An autobiographical interlude in the author’s seagoing life after retiring as a captain of super tankers. A forty foot boat was built by the author and sailed for some years around the British Columbia waterway then as a further adventure an attempt was made to make a world circumnavigation. Many trials and troubles end this adventure in a storm.
After a working life at sea of some thirty-five years one might think it would be time to swallow the anchor, as the saying goes, and retire to a peaceful existence on shore. However, for the author - Ron Palmer such an existence by nature was not to be. To misquote a saying; you can take a sailor away from the sea, but you can't take the sea from a sailor, and the pull to return to the water is forever strong. 'I want to go down to the sea again to the lonely sea and the sky,' as John Masefield wrote in his poem Sea Fever.
This book relates the further experiences of a nautical nature for the author after retiring as a captain of VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers.) I'm loath to say that these adventures are to be the finality of the emotional pull to seafaring, but who knows, something might crop up to take me away again. After all if one doesn't have a dream then there isn't much left in life to live for, and I certainly dream the dream.
A must read for those who lean towards a sedentary life style, the armchair adventurer and for those who have a dream. An urge to get up and go will take hold of the adventurous.
A most enjoyable read for all ages.
Born in Bridlington East Yorkshire in June 1933 the youngest of four children, my father was a self employed painter and decorator. I attended school there from age four until 1939 when my father, fearing a threat of an invasion by German forces moved the family to Manchester. This has always seemed to be an odd move to me as Manchester was a prime target for German bombing raids. However, at age six one doesn’t question an adult’s motives. After two years the family moved back to the relative safety of the coast, although the town was still being bombed. Surviving the war years the newly elected Labour Government made provisions for further education for those young people of my age. Taking advantage of this, I moved to the art college in Hull as a day pupil with the aim to study pottery design, but this only lasted a year as my real wish was to go to sea for a career, much to my father’s anger, as he had designs for me to work for him as my brother had done, I enrolled at the Nautical College, in Hull. In 1950 I joined my first ship, also in Hull to commence a four year apprenticeship for deck officer, at the end of which I took the second mates certificate. In the following thirty-two years and further exams, [...]
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