer.  ‘Stop the ship‘ said the Captain, Commander Bogey Knight, ‘ Aye Aye, sir ‘, I replied as Officer of the Watch.  ‘Stop both engines, Cox’n ‘, pause ‘Slow astern both engines‘ and then ‘ Stop both ‘.   Range and bearing of the Nab, check the chart, then ‘Ship stopped, sir, and in position. ‘
We had slipped and sailed from South Railway Jetty, Portsmouth an hour earlier, bearing the lead-lined coffin of Edwina, Countess Mountbatten, known to millions as ‘ Lady Louis ‘, who had died in North Borneo, aged 58, the previous week-end. Eight Chief Petty Officers had carried the coffin up the black-draped brow, to the sound of Bosuns’ Calls, and laid it on a bier on the Quarterdeck.  The mourners included Lord Mountbatten, his daughters Lady Pamela Hicks and Lady Brabourne, Prince Philip and his mother, Princess Alice of Greece.
The Indian Frigate INS TRISHUL followed us out and remained in close company in tribute to the woman who had been India’s last Vicereine. 
The body of Lady Mountbatten had been brought from Romsey, near Southampton, through streets of mourners and into the dockyard where hundreds of Servicemen and women lined the half-mile from the Main Gate.  As we passed along the sea-front hundreds more people watched from the shore.
It was a grey, cold day under leaden clouds, but, thankfully, calm and there was very little movement of the ship as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher, conducted a 15 minute service.  He ended with the traditional words, ‘we therefore commit her body to the deep ‘ and 6 Petty Officers bent and gently tipped the ramp under the coffin. Slowly the coffin slipped from the Union Flag into the water and its resting place 22 fathoms below, as 4 Royal Marine Buglers sounded The Last Post and Reveille.  Lord Louis cast an all-white wreath over the side, followed by the Queen’s tribute of white and yellow flowers, laid by Prince Philip. About a cable away, from the TRISHUL a wreath was laid on behalf of the Indian Defence Minister, Dr Krishna Menon, an old friend of the Mountbattens.  Lord Louis and the Prince, both in uniforms of Admiral of the Fleet, stood at the salute for a long moment as we slowly got underway.
I noted in the Ship’s Log ‘ Committed to the deep the body of Countess Mountbatten at 1428  in position 50deg 36min North 0deg 57min West ‘ and we turned back towards Portsmouth.
Lord Louis and Prince Philip appeared on the bridge, after they had made a short tour of the ship, and kept a close eye on me as we made our way into harbour, without incident.