It’s Déjà Vu all Over Again

The weather clear and calm.

In many respects being at sea is akin to the film, “Ground Hog’s Day”
where the protagonist relives the same day over and over again. Take for
example today. It is a Friday (at least I think it is), but that does not
denote a weekend or pause in activity. In fact, we will not be having a
“Sunday at Sea” this Sunday, but classes are to be held as usual.

To magnify this, we are also going back the way we came. As I write this,
we are passing again through the Straits of Messina, although there is
less fanfare than the last time. It even has a similar feel with all the
cadets on deck staring ravenously at land.

In fact, the only way to denote the passage of space-time is by a
disciplined use of a word-of-the-day calendar my mother gave to me for the
holidays. Today’s word is “masterful” which I don’t think is a
particularly obscure word to make it to a vocabulary list. Many of those
who visit the library often check out my word of the day. So far, the
favorite word on this trip has been “Svengali.”

Time, however, will apparently grow greater for us as we begin to pass
west into new time zones. Starting tonight, we will set the clocks back
one hour, thus gaining an extra hour of sleep (or work). This is known by
plastic signs hung all about the ship which say “retard clocks one hour
tonight.” Retard is a rather ill-used term in my opinion that has fallen
into the realm of the politically incorrect. Be that as it may, I shall
gladly retard my clock for that extra 3,600 seconds.

Our plan after passing through the straits is to proceed back to Mallorca
where we are probably going to “hang out” for a few days (no shore leave
alas) and do some circles before we head toward Gibraltar. Our pace is
leisurely as we have time to kill before we come to the Emerald Isle.

Now, one or two have written to me specifically asking about signaling,
lights, and rules of the road. I’m happy to report I had dinner tonight
with the venerable Captain Stephens who is probably one of the most
interesting persons aboard. Captain Hugh Stephens was on liberty ships
during World War II and now serves as an instructor on the ship. He is
hale, cheery-natured, and above all things a gentleman. Among the classes
he teaches are Rules of the Road. So let me give a breakdown of what my
land lubberly mind has absorbed.

Ships naturally need to communicate. In the old days, they used to use
flags (this was after they discovered that burning smoke signals on a
wooden ship was not a good idea). Flags, however, have become obsolete
and are now used mostly as decoration. Radio communication predominates,
but also heavily used are lights and sound.

Sound of course does not consist of shouting “Yo” over to a ship that
might be miles away. It consists of blasting a signal that we might
compare to a car’s horn. That is it can be used as a warning, but also
certain sequences can indicate distress.

Let’s take for example a few days ago. There was a luxury yacht that
crossed our bow by less than a half-mile. We warned them with a blast of
the horn, but they crossed us anyway. Naturally, the pilot of this yacht
is unfamiliar with the Rules of the Road which also specifically state
that ships to the right have the right of way. Anyway, I am sure our crew
got their license plate so we can report him to the proper authorities.

Lights are far more complex and any number of lights can mean different
things either by arrangement or color. Information you can get from
lights could indicate what kind of ship it is, how big it is, if it is in
distress, etc. Captain Stephens told me that cadets have more difficulty
with learning the lights than they do with the sounds just because there
are so many of them.

Also, there is a whole sequence of rules at sea which need to be followed..
First of all, you should always try to stay to the right. This was a
rule invented by the British which evidently did not transfer over to
their land roads. Perhaps if you are in England you should not get in the
car with a British mariner. They may start going the wrong way.

Then there are buoys. Here I got a bit confused since there are two basic
colors these days: green and red. I can remember these with a simple
trick from the Cold War period. Going east means you are going to
Communist (Red) countries. Likewise a red buoy should be on your right to
the east. Going west means you are going to the world of the Capitalists
(green for money) in which case you need to keep the green on your right.

I might get the hang of this yet. Of course, I might have gotten all of
this wrong, but I assure you, while I might not be able to differentiate
fore and aft with speed or accuracy, I can certainly guide you through
your database searches.

Fair Winds and Following Seas,
Joe