Page 268 - The Tigris Expedition

Tigris and the Superships: the Voyage to Pakistan

lights fore and aft only, slid past our bow, its incredibly long and
low midsection, with at least a hundred thousand tons of oil, barely
visible above the waves. With a strong following wind Tigris
responded quickly and turned port side to in time for the black
tanker to pass alongside so close that from the steering platform we
gazed up through windows and portholes and saw details of walls
inside the cabins. We could have recognised a face in the bright
electric light inside, but nobody seemed awake.
We had had enough. The giant tankers were left racing in their
own track off the coast of Oman as we made use of a fresh south-east
wind to sail further out and away towards the north-east. Out in the
unfrequented part of the sea we felt as human beings again, in an
environment shared with fish and birds; we were no longer Lillipu­
tians in a world of robots without flesh and blood, where men on a
clumsy ma-gur had no security nor any right to be.
We heard thunder until morning. Then the wind changed to ne
and forced us to trim the sail and alter course. All in vain, however,
as violent gusts of wind seemed to wait only until we were correctly
trimmed before they entirely changed and struck us from the
opposite side. The rain returned in heavy squalls and the rudder-
oars jammed as the buffalo hides and hemp-rope lashings that held
them in their forks at deck and bridge level swelled and tightened.
At 10 a. m. we had a glimpse of a hazy sun between thick clouds, and
Detlef estimated our approximate position. We had struggled our
way back up north and were 226° off Muscat at fifteen miles
distance. To our despair the consortium transmitter did not contact
anybody now. Neither Muscat, Bahrain nor any ship. At great risk
we had managed to come back outside the harbour of Muscat, but
nobody was aware of it. The agent with Norris’s replacement was
probably still looking for us in the sea outside Sur.
Now we all wanted that confounded camera, and for three hours
Norman was climbing up and down in the waving mast to hang up
various lengths and forms of antennae. Then suddenly Frank came
on the air from Bahrain and got our estimated position. We learnt
that someone from the Gulf Agency was looking for us in a motor
launch off Ras al Daud, where we actually had been. Frank would
now try to get Norris’s shipment brought back by Land Rover from
Sur to Muscat, if we could try to remain where we were. By noon
we turned the bow all around from south to north as the current
down the coast was strong. We were seriously afraid of getting
closer to Oman, for this would mean re-entering the shipping
lane.
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