At Sea

Man, I thought driving tractor was tough, but this afternoon, taking the wheel of the 2600-ton Gil Eannes at Viana do Castelo, I damn near had to turn around before I reached the Atlantic, the seas were so blustery. 

When I throttled back to just one of the 1400 hp engines from the usual two, that seemed to do the trick.  My Sunday afternoon turned quiet again, as if I was simply floating.

Well the ship hadn't been out since its decommission as a cod fishing hospital ship twenty years ago, and I promised myself I'd have her back by 3, or 15:00 as we say, so I cut back the engine on one side, I forget which one, and cranked her up on the other.  She spun about and slipped back into her mooring so neatly you'd think she'd never left.

"It's all yours," I said to the pack of Portuguese naval cadets, waiting to clamber aboard.