Scary moments

[leratty]

John was that 1000 yen to pound of flesh akin the tuna fish market? (: Do you recall the bar in Stars Wars I refered to just my type of bar? Richard

[leratty]

John I was in a cyclone in the Caribbean (also the Gt Aus Bight one Christmas that one we were walking on the alleyway bulkheads at times) I have written about it, the former some where here I believe? The ship, PSNC's Cienfuagos was an interesting couple of trips, one with the fruit loop Capt. who was removed. The cyclone was pretty bad, I went to the docking bridge one afternoon after 12-4 watch just to sit & experience it, quite some experience too. The swell (following) was well above the accommodation height possibly + 12m coming from astern & it was all long almost straight with scary white foam being blown off the top of each they were almost coordinated. The ship was pirouetting & cork screwing quite violently. I must have been mad as the deck was 50% of the time awash with green water yet I walked, hmm poor choice of words there & back with no deck life lines out. Ah the madness of youth. She was not a happy ship the crew were introspective loners not mixers, all scousers sic. Still it was a experience 2nd trip was better. See pic attached. We also experienced one Typhoon in Palau around 1992 with our yacht. That was worrying as we thought we would lose her. We left her well anchored & secured to some large Typhoon buoys off the hotel pool area. We then went ashore stayed in the hotel, in the morning we could see her rolling whereby you would have thought she was going to go over even with the lines she had out. Made us both feel along with our skipper quite sick with worry. Anyway all was well 1.5 days later though with her. You know when the eye is over you it is dead quite not a breath of wind, scary & we could see the horizen all around was the circle of the Typhoon like a black eye then the other section hit us. Richard

[Ivan Cloherty]

All sounds very familiar Richard, somehow those storms were fascinating, perhaps hypnotic and self preservation was over ruled by those feelings. The only time I didn't like bad weather was when I was mate and had paid out hundreds of pounds in overtime getting the ship pristine then for the crashing cascades of salt water finding all the week spots and making the ship look like a rasberry ripple

[j.sabourn]

Richard looking back on some of the experiences now we can shrug at, but at the time always wished you were somewhere else. Would not like to go through again. Am quite happy to be retired and think of the good times not the scary ones. Any one wishing to have same experiences are quite welcome to them. Would much prefer sitting in the Rose Bar in Osaka or some such place minding my own business. Those wishing otherwise must have a screw loose. Life is for living not throwing away. Some of us spent all our working life at sea, a lot of it was long tedious months at sea and always looking forward to the very short breaks you got in the early years. Nowadays leave rosters are very generous but the ships are different. I would not like to go back now. John Sabourn

[leratty]

Ivan you are right they are fascinating & do have a hold or call on you. I also recall when first at sea this incredibly strong urge to jump overboard when watching the sea passing by some real psychological interpretation there I would reckon? Never spoke about it as thought I was nuts. I was speaking with my wife about it, storms at sea, Palau in particular over breakfast & she remembered the hotel in Palau put a note under our door asking for nearest rel contact details talk about make you feel confident! There was a bunch of specialist weather people staying at the hotel they flew in from Guam as the Typhoon was meant to be a doozey she recalled also. Richard

[Tony Wilding]

Have related one Scary Moment, Work Related not the Elements, Only experienced one Hurricane, off Cuba , around the Cuban Crisis time, we were in Port, either La Guira or Peurto Cabello, Venezeula, shore leave was cancelled just befor we got ashore, 30 minutes later we sailed because Hurricane warning, not being very educated on this move i thought it stupid to put to sea, was nice and calm in Port, well somewhere between Venezuela and Cuba it caught us, all warned not to go on deck, but had to have a look, it was on the Salinas PSNC, I was nervous, but not scared, will never forget the spray off the tops of waves, the sky went a strange colour, we rode it out, was not untill many years later anchored off Tenby Wales on THV Siren, a TH Buoy Tender, about 2000 tons, had the Engines running all night to ease the Anchor Cable, was rolling so badly we thought she would go over, had water in the cabins i deck down, eventually around dawn we up anchored and got the Sea behind us, headed for Swansea, the height of those seas was scary,, a few hours in Swansea tied up, seemed a different world. i was Scared that night. think that was when a big Container Ship went down. Irish Sea can be a pig. Gulf of Lyon was bad one time.

[Red Lead Ted]

Made me think you lads had just a taste of being aloft now you can imagine what it must have been like in the old sailing ships in bad weather taking in sails,hanging in with knees while using both hands to stow canvas.

I remember signing on a Federal boat here in Liverpool found my muster stations unpacked turned too, She was light ship first job the bosun gave me 2 light bulbs, Pointed upwards fore and aft masts oh you may need these a pair of pliers , I have to say m8 it was a long way down from them top masts to the ships bottom. All in a days work Regards Terry.

[Captain Kong]

I had a Scary Moment once,
.
At a party in Woodstock, Cape Town, I went to bed with a beautiful slim young lady,
I woke up the next morning with a BIG Forced Draft job trying to sit on my face to wake me up, they had changed places during the night.
I am still trying to recover from the sight of ` IT.`
Cheers
Brian.

[Tony Wilding]

Brian, that does not bear thinking about, YUK.

[leratty]

ah come on Tony what better hair of the dog could you get....(((((: ? What about those large black ladies on the Nigerian coast? JC talk about scary when you woke up after a night of Tombo gin, eh eh & their wig was on the end of the bed, them with little wood peices in their tight knotted hair. You know how come none of us got some terrible disease like you can today + no wet suits required thus used, no disrespect to the ladies from those times? Man we were sure in the best time there the kids today could not graze the opposite sex as we could + of course the ladies with us & both did. Ah memories, again possibly the rose tinted's are on (: When I was working in Peru we lived in a brothel in Valpo when on rotation true! That is for another time so many hilerious incidents occured. A Hebridean Islander & close friend from uni-mining days who ironically also spent time at sea was there. He with wife were with us for Christmas & we went into it whilst having a snifter or two. The wives could not understand our continious side splitting laughter as we poured yet another one. Richard