Goodbye Karachi
I remembered an incident that occurred as we were docking in Karachi. Small boats swarmed around us like flies around something rotten. These were the ?bum? boat men. They were not in the same class as those in Aden, or Port Said, these people hustled junk and low quality junk at that. Amongst them were barbers ,booksellers, boil suckers (true),fortune tellers and fakirs. They swarmed up ropes with grappling hooks and were pretty soon in everyone?s way, they were impervious to threats and imprecations ,the word No was not in their lexicon. One quiet and unassuming little man came to me as I was warping the stern rope on the drum end of a winch. ?Saab, I tell you future ,pliss? I gave him the sailors farewell but he took no notice. ?Pliss, no interfere with work? I swore at him and he said something that pierced me to the core.?Your face look very happy Saab but your heart is full of tears? I was hauling on the stern rope, this guy had just appeared over the stern railings, what could he know? He proffered a copper bangle which had little brass nuts on it. I noticed that each facet of the nuts had markings on them. ? hold in hand I minute and roll nuts? he said ? I go away and read future. Well he got this far, and it would?nt take much. I rolled the bangle in my hand and gave it back to him. ?You finish work Saab, I come see you ? I finished showering and went up on the after deck to look at Karachi, the little fortune teller sat on the taffrail. ?Saab, come I tell you? I had told no one of my marital situation, not even my cabin mate, so I was shocked when he consulted his chart. ? You are sad because your marriage is broken, soon men from your legal services will seek for you. Do not be unhappy. Allah is caring for his children and you my friend will be looked after. You will wander without aim and you will love many times. But your true love is out there, roads you travel will sometimes lead to nowhere , do not despair. I see a lady , younger than you but wiser too. Two children are shown , a boy and then a girl. You will be happy and you will die away from where you were born.? There was more and I thanked him and gave him some money.
I have never forgotten that little man in Karachi, most of what he said has come true , do we humans have our destinies mapped out for us?
We left Karachi under the cover of night, we did not know where we were bound, tankers were subject to spot markets and not manifest destiny.
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We headed for the Red Sea and Suez ,whoever bought our cargo would determine our destination, it was still early January and winter would be making itself felt as we sailed toward the western end of the Mediterranean .We were hoping we were headed somewhere warm.
The news of our destination arrived as we left Port Said, we were going to Oslo in Norway. A mood of panic gripped most of us, we would bloody freeze to death, none of us had really heavy weather gear, not for Winter in Norway .
The cold weather hit us as we cleared the Bay of Biscay, I was wearing as much gear as I could get on and was still feeling the cold. I had?nt any gloves and so wore socks on my hands, it lessened the effects of the cold but not as much as gloves would. As we headed up the English Channel the engine started to play up. We had to reduce speed and the problem worsened , the Mate told us we would be going into Rotterdam for repairs. THANK YOU GOD!!
Shortly after we berthed in the repair yard the men from Sarnecki?s came aboard. Sarnecki?s was the finest duty free store in the world. You could buy anything from a tooth brush to the finest heavy duty winter clothing in the world. They had the answer to all our prayers. I bought a big fur hunters cap, Khaki drill trousers, lined lumberjack overshirts, a fur lined Khaki drill weather proof hunting coat, hip length, and fur lined jack boots ,plus gloves, woollen and leather ,for work and for watchkeeping. Winter could throw at us whatever she chose ,we were ready. The chief steward replenished the slop chest while we were in Rotterdam, he had a wagon load of stuff delivered. Two days were all we spent in Rotterdam , none of us went ashore ,the weather was atrocious. As we sailed to Norway the chief steward made a startling discovery. The men who had been working on the repair of the engine had brought aboard with them some very enterprising thieves. They had an oxy acetylene burner ,with which they had cut a hole into the slop chest. They had helped themselves to tens of thousands of cigarettes and some fine rums and whisky. I never found out what happened after that but the chief?s takings were hit,massively They had welded the plate back on to the hole but the scorch marks were visible
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Our visit to Norway was, thankfully, very short. We sailed empty to the warmer climes of the West Indies, the wind slackened and the fierceness of the North Atlantic winter soon abated as we reached the Tropic of Cancer. Kingston ,Jamaica was to be our first port of call.
