After the Launch Mechanics had become full members of the unit the Marine Police took on an even greater `family' feel than it had had before. The Chinese concept of `family', it must be said, is rather broader than the cosy, gather-round the fire image it so often has in the West. Families can be extensive, noisy, brawling and bothersome, with affection a comparatively minor by-product (on second thoughts perhaps they are not so different from the western variety after all). But they demand absolute loyalty to one another and a tolerance for personal foibles that would be inconceivable in other circumstances: `He may be a noisy gwai-lo who loses his temper too often, but he's our noisy gwai-lo who loses his temper too often!'
The way of life lent itself to this kind of feeling. The crews of the bigger patrol vessels ranged from twelve men to thirty, and after 1962 the duty periods were either 24 hours `on' for 24 `off' and a weekly leave day or a straight `three days on/three days off' system which many preferred. Crews, both officers and men, thus spent virtually 50% of their lives together; more than a family of blood relatives would expect - or choose, probably - to spend in each others' company.
This meant that after a few years' service a man transferring from one posting to another would almost certainly find a familiar face or two; and even if he did not his reputation would have preceded him. Not everyone liked this, of course, for the character profiles passed on were often uncomfortably accurate. But this is what families are all about: very few people are all bad or all good, and where possible personnel problems were dealt with `in house'. Formal defaulter cases were very rare in Marine in the 1960s and 70s for example; not because the men were all angels but because offenders were usually given a choice by their launch commanders: "Defaulter proceedings, or my punishment?" The invariable response would be: "Your punishment, sir!" and the offender would find himself chipping the cable locker or some similar task - hot and uncomfortable, but with nothing recorded in his dossier.
Even the rare occasions that a man was actually defaulted had a vaguely
`family' feel about them: the defaulter invariably pleaded `guilty' and
was given a pre-determined punishment considered suitable to the offence.
To the best of my knowledge the first defaulter ever to plead `not
guilty' did so in 1981; a gesture which gave rise to many embarrassed
'phone calls to friends in the Land Police about what happened
next. [I was the adjudicating officer. I went right back to
Enclosure (1) in the Marine Police Headquarters `Discipline' file in
search of guidance and could not find a single instance of anyone
pleading `not guilty' before.]