Hello Rocket Man:
Knowing two things:
1]that it's okay to post off topic from time to time
2]you're a sailor
I thought you might enjoy the following sea story:
A friend that works for me (or with me) was the rigger and a carpenter on the Pride of Baltimore I. He later was the lead carpenter on the construction of Pride II, after Pride I's disastrous loss. He sailed on Pride I many times. Fortunately he missed the last trip. But of course he knew everyone aboard, very well indeed. He lost friends that day.
But over coffee at break this afternoon he told me of a conversation he had with a surviving crew member. She told him that as the ship went down she was just barely able to scramble out of the foc'sle only to find herself already ten feet under water as she cleared the scuttle. Clawing for breath and the surface while nevertheless being yanked toward the bottom, 6500 feet below, she finally seemed to break free of those forces and was able to open her eyes and look down. What she said she saw needs to be explained by someone able to write better than I. But,as my friend explained it, she looked down to see this magnificent vessel plummeting toward the bottom, with sails still set and flags still flying, only now in an eery slow motion, water being more dense than air. She lost sight of the ship as it disappeared behind a watery blur and into the darkness below,seconds before she herself found the surface, alive, gasping and terrified.
Can you imagine this?
I once got knocked down on the bay by a 65 knot squall, had a boat sink under me, nearly drowning my friend and myself. But compared to this? Jesus. I'm still shivering.
thought you'd appreciate this story
Regards: St.B
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