When news filtered through of the twin towers atrocity, Andrew Murdoch, now the Governor of Bermuda, was at a military base.

His first reaction back then was shock, rapidly followed by concern that the attack on the US would provoke a vicious response and involve Britain.

Mr Murdoch said: “I can remember it vividly.

“I was in Portsmouth with the Royal Navy working as an assistant judge and naval lawyer, working for the judge advocate.

“I was preparing for a trial when initially a report came through, on radio I think it was, and it was thought to be an accident.

“Then my boss came through and said he had heard over the radio there had been a collision with an aircraft going into the trade centre.

“Back then I thought it was an absolute tragedy and how could this happen?

“It was awful. At that stage, at the first aircraft going into the tower, it was thought of as an awful accident then when the second plane hit it was obvious this was something entirely different and unprecedented.

“It was that kind of level [of shock] across the whole dockyard and it just dominated and everything stopped [at the base] and in the world.

“Then the events unfolded and the other planes were involved and it was clearly a magnitude that was absolutely unprecedented.

“Then there was the collapse of the towers and the death toll figures rose and rose and rose.”

Mr Murdoch added: “It’s a very military environment where I was and the natural reaction then was that it was awful on a humanity level for those who were impacted and the death toll was going to be high.

“When the figures came out they were shocking, nearly 3,000.

“Then, being military, the thoughts were that there is going to be some kind of reaction to this and that we are going to get involved.

“It was probably going to be some sort of military response at some point.

“Another early reaction was that if there was anyone over there I knew, from family to friends.

“I didn’t have any family or friends in America at that time so there were no connections or working colleagues.

“Things were a bit slower then media wise and no smartphones … so we huddled around the television, whereas it would be a lot more rapid now.

“Things have changed, permanently, since that day.”

Mr Murdoch recalled how security at airports was immediately tightened up and he looked back at his first flight — which was military travel — after the atrocity.

“I do remember things being more strict at security but people were very patient in terms of that because they understood it,” he recalled.

“It was not the first time [for a terrorist atrocity] as we had the Pan Am flight, which exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland and killed everyone on board.”

The Governor noted that it became clear the terror attack would impact freedoms and ease of travel.

“It is the price we have to pay because of these extremists taking this type of action,” he said.

Mr Murdoch considered how Bermuda might respond if there was a similar attack today.

He said that while there were roles for the Governor and other organisations to make decisions in such an event, there are planned security measures that take into account any threats the island might face as well as how to handle those.

Mr Murdoch added: “This was unprecedented on an extreme level.

“As Governor, I have that role working with others.

“Hopefully you are not faced with that kind of event here … but you do prepare for the worst.”