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THE VOYAGES OF HMS TURPIN 145
that they had been sighted, since 'a large number of aircraft plus
two or three destroyers searched for us'. O'Connor had. strict
written orders that in such circumstance the Taciturn should turn
back and head for home. Aircraft continued to search for them
as they made their way south. On 3 October they reached the
safety of Faslane naval base on the west coast of Scotland, and
'a package', presumably the sigint recordings, was 'whisked off
to Prestwick airport' and flown to the United States for analysis. 43
Michael Hurley was back on special operations six months
later, with a further trip into Arctic waters. With much the same
crew and the obligatory 'special team' on board they sailed
down the Clyde and into open water on 13 March 1958. The
extra personnel on board meant that water supply was again a
problem. The special passengers consisted of the familiar
Commander Lucas, who turned out to be Polish, together with
a 'boffin' from the Underwater Development Establishment
called Dr Newman and an American officer called Lieutenant
Block. There were also two further communications intelligence
specialists, including a Canadian. The routine was now familiar,
diving deep by day and attempting to 'snort' by night, although
this was often interrupted by Soviet aircraft. Snow storms
provided ideal cover for the use of the snorkel. The very cold
exterior water temperature meant that icy drops of condensation
continually fell on the crew. The American officer took his
turn at watches, and his distinctive voice on the Tannoy was a
source of amusement. Dr Newman spent much of his time in
the special sound room located in the Taciturn's expanded hull,
working on sigint collection. 44
On 28 March they moved in close to the Soviet coast, and
began to encounter more signals traffic. The next day, they 'got
some good recordings' and managed to take some film footage
of peculiar 'bullet shaped' aircraft that they did not recognise,
and thought were possibly prototypes. On 2 April Hurley noted
in his diary that they were well inside an inlet, with land less
than a mile away all around. He could see Soviet radar installations
silhouetted on the coast, and wrote, 'We are actually at