Page 253 - The Tigris Expedition

I

CHAPTER 8

Tigris and the Superships:
the Voyage to Pakistan

l

‘Port side row, starboard rest! . . . Both sides row! . . . Ready . . .
rooow! . . . Ready . . . rooow! . . .*
I felt like a galley slave-driver as I stood high and dry in the stern,
steering while my friends toiled rhythmically, their sweat pouring
and their long oars sweeping in unison like the legs of a centipede.
It was an exciting test, and one I had been looking forward to but
never yet attempted. We wanted to row our reed-ship out of port,
and, with Toru and Carlo in our rubber dinghy to film and
photograph, only eight men were left to man the oars: four on
either side and myself at a rudder-oar. To see the men I had to
balance high on the bridge railing with a grip on the upper of the
two tillers we had fastened to either of the long steering shafts.
Ready . . . rooow! . . . Ready . . . rooow! . . .’ The men put the
last ounce of their strength into propelling the heavy ship through
the water. The wet berdi, with superstructures and full load, must
now have weighed close on fifty tons, so each man had to shift the
• - weight of a floating elephant. If we were to lose control, the
slightest gust of wind or tidal current in the harbour would force us
into involuntary grips with hulls, mooring lines and anchor chains
of the ships large and small docked or anchored everywhere around
us. The eyes of spectators watching us from ships and shore
probably gave the straining men an extra urge not to give in.
I

33. Wc sail north to Pakistan, reach the snake island of Astola and
follow the limestone cliffs of the Makran coast towards the former
realm of the Indus Valley civilisation.
34. Ashore on the desert sands of Ormara bay women hurry away;
their homes are of plaited mats.
I
216