Page 330 - The Tigris Expedition

The Tigris Expedition
lured ahead. We were all equally eager to get into the ocean and
away from land, to which we gave the blame for our temporary
troubles. I would never have recalled that a few mosquitos followed
us into the ocean, but for the one that remained like a pressed flower
in the fourth book of my diary, on the page recording our departure
from Asia.
During the night a good sailing wind from the north came back.
All lights from ships and land sank behind us. Huge swells indicated
interference from a strong current, and there was soon a smell of
greenery over the ocean, as from a jungle. The insect-ridden
wilderness of the Indus delta was beyond the horizon, but this
problematic area, which kept the salvage vessel Jason busy, was
eventually left behind on our port side. We tried to steer away from
it, but the delta was wide enough to be with us for a couple of days
at least. So far we simply steered to get clear of all coasts and into the
open ocean.
We did not trust the coming of the north-east monsoon. We knew
it had failed to blow for the second year in succession. The harbour
authorities in Karachi had also told us that in these parts the worst
period for storms and treacherous weather was the last days of
January and the first half of February. We were to find that they
were right. We had left anchorage on 7 February.
The second day at sea the northerly wind increased in strength
and, lifted on our way by hissing waves, we sailed away from
eastern Pakistan and the north-western coast of India. Next day we
lowered the topsail as the wind strength rose to half gale. The
mainsail split, and we lashed on two rowing-oars beside
the rudder-oars to help steady our course. Sharks began to join
us.
On 10 February we had a lull before the storm. The wind blew
faintly from the east. We mended the mainsail and began to discuss
where to steer next. With this wind the risk of being cast on to the
coast of India was greatly reduced. We all wanted to send comfort­
ing messages to our families, but Norman was unable to contact
anyone with our consortium transceiver, though with his own
amateur set he picked up one radio ham in Germany and another in
the USA. To our surprise, both reported having heard that we had
decided to sail from Karachi eastwards and finally across the Pacific
to South America. Crazy! Ridiculous! This was just about the only
thing we could not do. We could perhaps reach the Far East, but
never cross the Pacific in the opposite direction of the Kon~Tiki
voyage. All those who had tried had failed, but all those who had
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