QUOTE
.....the Gannet would float for a couple of minutes whilst the crew got out.
UNQUOTE
Not about the Gannet, really, but its cousin the Firefly.The tale was that the Firefly would float for about four seconds after ditching. Probably. OK, then, maybe.
Colleague had his engine quit over the Channel, with bad effect on flying qualities.
Distress call. Ditched. Chopper retrieved him from the bosom of the deep.
Q: "So, J***, how about the four seconds? How did all that work? Tell us about that."
A: "Sure! Long before that four seconds had elapsed I was out of that Firefly, I had run a hundred yards across the og, I had inflated the dinghy, climbed in, and was sitting there watching it settle".