845 Wessex Squadron had stores packed in chacons (Chatham Containers) about 8 feet by 8 feet by 10 feet tall lashed to the side of the flight deck in HMS "happy" HERMES as we searched for a missing Hull trawler ( the Gaul) in horrific winter storms off Bear Island in 1973.
Several chacons including the one belonging to 845 were washed overboard in spite of being secured well above the waterline.
Some months later we were berthed in Kalkara Creek Malta when a man from MOD procurement pitched up and insisted that a protesting 845 Squadron AEO bring out an extensive array of spares from stores including several Gnome engines and blade folding poles about 20 feet long making an enormous stack on the hangar floor. He then requested an empty chacon and instructed the AEO to place all the items in the chacon.
The AEO protested that there was no way even a small fraction would fit in the chacon.
"But that is what you wrote off in the chacon you lost! Was the MOD chaps reply.