Re: Who will tell me a story?

On Mon, 19 Jun 2023 09:37:55 -0600, a cat <[email protected]> wrote:
>I'd like to hear one!
>
>You can choose the topic, but if you can't think of anything, here's a 
>suggestion:
>
>What's the most scared you've ever been?

Most scared. Hmm...

I was in the US Navy, late 1960s to early 1970s. We were coming back
from the Mediterranean Sea. 

We had about 3 hours warning. some of the radio and radar gear was
down, we weren't too concerned as we were about it, in a month or so
later we got back to home port, to the ship yard for equipment fixes
and probably a few upgrades. Vacuum tube/valve stuff, nary a
transistor to be seen.

Just as we got near Bermuda, the Executive Officer spoke on the PA
system and told all of us.

"At this time we believe we will stay afloat. We are heading away from
the hurricane. That is all."

Some of the guys fought over life jackets. The inflatables were inside
the ship. The kapok ones were stored outside, as they smell very badly
when wet. The inflatables weren't enough for the entire crew.

50 foot waves. The main deck of the ship is about 25 feet above the
waterline. Main deck, outdoors, is mostly under water.

I tied myself to my bunk. We could all hear the howling wind. The ship
rocked back and forth, moved sideways.

The movie, The Perfect Storm, I saw part of it on tv, showed a more
accurate picture of what we went through than previous movies.

I was getting more and more tired. So, I went to sleep. One of the
guys got angry, shouted at me.

I explained that if the ship was okay tomorrow, I still had to work,
so I'm sleeping, they could do what they wanted.

We eventually got way from the storm. The waves had taken paint off
the hull of the ship. The entire outside of the ship was coated with
dried on salt.

I asked the signalman, flags and Morse code via spotlight guy, up on
the signal bridge what it was like. He told me, at 52 feet above the
water line, he could see the tops of the waves go by at his eye level.

Two guys were injured, both cracked ribs. One broken collar bone. They
had untied themselves from their bunks to go to the restroom, just as
a wave hit the stern of the ship. Launched them across their berthing
space. Crunch.

We all survived, no one washed overboard. But we almost capsized...
more than once that night. The hurricane ? You may have heard of it.
Camille.
-- 
Jim