On return from dinner (a formal night with an Oriental theme*), I found with the usual pillow chocolate, a letter from the captain about our upcoming transit of the Gulf of Aden, aka "pirate central". He gave all the reasons a pirate attack on the Amsterdam is unlikely (high fretboard (distance from waterline to deck), relatively high speed (old joke: if you and your friend are running away from a hungry lion, you don't need to run faster than the lion, you only need to run faster than your friend), close coordination with anti-pirate forces in the area, etc.
But the exciting part is what happens "in the unlikely event of an attempted boarding, or even if we are suspicious of a vessel". Then they will signal us, and we are to "move out of your staterooms... and stay in corridors or interior spaces... stay away from windows and doors... sit down, as any maneuver... may result in heeling of the ship, as we will be moving at high speed. " Wow! In prospect, it seems like a great adventure. In actuality, I suspect it would be much less fun than that. But it is good to know that (a) the ship's staff is prepared, and (b) they won't try to fob our concerns off with the cruise line equivalent of "Don't you worry your pretty little head about such things."
*All evening, I have had running through my head the phrase "... more than Oriental splendor." I think it's from one of Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories, but that's as close as I can come to pinning down the source. If you know where it's from, please comment or send me email to rmtaussig@gmail.com.
I agree, though not much fun, it would surely be an adventure! Especially if they did all the maneuvers, and everyone had to skip a lobster dinner and huddle in the corridor instead, and turned out there was no threat after all. Keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteHow the Rhinoceros Got Its Skin
ReplyDeleteONCE upon a time, on an uninhabited island on the shores of the Red Sea, there lived a Parsee from whose hat the rays of the sun were reflected in more-than-oriental splendour.