Page 280 - The Tigris Expedition

Tigris and the Supcrships: the Voyage to Pakistan
still further east and a mere fifty-five
Next day again we were ,
miles from the coast of Pakistan. Only a stiff and steady ne wind
could now prevent us from reaching our goal, but that should
indeed have been the prevailing wind at this time of the year. It was
not. Southerly winds began to dominate, and the problem now was
not whether we could reach the Makran coast, but whether we
could avoid being pushed ashore before we got far enough east to
find a safe landing place. This part of the Makran coast was nothing
but cliffs and impenetrable mangrove swamp.
We were twenty-two miles off Pakistan and expecting to see land
at any moment. Norman consulted our copy of West Coast of India
Pilot, 1975, and read on the very first page that the charts for coastal
navigation were adequate everywhere ‘except for part of the Mak-
ran coast’. In these parts, we learnt, the charts were based on surveys
made in the last century with lead and line, and ‘such charts cover
areas subject to sudden shoalings and shifting sandbanks or where,
as on Makran coast, they coincide with small scale soundings
which, because of later (1945) volcanic disturbance of the sea bed,
are now of doubtful value’. Also, ‘A small volcanic island was
observed in 1945, 3 miles sw ofjazirat Chahardam, but in 1947 it
had submerged.’
It sounded like an exciting area, with many possible surprises.
The waters around us were literally full of fish. And an infinity of
tiny white worms. Carlo, our professional alpinist, had turned into
a passionate deep-sea fisherman and caught six large dolphins one
after the other before I could stop him. Yuri got the idea of hanging
some up to dry on bamboo rods, to produce stockfish. During a
delicious lunch on dolphin with polenta we sighted a white dhow-
sail on the horizon ahead. We made a good three knots in that
direction, but when the dhow came near enough to see us well, it
made a wide semi-circle past us and disappeared. We had at last seen
another vessel under sail. This looked promising.
On 24January problems began to develop. Heavy clouds formed
over the Karachi area in front of us, and a changing wind struck us
in violent gusts, quickly whipping up a choppy sea. We tried to get
the topsail down before it was too late, but the topping-lifts that
held it were stuck and it would not come down. At dusk we saw
incessant flashes of lightning one after the other in the black clouds
oyer Karachi. HP tied a knife to a short bamboo rod, and after
dinner, when the wind got tempestuous and there was no other
choice, Norman and Detlef climbed to the footplate on top of the
bipod mast, and one held the other as they cut the topping-lifts and

235