We were just a day away from Kingston and I was on watch below, Mark was sat at his writing table playing , what I thought was, patience. ?Trying to beat the Chinaman Mark? I called across to him ? No my friend , just looking at the future? he replied. I thought he was making a reference to the little fortune teller in Karachi. ?Are those Tarot cards Mark? I queried. ? Non, just ordinary playing cards? He looked at me ? Come ,I show you? I stepped across to his cabin and there were the cards laid out as though for patience. He gathered them up and passed them to me. ?Shuffle zem ? he said. His Creole accent was a rich as plum pudding, a bit like Charles Boyer. I shuffled them and Mark laid down a line of 8 cards.face down. He motioned me to sit and turned over the cards. Mark never knew about my situation, I had?nt told a soul ,and I certainly had?nt mentioned the fortune tellers forecast.
He turned the cards over, one by one, he kept checking and musing. ?Brian ,are you in trouble?? ?Not that I know of Mark, why do you ask?? He pointed to the two Kings that lay there, ?These represent Judges ,or the Law. The knave here is someone who means you harm and the Queen of Spades ??.are you ,perhaps married?? I said nothing .?The cards say that the Queen of Spades is using these men..? he pointed to the Kings ? to make some action against you . This will happen soon? I stole from his cabin, what could he know, a rambling old Creole.
Entering Kingston for the first time is a marvellous experience ,there were no high buildings then, the tallest was about 4 storeys high. It was a typical British colony , red roofed verandahed buildings with wrought iron balconies and white washed walls. The town was situated amongst lush green trees and the harbour waters were blue . We were berthed not far from the Myrtle Bank Hotel and you could hear the sounds of steel bands drifting across the water. Arthur the JOS damaged his foot when we were tying up and an ambulance was ordered to take him to hospital When it arrived ,my cabinmate and I were detailed to carry Arthur to the ambulance on a stretcher. I was wearing flip flops and was at the back of the stretcher. When we reached the ambulance ,the big Jamaican ambulance driver showed us where to stow Arthur. As I put my foot on the ambulance step ,it slipped and my toes were wrenched as they caught the edge of the step. I did?nt drop Arthur ,gave him a nasty turn though. When I had lain the stretcher down I saw that the toe next to the big one was upside down. It was sticking straight up in the air, I showed it to the ambulance driver and asked him to take me to hospital as well . He shrieked with laughter ? Aiee Man ,you sailors is always jokin?me.? He pulled away and left me standing there with my broken toe. I showed it to the Captain and he said ?Ye?ll ?ave to get used to it lad, keep wearin? the flip flops? And I did too!
About smoko time next day one of the midshipmen told me that the captain wanted to see me. I hobbled up to his cabin and knocked and entered. He had a big buff envelope on his desk. ?Daley, this is a notice of a court action to be taken against you in the matter of desertion, I think you should get some help? He passed the envelope across and it contained a summons for me to appear in the courts at Brownlow Hill. I was quite dazed, I would be hung drawn and quartered if I was?nt there to defend myself. While I was pondering, the captain was taking action. He made an appointment for us to see the British Consul. That afternoon I saw how efficient our crown officers can be when they put their minds to it. In that one afternoon our Man in Jamaica got me a lawyer in Liverpool and had the court case delayed until my arrival back home. How could Mark have seen these things in his cards? Let alone that little man in Karachi.
Knowing that some action was at last taking place I started to feel a little easier about life, I was only twenty one and had a whole life in front of me. Perhaps I should enjoy it more. That evening I went to the Myrtle Bank hotel .It was a fairly genteel place, very Victorian in ambience and the only black faces were those of the staff. Not a place to have a rip roaring time. Next day we left for New Orleans, now there was a place to have a good time.
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