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As one of the men bore down on Manson with a meat cleaver Potts drew his pistol and, when his challenge was ignored, he fired, wounding the attacker in the stomach. The incident was over in a minute and once the boat had stopped Potts gave first aid to the injured man.
It was not until much later that Potts realised he had also been wounded. His right foot had been sliced through and he was taken to hospital for treatment.
The bravery citation reads: "His calm, fast and effective reaction displayed the highest level of professionalism and bravery throughout a most dangerous operation. His action in opening fire undoubtedly saved Manson from death or, at least, a serious head injury."
Master at Arms Potts is now serving as an Instructor at the Royal Navy School of Leadership and Management at HMS Excellent, Whale Island, in the UK, and still remains modest about the incident.
"Frazer was in trouble and he needed help," he said. "What I did was just automatic. It was something I was trained to do so I just got on and did it."
End/Monday, April 24, 1995
Water storage figure
Storage in Hong Kong's reservoirs at 9 am today (Monday) stood at 66.4 per cent of capacity or 389.273 million cubic metres.
This time last year the reservoirs contained 388.290 million cubic metres of water, representing 66.3 per cent of capacity.
End/Monday, April 24, 1995
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