Flying enterprise

[Ian Adrian Millar]

FLYING ENTERPRISE

He was Chief Mate some years ago,
Aboard a tramp you may well know.
From New York to old Bombay,
They were almost always underway.

They picked up cargo here and there,
And delivered it with utmost care.
A car, some hides, a snake or two,
Across the seas they so well knew.

They milked the cobras on the deck,
Fed the gibbons with the rest.
They sure were glad to see them gone,
They left them back in Cheribon.

They changed the dollar for the Bhat,
Made some deals right off the bat.
Genoa found them homeward bound,
No one cared to stick around.

As he recalled from long ago,
A young Chief Mate with years to grow,
New York a sight for weary eyes,
Aboard the FLYING ENTERPRISE.

Ian A. Millar

Written with my late father in mind. He sailed as Chief Mate in the FLYING ENTERPRISE in 1947 during a trip around the world. I still have some photographs he took of the zoo animals they had on board for part of the voyage. Later after my father had left, the FLYING ENTERPRISE was lost in a well-documented sinking.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Thanks to yourself and
thoughts are with your
late father.

Keith.