Ian Tew (56-60) was the Junior Cadet on the British Indian Steamship Navigation Company passenger vessel "Dara" carrying expatriates between the Arabian Gulf and India on April 8, 1961, when a bomb planted in the bowels of the vessel, probably by Omani rebels, killed 234 people on board and destroyed the ship. It was the second worst peacetime loss of a British merchant vessel after the "Titanic." The perpetrators of the atrocity were never found.

With the 50th anniversary of the disaster looming, and no interest in the event in the UK, Ian flew to Dubai, chartered a boat and crew and motored out 30 or so miles northeast of Dubai to the scene of the sinking. At the "Dara wk" buoy he scattered flowers in memory of those who died. "I just thought I ought to do something - that those lost souls, many from Goa, should not be forgotten," he said later.

Early in April Ian was in Thailand when he learned that the "Dara's" Assistant Purser, John Soares, was still alive and was organising a memorial Mass in Goa with his wife to coincide with the actual day of the sinking 50 years ago. Ian was invited to join them.

The service was held in a white church on a cliff overlooking the river in Aldona village. The building was full. The Mass turned out to be not just in memory of those who died but also a celebration of those - about 580 - who were saved by a passing Norwegian tanker. "A Band played in the churchyard and while all the Indians were shaking my hand and wishing me well they played 'God Save The Queen'" Ian recalled a couple of weeks later at the OP Dinner. "It was a very moving moment."