The US and British navies are making a big mistake in closing their bases here, says the man responsible for safe sea operations in Bermuda for the past 27 years.

"I think the world is far from stable. The eastern bloc could well become a threat in the future and Bermuda is very strategically placed in the Atlantic as an advance warning post to the US East Coast,'' said retiring Marine and Ports deputy director Mr. Russell Southern, whose last day of work is tomorrow.

"I think their decisions will prove to be a mistake in the long term. But obviously the politicians think otherwise.'' In his 27 years at Marine and Ports, Mr. Southern has dealt with no less than 20 groundings including that of the supertanker Aguila Azteca , which was nearly catastrophic in that it could have damaged Bermuda's environment for many years and wiped out tourism.

She ran aground in October 1984, falling onto the outer northwest reef, carrying 200,000 tons of crude oil.

Miraculously, from the time Mr. Southern boarded to assess damage and plan a course of action, to the time an overseas salvage firm towed her away, "Not one drop of oil spilled. This was a remarkable achievement considering that after the ship was dragged back to Rotterdam, her single bottom was so badly damaged she had to be scrapped.'' After this disaster and the grounding of the grain ship Sea Luck , Marine and Ports realised "something had to be done quickly to prevent further groundings,'' Mr. Southern said.

The $.5 million NorControl surveillance system was installed at the Harbour Radio station to keep track of all vessels in the area and enable officials to warn off ships dangerously close to our reefs.

And through the International Marine Organisation (IMO) and the Governor at the time, the rocky fringe around Bermuda was charted as an ATBA -- Area To Be Avoided, requiring any ships entering the area's borders, such as those coming to Bermuda, to report to Harbour Radio.

In addition, four new beacons were built: Northeast, Kitchen Shoals, Eastern Blue Cut and Chubb Head.

"We have had no major groundings since,'' Mr. Southern noted. "But there have been many near misses seen by Harbour Radio, which managed to get hold of the ship and warn her that she stood in danger.

"It was great success. I call it Bermuda's defences.'' Mr. Southern hopes a full study will be made of Hamilton docks to prepare them to accommodate the modern superliners, which run up to 800 feet nowadays.

"The small cruise ships are going to get rarer,'' he says. "And I'm sure we'd like to have the large ones.'' In his 27 years with the department (he was appointed deputy director in 1978 and served as an acting director for 18 months), Mr. Southern has ensured safe berthing and passage in local waters of more than 5,000 cruise ships, 8,000 freighters, more than 21,000 other ships such as warships and tankers, and 30,000 visiting yachts. He also helped organise two tall ship races including the one in 1984 which saw the loss of the Marques and her entire crew in a freak squall.

In 1974, he recalled, Marine and Ports had to organise a transfer by lifeboats to another ship of 1,700 passengers from the QEII which had total engine failure 175 miles off Bermuda.

And, in the last ten years, he has overseen the renewing of the Government tugs and ferries and a cost of $16 million. None of the boats will need to be replaced until the end of the decade.

"We have the finest best-equipped tugs any harbour could possibly own,'' he said of tugs Faithful and Powerful .

He describes his tenure as "exciting, stressful and interesting.'' "The downside was less than ten percent. Strikes, work-to-rules and stoppages have been difficult for the department.'' Mr. Southern, who officially retires in August at 65, said he was especially sad to see the Royal Navy go, having first come to Bermuda as a reserve RN officer aboard the HMS Troubridge in 1961.

"I liked Bermuda so much it took me until 1962 to get back,'' he laughs. He joined the trans-Atlantic Queen Mary Cunard passenger liner as the navigator and met and married his wife Jennifer, who was physiotherapist on board.

Before finding a permanent job in Bermuda, he also worked on Cunard's Franconia . Then in 1967, he applied for and landed the job of Harbour Master in Bermuda.

"It was very different back then,'' he recalled. "In fact, we had more cruise ships in the 1960s and early 1970s than we have today. They were much smaller though and carried fewer passengers. The new larger ships are able to carry many more people.'' In 1969, Marine and Ports dealt with 196 passenger liner visits, 181 in 1977, down to 126 last year, he noted.

It was also a far tougher job to safely berth the visiting liners as they were much less manoeuvrable -- lacking bow thrusters and other modern features, and than they are today.

"Each ship had to be carefully monitored. We had the same number of pilots but they were certainly doing more work,'' he said. "Today the ships don't always use tugs, although they are always available at both ends should they be required.'' Mr. Southern is confident search and rescue services in Bermuda will not falter when the US Navy leaves, taking with it its search planes and rescue helicopters.

Bermuda would still have the St. David rescue boat, capable of going up to 30 miles at sea and would continue to have the facilities of the US Coast Guard.

On the unlikely possibility of Government buying a rescue helicopter once the US leaves, he said, "You have to weigh up the costs against the likelihood of saving life and maintaining an efficient service. And there have been few cases where helicopters have managed to winch someone off of a ship or yacht.

Helicopters need so much maintenance two would be required as well as pilots and engineers.'' Mr. Southern, who went to sea at 18 and worked "non-stop'' for 47 years, says once he retires he plans to take it easy, though his wife continues to run Ocean Court retirement home.

Mr. Russell Southern