How stormy and windy it's been today.
I quite like this wild kind of weather.
When I worked away at sea, the rougher the seas were, the more I enjoyed it.
I slept really well, as the ship was tossed about.
I was just young then though and had no sense of danger.
The last ship I worked on broke in two and sank in rough seas some time after I left.
It was carrying molasses. A very corrosive cargo,
usually carried in the oldest rust buckets.
The crew I sailed with on that ship came from several nations,
Italy (North and South!), Spain, Poland, Yugoslavia (Croatia and Serbia) and Morocco.
They had a wide range of political views too,
supporters of the old regime of General Franco, communists, ex communists...
But everybody had to pull together
there were constant problems and mechanical breakdowns
and there were no real personal animosities.

The ship I was on before that recently sank in The Orinocco River
only thirteen minutes after it was hit by an ice strengthened Scandinavian ship
as it was manoevring into its berth.
Thirteen minutes!
It gives me a chill to think of the storms and heavy seas that I experienced on that ship...

http://www.itf.org.uk/itfweb/global_mariner/news/n000906.htm
http://www.itf.org.uk/itfweb/global_mariner/ship/s1page.htm
http://iancoombe.tripod.com/id38.html