Storm at Sea

Interviewer: What would have been your longest trip that you had to do?

Well, the one that took the longest was in, in the Thunder. We were in Shelbourne and a storm came up. I watch with interest the weather channel when it gives the weather in the Maritimes because I suffered through every kind of storm down there. Anyway, we were tied up along the jetty, and the captain came down. Now, McKay was an old merchant man captain. He stood there and he watched us as we bounced against the jetty. The wind was blowing us. I guess he figured we were gonna do more damage tied up to the jetty than going to sea. He got orders from Halifax, "Do what you think." So, we took out, took off to sea. Well, for three or four days we sailed southeast with the wind on our tail. Now, that was an interesting trip because there were only two of us that the captain would let on the wheel to steer the ship. Myself and another guy. So, we were two hours on and two hours off for four days. Now, the silly part about this story is, and we learned this later, when the wind blew itself out, we made a left turn to port and headed for Newfoundland. We heard later that the captain had a signal from Halifax, "Proceed to the nearest port." And he figured we were about two miles closer to Newfoundland than Bermuda. Newfoundland. That was a long trip.