Page 228 - The Tigris Expedition

We Search for a Pyramid and Find Makan

United Nations that the Atlantic Ocean was becoming polluted.
Since then deliberate discharge of waste oil from tankers has clearly
diminished. But.we did see some giant oil tankers pump out their
sludge with the ballast water in unbroken cascades just before they
turned to enter the Hormuz Strait. This was probably a convenient
area, since the now existing regulations would otherwise have had
to be broken at greater risk inside the gulf.
A school of at least a hundred porpoises was seen tumbling and
leaping high around us in the thin oil slick. And there was no lack of
plankton, though invisible as the stellar heaven until the sun went
down. But in the starlit night the plankton sparkled like fire­
crackers around the rudder-oars as they cut the water. At intervals
we saw large flashes deep down in the sea, as if somebody signalled
with a small lamp down there or struck a match that burnt for half a
second. The night was now so mild that we steered in shirt-sleeves.
The new moon once more rode like a Sumerian ship above the calm
waters; a month had passed since the last time. The squeaking and
creaking of Tigris had completely died down, with the unfortunate
result that it was possible for HP to point out that Thor, Gherman
and Yuri were snoring.
We saw few of the poisonous sea snakes, although this was
supposed to be one of their main breeding grounds. But in the
mornings we began to find the first dead flying-fish on deck.
Although the patrolling police boat never came back, it was clear
that the Oman authorities had been notified of our whereabouts.
And Captain Said was clearly worried, as if he had been appointed
our guardian by the visiting police. He was now just as panicky
about our coming too close to the shores of his own country as he
had been about his own trespassing into Iranian territorial waters
when his dhow had been in serious need of repair. Obviously, we
had come too close to shore for his comfort, and he insisted on
holding us in tow, almost as prisoners, when we approached the
off-shore islets of Suwadi, where we anchored side by side right up
against the cliffs.
There was a great temptation to go ashore, but we had received
new radio warnings from Bahrain not to attempt any landing. All
the afternoon we had seen a beautiful white beach, fringed by
scattered palms and other trees, with calm water in front and the
shadows of blue mountains far beyond. The distant range of
mountains must have been the wild, steep ridges we had followed
in Tigris in the opposite direction on the other side of this great
peninsula. All the mountains in this part of Oman seemed to have
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